MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) Receives Consensus Recommendation of "Buy" from Analysts

Key Points

• Seventeen analysts give MP Materials a consensus recommendation of "Buy" (14 Buy, 2 Strong Buy, 1 Sell) with an average 1‑year price target of $79.08.
• MP's latest quarter delivered EPS of $0.09 (beating the $0.02 estimate) but revenue fell to $52.69M versus $76.06M expected, leaving the company with a negative net margin (~‑38%) and negative ROE.
• Company insiders sold a total of 346,000 shares (~$22.0M) last quarter — including CEO James H. Litinsky's $16.6M sale under a Rule 10b5‑1 plan — while institutional ownership remains high at about 52.6%.

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Buy" from the seventeen brokerages that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, fourteen have issued a buy recommendation and two have assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $79.0833.

MP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, April 9th. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. DA Davidson reiterated a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Wedbush started coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday, April 20th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $90.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Tuesday, April 21st.

MP Materials Price Performance

Shares of MP opened at $66.65 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 7.24, a quick ratio of 6.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. MP Materials has a 1 year low of $18.64 and a 1 year high of $100.25. The stock has a market cap of $11.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -128.16 and a beta of 1.90. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $57.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $60.47.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.02 by $0.07. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The firm had revenue of $52.69 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $76.06 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.12) earnings per share. The company's revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that MP Materials will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares in the company, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders have sold a total of 346,000 shares of company stock worth $21,969,816 in the last quarter. 9.50% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $82,531,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. lifted its stake in MP Materials by 168.4% in the 3rd quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company's stock valued at $173,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,908 shares in the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets lifted its stake in MP Materials by 76.3% in the 2nd quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company's stock valued at $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp lifted its stake in MP Materials by 71.6% in the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company's stock valued at $143,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,307 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd lifted its stake in MP Materials by 7.2% in the 3rd quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company's stock valued at $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.

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