Twinkies Maker Rallies as Analysts Likes Sales Trends

(Bloomberg) -- Hostess Brands -- the maker of Twinkies and Ding Dongs -- has had a sweet time so far this month, gaining three new buy ratings from Wall Street as its shares have risen to the highest level this year.

The stock extended a rally to a fourth day on Monday, rising as much as 2.7% to the highest since August 2018. UBS analyst Steven Strycula was the latest to upgrade shares of the Ho Ho’s-maker, following DA Davidson’s and Evercore ISI’s bullish start of research coverage earlier this month. The number of buy ratings on the stock now outnumbers holds.

Sales trends at the Kansas City, Missouri-based packaged food maker are accelerating, Strycula noted earlier, and the company’s recently-acquired Chicago bakery is expected to add new production capacity and boost earnings.

The stock is now up 30% year-to-date, outperforming the Russell 2000 Foods Value Index, which is down 4%.

To contact the reporter on this story: Tatiana Darie in New York at tdarie1@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Scott Schnipper

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