Negative sentiment from analysts has torpedoed a stock on more than one occasion. However, today was not that occasion for backup power supply titan Generac (NASDAQ:GNRC), who took a hit from analysts, rolled with the punch and managed to gain over 1.5% in the closing minutes of Wednesday’s trading session.
Admittedly, the punch in question, which came from CFRA analyst Jonathan Sakraida, wasn’t exactly a haymaker. It was barely a love tap, in fact, as Sakraida cut Generac’s rating from Strong Buy to Buy. Essentially, the cut came over a matter of valuation, as Generac shares have been on the rise since February, picking up an extra 23% or so in the meantime.
Sakraida pointed out that the higher interest rates seen of late aren’t having too much of an impact on sales, which are recovering, albeit slowly. Generac’s recent bout of cost-cutting measures are helping things out as well. With rate cuts likely in the future and concerns about the need for constant power at data centers growing with the rise of artificial intelligence, Generac’s gains are likely to carry on from here.
Is Generac Stock a Good Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating on GNRC stock based on seven Buys and seven Holds assigned in the past three months, as indicated by the graphic below. After a 29.16% rally in its share price over the past year, the average GNRC price target of $141.82 per share implies 2.37% downside risk.
