CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) Shares Gap Up – Still a Buy?

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $5.61, but opened at $6.84. CommScope shares last traded at $6.41, with a volume of 2,143,523 shares trading hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Separately, Morgan Stanley cut shares of CommScope from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $5.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Tuesday. Three analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and three have given a hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $2.50.

CommScope Price Performance

The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $5.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $3.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.39 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.27 and a beta of 1.95.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.05) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.33 by ($0.38). The business had revenue of $1.08 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.42 billion. CommScope had a negative return on equity of 1.01% and a negative net margin of 18.10%. CommScope’s revenue was up 2.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.10 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that CommScope Holding Company, Inc. will post -0.77 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of CommScope

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. SG Americas Securities LLC grew its position in shares of CommScope by 66.5% during the 2nd quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 89,782 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $110,000 after acquiring an additional 35,846 shares during the period. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC grew its stake in CommScope by 10.4% in the 2nd quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 128,079 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $158,000 after acquiring an additional 12,017 shares during the period. Bank of New York Mellon Corp increased its holdings in CommScope by 7.9% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,194,041 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,469,000 after acquiring an additional 87,530 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers raised its position in CommScope by 23.3% during the second quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 347,323 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 65,605 shares during the period. Finally, Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of CommScope by 319.3% in the second quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 1,251,705 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $1,537,000 after purchasing an additional 953,171 shares during the period. 88.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CommScope Company Profile

CommScope Holding Company, Inc provides infrastructure solutions for communications, data center, and entertainment networks worldwide. The company operates through Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS); Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN); Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions (NICS), and Access Network Solutions (ANS) segments.