MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 10.3% - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• MP Materials shares rose 10.3% to $54.59 on Wednesday, with about 6.76 million shares traded, modestly below its average daily volume.
• Analysts hold a consensus Buy rating with an average price target of $78.91 (2 Strong Buy, 13 Buy, 1 Sell).
• The company beat quarterly EPS estimates ($0.09 vs. $0.02) but revenue fell 13.6% year-over-year and net margin remains negative (-38.26%); CEO and CFO recently sold shares (CEO sale ≈ $17.5M), and insiders own 12.6% of the stock.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) shares were up 10.3% during trading on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $54.64 and last traded at $54.5940. Approximately 6,764,989 shares were traded during mid-day trading, a decline of 8% from the average daily volume of 7,347,916 shares. The stock had previously closed at $49.49.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently commented on MP shares. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of MP Materials from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Sunday, March 8th. William Blair restated an "outperform" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research 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 research report on Wednesday, March 11th. Finally, TD Securities upgraded shares of MP Materials to a "strong-buy" rating in a research report on Monday, February 9th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, MP Materials has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Trading Up 10.3%

The firm has a market cap of $9.70 billion, a P/E ratio of -104.99 and a beta of 1.67. The company has a quick ratio of 6.67, a current ratio of 7.24 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $57.22 and its 200 day simple moving average is $61.60.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $52.69 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $76.06 million. MP Materials had a negative net margin of 38.26% and a negative return on equity of 4.28%. The company's 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. As a group, analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 272,600 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 8th. The shares were sold at an average price of $64.17, for a total value of $17,492,742.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 12,805,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $821,758,774.05. The trade was a 2.08% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 46,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,760,000.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 129,017 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,741,020. This represents a 26.28% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Insiders own 12.60% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On MP Materials

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of MP. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the third quarter valued at about $16,726,000. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter worth about $670,000. Private Advisory Group LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth about $9,702,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter worth about $550,000. Finally, Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in MP Materials in the third quarter worth about $1,089,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company's stock.

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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