Analyst: Bird Flu Can't Hurt Lakeland Industries

With more than 2 million chickens recently euthanized in Minnesota alone, Lakeland Industries, Inc. LAKE can only stand to benefit from the "extreme actions" of Midwestern farmers, an analyst said Tuesday.

The maker of protective clothing gained 13 percent in the past five days, recently trading at $10.63. Lakeland posted earnings Monday that showed continued gains related to West Africa's Ebola outbreak.

The company's business also "fits in well" with measures underway to contain the Midwestern outbreak of bird flu, Craig-Hallum's Alex J. Furman.

Citing ongoing stockpiling of suits related to Ebola as well as bird flu, Furman boosted his target nearly 12 percent on Lakeland to $19, maintaining a Buy rating.

Furthermore, with the busy seasons for the oil and gas industry in the first half of the year, and new federal safety requirements for utility workers, "industry sales should remain strong," Furman said.

Lakeland, with a market capitalization of just $74.7 million, competes directly with giants like E I Du Pont De Nemours And Co. DD, Kimberly Clark Corp. KMB and Honeywell International Inc. HON.

Lakeland has been dogged by two full years of net losses stemming from its Brazilian operation, which on April 29 Lakeland decided to sell.

"It should clear Lakeland of a troublesome segment," Furman said.

Lakeland expects to contribute $1.6 million in funding to the buyer, with a closing expected in the second quarter of 2016.

Lakeland in its Form 10-K filed Monday said that as of January 31 it had identified inadequate accounting controls at its operations in both China and Brazil, but that these have been remediated and haven't resulted in accounting misstatements.