Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Short Interest Update

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) was the recipient of a significant growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,920,000 shares, a growth of 9.8% from the September 30th total of 3,570,000 shares. Currently, 6.0% of the shares of the company are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 959,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Daqo New Energy

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of DQ. Mackenzie Financial Corp lifted its stake in Daqo New Energy by 6.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,496,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,456,000 after purchasing an additional 149,610 shares during the last quarter. Ariose Capital Management Ltd raised its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 23.9% during the 2nd quarter. Ariose Capital Management Ltd now owns 1,181,124 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $17,244,000 after acquiring an additional 228,200 shares during the period. Sylebra Capital LLC raised its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 103.9% during the 2nd quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 943,692 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,778,000 after acquiring an additional 480,980 shares during the period. Point72 Asset Management L.P. bought a new position in shares of Daqo New Energy in the second quarter worth $11,080,000. Finally, BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its holdings in shares of Daqo New Energy by 142.1% in the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 696,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $19,617,000 after purchasing an additional 409,057 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DQ has been the topic of several research analyst reports. StockNews.com upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Daqo New Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Daiwa America upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “hold” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 9th. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Daqo New Energy from $38.40 to $34.05 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. Finally, Nomura Securities upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and two have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Daqo New Energy has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Stock Up 1.8 %

Shares of DQ stock traded up $0.40 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $22.66. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,451,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,188,038. Daqo New Energy has a fifty-two week low of $13.62 and a fifty-two week high of $30.85. The company has a market capitalization of $1.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -22.20 and a beta of 0.32. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $18.42 and its 200-day simple moving average is $18.47.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last announced its earnings results on Monday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($1.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.56) by ($1.25). The company had revenue of $219.91 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.50 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative return on equity of 1.04% and a negative net margin of 4.11%. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.34 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that Daqo New Energy will post -3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Daqo New Energy announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share repurchase plan on Monday, July 22nd that permits the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization permits the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 8.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase plans are often a sign that the company’s board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

About Daqo New Energy

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.