VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET) Shares Gap Down - Here's What Happened

Key Points

• VNET Group's stock opened at $9.61, down from the previous close of $9.95, indicating a downward trend before the market opened.
• Bank of America raised its price target for VNET Group from $11.80 to $12.60 while maintaining a "buy" rating, contrasted by Wall Street Zen's downgrade from "hold" to "sell".
• VNET Group reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the last quarter, missing the expected EPS by ($0.03) and generating revenue of $339.65 million, significantly below analyst projections of $2.27 billion.

VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped down before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $9.95, but opened at $9.61. VNET Group shares last traded at $9.54, with a volume of 2,143,343 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have commented on VNET shares. Bank of America upped their price target on VNET Group from $11.80 to $12.60 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 22nd. Wall Street Zen cut VNET Group from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and five have assigned a Buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $9.96.

VNET Group Stock Down 5.1%

The stock has a market cap of $2.54 billion, a PE ratio of -117.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 6.27 and a beta of 0.16. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $8.30 and a 200 day moving average of $7.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.97, a current ratio of 0.97 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.40.

VNET Group (NASDAQ:VNET - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 21st. The information technology services provider reported ($0.01) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.02 by ($0.03). VNET Group had a net margin of 0.74% and a return on equity of 0.98%. The company had revenue of $339.65 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $2.27 billion. VNET Group has set its FY 2025 guidance at EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that VNET Group, Inc. - Unsponsored ADR will post -0.06 EPS for the current fiscal year.

VNET Group declared that its board has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Friday, June 27th that authorizes the company to repurchase $0.00 in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the information technology services provider to reacquire shares of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually a sign that the company's board of directors believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On VNET Group

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Infini Capital Management Ltd boosted its stake in shares of VNET Group by 39.2% during the second quarter. Infini Capital Management Ltd now owns 9,758,083 shares of the information technology services provider's stock worth $67,331,000 after buying an additional 2,747,661 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in VNET Group in the second quarter valued at about $54,199,000. Oxbow Capital Management HK Ltd lifted its position in VNET Group by 64.3% in the second quarter. Oxbow Capital Management HK Ltd now owns 5,750,000 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $39,675,000 after purchasing an additional 2,250,000 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in VNET Group by 5.3% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 5,495,446 shares of the information technology services provider's stock valued at $45,063,000 after purchasing an additional 278,496 shares during the period. Finally, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board acquired a new stake in VNET Group in the first quarter valued at about $27,463,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 72.83% of the company's stock.

About VNET Group

VNET Group, Inc, an investment holding company, provides hosting and related services in China. It offers managed hosting services consisting of managed retail services, such as colocation services that dedicate data center space to house customers' servers and networking equipment, as well as allow customers to lease partial or entire cabinets for their servers; interconnectivity services that allow customers to connect their servers; value-added services, including hybrid IT, bare metal, firewall, server load balancing, data backup and recovery, data center management, server management, and backup server services; cloud services that allow customers to run applications over the internet using IT infrastructure; and VPN Services that extend customers' private networks by setting up connections through the public internet.

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