MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Shares Gap Up - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• MP Materials shares opened higher, rising from a prior close of $53.78 to $56.57 and last trading near $55.21, up about 1.3%.
• Analyst sentiment remains broadly positive but mixed: MarketBeat reports a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $78.21, despite a recent Zacks downgrade to “strong sell.”
• The company matched quarterly EPS expectations at a loss of $0.01 while revenue reached $108.49 million, up 89% year over year; however, MP Materials continues to post negative margins and return on equity.

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) shares gapped up prior to trading on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $53.78, but opened at $56.57. MP Materials shares last traded at $55.2090, with a volume of 2,699,854 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

MP has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded shares of MP Materials from a "hold" rating to a "strong sell" rating in a report on Wednesday, August 26th. Wedbush increased their price target on shares of MP Materials from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Friday, May 8th. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft cut their price objective on shares of MP Materials from $70.00 to $61.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 9th. Citigroup restated a "positive" rating on shares of MP Materials in a report on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "overweight" rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, August 19th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Buy rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Trading Up 1.3%

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48, a current ratio of 9.51 and a quick ratio of 8.56. The business's 50-day moving average is $51.38 and its 200 day moving average is $56.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $9.71 billion, a P/E ratio of -160.06 and a beta of 1.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). The business had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 89.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted ($0.13) earnings per share. As a group, analysts anticipate that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In other news, COO Michael Rosenthal acquired 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 9th. The stock was acquired at an average cost of $54.30 per share, for a total transaction of $543,000.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief operating officer directly owned 136,622 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,418,574.60. This trade represents a 7.90% increase in their ownership of the stock. The purchase was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 8.20% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. EMC Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. REAP Financial Group LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $26,000. Los Angeles Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter worth approximately $28,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp boosted its holdings in MP Materials by 73.3% in the second quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company's stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Finally, University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company's stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

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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