AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Climb 7.8% - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• AXT shares rose 7.8% to approximately $56.12 in mid-day trading, though trading volume was 74% below the average daily volume.
• Analyst views remain mixed: three analysts rate the stock a Buy, two Hold, and one Sell, resulting in a consensus Hold rating and a $77 price target.
• AXT exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.19 in EPS versus a $0.07 estimate and revenue of $47.59 million versus $34.08 million expected. Institutional investors own nearly 50% of the company, while an insider recently sold 4,000 shares.

Shares of AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI - Get Free Report) traded up 7.8% during mid-day trading on Monday. The company traded as high as $54.98 and last traded at $56.1180. Approximately 2,603,553 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 74% from the average daily volume of 10,074,459 shares. The stock had previously closed at $52.08.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

AXTI has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of AXT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 29th. Needham & Company LLC upgraded AXT from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of AXT from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a report on Friday, August 14th. B. Riley Financial decreased their target price on shares of AXT from $73.00 to $52.00 and set a "neutral" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, July 28th. Finally, UBS Group set a $90.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Three investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $77.00.

AXT Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $3.72 billion, a PE ratio of 2,802.35 and a beta of 1.86. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $76.39.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.19 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.07 by $0.12. AXT had a return on equity of 0.96% and a net margin of 3.23%. The business had revenue of $47.59 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $34.08 million. AXT has set its Q3 2026 guidance at 0.300-0.320 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that AXT Inc will post 0.80 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total value of $384,280.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 113,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $10,868,303.03. The trade was a 3.42% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 5.97% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in AXTI. BlackRock Inc. bought a new stake in shares of AXT during the second quarter worth $365,607,000. Bank of America Corp DE boosted its holdings in shares of AXT by 112.0% during the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 776,300 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $44,234,000 after acquiring an additional 410,181 shares in the last quarter. Ariose Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in AXT in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,061,000. Wellington Management Group LLP acquired a new stake in AXT during the 2nd quarter worth about $25,911,000. Finally, Rokos Capital Management LLP bought a new position in AXT in the first quarter worth approximately $18,842,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 49.52% of the company's stock.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrates used as the foundation for various high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its principal products include gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and germanium substrates, along with other specialty materials such as gallium antimonide and indium arsenide.

The company's substrates are used in applications including wireless communications, fiber-optic and data-center networks, lasers, light-emitting diodes, solar cells, consumer electronics, and aerospace and defense systems.

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