Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD) Reaches New 12-Month High - What's Next?

Key Points

• Diodes reached a new 52-week high of $82.43 on Thursday, with the stock up roughly 4.7% on the day and last trading around $82.435.
• Analyst views are mixed: Robert W. Baird raised its price target to $100 and rated DIOD "outperform" while Benchmark and others upgraded the stock, but Zacks cut it to "strong sell"; the MarketBeat consensus remains a Hold with a $82.33 target.
• The company reported an earnings beat—EPS $0.34 vs. $0.26 expected—and revenue of $391.6M (+15.4% YoY); institutional ownership is very high (99.23%) even as insiders sold about 116,205 shares last quarter.

Diodes Incorporated (NASDAQ:DIOD - Get Free Report)'s stock price reached a new 52-week high on Thursday . The company traded as high as $82.43 and last traded at $82.4350, with a volume of 270549 shares. The stock had previously closed at $78.60.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DIOD has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Robert W. Baird increased their price objective on Diodes from $80.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday. Wall Street Zen raised Diodes from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Saturday, February 14th. Benchmark increased their price objective on Diodes from $62.00 to $80.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Weiss Ratings raised Diodes from a "sell (d+)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Finally, Zacks Research downgraded Diodes from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, February 11th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $82.33.

Diodes Stock Up 4.7%

The firm has a market cap of $3.77 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 57.93 and a beta of 1.58. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $66.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $57.12. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01, a quick ratio of 2.08 and a current ratio of 3.32.

Diodes (NASDAQ:DIOD - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The semiconductor company reported $0.34 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.26 by $0.08. The company had revenue of $391.58 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $380.03 million. Diodes had a return on equity of 2.95% and a net margin of 4.46%.The business's revenue for the quarter was up 15.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.27 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Diodes Incorporated will post 1.82 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Diodes

In other news, CFO Brett R. Whitmire sold 830 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.85, for a total transaction of $50,505.50. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer directly owned 67,141 shares of the company's stock, valued at $4,085,529.85. This trade represents a 1.22% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, SVP Emily Yang sold 950 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.85, for a total value of $57,807.50. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president directly owned 74,032 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $4,504,847.20. This trade represents a 1.27% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 116,205 shares of company stock worth $7,837,213. 1.90% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Diodes

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in DIOD. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership acquired a new stake in Diodes during the third quarter valued at approximately $37,519,000. Victory Capital Management Inc. raised its position in Diodes by 901.2% in the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 509,630 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $25,145,000 after purchasing an additional 458,727 shares during the last quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. raised its position in Diodes by 178,733.7% in the 3rd quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 366,609 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $19,508,000 after purchasing an additional 366,404 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. grew its holdings in Diodes by 183.0% during the 3rd quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 519,013 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $27,617,000 after acquiring an additional 335,644 shares during the period. Finally, Tributary Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Diodes by 92.5% during the 3rd quarter. Tributary Capital Management LLC now owns 646,240 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $34,386,000 after acquiring an additional 310,500 shares during the period. 99.23% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Diodes

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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