Trump-Linked CoreCivic Stock Pops After Price Target Bump, Retail Bulls Emboldened

Wedbush’s new price target implied an upside of 106.3% from the stock’s last close.

CoreCivic (CXW) shares rose 2.4% on Thursday after Wedbush raised the stock's price target to $42 from $30.

According to The Fly, the brokerage also maintained an ‘Outperform’ rating for the prison operator.

The new price target implied an upside of 106.3% from the stock’s last close. According to FinChat data, the stock has a consensus price target of $30.50.

Wedbush noted that high points for the stock include the award of letter contracts from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to CoreCivic to restart operations at the California City facility and a Midwest facility with roughly 1,000 beds.

U.S. President Donald Trump has promised to implement the largest mass deportation of undocumented immigrants in U.S. history, a shift in policy that has benefited private prison operators.

According to a report by The New York Times, the Trump administration aims to spend $45 billion over the next two years on new detention facilities, transportation, security guards, medical support, and other administrative services.

Last month, CoreCivic agreed to start operations at a migrant detention facility in Texas, which is expected to generate a total annual revenue of about $180 million.

Retail sentiment on Stocktwits remained in the ‘extremely bullish’ (80/100) territory, while retail chatter was ‘normal.’

The company had topped Wall Street’s quarterly profit and revenue estimates earlier in February.

The Brentwood, Tennessee-based company is scheduled to report its first-quarter earnings on May 7 after the bell.

CoreCivic shares have fallen 4.2% year-to-date (YTD).

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