Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. Acquires New Position in GDS Holdings $GDS

Key Points

• Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. acquired 11,054 shares of GDS Holdings, valued at approximately $280,000, marking a new position in the company during the first quarter.
• GDS Holdings reported $0.48 earnings per share for the latest quarter, significantly beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22), with a revenue increase of 3.6% year-over-year.
• Analyst ratings for GDS are optimistic, with a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $40.57, indicating potential growth in the stock value.

Northwest & Ethical Investments L.P. acquired a new stake in shares of GDS Holdings (NASDAQ:GDS - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 11,054 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Bamco Inc. NY increased its stake in GDS by 10.5% in the 4th quarter. Bamco Inc. NY now owns 6,673,226 shares of the company's stock worth $158,556,000 after purchasing an additional 632,671 shares during the period. Aspex Management HK Ltd increased its stake in GDS by 23.0% in the 4th quarter. Aspex Management HK Ltd now owns 4,926,727 shares of the company's stock worth $117,059,000 after purchasing an additional 922,709 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC increased its stake in GDS by 195.6% in the 4th quarter. Driehaus Capital Management LLC now owns 1,845,623 shares of the company's stock worth $43,852,000 after purchasing an additional 1,221,289 shares during the period. Triata Capital Ltd purchased a new position in GDS in the 4th quarter worth approximately $41,472,000. Finally, Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA increased its stake in GDS by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA now owns 1,177,503 shares of the company's stock worth $29,826,000 after purchasing an additional 10,838 shares during the period. 33.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GDS Trading Up 7.3%

NASDAQ GDS opened at $33.90 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 1.47, a current ratio of 1.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. GDS Holdings has a twelve month low of $13.19 and a twelve month high of $52.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.46 billion, a PE ratio of 10.40 and a beta of 0.33. The stock's 50 day moving average is $32.98 and its 200 day moving average is $30.10.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 20th. The company reported $0.48 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.22) by $0.70. GDS had a return on equity of 0.78% and a net margin of 39.90%.The company had revenue of $375.14 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.72 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($1.96) earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.6% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts forecast that GDS Holdings will post -0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

GDS has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets raised GDS to a "market perform" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen upgraded GDS from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded GDS from a "neutral" rating to an "overweight" rating and lifted their price objective for the stock from $34.00 to $46.00 in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. JMP Securities reiterated a "market outperform" rating and issued a $40.00 price objective on shares of GDS in a research report on Wednesday, May 21st. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of GDS in a research report on Wednesday, May 28th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, GDS presently has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $40.57.

GDS Company Profile

GDS Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates data centers in the People's Republic of China. The company provides colocation services comprising critical facilities space, customer-available power, racks, and cooling; managed hosting services, including business continuity and disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating system, database, and server middleware services; managed cloud services; and consulting services.

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