USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR) Shares Up 11.2% - Time to Buy?

Key Points

• Shares rose 11.2% to $25.41 on Wednesday with volume ~29.9M shares (about a 59% increase vs. average), giving the company a market cap near $5.54 billion.
• Wall Street sentiment is broadly positive — the consensus rating is "Moderate Buy" with a $31.50 consensus price target and several firms raising targets (Cantor Fitzgerald to $35).
• The company remains unprofitable (Q1 EPS -$0.19 vs. -$0.12 estimate; FY EPS expected around -$0.25), but insiders (Director Michael Blitzer bought 100,000 shares) and major institutions (Vanguard, Alyeska, Bayshore) have materially increased holdings.

USA Rare Earth Inc. (NASDAQ:USAR - Get Free Report) shares shot up 11.2% on Wednesday . The company traded as high as $25.95 and last traded at $25.41. 29,865,255 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, an increase of 59% from the average session volume of 18,751,793 shares. The stock had previously closed at $22.85.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on USAR. Cantor Fitzgerald lifted their price objective on USA Rare Earth from $28.00 to $35.00 and gave the company an "overweight" rating in a report on Friday, January 30th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of USA Rare Earth in a report on Friday, March 27th. Benchmark began coverage on USA Rare Earth in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. They issued a "buy" rating on the stock. Wedbush assumed coverage on USA Rare Earth in a report on Monday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $29.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Roth Mkm set a $30.00 price target on shares of USA Rare Earth in a research report on Monday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $31.50.

USA Rare Earth Stock Performance

The stock's 50-day moving average price is $18.22 and its 200-day moving average price is $18.83. The company has a market capitalization of $5.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -8.47 and a beta of 1.34.

USA Rare Earth (NASDAQ:USAR - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Monday, March 30th. The company reported ($0.19) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.12) by ($0.07). The firm had revenue of $1.64 million for the quarter. Analysts anticipate that USA Rare Earth Inc. will post -0.25 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, Director Michael Blitzer acquired 100,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The stock was purchased at an average cost of $21.44 per share, for a total transaction of $2,144,000.00. Following the transaction, the director directly owned 847,500 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $18,170,400. This trade represents a 13.38% increase in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Carolyn Trabuco acquired 1,300 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 29th. The shares were bought at an average price of $22.60 per share, with a total value of $29,380.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 1,300 shares in the company, valued at approximately $29,380. The trade was a ∞ increase in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this purchase provides additional information. 46.60% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of USAR. Bayshore Capital Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of USA Rare Earth during the 4th quarter worth approximately $102,378,000. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of USA Rare Earth by 533.3% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,036,486 shares of the company's stock worth $71,834,000 after purchasing an additional 5,083,288 shares during the last quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. raised its position in shares of USA Rare Earth by 44.0% during the 3rd quarter. Alyeska Investment Group L.P. now owns 12,799,325 shares of the company's stock worth $219,034,000 after purchasing an additional 3,909,455 shares during the last quarter. Inflection Point Holdings II LLC acquired a new position in shares of USA Rare Earth during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,188,000. Finally, State Street Corp raised its position in shares of USA Rare Earth by 78.4% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 5,032,866 shares of the company's stock worth $59,891,000 after purchasing an additional 2,212,177 shares during the last quarter.

USA Rare Earth Company Profile

USA Rare Earth NASDAQ: USAR is a development-stage critical minerals company focused on advancing a fully integrated rare earth element (REE) and lithium project in the United States. Its flagship asset is the Round Top deposit in West Texas, a large, polymetallic concentration of light and heavy rare earth elements, lithium and other co-products. The company seeks to move this asset through resource delineation, pilot-scale processing and eventual commercial production to address growing domestic demand for secure REE supply chains.

In addition to exploration, USA Rare Earth is engineering an on-site separation facility that will utilize dry magnetic separation and hydrometallurgical flowsheets to produce mixed rare earth carbonates.

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