PureCycle Technologies (NASDAQ:PCT) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Key Points

• Shares gapped up after an earnings beat, opening at $9.31 vs a prior close of $7.62 after reporting EPS of ($0.21) vs consensus ($0.26) and revenue of $4.13M vs $3.83M.
• The company remains highly unprofitable and leveraged, with a negative return on equity of 204.74%, a net margin of -2,185.10% and a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.62.
• Analyst views are mixed—MarketBeat shows an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a $13 average target while some firms cut targets or maintain sell ratings; institutional ownership is high (63%) with notable stake increases by RBC and a new position from Millennium Management.

PureCycle Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:PCT - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Thursday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $7.62, but opened at $9.31. PureCycle Technologies shares last traded at $9.1610, with a volume of 1,775,789 shares.

The company reported ($0.21) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.26) by $0.05. The company had revenue of $4.13 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $3.83 million. PureCycle Technologies had a negative return on equity of 204.74% and a negative net margin of 2,185.10%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have weighed in on PCT. Cantor Fitzgerald reduced their target price on PureCycle Technologies from $16.00 to $14.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 27th. Wall Street Zen upgraded PureCycle Technologies from a "strong sell" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of PureCycle Technologies in a research note on Thursday, January 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $13.00.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On PureCycle Technologies

Several institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in PCT. Royal Bank of Canada boosted its holdings in PureCycle Technologies by 62.4% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 1,042,338 shares of the company's stock worth $7,213,000 after acquiring an additional 400,520 shares in the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in PureCycle Technologies by 67.9% in the first quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 20,963 shares of the company's stock worth $145,000 after acquiring an additional 8,478 shares in the last quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC lifted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 4.3% during the first quarter. Integrated Wealth Concepts LLC now owns 36,571 shares of the company's stock worth $253,000 after purchasing an additional 1,516 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of PureCycle Technologies by 4.5% during the first quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 73,249 shares of the company's stock worth $507,000 after purchasing an additional 3,161 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of PureCycle Technologies during the first quarter worth about $3,770,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 63.01% of the company's stock.

PureCycle Technologies Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 7.62, a current ratio of 2.26 and a quick ratio of 2.15. The stock has a market cap of $1.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.53 and a beta of 2.31. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $6.29 and a 200 day moving average of $8.61.

PureCycle Technologies Company Profile

PureCycle Technologies, Inc operates as a recycling technology company focused on restoring waste polypropylene to a “virgin-like” state through a proprietary purification process licensed from Procter & Gamble. The company develops, owns and operates recycling facilities that convert used polypropylene feedstock—such as packaging and industrial plastics—into ultra‐pure recycled resin. This resin, known as Qualified Recycled Polymer (QRP), is designed to meet stringent quality specifications for applications in packaging, consumer goods and industrial products.

Headquartered in Orlando, Florida, PureCycle was established with technology development efforts dating back to licensing agreements in the mid-2010s and later spun off as a publicly traded entity in 2021.

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