Northland Securities Downgrades Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB) to Market Perform

Key Points

• Northland Securities downgraded Astera Labs to “Market Perform” from “Outperform.” Despite several bullish analyst targets, the stock has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $348.33.
• Astera Labs reported strong quarterly results, with earnings of $0.80 per share beating estimates of $0.69 and revenue rising 104.5% year over year to $392.4 million. The shares opened at $347.05, with a market capitalization of approximately $60.2 billion and a notably high P/E ratio of 171.81.
• Company insiders sold 396,059 shares worth approximately $122.6 million over the past 90 days, including sizable sales by two directors under pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plans.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB - Get Free Report) was downgraded by research analysts at Northland Securities from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating in a research note issued on Friday, MarketBeat Ratings reports.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the stock. Stifel Nicolaus increased their price objective on shares of Astera Labs from $260.00 to $460.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Jefferies Financial Group upped their price objective on Astera Labs from $270.00 to $450.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 5th. Morgan Stanley lifted their target price on Astera Labs to $335.00 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 3rd. Roth Capital reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $450.00 price target on shares of Astera Labs in a report on Wednesday, August 5th. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded shares of Astera Labs from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Monday. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and eleven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $348.33.

Astera Labs Stock Down 9.2%

Astera Labs stock opened at $347.05 on Friday. The firm's fifty day moving average is $316.82 and its 200 day moving average is $290.03. Astera Labs has a 12-month low of $97.89 and a 12-month high of $499.48. The company has a market capitalization of $60.21 billion, a PE ratio of 171.81 and a beta of 3.68.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Tuesday, August 4th. The company reported $0.80 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.11. Astera Labs had a return on equity of 19.24% and a net margin of 30.74%.The company had revenue of $392.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $360.85 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.44 earnings per share. Astera Labs's revenue for the quarter was up 104.5% on a year-over-year basis. Astera Labs has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 1.160-1.210 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Astera Labs will post 2.7 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Astera Labs

In other news, Director Manuel Alba sold 183,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, September 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $280.13, for a total value of $51,263,790.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 253,863 shares of the company's stock, valued at $71,114,642.19. This trade represents a 41.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Stefan Dyckerhoff sold 8,994 shares of Astera Labs stock in a transaction on Wednesday, September 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $274.96, for a total value of $2,472,990.24. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 3,309 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $909,842.64. This trade represents a 73.10% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 396,059 shares of company stock valued at $122,605,660. 10.40% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Astera Labs by 102.8% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 6,043 shares of the company's stock valued at $2,151,000 after buying an additional 3,063 shares during the period. CoreCap Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of Astera Labs by 21.0% in the third quarter. CoreCap Advisors LLC now owns 749 shares of the company's stock valued at $267,000 after acquiring an additional 130 shares during the period. Cooper Financial Group purchased a new position in Astera Labs during the third quarter valued at approximately $203,000. MRA Advisory Group grew its stake in Astera Labs by 19.6% during the third quarter. MRA Advisory Group now owns 4,299 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,530,000 after acquiring an additional 705 shares in the last quarter. Finally, QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its holdings in Astera Labs by 8.7% during the 2nd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 4,775 shares of the company's stock worth $2,306,000 after acquiring an additional 381 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.47% of the company's stock.

Astera Labs Company Profile

Astera Labs, Inc is a fabless semiconductor company that develops connectivity solutions for cloud and artificial intelligence infrastructure. Its products are designed to help data centers connect and manage processors, memory, storage, and networking components in high-performance computing systems.

The company's portfolio includes Aries PCI Express and Compute Express Link (CXL) smart memory controllers, Scorpio PCIe switches, Taurus Ethernet fabric switches, and Leo CXL memory connectivity products.

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