Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO) Shares Down 11% - Should You Sell?

Key Points

• Quantum shares fell 11% to about $18.48 in Friday trading, with volume down 80% from the average. The stock remains highly volatile, reflected by its 3.08 beta.
• Analyst sentiment is mostly positive: five analysts rate Quantum a Buy and one rates it a Sell, producing a “Moderate Buy” consensus and an average price target of $27.33.
• Quantum recently exceeded quarterly expectations, reporting $0.18 EPS versus a projected $0.17 loss and revenue of $80.8 million versus $75.05 million expected. Institutional investors own 63.66% of the company, with several hedge funds establishing sizable positions.

Quantum Corporation (NASDAQ:QMCO - Get Free Report)'s stock price was down 11% during mid-day trading on Friday. The company traded as low as $18.11 and last traded at $18.4840. 226,167 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 80% from the average daily volume of 1,115,763 shares. The stock had previously closed at $20.77.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

QMCO has been the subject of several research reports. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Quantum from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 15th. Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage on shares of Quantum in a research note on Friday, October 23rd. They issued an "overweight" rating and a $29.00 target price on the stock. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Quantum in a research report on Monday, September 21st. Litchfield Hills Research started coverage on shares of Quantum in a research note on Monday, August 10th. They issued a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Lake Street Capital set a $29.00 price target on Quantum and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research report on Monday, September 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $27.33.

Quantum Stock Performance

The business's 50 day moving average price is $24.77 and its 200-day moving average price is $13.03. The firm has a market capitalization of $723.45 million, a PE ratio of -1.38 and a beta of 3.08.

Quantum (NASDAQ:QMCO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Monday, August 10th. The company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.17) by $0.35. The firm had revenue of $80.80 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $75.05 million. Quantum has set its Q2 2027 guidance at 0.020-0.220 EPS. As a group, analysts anticipate that Quantum Corporation will post 0.31 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Quantum

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. acquired a new position in Quantum in the 2nd quarter valued at $29,193,000. Two Seas Capital LP acquired a new position in Quantum during the 2nd quarter valued at about $27,374,000. Manatuck Hill Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Quantum during the second quarter worth approximately $3,850,000. BlackRock Inc. acquired a new position in Quantum in the second quarter valued at about $3,003,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE increased its stake in shares of Quantum by 730.5% in the 2nd quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 170,130 shares of the company's stock valued at $1,871,000 after acquiring an additional 149,645 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.66% of the company's stock.

About Quantum

Quantum Corporation NASDAQ: QMCO provides data storage, management and protection solutions for organizations that generate and retain large volumes of unstructured data. Its offerings are designed to help customers store, protect, archive and access information across on-premises, cloud and hybrid environments.

The company's product portfolio has included Scalar tape libraries and LTO tape storage products, DXi deduplication and backup appliances, and software-defined storage solutions such as ActiveScale object storage.

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