CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) Hits New 1-Year High - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• CommScope stock reached a new 52-week high of $16.98, indicating strong trading activity with over 1.2 million shares exchanged.
• Equities analysts upgraded CommScope’s stock ratings, with Northland Capital raising it to a "strong-buy" and Raymond James setting a price target of $19.00.
• The company posted impressive earnings results, reporting $0.44 EPS and revenue of $1.39 billion, significantly above analysts' expectations.

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $16.98 and last traded at $16.77, with a volume of 1274625 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $16.54.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Northland Securities set a $20.00 price target on shares of CommScope in a research report on Tuesday, August 5th. Bank of America raised shares of CommScope from an "underperform" rating to a "buy" rating and raised their target price for the stock from $4.00 to $20.00 in a report on Thursday, August 7th. Wall Street Zen lowered CommScope from a "strong-buy" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 9th. Northland Capmk upgraded CommScope from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, August 4th. Finally, Citigroup raised CommScope to an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, August 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating and four have issued a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $14.75.

CommScope Price Performance

The business's 50-day simple moving average is $13.43 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $8.26. The stock has a market cap of $3.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 6.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 2.47.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 4th. The communications equipment provider reported $0.44 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.24 by $0.20. The company had revenue of $1.39 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $1.27 billion. CommScope had a negative return on equity of 6.29% and a net margin of 16.61%.CommScope's revenue was up 31.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.34 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that CommScope Holding Company, Inc. will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On CommScope

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in COMM. Deutsche Bank AG grew its holdings in CommScope by 8.2% during the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 10,050,618 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $53,369,000 after acquiring an additional 761,605 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of CommScope by 244.8% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 9,498,510 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $50,437,000 after purchasing an additional 6,743,929 shares during the last quarter. Apollo Management Holdings L.P. acquired a new stake in CommScope in the first quarter valued at $32,806,000. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in CommScope during the 1st quarter worth $13,507,000. Finally, Voloridge Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in CommScope by 38.7% during the 4th quarter. Voloridge Investment Management LLC now owns 1,873,147 shares of the communications equipment provider's stock worth $9,759,000 after buying an additional 522,941 shares during the period. 88.04% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

CommScope Company Profile

CommScope Holding Company, Inc provides infrastructure solutions for communications, data center, and entertainment networks worldwide. The company operates through Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS); Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN); Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions (NICS), and Access Network Solutions (ANS) segments.