Xerox Hits Another Multiyear High

By Trey Thoelcke Published Aug 29, 11:15AM EDT

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Morgan Stanley analysts reiterated their Outperform rating on Xerox Corp. (NYSE: XRX) Thursday, along with a $15 price target. But that seems to have been enough to lift Xerox shares to a new multiyear high before the close on Thursday, and again after the opening bell on Friday.

The reiteration was a vote of confidence in company leadership, as signaled in this comment from Morgan Stanley:

We left with greater confidence that management clearly recognizes where XRX had issues in the past and understands how they can leverage their track records of success to drive consistent results going forward.

There was little to encourage investors about a turnaround in the most recent quarterly report, released in July. Both the per-share earnings and revenue results were virtually the same as in the previous quarter, as well as in the year-ago period. And the consensus forecast for this year shows hardly any movement from 2013’s earnings and revenue numbers.

One vote of confidence did come in early August in the form an insider buy. An executive vice president purchased 40,000 shares for more than $517,000. That signaled the start of the most recent spate of new highs for the stock. The share price has climbed around 6.4% since then.

Short sellers were attracted by the enthusiasm in August as well. Short interest jumped more than 25% in the first two weeks of the month to around 15.9 million shares, or about 1.5% of the total float. That ended a three-period slide in short interest.

The share price hit $13.88 in early trading Friday. Shares have not traded at that level since 2008. The 52-week low is $9.55, and the mean price target is just $13.86.

About the Author Trey Thoelcke →

Trey has been an editor and author at 24/7 Wall St. for more than a decade, where he has published thousands of articles analyzing corporate earnings, dividend stocks, short interest, insider buying, private equity, and market trends. His comprehensive coverage spans the full spectrum of financial markets, from blue-chip stalwarts to emerging growth companies.

Beyond 24/7 Wall St., Trey has created and edited financial content for Benzinga and AOL's BloggingStocks, contributing additional hundreds of articles to the investment community. He previously oversaw the 24/7 Climate Insights site, managing editorial operations and content strategy, and currently oversees and creates content for My Investing News.

Trey's editorial expertise extends across multiple publishing environments. He served as production editor at Dearborn Financial Publishing and development editor at Kaplan, where he helped shape financial education materials. Earlier in his career, he worked as a writer-producer at SVE. His freelance editing portfolio includes work for prestigious clients such as Sage Publications, Rand McNally, the Institute for Supply Management, the American Library Association, Eggplant Literary Productions, and Spiegel.

Outside of financial journalism, Trey writes fiction and has been an active member of the writing community for years, overseeing a long-running critique group and moderating workshop sessions at regional conventions. He lives with his family in an old house in the Midwest.