Analysts raised the stock target on Ituran, which searches for stolen cars. What did they see?

Shares of Ituran Location and Control, an Israeli small-cap company listed in the US, which provides satellite-based transportation monitoring services, should be 15% more expensive than the current quotations, according to a report by Freedom Broker. The company's new development initiatives will support the growth of its subscriber base, while dividends and share buyback will support the price of the securities, analysts explain.

The fair value of shares of Ituran, whose solutions allow, among other things, to search for stolen cars, is $57, according to an investment note by Freedom (available from Oninvest). This is almost 15% more expensive than the company's stock at the close of trading on March 9 and 16% higher than Freedom's previous target.

Analysts raised their target price on Ituran shares after it reported fourth-quarter and full-year 2025 earnings on March 5. The company's quarterly revenue rose 13% year-over-year to $93.5 million, net income rose 10.4% to $15.3 million, and diluted earnings per share (EPS) rose 10% to $0.77. The latter figure exceeded analysts' consensus estimates by nearly 3%, Freedom wrote.

Ituran recorded "record financial performance across all lines of business" for the year, the company said in a statement. Its revenue increased 7% to $359 million, net income increased 8% to $58 million, and EPS increased 8.1% to $2.92

This allowed the company to announce last week a special dividend totaling $20 million in addition to a $10 million quarterly dividend - a total of $60 million, or more than 100% of net income for the past year. Also in early March, Ituran announced a new $10 million share repurchase program.

Freedom believes the announced dividend and buyback will support the stock price.

Ituran plans to expand its target market through three initiatives, Ituran Co-Executive Director Eyal Sheratzky said (his words quoted in a company statement).

One of them is related to the launch of IturanMob's platform on the US market. It is aimed at small car rental companies and allows users to find and book cars and companies to manage their fleet.

The second initiative, which Sheracki said would have to monetize Ituran's long-standing database by providing anonymized information to third parties.

Another initiative is called Credit Carbon, it helps electric car owners connect with buyers of carbon credits, and thus monetize their footprint. It works like this: low-emission companies sell surplus emission credits to those who exceed the limits. The latter can thus offset their carbon footprint.

Analysts also draw investors' attention to the expansion of Ituran's cooperation with the Stellantis car company, which concerns the installation of the Israeli company's solutions in Fiat Strada cars in South America.

All of these initiatives will have a positive impact on Ituran's subscriber growth and revenue, but the noticeable effect of most of them will occur between 2027 and 2028, Freedom's review suggests.

Since the beginning of the year, quotations of Ituran jumped by 15.5%.

The company is followed by only two Wall Street analysts and both recommend buying its securities. The average target price is $56, implying a potential upside of almost 13% to the last closing price.