AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

Key Points

• AXT shares jumped 12%, opening at $55.33 versus a prior close of $51.47, amid heavy trading volume.
• Analyst opinions remain mixed: Needham upgraded the stock to Buy with a $90 target, while other firms issued Hold or Sell ratings. The consensus rating is Hold, with an average price target of $77.
• AXT exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.19 in EPS versus a $0.07 estimate and $47.59 million in revenue versus $34.08 million expected. Institutional investors own roughly 49.5% of the company, while an insider recently sold 4,000 shares.

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up prior to trading on Monday. The stock had previously closed at $51.47, but opened at $55.33. AXT shares last traded at $56.2420, with a volume of 2,360,076 shares.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have issued reports on AXTI. Needham & Company LLC raised 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. Zacks Research lowered AXT from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Tuesday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings upgraded AXT from a "sell (d-)" rating to a "sell (d+)" rating in a research note on Friday, August 14th. B. Riley Financial dropped their price objective on 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 AXT in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, AXT has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $77.00.

AXT Trading Up 12.0%

The company has a market capitalization of $3.78 billion, a PE ratio of 2,877.90 and a beta of 1.86. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $70.26 and its 200-day simple moving average is $76.21.

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

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Leonard Leblanc sold 4,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, August 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.07, for a total transaction of $384,280.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director owned 113,129 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,868,303.03. This trade represents a 3.42% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 5.97% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On AXT

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new stake in AXT during the third quarter worth about $834,000. Dupree Financial Group LLC raised its position in AXT by 2.9% during the third quarter. Dupree Financial Group LLC now owns 14,349 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,111,000 after acquiring an additional 400 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in AXT by 3,881.2% in the third quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,274 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $99,000 after acquiring an additional 1,242 shares during the period. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in AXT by 79.0% in the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 3,158 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $228,000 after acquiring an additional 1,394 shares during the period. Finally, Squarepoint Ops LLC lifted its holdings in AXT by 1,347.0% in the second quarter. Squarepoint Ops LLC now owns 312,999 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $22,561,000 after acquiring an additional 291,368 shares during the period. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc NASDAQ: AXTI develops and manufactures compound semiconductor substrate materials used in high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Its primary products include gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), and germanium substrates, which serve as the foundation for semiconductor components.

The company's substrates are used in applications such as fiber-optic communications, data-center and telecommunications equipment, wireless infrastructure, radio-frequency devices, lasers, light-emitting diodes, and certain solar cells.

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