GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS) Given Average Recommendation of "Buy" by Brokerages

Shares of GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) have earned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the nine brokerages that are covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a hold recommendation, five have given a buy recommendation and three have given a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $39.48.

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. StockNews.com downgraded shares of GDS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of GDS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, February 11th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of GDS from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. JMP Securities set a $40.00 target price on shares of GDS in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Citigroup reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of GDS in a research note on Thursday, March 20th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GDS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of GDS. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in GDS by 20.5% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 77,057 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,572,000 after acquiring an additional 13,121 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC purchased a new stake in GDS during the 3rd quarter valued at about $842,000. JPMorgan Chase & Co. grew its stake in GDS by 7,553.4% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 610,821 shares of the company's stock valued at $12,461,000 after acquiring an additional 602,840 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. grew its stake in GDS by 121.9% during the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,557 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 3,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Pacer Advisors Inc. grew its stake in GDS by 26.5% during the 4th quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 898,982 shares of the company's stock valued at $21,360,000 after acquiring an additional 188,072 shares in the last quarter. 33.71% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

GDS Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:GDS traded up $2.47 on Wednesday, hitting $27.92. 477,865 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 2,073,902. GDS has a 1-year low of $7.35 and a 1-year high of $52.50. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $26.43 and its 200 day moving average price is $25.49. The company has a current ratio of 1.19, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $5.32 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.15 and a beta of 0.28.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.17. The firm had revenue of $425.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.11 billion. GDS had a negative net margin of 35.97% and a negative return on equity of 8.22%. The firm's revenue was up 9.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($2.16) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that GDS will post -0.89 EPS for the current year.

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.