PreMarket Prep Stock Of The Day: Levi Strauss

Benzinga's PreMarket Prep airs every morning from 8-9 a.m. ET. During that fast-paced, highly informative hour, traders and investors tune in to get the major news of the day, the catalysts behind those moves and the corresponding price action for the upcoming session.

On any given day, the show will cover at least 20 stocks determined by co-hosts Joel Elconin and Dennis Dick along with producer Spencer Israel.

Several beaten-down retail stocks are making a comeback, including Wednesday's PreMarket Prep Stock of the Day: Levi Strauss & Co. LEVI. 

Levi's Small Pop, Big Drop Off IPO: Levi Strauss made its Wall Street debut on March 21, 2019 and ended its inaugural session at $22.41. 

Levi managed to reach $24.50 on April 16, 2019. After a retreat off its all-time-high, it revisited that area in July but came up shy, reaching only $23.74 before entering an extended decline. 

It drifted lower until putting in a trio of lows at the $16.40 area in mid-November 2019. 

The stock finally found buyers on April 3 of this year ($9.09) and reversed course. 

Levi's Rebound Halts In June: The rally took the issue on June 5 to $16.95, and it posted its high for the rebound that same day at $16.07. 

It was unable to sustain those gains and went into reverse. By mid-July, it had found major buyers in the $12 area. 

In fact, it made a series of 22 consecutive lows between its ultimate low for the break ($11.82) and $12.38 from July 15 through Aug. 2.  

Buyers Up Bids Ahead Of Levi's Q3 Report: The issue crept higher for the remainder of August and into the end of September, ending the month at $13.40. 

Levi's had a significant up day Oct. 1, rallying from $13.40 to $13.94 on higher-than-average volume, and the continuation move took the issue as high as $15.27. Levi's posted its highest close for the rally on Monday at $15.10.

Levi's Q3 Beat: After the close on Tuesday, the company announced a third-quarter EPS beat of 30 cents along with a sales beat of $238 million. 

Of course, the beat was aided by a 9% increase in e-commerce sales that helped offset store weakness. The company provided in-line fourth-quarter EPS guidance, but expects sales to be down 14%-15% year-over-year.

Levi's Price Action: When the issue was being covered during the PreMarket Prep show on Wednesday it was trading at the $16.50 area. 

The author of this article thought the issue could breach its premarket high and make a run into $17 handle.

Levi's found sellers off the open just the above the premarket high ($16.77), reaching $16.85, and then it reversed course. 

Since peaking it has drifted lower, but has yet to reach the top of Tuesday’s range ($15.26).

The stock was trading 4.82% higher at $15.45 at last check Wednesday. 

The full discussion on the issue from today’s show can be found here: