GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Rating Increased to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Zacks Research upgraded shares of GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) from a hold rating to a strong-buy rating in a report published on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Piper Sandler set a $36.00 price objective on shares of GDS in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $64.00 price objective on shares of GDS in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Weiss Ratings raised shares of GDS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, TD Cowen lowered their price objective on shares of GDS from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.04.

GDS Price Performance

GDS stock opened at $32.96 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $6.60 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.99 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a current ratio of 1.87 and a quick ratio of 1.87. GDS has a 1 year low of $26.50 and a 1 year high of $48.61. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $39.55 and a two-hundred day moving average of $40.25.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last released its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.03) by $1.56. The company had revenue of $426.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $436.44 million. GDS had a net margin of 23.83% and a return on equity of 15.62%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.47 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that GDS will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at GDS

In other news, VP Yixin Qian sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total value of $352,500.00. Following the completion of the sale, the vice president owned 66,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,356,991.25. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, Director Judy Qing Ye sold 37,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total transaction of $1,354,036.74. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 7.99% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of GDS. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its stake in shares of GDS by 77.7% during the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,004,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,115,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,658 shares in the last quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP raised its stake in shares of GDS by 45.0% during the 4th quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 9,300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,570,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885,000 shares in the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of GDS during the 1st quarter worth approximately $68,092,000. Barclays PLC raised its stake in shares of GDS by 20,731.3% during the 4th quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,720,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,037,000 after acquiring an additional 1,711,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carrhae Capital LLP raised its stake in shares of GDS by 295.4% during the 3rd quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP now owns 1,648,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,788,000 after acquiring an additional 1,231,375 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

About GDS

GDS Holdings Limited, founded in 2001 and headquartered in Shanghai, is a leading network-neutral data center services provider in China. The company operates a portfolio of state-of-the-art data center facilities designed to support the mission-critical IT infrastructure of cloud service providers, internet enterprises, financial institutions, and government entities. GDS was among the first Chinese providers to offer high-density colocation solutions, catering to customers with demanding computing and storage requirements.

GDS specializes in delivering scalable colocation, cross-connect, and interconnection services within its facilities, enabling clients to establish high-speed, low-latency connections to major cloud platforms and internet exchange points.