Bowman Consulting price target raised to $50 from $48 at Craig-Hallum

Craig-Hallum analyst Aaron Spychalla raised the firm’s price target on Bowman Consulting to $50 from $48 and keeps a Buy rating on the shares. On Friday, Bowman pre-announced Q4 results below estimates given greater seasonality from the December Holiday season which impacted project activity and labor utilization. While surprised by the timing and magnitude of the EBITDA miss initially, the firm says fixed labor represents the lion’s share of costs and can dramatically impact operating leverage as Bowman is seeing rapid organic and inorganic growth. More importantly, Craig-Hallum is focused on the company’s commentary, with 2024 guidance reaffirmed and plans to update for recent M&A when it reports, and given strong demand trends and inline January results with internal expectations and backlog continuing to grow.