MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 2.8% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• Shares rose 2.8% mid-day to $68.03 on Tuesday, with volume about 5.55M shares, roughly 20% below its average daily volume.
• Wall Street consensus is a Buy with an average target of $79.08, though analyst views vary widely (e.g., Wedbush $90 outperform vs. Morgan Stanley's $62 target).
• MP beat EPS estimates ($0.09 vs. $0.02) but revenue missed ($52.69M vs. $76.06M) and the company shows negative margins/ROE; meanwhile insiders (including the CEO and CFO) have sold substantial shares (346,000 shares over three months).

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) rose 2.8% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The stock traded as high as $69.03 and last traded at $68.0270. Approximately 5,551,562 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 20% from the average daily volume of 6,940,389 shares. The stock had previously closed at $66.20.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

MP has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Wedbush initiated coverage on MP Materials in a report on Monday, April 20th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $90.00 target price for the company. Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Sunday, March 8th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, April 9th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, DA Davidson reissued a "buy" rating and set a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, March 11th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $79.08.

MP Materials Trading Up 2.8%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $57.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $59.96. The firm has a market capitalization of $12.09 billion, a P/E ratio of -130.82 and a beta of 1.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $76.06 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. MP Materials's revenue was down 13.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at MP Materials

In other news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total value of $2,760,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer directly owned 129,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, April 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total value of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares of the company's stock, valued at $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 346,000 shares of company stock valued at $21,969,816. 8.20% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in MP. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth $82,531,000. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 168.4% in the third quarter. Reaves W H & Co. Inc. now owns 2,589,908 shares of the company's stock worth $173,705,000 after acquiring an additional 1,624,908 shares during the period. BNP Paribas Financial Markets boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 76.3% in the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 2,921,542 shares of the company's stock worth $97,200,000 after acquiring an additional 1,264,243 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 71.6% in the fourth quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 2,834,914 shares of the company's stock worth $143,220,000 after acquiring an additional 1,183,307 shares during the period. Finally, Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 7.2% in the third quarter. Hancock Prospecting Pty Ltd now owns 14,861,212 shares of the company's stock worth $996,741,000 after acquiring an additional 1,000,000 shares during the period. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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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