Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Sees Large Decline in Short Interest

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) was the target of a large drop in short interest in February. As of February 28th, there was short interest totalling 3,050,000 shares, a drop of 20.4% from the February 13th total of 3,830,000 shares. Currently, 4.7% of the shares of the stock are sold short. Based on an average daily volume of 871,300 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.5 days.

Institutional Trading of Daqo New Energy

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of DQ. Point72 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 67.5% during the 4th quarter. Point72 Asset Management L.P. now owns 886,655 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $17,237,000 after buying an additional 357,460 shares in the last quarter. Point72 Europe London LLP acquired a new position in shares of Daqo New Energy during the fourth quarter valued at $3,742,000. Point72 Hong Kong Ltd bought a new position in Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter valued at about $3,287,000. Nuveen Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 16.7% during the 4th quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC now owns 39,200 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $762,000 after purchasing an additional 5,600 shares during the last quarter. Finally, DZ BANK AG Deutsche Zentral Genossenschafts Bank Frankfurt am Main acquired a new position in Daqo New Energy during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,732,000. 47.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Daqo New Energy Price Performance

Shares of DQ stock traded up $0.14 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $19.74. 909,866 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 1,029,432. Daqo New Energy has a 52 week low of $13.62 and a 52 week high of $30.85. The stock has a market cap of $1.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -10.67 and a beta of 0.41. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $19.64 and its 200-day moving average is $19.54.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 27th. The semiconductor company reported ($2.71) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.69) by ($2.02). The company had revenue of $195.36 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $153.54 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative return on equity of 1.90% and a negative net margin of 9.16%. Equities research analysts forecast that Daqo New Energy will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Separately, StockNews.com upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research report on Monday, March 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.26.

About Daqo New Energy

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp.