MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Price Up 3.1% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Shares rose about 3.1% intraday to roughly $56.93–$57.38 on Monday, with volume of ~6.4M shares, ~12% below the average daily volume.
• Wall Street consensus is a Buy with an average target of $78.09 (2 Strong Buy, 13 Buy, 1 Sell), though some firms have recently trimmed targets or adjusted ratings.
• Latest quarter showed EPS $0.09 (beat $0.02) but revenue missed at $52.69M vs. $76.06M expected (down 13.6% YoY), and the company still reports negative net margin (-38.26%); MP Materials operates the Mountain Pass mine, the U.S.'s only commercially viable rare-earth processing site.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) shares rose 3.1% during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $57.38 and last traded at $56.9320. Approximately 6,400,871 shares changed hands during trading, a decline of 12% from the average daily volume of 7,235,778 shares. The stock had previously closed at $55.24.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

MP has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. TD Securities raised MP Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. William Blair reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on MP Materials from $71.00 to $62.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, MP Materials has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $78.09.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a current ratio of 7.24 and a quick ratio of 6.67. The company has a market cap of $10.12 billion, a P/E ratio of -109.48 and a beta of 1.67. The business has a 50-day moving average of $56.73 and a two-hundred day moving average of $61.21.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 26th. The company reported $0.09 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.02 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 4.28% and a negative net margin of 38.26%.The company's quarterly revenue was down 13.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.12) earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other MP Materials news, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,741,020. This trade represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 12.60% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On MP Materials

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Costello Asset Management INC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 15.0% in the fourth quarter. Costello Asset Management INC now owns 1,300 shares of the company's stock worth $66,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Composition Wealth LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Composition Wealth LLC now owns 18,334 shares of the company's stock worth $926,000 after acquiring an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 28.1% in the third quarter. Wolff Wiese Magana LLC now owns 806 shares of the company's stock worth $54,000 after acquiring an additional 177 shares in the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 1.0% in the third quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 18,162 shares of the company's stock worth $1,218,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wedmont Private Capital raised its stake in shares of MP Materials by 1.7% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 11,824 shares of the company's stock worth $872,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. 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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