Freedom Capital Upgrades Driven Brands (NASDAQ:DRVN) to Strong-Buy

Driven Brands (NASDAQ:DRVN) was upgraded by Freedom Capital to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

DRVN has been the subject of a number of other reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Driven Brands in a research note on Monday, December 29th. Benchmark restated a “buy” rating on shares of Driven Brands in a report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Zacks Research raised shares of Driven Brands from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Thursday, March 19th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Driven Brands from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, December 13th. Finally, William Blair raised shares of Driven Brands from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, four have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Driven Brands has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $20.00.

Driven Brands Trading Up 6.3%

Shares of NASDAQ DRVN opened at $12.38 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $14.13 and a 200 day simple moving average of $14.90. Driven Brands has a 52 week low of $9.80 and a 52 week high of $19.74. The stock has a market cap of $2.04 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -9.98 and a beta of 1.09. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.44, a quick ratio of 0.80 and a current ratio of 0.90.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Driven Brands news, insider Scott L. O’melia sold 46,875 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $16.00, for a total transaction of $750,000.00. Following the transaction, the insider owned 326,944 shares in the company, valued at $5,231,104. This trade represents a 12.54% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 2.30% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Driven Brands

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its stake in Driven Brands by 82.1% in the 2nd quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 2,087 shares of the company’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 941 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Driven Brands by 744.6% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,103 shares of the company’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 1,854 shares during the last quarter. Comerica Bank lifted its position in Driven Brands by 328.8% during the 4th quarter. Comerica Bank now owns 2,933 shares of the company’s stock worth $43,000 after acquiring an additional 2,249 shares during the last quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Driven Brands by 1,113.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 3,338 shares of the company’s stock valued at $54,000 after acquiring an additional 3,063 shares during the period. Finally, Larson Financial Group LLC boosted its holdings in Driven Brands by 1,347.7% during the fourth quarter. Larson Financial Group LLC now owns 3,822 shares of the company’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 3,558 shares during the period. 77.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

More Driven Brands News

Here are the key news stories impacting Driven Brands this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Technical/speculative rebound — After the recent steep decline of roughly 39%, DRVN has drawn aggressive intraday buying and elevated volume, producing a short‑term bounce as some investors view the pullback as a buying opportunity. This kind of momentum/mean‑reversion trading can drive a rally even amid negative fundamentals.
• Neutral Sentiment: Short interest data reported for late March shows essentially zero short interest/days‑to‑cover in several feeds (likely a data or reporting anomaly). If accurate, very low short interest would reduce the risk of additional short‑selling pressure; if erroneous, it may simply reflect noisy data. (Multiple short‑interest entries in the feed show 0 shares/days‑to‑cover = 0.0.)
• Neutral Sentiment: Balance‑sheet/valuation context — DRVN trades with a negative P/E (losses), elevated debt‑to‑equity (~2.44), and sits below its 50‑ and 200‑day moving averages; these factors keep the stock risky for longer‑term investors.
• Negative Sentiment: Multiple securities‑law firms have filed or are soliciting plaintiffs in class actions alleging securities fraud and pervasive accounting/internal control failures after Driven Brands disclosed that prior financials are unreliable. This litigation exposure is a significant overhang and likely explains much of the recent volatility and previous large drop. Pomerantz investor alert
• Negative Sentiment: High-profile plaintiff firms (Hagens Berman, Bleichmar Fonti & Auld, Rosen, Faruqi, Scott+Scott, others) are actively notifying investors and pursuing lead plaintiff roles; coverage of these actions emphasizes an ~$800M market‑cap wipeout and the company’s admission of material accounting errors, which could lead to further reputational, financial and remediation costs. PR Newswire: stock drop & class action notice

Driven Brands Company Profile

Driven Brands Holdings Inc (NASDAQ: DRVN) is a leading North American provider of automotive aftermarket services, operating through a network of franchised and company-owned locations. The company’s platform encompasses a diverse portfolio of car care and maintenance brands, including Meineke Car Care Centers, Maaco Collision Repair & Auto Painting, Take 5 Oil Change, and Carstar Collision Repair. Driven Brands delivers a full range of services from routine maintenance and oil changes to collision repair, paint protection, and vehicle customization.

Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, Driven Brands serves both individual consumers and commercial clients across the United States and Canada.