William Blair Has Bearish Outlook for Sweetgreen Q3 Earnings

Sweetgreen, Inc. (NYSE:SG) – Investment analysts at William Blair cut their Q3 2024 earnings estimates for Sweetgreen in a research report issued on Wednesday, October 23rd. William Blair analyst S. Zackfia now expects that the company will earn ($0.15) per share for the quarter, down from their prior forecast of ($0.14). The consensus estimate for Sweetgreen’s current full-year earnings is ($0.75) per share. William Blair also issued estimates for Sweetgreen’s Q4 2024 earnings at ($0.25) EPS, FY2024 earnings at ($0.73) EPS and FY2025 earnings at ($0.52) EPS.

SG has been the topic of several other research reports. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating and issued a $43.00 target price on shares of Sweetgreen in a report on Friday, September 27th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $25.00 to $27.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Sweetgreen from $39.00 to $43.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, August 19th. Citigroup lifted their price target on shares of Sweetgreen from $30.00 to $32.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 9th. Finally, Oppenheimer increased their price objective on shares of Sweetgreen from $36.00 to $40.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 15th. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $38.20.

Sweetgreen Trading Down 0.8 %

Sweetgreen stock opened at $38.50 on Monday. Sweetgreen has a 12-month low of $8.64 and a 12-month high of $40.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $4.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -46.95 and a beta of 2.33. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $34.78 and a 200 day moving average of $30.46.

Sweetgreen (NYSE:SG) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The company reported ($0.13) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.02). The business had revenue of $184.60 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $180.79 million. Sweetgreen had a negative net margin of 14.33% and a negative return on equity of 19.34%. Sweetgreen’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.20) EPS.

Institutional Trading of Sweetgreen

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Baillie Gifford & Co. increased its holdings in Sweetgreen by 6.2% in the 2nd quarter. Baillie Gifford & Co. now owns 12,326,336 shares of the company’s stock worth $371,516,000 after acquiring an additional 721,740 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 0.8% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 8,420,947 shares of the company’s stock worth $212,713,000 after purchasing an additional 70,395 shares during the last quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Sweetgreen by 231.8% in the 2nd quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 2,688,403 shares of the company’s stock valued at $81,028,000 after buying an additional 1,878,216 shares in the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its stake in shares of Sweetgreen by 2.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 1,763,572 shares of the company’s stock worth $53,151,000 after acquiring an additional 39,823 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hood River Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Sweetgreen by 42.6% during the 2nd quarter. Hood River Capital Management LLC now owns 1,643,028 shares of the company’s stock worth $49,521,000 after acquiring an additional 490,806 shares during the period. 95.75% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling at Sweetgreen

In related news, CTO Wouleta Ayele sold 2,831 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, August 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total transaction of $102,793.61. Following the transaction, the chief technology officer now directly owns 144,649 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,252,205.19. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In other Sweetgreen news, CEO Jonathan Neman sold 169,772 shares of Sweetgreen stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.77, for a total transaction of $6,072,744.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 1,930,228 shares in the company, valued at approximately $69,044,255.56. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CTO Wouleta Ayele sold 2,831 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, August 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.31, for a total transaction of $102,793.61. Following the completion of the sale, the chief technology officer now directly owns 144,649 shares in the company, valued at $5,252,205.19. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 426,061 shares of company stock worth $15,071,720 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 21.52% of the company’s stock.

About Sweetgreen

Sweetgreen, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, operates fast food restaurants serving healthy foods at scale in the United States. The company also accepts orders through its online and mobile ordering platforms, as well as sells gift cards that do not have an expiration date and can be redeemed. The company was founded in 2006 and is headquartered in Los Angeles, California.