GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Stock Price Up 10% - Still a Buy?

GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) shot up 10% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $27.94 and last traded at $28.34. 437,365 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 87% from the average session volume of 3,376,360 shares. The stock had previously closed at $25.76.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on GDS. StockNews.com downgraded GDS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Friday, February 28th. Raymond James raised GDS from an "outperform" rating to a "strong-buy" rating and set a $53.00 price objective for the company in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Royal Bank of Canada lowered GDS from an "outperform" rating to a "sector perform" rating and increased their price target for the stock from $26.00 to $37.00 in a research report on Tuesday, February 25th. JMP Securities set a $40.00 target price on shares of GDS in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets raised GDS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, February 11th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has issued a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, GDS currently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $39.48.

GDS Stock Performance

The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $26.73 and a 200-day simple moving average of $25.38. The stock has a market cap of $4.95 billion, a P/E ratio of -8.51 and a beta of 0.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25, a quick ratio of 1.19 and a current ratio of 1.19.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.17. The business had revenue of $425.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.11 billion. GDS had a negative return on equity of 8.22% and a negative net margin of 35.97%. GDS's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned ($2.16) earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that GDS Holdings Limited will post -0.89 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GDS

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. increased its position in shares of GDS by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the company's stock valued at $75,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares during the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN raised its stake in shares of GDS by 1,904.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,788 shares of the company's stock worth $90,000 after purchasing an additional 3,599 shares in the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of GDS by 121.9% in the 4th quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,557 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after buying an additional 3,053 shares during the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd bought a new position in shares of GDS in the first quarter valued at $176,000. Finally, LPL Financial LLC acquired a new position in GDS during the fourth quarter worth $310,000. 33.71% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About GDS

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.