Pilgrim’s Pride downgraded to Equal Weight from Overweight at Barclays

Barclays downgraded Pilgrim’s Pride to Equal Weight from Overweight with a price target of $38, up from $35. While the firm expects the company to deliver strong gains for both sales and earnings in 2024 and 2025 due to the strength of chicken, it believes the stock’s current valuation levels “have started to track above historical averages.” As such, Pilgrim’s upside potential in the coming months is less attractive, without an “incredibly strong beat or any sort of unexpected corporate action” such as share buybacks, acquisitions or JBS reconsidering the full take-out of its minority shareholders, the analyst tells investors in a research note.