Jacobs Solutions reports second-quarter 2026 results on May 5, arriving at a juncture where the stock trades below analyst targets yet shows early signs of positioning pressure easing.
The borrow market tells a relaxed story heading into the print. Availability is wide open — cost to borrow has fallen 39% over the past month to just 0.30%, and availability is ample, nowhere near the tight conditions that would signal aggressive short positioning. Short interest has climbed 27% over the past month to 3.8% of free float, a meaningful build in absolute terms, but the ORTEX short score of 39 — ranking in the 37th percentile of the universe — confirms that short pressure remains moderate rather than extreme. Days to cover runs around 6.2 on the official FINRA reading, long enough to take note but not long enough to read as a genuine squeeze setup.
Options traders are marginally more bullish than usual. The put/call ratio has dipped to 0.36, slightly below its 20-day average of 0.40 — near the lower end of its recent range. That suggests call demand is ticking up, though the RSI at 53 and a YTD price decline of 2.3% to $128.92 frame the backdrop as neutral rather than excited. The stock has recovered roughly 1.3% over the past month after a bruising Q4 2025 period.
The analyst community has been gradually trimming expectations without abandoning the bull thesis. Baird lowered its target to $126 in mid-April — sitting marginally below the current price — while maintaining a Neutral rating. The mean analyst target of $155.87 implies about 20% upside from current levels, and Goldman Sachs, which initiated with a Buy and a $158 target in late 2025, has not walked back that view. Bulls point to Jacobs' backlog growth and margin expansion trajectory. Bears flag that adjusted operating profit has undershot consensus estimates, margin pressure from the infrastructure bill transition has not fully resolved, and the fiscal 2026 EBITDA outlook remains conservative against a demanding multiple at 12.6x EV/EBITDA. The 17.4x trailing P/E has been essentially flat over the past month, suggesting the market is waiting for numbers rather than pre-positioning on a view.
The most recent prior earnings print — in early February — saw the stock gain 4.7% on the day and 10.4% over the following five days. Tuesday's print is therefore less a referendum on whether Jacobs can grow and more a test of whether management can deliver margin performance convincingly enough to close the gap between $128 and a target consensus closer to $156.
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