Chico’s FAS Inc. (CHS) expanding its growth trajectory ahead

Chico’s FAS Inc. (NYSE: CHS) stock jumped 0.66% on Friday to $4.59 against a previous-day closing price of $4.56. With 4.61 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 1.72 million shares. The 52-week range on CHS shows that it touched its highest point at $7.30 and its lowest point at $4.33 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $6.62. Beta for the stock currently stands at 1.30.

Price Performance and Earnings:

Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of CHS was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 1.10%, but this was down by -10.00% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -12.90% while six-month performance fell -27.14%. The stock lost -7.46% in the past year, while it has lost -6.71% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for CHS yields 1.07 with Next year EPS estimates of 0.73. For the next quarter, that number is 0.10. This implies an EPS growth rate of 133.80% for this year and 2.82% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 10.00% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 4.40%.

Float and Shares Shorts:

At present, 119.11 million CHS shares are outstanding with a float of 118.67 million shares on hand for trading. On Aug 30, 2023, short shares totaled 13.47 million, which was 10.91% higher than short shares on Jul 30, 2023. In addition to Ms. Molly Langenstein as the firm’s CEO, Pres & Director, Mr. David M. Oliver serves as its Exec. VP, CFO, Controller & Chief Accounting Officer.

Institutional Ownership:

Through their ownership of 94.06% of CHS’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 61.70% of CHS, in contrast to 29.22% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 10.44%. As the largest shareholder in CHS with 15.91% of the stake, BlackRock Fund Advisors holds 19,640,166 shares worth 19,640,166. A second-largest stockholder of CHS, The Vanguard Group, Inc., holds 8,843,114 shares, controlling over 7.16% of the firm’s shares. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP is the third largest shareholder in CHS, holding 5,791,774 shares or 4.69% stake. With a 7.07% stake in CHS, the iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 8,728,039 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Pacer Fds. Tr. – US Small Cap Cas, which owns about 5.62% of CHS stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 6,941,851 shares valued at 35.61 million. Contrarius ICAV – Global Equity F holds 5.07% of the stake in CHS, owning 6,258,206 shares worth 32.1 million.

Analysts Ratings:

Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for CHS since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With CHS analysts setting a high price target of $7.25 and a low target of $6.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $6.63. Based on these targets, CHS could surge 57.95% to reach the target high and rise by 30.72% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 44.44% from current levels.

EPS: Estimates vs Actual

It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.

Summary of Insider Activity:

Insiders traded CHS stock several times over the past three months with 9 Buys and 2 Sells. In these transactions, 239,893 shares were bought while 114,270 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 19 while that of sell transactions has risen to 27 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 1,387,779 while 907,028 shares were sold.