Leslie’s (LESL) Stock Trades Up, Here Is Why

Shares of pool products retailer Leslie’s (NASDAQ:LESL) jumped 3.8% in the morning session after the stock appeared to rebound from a sharp sell-off in the previous trading session that was driven by cautious analyst notes.

During the prior session, shares fell after investment bank Mizuho slashed its price objective on Leslie’s stock from $3.00 down to just $1.00. Adding to the sober assessment, Telsey Advisory Group also reiterated its “market perform” rating on the shares. The stock’s recovery occurred even as new negative information emerged, with the announcement that Leslie’s was dropped from the S&P Global BMI Index. The bounce in the face of this news suggested the move was more of a technical rebound from an oversold condition rather than a reaction to positive company developments.

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Leslie’s shares are extremely volatile and have had 83 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.

The previous big move we wrote about was 3 days ago when the stock dropped 4.6% on the news that traders reacted to a series of cautious analyst notes, including a steep price target reduction from Mizuho. The investment bank Mizuho slashed its price objective on Leslie’s stock from $3.00 down to just $1.00, though it kept a “neutral” rating. Adding to the pile of sober assessments, Telsey Advisory Group reiterated its “market perform” rating on the shares.

Leslie’s is down 87.1% since the beginning of the year, and at $0.29 per share, it is trading 91.7% below its 52-week high of $3.51 from November 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Leslie’s shares at the IPO in October 2020 would now be looking at an investment worth $13.47.

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