Needham & Company LLC Reaffirms Buy Rating for Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT)

Key Points

• Needham & Company LLC reiterated its Buy rating on Nextpower and kept a $149 price target, implying about 8.6% upside from the stock’s current level.
• Recent analyst sentiment remains mostly positive, with multiple firms raising targets and the stock carrying a Moderate Buy consensus; MarketBeat’s average price target is $137.01.
• Nextpower reported better-than-expected quarterly earnings and revenue, while insiders recently sold shares under pre-arranged trading plans, including CEO Daniel S. Shugar and COO Nicholas Marco Miller.

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT - Get Free Report)'s stock had its "buy" rating restated by analysts at Needham & Company LLC in a report released on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $149.00 price target on the stock. Needham & Company LLC's target price points to a potential upside of 8.62% from the stock's current price.

A number of other research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Nextpower from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Nextpower from $125.00 to $155.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft reissued a "buy" rating and set a $140.00 price target on shares of Nextpower in a research report on Thursday, May 14th. TD Cowen lifted their price target on shares of Nextpower from $105.00 to $135.00 and gave the company a "hold" rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 13th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Nextpower from $127.00 to $143.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a research note on Thursday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nineteen have assigned a Buy rating and five have issued a Hold rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $137.01.

Nextpower Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ NXT opened at $137.17 on Friday. Nextpower has a 1 year low of $51.69 and a 1 year high of $156.78. The company's 50-day moving average is $121.07 and its 200 day moving average is $108.11. The stock has a market capitalization of $20.37 billion, a P/E ratio of 35.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 1.60.

Nextpower (NASDAQ:NXT - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The company reported $1.05 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.89 by $0.16. Nextpower had a net margin of 16.46% and a return on equity of 28.18%. The company had revenue of $880.52 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $826.26 million. Nextpower has set its FY 2027 guidance at 4.210-4.590 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that Nextpower will post 3.76 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Daniel S. Shugar sold 26,077 shares of Nextpower stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 26th. The shares were sold at an average price of $134.72, for a total value of $3,513,093.44. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 931,419 shares in the company, valued at $125,480,767.68. The trade was a 2.72% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, COO Nicholas Marco Miller sold 24,511 shares of Nextpower stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $127.32, for a total transaction of $3,120,740.52. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 221,533 shares of the company's stock, valued at $28,205,581.56. This represents a 9.96% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Insiders have sold a total of 240,995 shares of company stock valued at $28,661,778 in the last quarter. 0.56% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Nextpower

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in NXT. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Nextpower by 107.6% in the fourth quarter. Smartleaf Asset Management LLC now owns 299 shares of the company's stock worth $26,000 after acquiring an additional 155 shares during the period. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. grew its stake in shares of Nextpower by 268.7% in the fourth quarter. Whittier Trust Co. of Nevada Inc. now owns 306 shares of the company's stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 223 shares during the period. Signature Equity Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Nextpower by 76.4% in the first quarter. Signature Equity Partners LLC now owns 261 shares of the company's stock worth $31,000 after acquiring an additional 113 shares during the period. Huntington National Bank grew its stake in shares of Nextpower by 480.3% in the fourth quarter. Huntington National Bank now owns 383 shares of the company's stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 317 shares during the period. Finally, Foster Dykema Cabot & Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Nextpower in the third quarter worth approximately $36,000. 67.41% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Nextpower Company Profile

Nextpower, formerly known as Nextracker, is traded on NASDAQ under the symbol NXT and is a leading provider of advanced solar tracking solutions for utility-scale and distributed energy projects. The company specializes in the design, engineering and manufacturing of single-axis tracker systems that optimize the capture of solar energy by following the sun’s trajectory throughout the day. Nextpower’s core hardware offerings aim to enhance energy yield, reduce balance-of-system costs and simplify installation and maintenance for downstream solar developers and operators.

In addition to its tracker hardware, Nextpower provides a suite of digital software and analytics tools to maximize asset performance.

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