BellRing Brands, Inc. (BRBR) delivered a classic good news, bad news earnings report on Tuesday, and analysts clearly focused on the bad news part.
The protein shake and nutrition bar maker posted adjusted earnings of 51 cents per share for the fourth quarter, falling short of the 55-cent analyst consensus. Revenue told a brighter story at $648.20 million, up 16.6% year over year and beating Street expectations of $633.81 million.
But here's where things got interesting. BellRing issued 2026 sales guidance of $2.410 billion to $2.490 billion, well below the $2.509 billion analysts were expecting. The company also revised its long-term financial targets, now aiming for annual net sales growth of 7% to 9%. Management did reiterate its long-term Adjusted EBITDA margin goal of 18% to 20% of net sales, so there's that.
Despite the underwhelming guidance, BellRing Brands shares surged 9.4% on Wednesday to trade at $28.73. The market's optimism didn't quite match the analysts' mood, though.
Analyst Reactions: A Chorus of Downgrades
Wall Street wasn't holding back after digesting the earnings report. Here's how the analyst community responded:
B of A Securities analyst Bryan Spillane made the most dramatic move, downgrading BellRing from Buy to Neutral while slashing the price target from $50 to $28. That's essentially saying the stock has already hit fair value after its post-earnings jump.
Stifel analyst Matthew Smith kept his Buy rating but reduced his price target from $56 to $50. Evercore ISI Group analyst David Palmer maintained an Outperform rating with a new $35 target, down from $40.
Barclays analyst Andrew Lazar stuck with an Overweight rating but lowered his target from $44 to $32, while Morgan Stanley analyst Megan Alexander also kept an Overweight rating with a price target cut from $43 to $41.
The pattern is clear: analysts are recalibrating their expectations based on the company's more conservative outlook, even as the market seems willing to give BellRing some benefit of the doubt.
