Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO) Shares Gap Up - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Criteo shares opened higher, rising from a prior close of $17.82 to $18.47 before trading at $18.3050. The company has a market capitalization of approximately $908 million.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed: six analysts rate the stock Buy, four Hold, and one Sell, resulting in an overall “Hold” rating and a consensus price target of $23.15.
• Criteo exceeded quarterly earnings expectations with EPS of $0.80 versus the $0.71 consensus, although revenue fell 11.3% year over year. Insiders sold shares recently to cover tax obligations, while institutional investors own 94.27% of the stock.

Criteo S.A. (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $17.82, but opened at $18.47. Criteo shares last traded at $18.3050, with a volume of 38,686 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of Criteo in a research report on Friday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Criteo from $29.00 to $25.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Wedbush assumed coverage on Criteo in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $30.00 target price for the company. Sanford C. Bernstein lowered Criteo from an "outperform" rating to a "market perform" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $35.00 to $20.50 in a research report on Thursday, August 6th. Finally, Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Criteo in a research note on Friday. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, four have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Criteo has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $23.15.

Criteo Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $908.02 million, a PE ratio of 9.43 and a beta of 0.29. The stock's 50 day moving average is $19.71 and its two-hundred day moving average is $18.66.

Criteo (NASDAQ:CRTO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, August 5th. The information services provider reported $0.80 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.09. Criteo had a return on equity of 14.33% and a net margin of 5.60%.The company had revenue of $428.02 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $263.40 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.92 EPS. Criteo's quarterly revenue was down 11.3% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Criteo S.A. will post 2.94 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Criteo news, CEO Michael Komasinski sold 15,559 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total value of $268,081.57. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 345,547 shares in the company, valued at approximately $5,953,774.81. This trade represents a 4.31% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, insider Ryan Damon sold 6,178 shares of Criteo stock in a transaction on Thursday, August 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $17.23, for a total transaction of $106,446.94. Following the sale, the insider directly owned 167,765 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,890,590.95. This trade represents a 3.55% decrease in their position. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 30,487 shares of company stock worth $524,872. 1.52% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Criteo

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Criteo by 61.1% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 3,465 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $63,000 after acquiring an additional 1,314 shares during the last quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Criteo by 357.9% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 4,126 shares of the information services provider's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 3,225 shares during the last quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC lifted its stake in Criteo by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 1,769,644 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $31,774,000 after purchasing an additional 77,145 shares in the last quarter. Amundi lifted its stake in Criteo by 24.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 69,835 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $1,252,000 after purchasing an additional 13,623 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Senvest Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Criteo by 4.5% during the 1st quarter. Senvest Management LLC now owns 4,597,322 shares of the information services provider's stock worth $82,430,000 after purchasing an additional 200,000 shares during the last quarter. 94.27% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Criteo Company Profile

Criteo is a global technology company specializing in digital performance advertising and commerce media solutions. The company provides a range of AI-driven ad products designed to help brands, retailers, and agencies deliver personalized promotional messages to consumers across web, mobile, and connected TV environments. By leveraging large-scale data analytics and machine learning algorithms, Criteo's platform optimizes the timing, placement, and creative of ads to drive engagement and conversions.

At the core of Criteo's offering is its dynamic retargeting solution, which enables advertisers to automatically generate and display personalized product recommendations based on user behavior.

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