What happened
The latest earnings report published by specialty healthcare company Patterson Companies (PDCO -0.12%) impressed not only investors, but also pundits following the stock. On that wave of optimism the company's share price was up by nearly 10% week to date early Friday morning, according to data compiled by S&P Global Market Intelligence.
So what
On Wednesday, Patterson published the figures for its fourth quarter of fiscal 2023, ended April 29. The company managed to grow its net sales 5% on a year-over-year basis to $1.72 billion. On the bottom line, it netted a non-GAAP (adjusted) profit of $82.4 million, or $0.84 per share. That compared quite favorably to the fourth-quarter 2022 result of just under $70.4 million.
It also blew past the average analyst estimate, which was $0.70 per share. Meanwhile, Patterson's net sales figure exceeded the consensus of $1.66 billion.
After that crushing earnings beat, analysts spared no time in raising their price targets on Patterson stock. While none of these lifts were particularly drastic, collectively they added to the bullish aura on the shares after those figures were released.
By my count, five prognosticators enacted raises. Among them was Bank of America's Michael Cherny, who upped the price target to $40 per share from the preceding $35 and maintained the bank's buy recommendation. A more typical move was made by Morgan Stanley's Erin Wright, with a $2-per-share bump to $38; Wright kept the stock's equal weight (i.e., hold) recommendation intact.
Now what
Although no one should ever base their stock investments purely on analyst opinions, Patterson's quarter was -- almost indisputably -- a solid one for the healthcare company. It has an intriguing business combination (it specializes mainly in animal health products, but has a thriving dental business, too), which alone makes it an offbeat stock worth watching.
