Ceva (NASDAQ:CEVA) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Ceva shares jumped from a prior close of $28.10 to open at $29.52, with the stock last trading near $29.30.
• Analyst sentiment remains positive overall, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $38.80, despite several recent target reductions and one “sell” rating.
• Ceva exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.08 in EPS versus $0.07 expected and $29.03 million in revenue, up 13% year over year; however, the company remains unprofitable on a net-margin basis.

Shares of Ceva, Inc. (NASDAQ:CEVA - Get Free Report) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday. The stock had previously closed at $28.10, but opened at $29.52. Ceva shares last traded at $29.2950, with a volume of 89,111 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages recently issued reports on CEVA. Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Ceva in a report on Friday, October 2nd. Oppenheimer lowered their price objective on Ceva from $42.00 to $38.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, August 11th. TD Cowen cut their price target on Ceva from $45.00 to $35.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of Ceva from $55.00 to $43.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 10th. Finally, Stifel Nicolaus lifted their target price on shares of Ceva from $42.00 to $50.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, July 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, nine have issued a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average price target of $38.80.

Ceva Price Performance

The company has a market capitalization of $824.37 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -73.34 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $30.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $30.51.

Ceva (NASDAQ:CEVA - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Monday, August 10th. The semiconductor company reported $0.08 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.01. The business had revenue of $29.03 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $28.19 million. Ceva had a negative return on equity of 3.15% and a negative net margin of 9.48%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 13.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.07 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts predict that Ceva, Inc. will post -0.17 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Ceva

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Sterling Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Ceva by 492.6% during the 3rd quarter. Sterling Capital Management LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $31,000 after acquiring an additional 729 shares during the period. Global Retirement Partners LLC purchased a new position in Ceva during the 2nd quarter valued at about $49,000. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC acquired a new position in Ceva during the second quarter worth about $52,000. State of Alaska Department of Revenue acquired a new position in Ceva during the third quarter worth about $62,000. Finally, SBI Securities Co. Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Ceva by 771.7% in the third quarter. SBI Securities Co. Ltd. now owns 1,970 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $70,000 after purchasing an additional 1,744 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 85.37% of the company's stock.

Ceva Company Profile

Ceva, Inc is a semiconductor intellectual property (IP) company that develops and licenses technology used in connected devices. Rather than manufacturing chips, the company provides processor cores, software, and system-level IP that semiconductor companies and original equipment manufacturers can incorporate into their own products.

Its portfolio includes digital signal processor (DSP) cores and platforms for wireless communications, artificial intelligence, computer vision, audio and voice processing, imaging, and sensor applications.

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