Universal Insurance (UVE) Stock Rebounds After Yesterday's Collapse
NEW YORK (TheStreet) -- Universal Insurance (UVE) - Get Report stock is higher by 11.31% to $23.03 on heavy volume in afternoon trading on Wednesday, after falling by more than 30% yesterday.
At the annual Robin Hood conference yesterday, Lakewood Capital Management's Anthony Bozza identified the company as a "short" candidate and the stock tanked.
Details surrounding any allegations by Bozza have not been disclosed.
Universal Insurance issued a response in which it highlighted the company's recent financial results and contested Bozza's claims.
"The company believes that the statements made by Lakewood Capital Management are misleading and contain partial information, designed to negatively affect Universal's stock," Universal Insurance said in a statement yesterday.
Based in Fort Lauderdale, FL, Universal Insurance performs all aspects of insurance underwriting, distribution and claims.
About 4.03 million shares of Universal Insurance have been traded so far today, well above the company's average trading volume of roughly 935,604 shares.
Separately, TheStreet Ratings team rates UNIVERSAL INSURANCE HLDGS as a Buy with a ratings score of A+. TheStreet Ratings Team has this to say about their recommendation:
We rate UNIVERSAL INSURANCE HLDGS (UVE) a BUY. This is based on the convergence of positive investment measures, which should help this stock outperform the majority of stocks that we rate. The company's strengths can be seen in multiple areas, such as its robust revenue growth, largely solid financial position with reasonable debt levels by most measures, solid stock price performance, impressive record of earnings per share growth and compelling growth in net income. We feel its strengths outweigh the fact that the company shows weak operating cash flow.
Highlights from the analysis by TheStreet Ratings Team goes as follows:
- UVE's very impressive revenue growth greatly exceeded the industry average of 15.4%. Since the same quarter one year prior, revenues leaped by 51.7%. Growth in the company's revenue appears to have helped boost the earnings per share.
- UVE's debt-to-equity ratio is very low at 0.09 and is currently below that of the industry average, implying that there has been very successful management of debt levels.
- Powered by its strong earnings growth of 37.70% and other important driving factors, this stock has surged by 57.11% over the past year, outperforming the rise in the S&P 500 Index during the same period. Regarding the stock's future course, although almost any stock can fall in a broad market decline, UVE should continue to move higher despite the fact that it has already enjoyed a very nice gain in the past year.
- UNIVERSAL INSURANCE HLDGS has improved earnings per share by 37.7% in the most recent quarter compared to the same quarter a year ago. The company has demonstrated a pattern of positive earnings per share growth over the past two years. We feel that this trend should continue. During the past fiscal year, UNIVERSAL INSURANCE HLDGS increased its bottom line by earning $2.07 versus $1.57 in the prior year. This year, the market expects an improvement in earnings ($2.86 versus $2.07).
- The net income growth from the same quarter one year ago has significantly exceeded that of the S&P 500 and the Insurance industry. The net income increased by 42.0% when compared to the same quarter one year prior, rising from $21.34 million to $30.30 million.
- You can view the full analysis from the report here: UVE
Any reference to TheStreet Ratings and its underlying recommendation does not reflect the opinion of Jim Cramer, TheStreet or any of its contributors.