AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) Sees Large Drop in Short Interest

AXT, Inc. (NASDAQ:AXTI) was the recipient of a large decline in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 629,400 shares, a decline of 5.4% from the September 30th total of 665,400 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 296,500 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.1 days. Approximately 1.5% of the shares of the company are short sold.

AXT Trading Down 6.2 %

Shares of AXT stock traded down $0.17 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $2.59. 215,163 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,039,329. AXT has a fifty-two week low of $1.89 and a fifty-two week high of $5.64. The company has a market cap of $114.99 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.45 and a beta of 2.23. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $2.48 and a 200 day simple moving average of $3.02.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.02. The company had revenue of $27.92 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.50 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 14.75% and a negative return on equity of 5.87%. During the same quarter last year, the business posted ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that AXT will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of AXT by 1,142.1% during the second quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 377,600 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,276,000 after purchasing an additional 347,200 shares during the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in AXT by 833.3% during the 2nd quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 272,416 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $919,000 after acquiring an additional 243,226 shares during the last quarter. ClariVest Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in AXT during the 1st quarter worth about $743,000. Legato Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in AXT in the 2nd quarter valued at about $503,000. Finally, Cubist Systematic Strategies LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the second quarter worth about $468,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on AXTI shares. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Wedbush restated an “outperform” rating and set a $6.00 price target on shares of AXT in a research note on Monday, July 29th. Finally, StockNews.com downgraded AXT from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 30th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, AXT has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.38.

AXT Company Profile

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.