What Happened?
Shares of vocational education Universal Technical Institute (NYSE: UTI) jumped 3.4% in the afternoon session after the stock extended its positive momentum as Truist Securities reiterated its Buy rating and $40 price target on the stock.
The firm's continued confidence followed a series of investor meetings with Universal Technical Institute's CEO Jerome Grant and CFO Bruce Schuman. This positive view was supported by the company's recent third-quarter 2025 earnings report, which surpassed analyst expectations. Universal Technical Institute posted earnings per share of $0.19, beating the forecast of $0.11, while revenue also came in higher at $204.3 million against projections.
After the initial pop the shares cooled down to $31.79, up 3.5% from previous close.
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What Is The Market Telling Us
Universal Technical Institute’s shares are quite volatile and have had 18 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 15 days ago when the stock gained 2.9% on the news that the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) report came in largely as expected, reinforcing investor hopes for an upcoming Federal Reserve interest rate cut.
Data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics showed headline inflation for August at a 2.9% annual rate, with core inflation, which excludes volatile food and energy prices, holding steady at 3.1%. While inflation remains above the Federal Reserve's target, Wall Street interpreted the figures as not being high enough to prevent a widely anticipated rate reduction at the central bank's meeting the next week.
Universal Technical Institute is up 25.1% since the beginning of the year, but at $31.79 per share, it is still trading 11.5% below its 52-week high of $35.90 from June 2025. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Universal Technical Institute’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $5,876.
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