MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 5.2% - What's Next?

Key Points

• MP Materials shares fell 5.2% on Thursday, trading as low as $58.98 before closing near $60.42, with volume running well above average.
• Recent analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with an average Buy rating and a consensus price target of $81; Wedbush even raised its target to $100. However, Weiss Ratings kept a sell rating on the stock.
• The company posted a quarterly earnings beat, reporting $0.03 EPS versus an expected loss and revenue of $90.65 million, up 49.1% year over year. Despite that, insiders have been selling shares, including the CEO and CFO in recent transactions.

Shares of MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) traded down 5.2% during trading on Thursday . The company traded as low as $58.98 and last traded at $60.4220. 9,736,799 shares were traded during mid-day trading, an increase of 38% from the average session volume of 7,051,691 shares. The stock had previously closed at $63.73.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. William Blair reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Wedbush lifted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Canaccord Genuity Group set a $82.00 target price on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reiterated a "buy" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Tuesday. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, fourteen have assigned a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus price target of $81.00.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 6.58 and a current ratio of 7.18. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $58.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $59.43. The firm has a market capitalization of $10.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -143.86 and a beta of 1.90.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 7th. The company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 business posted ($0.12) EPS. The business's quarterly revenue was up 49.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post 0.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at MP Materials

In other MP Materials news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 259,179 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, April 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.03, for a total transaction of $16,595,231.37. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,505,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $800,756,938.95. The trade was a 2.03% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 20,000 shares of MP Materials stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 sale, the chief financial officer owned 109,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,176,275. The trade was a 15.50% 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 90 days, insiders have sold 366,000 shares of company stock valued at $23,469,816. Company insiders own 8.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $670,000. Private Advisory Group LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $9,702,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $550,000. Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $1,089,000. Finally, New York State Teachers Retirement System increased its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 11.9% during the 3rd quarter. New York State Teachers Retirement System now owns 108,744 shares of the company's stock valued at $7,293,000 after purchasing an additional 11,544 shares in the last quarter. 52.55% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About MP Materials

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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