B. Riley Reiterates Buy Rating for AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI)

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI)‘s stock had its “buy” rating reaffirmed by analysts at B. Riley in a note issued to investors on Friday,Benzinga reports. They presently have a $6.00 target price on the semiconductor company’s stock, up from their prior target price of $5.50. B. Riley’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 256.08% from the stock’s previous close.

Several other research firms have also recently commented on AXTI. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “buy” rating and set a $5.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday. Wedbush reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $5.50 price objective on shares of AXT in a research report on Friday, February 7th. Finally, Northland Securities dropped their target price on shares of AXT from $6.00 to $5.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, AXT currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $5.30.

AXT Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:AXTI traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $1.69. 2,570,994 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 408,191. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $2.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.30. AXT has a 12 month low of $1.61 and a 12 month high of $5.64. The stock has a market capitalization of $75.40 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.80 and a beta of 2.08.

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 company had revenue of $25.11 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $23.94 million. AXT had a negative net margin of 10.73% and a negative return on equity of 4.58%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that AXT will post -0.22 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Bleakley Financial Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the fourth quarter valued at $29,000. Atlas Brown Inc. purchased a new position in shares of AXT during the 4th quarter valued at $42,000. Virtu Financial LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT during the 4th quarter worth $54,000. Finally, Jane Street Group LLC purchased a new stake in AXT in the 4th quarter worth about $60,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 49.52% of the company’s stock.

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.