Covington, Louisiana-based Pool Corporation (POOL) is the world's leading independent distributor of swimming pool supplies, equipment, and related leisure products. With a market cap of $13.4 billion, Pool operates around 440 locations through its distribution networks and serves over 125,000 wholesale customers worldwide.

Companies worth $10 billion or more are generally described as “large-cap stock,” Pool fits this bill perfectly. Given its extensive operations and customer base, its valuation above this mark is unsurprising. Pool’s operations span the U.S. Canada, Mexico, Europe, and Australia.

Despite its notable strengths, Pool has slipped 16.8% from its 52-week high of $422.73 touched on Mar. 8. Furthermore, Pool has plunged 5.5% over the past three months, underperforming the S&P 500 Index’s ($SPX) 5.4% surge during the same time frame.

Over the longer term, Pool’s performance looks even grimmer. POOL gained 4.1% in the past six months and plummeted 11.2% in the past 52 weeks, significantly underperforming SPX’s 10.9% gains over the past six months and 27% returns over the past year.

To confirm the prior downturn and recent consolidation, Pool dropped below its 50-day moving average in early April and has traded near its 50-day and 200-day moving averages over the past few months.

POOL stock prices soared 7.6% after the release of its better-than-expected Q3 earnings on Oct. 24. The company has observed a 2.8% year-over-year drop in net sales to $1.4 billion due to continued softness in revenues from pool construction and discretionary products. However, the company made additional progress on its Pool360 technology rollouts and digital marketing expansion and observed strong private-label chemical sales growth and steady demand in non-discretionary maintenance products which led to the company outpacing Wall Street’s topline expectations by 2.6%.

Moreover, the company’s gross margin has remained steady at 29.1%, the same as the year-ago quarter, while its adjusted EPS of $3.26 surpassed analysts’ projections by a notable 3.5%, bolstering investor confidence.

While Pool has surpassed its peer Core & Main, Inc.’s (CNM) 2% gains over the past six months, it has significantly underperformed CNM’s 29.7% returns over the year.

Nevertheless, analysts remain optimistic about the stock’s prospects. Among the 12 analysts covering the POOL stock, the consensus rating is a “Moderate Buy.” Its mean price target of $382.40 represents an 8.7% premium to current price levels.