Blue Apron Shares Balloon 145 Pct Since Last Year

Blue Apron shares jumped to their highest level on Tuesday (February 12) since September as the subscriptions company has seen its shares go up nearly 145 percent since last year.

According to Bloomberg, the meal kit delivery company’s shares have more than doubled in value since December, gaining as much as 6.6 percent in their third straight daily gain.

The boost can be largely attributed to the company’s recent partnership with WW, formerly known as Weight Watchers. Blue Apron chief executive Brad Dickerson said at the time that the deal, which has Blue Apron creating healthy meals for dieters, gives his company the ability to reach millions of customers without having to spend additional funds on advertising and promotions. Blue Apron pays WW when it gets subscriptions from the partnership, although Dickerson declined to reveal the financial terms of the deal.

Blue Apron has been busy making other deals as well. In October, it announced a partnership with Grubhub to offer a  selection of meals to customers within certain areas in New York City on the Grubhub and Seamless platforms.  And earlier this month, it announced that Jet.com would be offering Knick Knacks, specialty recipe ingredient kits from Blue Apron that allow people to combine a chosen protein and produce, and come with step-by-step recipes to prepare the meal kit. Jet is the first to offer a variety of Knick Knacks for same-day or following-day delivery across the New York City area.

At the beginning of the year, Blue Apron revealed that it will become profitable during both the first quarter of 2019 and the full fiscal year.

Yet Bloomberg pointed out the company still remains down nearly 60 percent from a recent peak in June, leading to only one analyst offering the stock a buy rating, while 13 rate it a hold. Blue Apron shares now have an average price target of $1.54 — about 4 percent below current levels.