Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) Lifted to Strong-Buy at Nomura Securities

Nomura Securities upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) to a strong-buy rating in a research note issued to investors on Wednesday morning, Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on DQ. The Goldman Sachs Group initiated coverage on Daqo New Energy in a research note on Thursday, July 11th. They issued a buy rating for the company. Hsbc Global Res upgraded Daqo New Energy from a moderate sell rating to a hold rating in a research report on Tuesday. StockNews.com cut Daqo New Energy from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 13th. HSBC raised shares of Daqo New Energy from a reduce rating to a hold rating and set a $15.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Roth Mkm lowered their price target on shares of Daqo New Energy from $23.00 to $15.00 and set a neutral rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have given a hold rating, two have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Daqo New Energy presently has a consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE DQ opened at $14.71 on Wednesday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $15.98 and its 200-day moving average price is $20.11. Daqo New Energy has a 52-week low of $13.62 and a 52-week high of $37.92. The company has a market cap of $970.96 million, a PE ratio of 6.91 and a beta of 0.28.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last posted its earnings results on Monday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($1.81) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by ($1.25). The company had revenue of $219.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.50 million. Daqo New Energy had a return on equity of 2.46% and a net margin of 7.84%. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.34 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Daqo New Energy will post 0.46 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Daqo New Energy declared that its board has approved a stock repurchase plan on Monday, July 22nd that authorizes the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to reacquire up to 8.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are generally a sign that the company’s leadership believes its shares are undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Boston Partners acquired a new stake in Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,016,000. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of Daqo New Energy by 142.1% in the 1st quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 696,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,617,000 after acquiring an additional 409,057 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter worth $471,000. Franchise Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Daqo New Energy in the fourth quarter worth $4,788,000. Finally, CoreCommodity Management LLC acquired a new stake in Daqo New Energy during the 4th quarter worth about $2,291,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

Daqo New Energy Company Profile

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp.