Blue Apron is surging after Wall Street unleashes a bunch of bullish ratings (APRN)

pulse

July 24, 2017 3:03 PM

Blue Apron has been struggling since its IPO, but Wall Street analysts might have breathed new life into the company.

A sample meal from Blue Apron

Blue Apron has been struggling since its initial public offering, but Wall Street analysts might have breathed new life into the company.

Shares are up more than 8%, opening at $7.21 a piece after Wall Street released bunch of bullish ratings on the company.

11 Wall Street ratings have been released recently, and eight of those eleven were bullish.

The company recently went public under the shadow of the Amazon-Whole Foods deal. Many speculated that Amazon would be moving into Blue Apron's meal delivery business after acquiring the grocer, and the retail giant has recently added several meal kits to its website.

Blue Apron slashed its IPO price ended its first day of trading unchanged at $10. Shares have been in a downward slide ever since.

RBC Capital Markets and Goldman Sachs both rated the company a buy, assigning price targets of $10 and $11, respectively. Goldman was an underwriter of the company's IPO.

Some of the analysts are bullish on the stock because of Blue Apron's early position in what they see as a large market. Even if bigger companies like Amazon enter the meal delivery business, analysts are expecting Blue Apron to be able to grab a meaningful portion of the market.

Blue Apron does have problems beyond its competition though. Many customers end up canceling the service because it is too expensive, and the company is currently spending more to acquire its customers than it makes from them.

Customer retention has also been a problem for Blue Apron, especially compared to other subscription services like Netflix.

Blue Apron is down 28.56% since its IPO, including Monday's jump. Shares are trading at $7.11 in early trading Monday.

pulse