Ipsos shares fall 2% and drop 8% over the quarter, below their moving averages

A 2.24% decline leaves the share price on its moving averages

Ipsos shares fell 2.24% to €35.86, in an SBF 120 that lost 1.64% after a difficult session on Wall Street, where the Nasdaq dropped 5.52% on Thursday.

The stock is in the lower part of the index ranking, without being among the largest decliners. This decline brings it back exactly onto its moving averages: the 20-day moving average (MM20) is at €36.01 and the 50-day moving average (MM50) at €35.96, with gaps of less than 0.5% from the share price, while the 200-day moving average (MM200), at €36.07, is slightly above.

Over the week, performance remains positive, at +1.41%. This series of contacts gives the day's move the character of a test, with immediate support at €35.06. However, the stock remains down 8% over three months.

Third-quarter results and a share buyback already 73% executed

On October 23, the group had published its results for the first nine months, with organic growth of 2.0% in the third quarter, compared with 0.8% in the first half. At the same time, it had revised its annual organic growth target, now between 1.2% and 1.5%, versus "around 2%" for the half-year.

The company cited among its risks the conflict in the Middle East and the weakness of the Americas segment, where organic growth fell 1.2% in the third quarter.

On the supportive side, the €57 million share buyback programme announced on July 22 is about 73% executed as of November 3, i.e. €42 million already repurchased.

In terms of valuation, the consensus of the analysts surveyed puts the projected price-to-earnings ratio (P/E) at 7.0 times earnings for the current financial year. The group also entrusted the management of its Americas activities to Mitch Barns, former head of Nielsen, on October 29; he took up the role on November 2.