Short Interest in Arq, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQ) Expands By 18.7%

Key Points

• Short interest in Arq rose 18.7% in March to 1,836,275 shares (about 5.6% of shares) and the short-interest ratio is just 0.7 days, indicating increased bearish bets but a low days-to-cover given heavy trading volume.
• Arq is a small-cap ($106.7M) loss-making company that missed quarterly EPS (‑$0.07 vs. ‑$0.05 estimate) despite a slight revenue beat, carries a negative net margin (~43.7%), and holds a consensus analyst rating of "Moderate Buy" with a $7.50 price target.

Arq, Inc. (NASDAQ:ARQ - Get Free Report) was the target of a significant increase in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 1,836,275 shares, an increase of 18.7% from the February 26th total of 1,547,576 shares. Currently, 5.6% of the shares of the company are sold short. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 2,602,473 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 0.7 days.

ARQ Trading Down 2.0%

NASDAQ ARQ opened at $2.49 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $106.70 million, a PE ratio of -1.96 and a beta of 1.96. The company has a fifty day moving average of $3.14 and a 200 day moving average of $4.34. ARQ has a 1 year low of $1.54 and a 1 year high of $7.89. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.05, a current ratio of 1.04 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

ARQ (NASDAQ:ARQ - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 9th. The company reported ($0.07) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.05) by ($0.02). The company had revenue of $29.43 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $28.59 million. ARQ had a negative return on equity of 1.99% and a negative net margin of 43.72%. Research analysts forecast that ARQ will post -0.13 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Invesco Ltd. lifted its holdings in ARQ by 52.0% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 28,736 shares of the company's stock valued at $94,000 after acquiring an additional 9,832 shares during the period. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in ARQ in the 4th quarter worth approximately $251,000. Oxford Asset Management LLP acquired a new stake in shares of ARQ during the 4th quarter worth approximately $45,000. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of ARQ by 15.4% during the 4th quarter. Bridgeway Capital Management LLC now owns 74,780 shares of the company's stock worth $245,000 after purchasing an additional 10,000 shares during the period. Finally, AQR Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of ARQ during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $980,000. 18.49% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Canaccord Genuity Group lowered their price objective on shares of ARQ from $7.50 to $5.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, March 11th. Zacks Research upgraded ARQ from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Friday, January 9th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of ARQ in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, two have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $7.50.

About ARQ

Arq, Inc is a holding company. It engages in the provision of environmental and emission control equipment to the power generation industry. The company operates through the following Segments: Refined Coal and Advanced Purification Technologies. The Refined Coal segment includes the Tinuum Group, Tinuum Services, and GWN Manager. The Advanced Purification Technologies segment refers to the sale of Activated Carbon Injection and Dry Sorbent Injection equipment systems, chemical sales, consulting services, and other sales related to the reduction of emissions in the coal-fired electric generation process and the electric utility industry.

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