FARO Technologies (NASDAQ:FARO) Cut to “Buy” at StockNews.com

StockNews.com downgraded shares of FARO Technologies (NASDAQ:FARO) from a strong-buy rating to a buy rating in a research note published on Sunday morning.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the company. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on FARO Technologies from $34.00 to $37.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 25th. Craig Hallum increased their target price on shares of FARO Technologies from $30.00 to $33.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th.

FARO Technologies Price Performance

Shares of FARO Technologies stock opened at $28.72 on Friday. FARO Technologies has a twelve month low of $13.52 and a twelve month high of $33.13. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.27, a quick ratio of 1.83 and a current ratio of 2.17. The firm has a market cap of $545.16 million, a P/E ratio of -82.05 and a beta of 1.55. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $29.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $24.69.

FARO Technologies (NASDAQ:FARO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 24th. The scientific and technical instruments company reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.40 by $0.10. FARO Technologies had a negative return on equity of 2.49% and a negative net margin of 1.87%. The company had revenue of $93.54 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $91.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.36 earnings per share.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Yuval Wasserman sold 5,658 shares of FARO Technologies stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, February 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $31.35, for a total value of $177,378.30. Following the completion of the transaction, the director now directly owns 153,512 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $4,812,601.20. The trade was a 3.55 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Peter James Lau sold 4,617 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 7th. The stock was sold at an average price of $29.30, for a total transaction of $135,278.10. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 160,076 shares in the company, valued at approximately $4,690,226.80. This represents a 2.80 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 11,755 shares of company stock worth $356,020 in the last three months. Insiders own 2.10% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of FARO Technologies

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP bought a new position in FARO Technologies in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. National Bank of Canada FI bought a new position in FARO Technologies in the fourth quarter valued at about $55,000. Lazard Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in FARO Technologies in the fourth quarter worth about $78,000. Covestor Ltd bought a new stake in FARO Technologies during the 4th quarter worth about $111,000. Finally, Aquatic Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in FARO Technologies during the 4th quarter worth about $155,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 97.19% of the company’s stock.

FARO Technologies Company Profile

FARO Technologies, Inc designs, develops, manufactures, markets, and supports software driven three-dimensional measurement, imaging, and realization solutions worldwide. The company offers FaroArm, a combination of a portable articulated measurement arm, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser Tracker, a combination of a portable large-volume laser measurement tool, a computer, and CAM2 software programs; FARO Laser Projector, which provides a virtual template that operators and assemblers can use to position components; FARO Laser Scanning Portfolio to measure and collect a cloud of data points for 3D rendering of an object or area; and FARO Mobile Laser Portfolio provides 3D scanning while attached to other mobile devices, such as drones for metrology, reverse engineering, factory automation, building information modeling, public safety, and other applications.