Stock analysts at Zacks Research have revised their earnings per share (EPS) estimates for Bandwidth Inc. (NASDAQ:BAND), significantly lowering their forecast for the fiscal year 2025. In a report released to clients and investors on December 17, 2023, Zacks now predicts that Bandwidth will report an EPS of ($0.06), a sharp decrease from their previous estimate of $0.29.
The updated consensus estimate for Bandwidth’s current full-year earnings stands at $0.22 per share. Furthermore, Zacks has projected earnings for Bandwidth’s first quarter of 2026 at ($0.04) EPS, with anticipated earnings of $0.25 for the full fiscal year 2026. The forecasts extend to the first quarter of 2027, where the expected EPS is $0.04, and for the full year 2027, an EPS of $0.42.
Analyst Ratings and Market Performance
Bandwidth has recently attracted attention from several other research firms. On September 17, 2023, Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating for the company. In contrast, Wall Street Zen downgraded Bandwidth from a “buy” rating to a “hold” on December 14, 2023. Additionally, Robert W. Baird established a target price of $16.00 for the stock on October 31, 2023, while Weiss Ratings assigned a “sell (d-)” rating on October 8, 2023. Currently, five analysts have rated the stock as a Buy, one as Hold, and two as Sell. According to data from MarketBeat, the consensus rating for Bandwidth is “Hold,” with an average target price of $21.00.
On December 18, 2023, Bandwidth shares opened at $15.10, reflecting a slight increase of 0.4%. The company maintains a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39, and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.63. Over the past year, Bandwidth’s stock has fluctuated between a low of $11.33 and a high of $19.88. Bandwidth’s market capitalization is approximately $460.85 million, with a P/E ratio of -38.72 and a beta of 2.11.
Institutional Activity and Insider Transactions
Several institutional investors have recently adjusted their holdings in Bandwidth. Notably, Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake by 0.9% during the first quarter, now owning 1,785,698 shares valued at $23.39 million after acquiring an additional 16,671 shares. Invesco Ltd. also raised its stake by 4.5%, owning 53,835 shares worth $705,000 following a purchase of 2,301 shares.
Other notable transactions include Nuveen LLC, which took a new position worth approximately $7.92 million, and Algert Global LLC, which significantly increased its stake by 124.2%, now holding 40,980 shares valued at $537,000. Currently, approximately 68.53% of Bandwidth’s stock is owned by hedge funds and institutional investors.
In related news, insider Rebecca Bottorff sold 5,973 shares on December 1, 2023, at an average price of $14.06, totaling $83,980.38. Following this transaction, she retained 53,352 shares valued at approximately $750,129.12. Daryl E. Raiford, the Chief Financial Officer, also sold 21,515 shares on the same day for a total of $302,500.90. This sale resulted in a decrease of 17.92% in his holdings, leaving him with 98,535 shares valued at about $1.39 million. In total, company insiders have sold 63,463 shares valued at $895,210 over the last ninety days, representing 6.20% of the stock’s total ownership.
Founded in 1999 in Raleigh, North Carolina, Bandwidth Inc. operates a cloud-based communications platform that offers voice, messaging, and emergency services APIs. The company’s solutions facilitate the integration of programmable voice calls, text messaging, and 9-1-1 routing into applications, primarily serving sectors such as healthcare, financial services, on-demand mobility, and customer engagement.
