Wall Street Analysts Lift Chegg Price Targets After Earnings Beat

Chegg Inc CHGG shares are up 14.4% in the last week after the company reported a second-quarter earnings beat and issued strong guidance ahead of what will be another unusual U.S. school semester this fall.

Chegg reported second-quarter EPS of 37 cents on $153 million in revenue. Both numbers beat consensus analyst estimates of 34 cents and $137 million, respectively. Revenue was up 63% from a year ago.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, Chegg guided for revenue of between $140 million and $145 million, topping analyst expectations of $121 million.

The company said more students are turning to Chegg for homework help and tutoring due to COVID-19 forcing a shift to online learning.

Several analysts have weighed in on Chegg since the report.

Chegg Firing On All Cylinders: Morgan Stanley analyst Josh Baer said Chegg is clearly firing on all cylinders.

“Momentum with international expansion, monetizing shared accounts, and Study Pack bundle adoption represent multi-year drivers of attractive Services growth,” the analyst said. 

Needham analyst Ryan MacDonald said Chegg cleared an extremely high bar. 

“In our view, Chegg boasts a best-in-class growth/margin profile with a number of levers to sustain healthy growth rates while delivering margin expansion; thus warranting a premium valuation,” MacDonald said. 

Multiple Catalysts Ahead: Raymond James analyst Aaron Kessler said remote learning has been a huge catalyst for Chegg.

“Chegg is also accelerating incremental investments in international growth, the Chegg Study Pack, device management technologies (to reduce password sharing), and Thinkful to scale rapidly,” the analyst said. 

KeyBanc analyst Jason Celino said Chegg is taking Wall Street to school with its earnings and guidance beats.

“With underappreciated catalysts in study pack, international, and share account conversions, CHGG remains a key name to own,” Celino wrote.

CHGG Ratings, Price Targets: Morgan Stanley reiterated an Overweight rating with a price target increased from $83 to $96. 

Needham has a Buy rating with a price target increased from $70 to $100. 

Raymond James has an Outperform rating with a price target lifted from $60 to $93. 

KeyBanc has an Overweight rating with a price target upped from $86 to $100. 

CHGG Price Action: Chegg shares were down 1.77% at $84.42 at last check Tuesday. 

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