Oppenheimer thinks more good times are ahead for Freshpet . The firm listed the pet food stock as a top pick, reiterating its outperform rating. Oppenheimer also raised its price target to $100 from $80. Oppenheimer’s new forecast implies 26.1% upside from Wednesday’s close. Analyst Rupesh Parikh was encouraged after the company’s quarterly results on Monday, which showed a smaller-than-expected quarterly loss. “We are now increasingly confident in management’s ability to deliver on both top and bottom-line targets following more robust volume trends lately, coupled with significant progress on driving profit improvements,” Parikh said. “In addition, we view high short interest and continued investor skepticism towards the company’s ability to deliver on longer-term targets as positives to the FRPT bull case.” The analyst added that the company’s progress toward profitability will help sustain the firm’s bullish outlook on Freshpet stock, as well as protecting from investor short interest. “Based on our conversations, we believe FRPT remains under-owned and investors continue to be skeptical on management’s ability to deliver on longer-term targets (short interest ~15.9% of float),” he said. “With our expectations for a continued strong top-line delivery, coupled with profitability improvements, we believe this could help to fuel short covering down the road.” Freshpet has soared more than 50% from the start of the year. FRPT YTD mountain Freshpet has climbed 50.2% in 2023. — CNBC’s Michael Bloom contributed to this report.
