SoftBank Group (OTCMKTS:SFTBY) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• Shares gapped up — SoftBank opened at $13.50 after a $12.42 close and was last at $13.70, up about 10.6% on roughly 942,000 shares traded.
• Analyst coverage is mixed: three Buys, three Holds and one Sell result in a consensus rating of "Hold", with notable calls including Citigroup's Buy, Cantor Fitzgerald's Overweight start and Jefferies' downgrade to Underperform.
• The company recently beat quarterly estimates (EPS $0.14 vs $0.10; revenue $12.90B vs $12.44B), trades at a low P/E of 6.34 with a market cap near $157B, but shows modest liquidity (current ratio ~0.83) and debt/equity around 0.96.

SoftBank Group Corp. Unsponsored ADR (OTCMKTS:SFTBY - Get Free Report) shares gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $12.42, but opened at $13.50. SoftBank Group shares last traded at $13.70, with a volume of 942,078 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have weighed in on SFTBY. Cantor Fitzgerald began coverage on SoftBank Group in a report on Monday, March 9th. They set an "overweight" rating for the company. Jefferies Financial Group lowered SoftBank Group from a "hold" rating to an "underperform" rating in a report on Thursday, March 12th. TD Cowen raised SoftBank Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Wednesday, April 1st. Citigroup began coverage on SoftBank Group in a report on Monday, January 5th. They set a "buy" rating for the company. Finally, Zacks Research raised SoftBank Group to a "hold" rating in a report on Tuesday, March 10th. Three analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, SoftBank Group presently has a consensus rating of "Hold".

SoftBank Group Trading Up 10.6%

The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $12.60 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $14.61. The firm has a market capitalization of $156.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 6.34 and a beta of 1.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.96, a current ratio of 0.83 and a quick ratio of 0.81.

SoftBank Group (OTCMKTS:SFTBY - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 12th. The technology company reported $0.14 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.10 by $0.04. SoftBank Group had a return on equity of 23.66% and a net margin of 48.62%.The firm had revenue of $12.90 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $12.44 billion. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that SoftBank Group Corp. Unsponsored ADR will post 2.22 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

SoftBank Group Company Profile

SoftBank Group Corp is a Tokyo‐based multinational conglomerate holding company with a primary focus on technology, telecommunications and investment management. Founded in 1981 by Masayoshi Son, the company initially operated as a software distributor before expanding into mobile communications and internet services. Over the years, SoftBank has built a diversified portfolio that spans telecom operators, semiconductor design, cloud computing, and emerging technology ventures.

A key pillar of SoftBank's strategy is its investment arm, the SoftBank Vision Fund, which targets high‐growth technology companies around the globe.

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