PLNT - Planet Fitness is tipped by Morgan Stanley to defy consumer spending headwinds

Planet Fitness ( NYSE: PLNT ) showed enough strength with its Q4 earnings report to keep Morgan Stanley in the bull camp.

Some of the positive pullouts seen by the firm from the report were that adjusted EBITDA of $106.1M topped expectations with flow through from the sales beat, as well as favorability on SG&A and a bit less of a drag from ad fund mismatch. The read on cost of equipment revenue and store operating costs were also noted to be slightly positive.

"Depending on how the consumer backdrop unfolds, PLNT's targets are sometimes conservative but this largely sticks to the company's long term targets and our view of how things would unfold for the company this year, where we think PLNT can fare relatively well," noted analyst Brian Harbour.

Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating on PLNT and price target of $92.

Shares of PLNT rose 1.35% in mid-morning trading on Thursday following the strong quarterly report.

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