Lamb Weston May Keep Cutting Prices To Win Back Market Share, But Demand Recovery Remains Uncertain
J.P. Morgan analyst Ken Goldman reiterated the Neutral rating on Lamb Weston Holdings, Inc. (NYSE:LW) on Thursday, raising the price forecast from $65 to $66.
Goldman cited medium-term risks tied to an ongoing supply and demand imbalance in the French fry market.
Yesterday, the company reported third-quarter adjusted earnings per share of $1.10, beating the analyst consensus estimate of 87 cents. Quarterly sales of $1.521 billion (up 4% year over year) outpaced the street view of $1.492 billion.
The analyst noted that while the industry holds long-term growth potential, current conditions present uncertainty, and visibility beyond the near term remains limited.
Also Read:
Goldman also projects that the company will continue adjusting prices to regain market share, but expressed doubts about whether demand will grow fast enough to match supply in the coming years. Still, the analyst acknowledged the long-term appeal.
The analyst highlighted the difficulty in forecasting Lamb Weston's performance beyond the upcoming quarter due to several uncertainties surrounding fiscal year 2026.
Goldman noted potential upside factors such as new customer contracts, lower potato input costs in North America, greater-than-expected cost savings, and increased share repurchases.
Additionally, the analyst pointed out that FY26 will include an extra week, which could positively affect results.
Meanwhile, Goldman also flagged several risks, including ongoing pricing initiatives to win business without guaranteed cost deflation, persistent challenges in the quick-service restaurant sector, a possible rise in overall fry supply, and uncertainties tied to tariffs.
Price Action: LW shares are trading lower by 0.55% to $59.25 at last check Friday.
Read Next:Photo via Shutterstock.
Date
Firm
Action
From
To
Oct 2021
Jefferies
Maintains
Buy
May 2021
Stifel
Upgrades
Hold
Buy
Apr 2021
Goldman Sachs
Downgrades
Buy
Neutral
View More Analyst Ratings for LW
View the Latest Analyst Ratings
Up Next: Transform your trading with Benzinga Edge's one-of-a-kind market trade ideas and tools. Click now to access unique insights that can set you ahead in today's competitive market.
Get the latest stock analysis from Benzinga?
This article Lamb Weston May Keep Cutting Prices To Win Back Market Share, But Demand Recovery Remains Uncertain originally appeared on Benzinga.com
© 2025 Benzinga.com. Benzinga does not provide investment advice. All rights reserved.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
CNBC
16 minutes ago
- CNBC
Nvidia's first GPU was made in France — Macron wants the country to produce cutting edge chips again
French President Emmanuel Macron on Wednesday made a pitch for his country to manufacture the most advanced chips in the world, in a bid to position itself as a critical tech hub in Europe. The comments come as European tech companies and countries are reassessing their reliance on foreign technology firms for critical technology and infrastructure. Chipmaking in particular arose as a topic after Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, who was doing a panel talk alongside Macron and Mistral AI CEO Arthur Mensch, said on Wednesday that the company's first graphics processing unit (GPU) was manufactured in France by SGS Thomson Microelectronics, now known as STMicroelectronics. Yet STMicroelectronics is currently not at the leading edge of semiconductor manufacturing. Most of the chips it makes are for industries like the automotive one, which don't required the most cutting-edge semiconductors. Macron nevertheless laid his ambition out for France to be able to manufacture semiconductors in the range of 2 nanometers to 10 nanometers. "If we want to consolidate our industry, we have now to get more and more of the chips at the right scale," Macron said on Wednesday. The smaller the nanometer number, the more transistors that can be fit into a chip, leading to a more powerful semiconductor. Apple's latest iPhone chips, for instance, are based on 3 nanometer technology. Very few companies are able to manufacture chips at this level and on a large scale, with Samsung and Nvidia provider Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC) leading the pack. If France wants to produce these cutting-edge chips, it will likely need TSMC or Samsung to build a factory locally — something that has been happening in the U.S. TSMC has now committed billions of dollars to build more factories Stateside. Macron touted a deal between Thales, Radiall and Taiwan's Foxconn, which are exploring setting up a semiconductor assembly and test facility in France. "I want to convince them to make the manufacturing in France," Macron said during VivaTech — one of France's biggest tech events — on the same day Nvidia's Huang announced a slew of deals to build more artificial intelligence infrastructure in Europe. One key partnership announced by Huang is between Nvidia and French AI model firm Mistral to build a so-called "AI cloud." France has looked to build out its AI infrastructure and Macron in February said that the country's AI sector would receive 109 billion euros ($125.6 billion) in private investments in the coming years. Macron touted the Nvidia and Mistral deal as an extension of France's AI buildout. "We are deepening them [investments] and we are accelerating. And what Mistral AI and Nvidia announced this morning is a game-changer as well," Macron told CNBC on Wednesday.
Business Insider
25 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Chewy (CHWY) Gets a Buy from CFRA
CFRA analyst Arun Sundaram maintained a Buy rating on Chewy (CHWY – Research Report) yesterday and set a price target of $53.00. The company's shares closed yesterday at $40.76. Confident Investing Starts Here: Easily unpack a company's performance with TipRanks' new KPI Data for smart investment decisions Receive undervalued, market resilient stocks right to your inbox with TipRanks' Smart Value Newsletter According to TipRanks, Sundaram is ranked #3250 out of 9606 analysts. In addition to CFRA, Chewy also received a Buy from Evercore ISI's Mark Mahaney in a report issued yesterday. However, on June 9, Mizuho Securities downgraded Chewy (NYSE: CHWY) to a Hold. CHWY market cap is currently $19B and has a P/E ratio of 50.92.
Business Insider
40 minutes ago
- Business Insider
Oracle (ORCL) Gets a Hold from Piper Sandler
Piper Sandler analyst Brent Bracelin maintained a Hold rating on Oracle (ORCL – Research Report) yesterday and set a price target of $130.00. The company's shares closed yesterday at $176.38. Confident Investing Starts Here: Bracelin covers the Technology sector, focusing on stocks such as nCino, Adobe, and Microsoft. According to TipRanks, Bracelin has an average return of 0.8% and a 49.40% success rate on recommended stocks. In addition to Piper Sandler, Oracle also received a Hold from RBC Capital's Rishi Jaluria in a report issued yesterday. However, on the same day, Citizens JMP maintained a Buy rating on Oracle (NYSE: ORCL). The company has a one-year high of $198.31 and a one-year low of $118.86. Currently, Oracle has an average volume of 9.69M. Based on the recent corporate insider activity of 51 insiders, corporate insider sentiment is negative on the stock. This means that over the past quarter there has been an increase of insiders selling their shares of ORCL in relation to earlier this year. Last month, Leon Panetta, a Director at ORCL sold 17,500.00 shares for a total of $2,646,525.00.
