Should I Buy UTZ? UTZ 2026 Analysis

Should You Buy UTZ Brands Inc (UTZ) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Conclusion

Buy

Latest Price

10.980

1 Day change

0.46%

52 Week Range

14.670

Analysis Updated At

2026/01/30

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BUY UTZ now for a near-term momentum/swing setup. The tape is modestly bullish (positive/expanding MACD, RSI ~62, price holding above the 10.41 pivot) and options positioning is extremely call-skewed, suggesting traders are leaning bullish. With no proprietary “strong buy” signals today, this isn’t a max-conviction entry, but given your impatience and desire to act now, UTZ offers a reasonable upside setup toward 10.70–10.88 in the short term as long as it holds ~10.11 support.

Technical Analysis

Trend/Setup: Mild bullish bias.

Momentum: MACD histogram is positive (0.0159) and expanding, supporting a continuation move.
RSI: RSI(6) 61.6 = constructive but not overbought.
Moving averages: Converging MAs = compression that often precedes a larger move; MACD suggests the break is more likely up than down.
Key levels: Pivot 10.408. Near-term resistance R1 10.701 then R2 10.882. Support S1 10.114 then S2 9.933.
Interpretation at current ~10.5: Price is above pivot and close to R1; a clean push above 10.70 improves odds of a quick extension toward 10.88.

Intellectia Proprietary Trading Signals

AI Stock Picker: No signal on given stock today.
SwingMax: No signal on given stock recently.

Pattern-based forward odds (provided): 70% chance of +2.58% next day, +1.26% next week, +16.21% next month (supports a buy-now bias for a trader who doesn’t want to wait).

Options Data

Bullish

Open Interest Put-Call Ratio

Bullish

Option Volume Put-Call Ratio

Sentiment: Strongly bullish skew.

Open interest put/call = 0.10 (calls dominate OI: ~19,062 calls vs ~1,840 puts).
Volume put/call = 0.04 (today’s volume heavily call-led: 152 calls vs 6 puts).
Activity vs normal: Volume is ~7.78x average, and today’s open interest is unusually elevated vs typical (~198x), implying fresh positioning/attention.
Volatility: IV(30d) 45.9 vs HV 49.1; IV percentile 62.8 = options are not “cheap,” but flow/positioning is clearly bullish.

Technical Summary

Sell

Buy

Positive Catalysts

- Options market is aggressively bullish (very low put/call ratios + elevated activity), often supporting short-term upside.
- Analysts still positive on direction (Overweight/Outperform maintained despite target cuts).
- Upcoming earnings catalyst: QDEC 2025 earnings on 2026-02-12 (pre-market) can attract pre-positioning if sentiment firms.

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

- Margin pressure: Gross margin down 6.3% YoY in the latest quarter; profitability quality is a concern.
- GLP-1 consumption narrative headwind: Analysts explicitly cite GLP-1 adoption as a modeling overhang for snack/food demand.
- Resistance overhead: Price is approaching 10.70–10.88 resistance zone; failure there could mean a quick pullback toward 10.11 support.
- No recent news support in the past week; move is more flow/technicals-driven right now.

Financial Performance

Latest reported quarter: 2025/Q3.

Revenue: $377.8M, +3.36% YoY (steady growth, not explosive).
Net income: - $14.7M (still a loss, but improved +568.79% YoY).
EPS: -0.17, improved +466.67% YoY (improving trajectory but still negative).
Gross margin: 33.59%, down 6.30% YoY (the key fundamental weak spot; growth is coming with margin compression).

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

Recent analyst trend: price targets were cut but bullish ratings were maintained.

2025-11-21 Piper Sandler: PT $15 down from $19, rating Overweight maintained; cites GLP-1-related modeling and other headwinds/updates.
2025-11-03 Mizuho: PT $16 down from $19, rating Outperform maintained; frames post-earnings selloff as improved risk/reward despite reinvestment pressuring FY2026 margins.

Wall Street pros: Maintained bullish ratings suggest belief in longer-term upside and improved risk/reward after weakness. Wall Street cons: PT cuts signal reduced near-to-mid-term confidence and acknowledgement of structural/industry headwinds (GLP-1) plus margin pressure.

Influential/political trading check: No recent Congress trading data available; hedge funds and insiders are reported neutral with no significant recent trend.

8 Analyst Rating

Wall Street analysts forecast UTZ stock price to rise over the next 12 months. According to Wall Street analysts, the average 1-year price target for UTZ is 14.79 USD with a low forecast of 11.5 USD and a high forecast of 20 USD. However, analyst price targets are subjective and often lag stock prices, so investors should focus on the objective reasons behind analyst rating changes, which better reflect the company's fundamentals.

6 Buy

2 Hold

0 Sell

Strong Buy

Current: 10.930

Low

11.5

Averages

14.79

High

Current: 10.930

Low

11.5

Averages

14.79

High

Piper Sandler

Michael Lavery

Overweight

downgrade

$19 -> $15

AI Analysis

2025-11-21

Reason

Piper Sandler

Michael Lavery

Price Target

$19 -> $15

AI Analysis

2025-11-21

downgrade

Overweight

Reason

Piper Sandler analyst Michael Lavery lowered the firm's price target on Utz Brands (UTZ) to $15 from $19 and keeps an Overweight rating on the shares. The firm says it is updating its models and price targets for recently announced GLP-1 news, higher ABV headwinds, as well as tariff relief and other company specific updates. President Trump recently announced deals with Eli Lilly (LLY) and Novo Nordisk (NVO) to cut GLP-1 drug prices for Medicare and Medicaid beneficiaries in 2026 and offer the treatments directly to consumers at a discount on TrumpRX. Faster user uptake growth in the US appears directionally clear, and Piper now estimates about 20% of the U.S. population could be users by 2028.

Mizuho

Outperform

NULL

downgrade

$19 -> $16

2025-11-03

Reason

Mizuho

Price Target

$19 -> $16

2025-11-03

downgrade

Outperform

NULL

Reason

Mizuho lowered the firm's price target on Utz Brands to $16 from $19 and keeps an Outperform rating on the shares. The firm sees a better risk/reward in the shares following the post-earnings selloff. Utz's long-term growth outlook is strengthened despite its reinvestments hurting fiscal 2026 margins, the analyst tells investors in a research note.

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UTZ Should I Buy

UTZ Should I Buy

Should You Buy UTZ Brands Inc (UTZ) Today? Analysis, Price Targets, and 2026 Outlook.

Technical Analysis

Options Data

Technical Summary

Positive Catalysts

Neutral/Negative Catalysts

Financial Performance

Growth

Profitability

Efficiency

Analyst Ratings and Price Target Trends

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