Zacks Research Upgrades GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) to “Strong-Buy”

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

A number of other research firms have also recently issued reports on GDS. 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. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler set a $36.00 target price on shares of GDS in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of GDS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of GDS in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.04.

GDS Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GDS opened at $32.96 on Tuesday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $39.55 and a 200-day moving average of $40.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.60 billion, a PE ratio of 20.99 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. GDS has a 12 month low of $26.50 and a 12 month high of $48.61.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last issued its earnings results on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $1.53 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 business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $3.47 EPS. On average, equities research analysts predict that GDS will post 5.65 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at GDS

In other GDS news, VP Yixin Qian sold 10,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $352,500.00. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 66,865 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,356,991.25. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, Director Judy Qing Ye sold 37,394 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in GDS. AI Squared Management Ltd increased its holdings in GDS by 793.5% during the third quarter. AI Squared Management Ltd now owns 98,280 shares of the company’s stock worth $3,803,000 after buying an additional 87,280 shares during the last quarter. Hidden Lake Asset Management LP increased its holdings in GDS by 16.3% during the third quarter. Hidden Lake Asset Management LP now owns 205,496 shares of the company’s stock worth $7,953,000 after buying an additional 28,806 shares during the last quarter. Aberdeen Group plc increased its holdings in GDS by 27.5% during the fourth quarter. Aberdeen Group plc now owns 576,498 shares of the company’s stock worth $20,120,000 after buying an additional 124,473 shares during the last quarter. Pictet Asset Management Holding SA purchased a new stake in GDS during the fourth quarter worth about $4,983,000. Finally, Elevate Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in GDS during the fourth quarter worth about $552,000. 33.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.