Wedbush Reiterates “Outperform” Rating for AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI)

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI)‘s stock had its “outperform” rating restated by analysts at Wedbush in a research note issued to investors on Friday,RTT News reports. They currently have a $4.50 price objective on the semiconductor company’s stock, down from their prior price objective of $5.50. Wedbush’s price objective points to a potential upside of 184.81% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also commented on AXTI. B. Riley restated a “buy” rating and set a $6.00 price target (up from $5.50) on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday. Finally, Northland Securities cut their target price on shares of AXT from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.10.

AXT Trading Down 31.0 %

Shares of AXTI traded down $0.71 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $1.58. 6,654,761 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 543,382. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $2.17 and a 200 day moving average price of $2.29. The company has a market cap of $70.71 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.32 and a beta of 2.08. AXT has a 1 year low of $1.56 and a 1 year high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.12) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $25.11 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $23.94 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 10.73% and a negative return on equity of 4.58%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AXT will post -0.22 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in AXT in the fourth quarter worth $28,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in AXT in the fourth quarter worth $29,000. Atlas Brown Inc. bought a new stake in AXT in the fourth quarter worth $42,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new stake in AXT in the fourth quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC bought a new stake in AXT in the fourth quarter worth $60,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AXT

AXT, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, and distributes compound and single element semiconductor substrates. The company offers indium phosphide for use in data center connectivity using light/lasers, high-speed data transfer in data centers, 5G communications, fiber optic lasers and detectors, consumer devices, passive optical networks, silicon photonics, photonic integrated circuits, thermo-photovoltaics, RF amplifier and switching, infrared light-emitting diode (LEDS) motion control, lidar for robotics and autonomous vehicles, and infrared thermal imaging.