FOCS - Focus Financial cut to Market Perform at RayJay as competing bids unlikely

• Raymond James analyst Jack O'Shaughnessy downgraded Focus Financial Partners ( NASDAQ: FOCS ) to Market Perform from Outperform on the premise that potential upside for its stock is limited by the $53/share offer made for the company by buyout firm Clayton, Dubilier & Rice.
• "We do not expect another bidder to emerge given that Focus ( FOCS ) already shopped the company around to other potential buyers and has since entered an exclusivity arrangement with CD&R," O'Shaugnessy said in a note to clients.
• If the deal doesn't pan out, he expects Focus's ( FOCS ) stock to trade back down to the mid-$40s in the near-term.
• The analyst pointed out that the company's Q1 2023 outlook was ahead of consensus and that non-market revenue helped its top line and margins.
• The Market Perform rating aligns with the SA Quant rating of Hold and diverges from the average Wall Street rating of Buy.
• Earlier this week, Morgan Stanley upgraded Focus ( FOCS ) as analyst Ryan Kenny considers the go-private bid accretive to shareholders.

For further details see: