VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET) Stock Price Up 6.6% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• VNET Group shares rose 6.6% to about $6.89, though trading volume was 93% below the stock’s average daily volume.
• Analysts maintain a generally positive outlook, with a consensus “Moderate Buy” rating and an average price target of $16.90, substantially above the recent trading price.
• The company remains financially challenged: it missed quarterly EPS expectations, reported negative margins and return on equity, and carries a high 4.35 debt-to-equity ratio.

VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report) shares shot up 6.6% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $6.63 and last traded at $6.8940. 441,470 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 93% from the average daily volume of 6,520,729 shares. The stock had previously closed at $6.47.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d+)" rating on shares of VNET Group in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Morgan Stanley restated an "overweight" rating and set a $14.00 price target on shares of VNET Group in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Bank of America set a $16.30 target price on shares of VNET Group and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 26th. Zacks Research raised shares of VNET Group from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, May 27th. Finally, Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft started coverage on VNET Group in a research report on Tuesday, July 7th. They issued a "buy" rating and a $12.50 price target for the company. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $16.90.

VNET Group Stock Up 6.7%

The company has a current ratio of 0.97, a quick ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 4.35. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $7.64 and a 200 day simple moving average of $9.10. The company has a market cap of $1.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -4.86 and a beta of 0.32.

VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, August 18th. The information technology services provider reported ($0.06) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.02) by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $409.00 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $401.77 million. VNET Group had a negative return on equity of 36.25% and a negative net margin of 22.29%. On average, equities analysts anticipate that VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR will post -0.27 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other VNET Group news, Director Sean Shao sold 60,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $1.71, for a total value of $102,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the director directly owned 983,820 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,682,332.20. The trade was a 5.75% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 12.10% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of VNET Group

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of VNET. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of VNET Group in the 4th quarter worth $65,650,000. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd grew its position in shares of VNET Group by 988.7% in the 4th quarter. Temasek Holdings Private Ltd now owns 3,253,150 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $27,522,000 after buying an additional 2,954,350 shares during the last quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of VNET Group by 674.8% during the second quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 3,343,088 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $23,067,000 after purchasing an additional 2,911,604 shares in the last quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased its position in VNET Group by 1,750.9% during the 4th quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 2,502,622 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $21,172,000 after buying an additional 2,367,410 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group Inc. raised its position in shares of VNET Group by 1,419.3% in the 4th quarter. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,979,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $16,742,000 after purchasing an additional 2,129,000 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 72.83% of the company's stock.

VNET Group Company Profile

VNET Group, Inc NASDAQ: VNET is a leading carrier-neutral internet data center (IDC) services provider in China. Established in 1999 and headquartered in Beijing, the company delivers a full spectrum of infrastructure solutions that support the growing digital economy. Its core offerings include data center colocation, managed hosting, network connectivity, and disaster recovery services designed to meet the performance and reliability requirements of enterprise and internet content customers.

The company's product portfolio spans private cloud, public cloud and hybrid cloud deployments, enabling clients to scale computing resources on demand.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest reporting and unbiased coverage. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.

Continue following MarketBeat

Add MarketBeat as your preferred source on Google to see our latest stories in your feed.

Add As Preferred Source