MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Up 1.3% - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• MP Materials shares rose 1.3% in Monday trading, with the stock last changing hands at $45.84 after hitting an intraday high of $46.70.
• Wall Street sentiment remains broadly positive: analysts give MP an average "Buy" rating, with a consensus price target of $79.25, though Deutsche Bank recently trimmed its target to $61.00 while others kept bullish calls.
• The company’s latest earnings beat expectations, reporting $0.03 EPS on $90.65 million in revenue, both ahead of estimates, and revenue jumped 49.1% year over year.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) traded up 1.3% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $46.70 and last traded at $45.8430. Approximately 6,345,778 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 4% from the average session volume of 6,607,010 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.24.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the subject of several recent research reports. Citigroup reissued a "positive" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reduced their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $71.50 and gave the stock an "overweight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 8th. DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Friday, June 5th. Finally, Wedbush raised their target price on MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seventeen have assigned a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $79.25.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $8.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -109.15 and a beta of 1.86. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.18 and a quick ratio of 6.58. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $58.24 and a 200 day simple moving average of $59.19.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.01) by $0.04. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 28.00% and a negative return on equity of 2.27%. The business had revenue of $90.65 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $74.82 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials's revenue for the quarter was up 49.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In related news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, May 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.00, for a total transaction of $1,500,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares in the company, valued at $8,176,275. This trade represents a 15.50% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 234,651 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction dated Thursday, May 28th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.87, for a total transaction of $15,456,461.37. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 11,855,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $780,952,414.55. This represents a 1.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 905,167 shares of company stock valued at $60,161,837. Corporate insiders own 8.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Private Advisory Group LLC acquired a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $9,702,000. Polianta Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $1,227,000. MH & Associates Securities Management Corp ADV acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $1,184,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $2,451,000. Finally, Phoenix Financial Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $449,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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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