GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Shares Gap Up – Here’s Why

Shares of GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS) gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $21.16, but opened at $22.64. GDS shares last traded at $21.92, with a volume of 290,510 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

GDS Stock Up 1.9 %

The company’s 50 day moving average is $17.81 and its 200 day moving average is $12.08. The company has a market cap of $4.11 billion, a PE ratio of -6.59 and a beta of 0.24. The company has a current ratio of 1.39, a quick ratio of 1.39 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.30.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GDS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of GDS by 1,558.3% during the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,504 shares of the company’s stock worth $51,000 after acquiring an additional 2,353 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Personalized Indexing Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GDS during the 2nd quarter valued at $108,000. Quadrature Capital Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of GDS in the 4th quarter worth $107,000. Marshall Wace LLP purchased a new position in GDS during the 2nd quarter worth $203,000. Finally, Headlands Technologies LLC acquired a new position in GDS during the 2nd quarter valued at about $256,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

About GDS

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.