Flex (NASDAQ:FLEX) Shares Gap Up on Strong Earnings

Flex Ltd. (NASDAQ:FLEX) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $40.59, but opened at $42.28. Flex shares last traded at $41.62, with a volume of 1,446,803 shares traded.

The technology company reported $0.70 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.63 by $0.07. Flex had a net margin of 3.62% and a return on equity of 16.66%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

FLEX has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Flex from $43.00 to $49.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp assumed coverage on Flex in a research note on Tuesday, October 22nd. They set an “overweight” rating and a $41.00 price target on the stock. Stifel Nicolaus boosted their price objective on Flex from $40.00 to $48.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, December 10th. The Goldman Sachs Group set a $39.00 target price on shares of Flex in a research report on Thursday, October 17th. Finally, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Flex from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, January 24th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Flex has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $43.67.

Insider Activity

In other Flex news, Director Charles K. Stevens III sold 13,157 shares of Flex stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, November 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.69, for a total value of $509,044.33. Following the sale, the director now owns 55,713 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,155,535.97. The trade was a 19.10 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.82% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Flex

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Bank of Montreal Can boosted its position in shares of Flex by 73.3% during the 2nd quarter. Bank of Montreal Can now owns 60,936 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,877,000 after purchasing an additional 25,765 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC grew its position in Flex by 6.8% during the second quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 226,303 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $6,674,000 after buying an additional 14,473 shares during the period. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its holdings in Flex by 6.2% in the second quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 277,406 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $8,181,000 after buying an additional 16,085 shares in the last quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Flex by 353.7% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 102,234 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $3,015,000 after acquiring an additional 79,700 shares during the period. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Flex in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $43,000. 94.30% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Flex Stock Up 1.4 %

The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.95 and a two-hundred day moving average of $35.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $16.32 billion, a PE ratio of 18.62, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 1.10. The company has a current ratio of 1.43, a quick ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.64.

Flex Company Profile

Flex Ltd. provides technology, supply chain, and manufacturing solutions in Asia, the Americas, and Europe. It operates through three segments: Flex Agility Solutions (FAS), Flex Reliability Solutions (FRS), and Nextracker. The FAS segment offers flexible supply and manufacturing system comprising communications, enterprise and cloud solution, which includes data, edge, and communications infrastructure; lifestyle solution including appliances, consumer packaging, floorcare, micro mobility, and audio; and consumer devices, such as mobile and high velocity consumer devices.