AXT’s (AXTI) “Buy” Rating Reaffirmed at Needham & Company LLC

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a research note issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. They presently have a $5.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock. Needham & Company LLC’s target price points to a potential upside of 35.14% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on AXTI. Craig Hallum raised shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lifted their price target for the company from $2.25 to $3.75 in a research note on Friday, February 23rd. B. Riley lifted their price target on shares of AXT from $3.80 to $5.50 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, April 5th. Wedbush reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday. Finally, StockNews.com cut shares of AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, March 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $5.30.

AXT Price Performance

NASDAQ:AXTI opened at $3.70 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $163.72 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.60 and a beta of 2.24. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $3.83 and a 200-day moving average price of $2.85. AXT has a 1-year low of $1.89 and a 1-year high of $5.64.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 22nd. The semiconductor company reported ($0.09) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.14) by $0.05. AXT had a negative net margin of 23.59% and a negative return on equity of 7.80%. The firm had revenue of $20.43 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $17.62 million. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that AXT will post -0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in AXT by 866.1% during the 4th quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 256,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 230,013 shares during the last quarter. Brookstone Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of AXT during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of AXT by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Pacific Ridge Capital Partners LLC now owns 1,232,069 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $2,957,000 after acquiring an additional 21,973 shares during the last quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP boosted its position in shares of AXT by 127.3% during the 3rd quarter. GSA Capital Partners LLP now owns 377,321 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $906,000 after acquiring an additional 211,351 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Barclays PLC acquired a new position in shares of AXT during the 3rd quarter valued at about $60,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

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.