Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD) Raised to Strong-Buy at Zacks Research

Key Points

• Zacks Research upgraded Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD) from hold to strong-buy, adding to a generally bullish analyst backdrop. The stock now has an average Wall Street rating of Buy with an average price target of $113.
• Diodes reported better-than-expected Q1 earnings, posting $0.43 EPS versus the $0.35 consensus estimate. Revenue also topped forecasts at $405.47 million, up 22.1% year over year.
• Shares were trading at $101.96 after the report, with the stock moving near its 52-week high of $117.80. Recent insider selling included a sale by Jin Zhao and a larger prior sale by director Keh Shew Lu.

Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD - Get Free Report) was upgraded by equities research analysts at Zacks Research from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Tuesday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Benchmark upped their price objective on Diodes from $62.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, February 11th. Robert W. Baird set a $120.00 target price on Diodes in a report on Friday, May 8th. Wall Street Zen raised Diodes from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Truist Financial upped their target price on Diodes from $98.00 to $139.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised Diodes from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, three have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Diodes presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $113.00.

Diodes Price Performance

Shares of DIOD stock opened at $101.96 on Tuesday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.97, a current ratio of 3.17 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. Diodes has a twelve month low of $42.28 and a twelve month high of $117.80. The company has a market cap of $4.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 55.41 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $82.29 and a 200 day simple moving average of $64.57.

Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.08. Diodes had a return on equity of 3.48% and a net margin of 5.50%.The business had revenue of $405.47 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $396.33 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.19 EPS. Diodes's revenue for the quarter was up 22.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Diodes will post 2.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, insider Jin Zhao sold 2,760 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, May 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $102.36, for a total value of $282,513.60. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 47,220 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,833,439.20. This represents a 5.52% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director Keh Shew Lu sold 111,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.76, for a total value of $7,521,360.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 180,131 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $12,205,676.56. The trade was a 38.13% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 136,611 shares of company stock worth $10,199,935. Company insiders own 1.70% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diodes

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Captrust Financial Advisors increased its stake in shares of Diodes by 3.1% in the fourth quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 4,882 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $241,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the period. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Diodes by 2.3% in the fourth quarter. Verdence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 8,430 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $416,000 after buying an additional 186 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of Diodes by 1.4% in the third quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 13,720 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $730,000 after buying an additional 189 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Diodes by 51.4% in the fourth quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 589 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Finally, Strs Ohio increased its stake in shares of Diodes by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Strs Ohio now owns 9,100 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $449,000 after buying an additional 200 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 99.23% of the company's stock.

Diodes Company Profile

Diodes Incorporated NASDAQ: DIOD is a global manufacturer and supplier of high‐performance discrete, logic, analog and mixed‐signal semiconductor products. Headquartered in Plano, Texas, the company designs and develops a broad range of discrete components, standard logic functions, power management circuits, interface products and array products. Its portfolio includes rectifiers, MOSFETs, general‐purpose diodes, voltage regulators, comparators, buffers and other building blocks for electronic systems.

Diodes Incorporated serves a variety of end markets such as automotive, computing, communications, consumer electronics, industrial and lighting.

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