GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Trading 4.4% Higher – Still a Buy?

GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS) shares rose 4.4% during mid-day trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $22.12 and last traded at $21.95. Approximately 198,719 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 88% from the average daily volume of 1,619,371 shares. The stock had previously closed at $21.02.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have commented on GDS shares. Nomura Securities raised GDS to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of GDS from $12.40 to $22.40 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 27th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada increased their target price on shares of GDS from $14.00 to $26.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, three have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $18.29.

GDS Price Performance

The stock has a market cap of $4.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -6.59 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30, a current ratio of 1.39 and a quick ratio of 1.39. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $17.81 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $12.08.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, August 21st. The company reported ($0.18) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.25) by $0.07. GDS had a negative net margin of 39.96% and a negative return on equity of 9.10%. The business had revenue of $388.92 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $384.14 million. On average, analysts forecast that GDS Holdings Limited will post -1.14 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GDS

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GDS. Blue Trust Inc. grew its position in GDS by 1,558.3% in the third quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,504 shares of the company’s stock valued at $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,353 shares during the period. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of GDS in the 4th quarter worth about $107,000. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of GDS in the 2nd quarter worth about $108,000. Capstone Investment Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of GDS during the 1st quarter worth about $188,000. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP bought a new position in GDS during the 2nd quarter valued at about $203,000. 33.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

GDS Company Profile

GDS Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates data centers in the People's Republic of China. The company provides colocation services comprising critical facilities space, customer-available power, racks, and cooling; managed hosting services, including business continuity and disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating system, database, and server middleware services; managed cloud services; and consulting services.