Wall Street Zen Upgrades Rapid Micro Biosystems (NASDAQ:RPID) to Hold

Key Points

• Wall Street Zen upgraded Rapid Micro Biosystems (NASDAQ:RPID) from "sell" to "hold" while Weiss Ratings maintained a "sell (d-)", leaving a MarketBeat consensus rating of Hold and an average price target of $8.00.
• The company remains unprofitable—reported quarterly EPS of ($0.28) missed estimates, with a negative net margin of 140.3% and negative ROE of 95.4%—and the stock trades near $2.12 with a market cap of about $96.4 million.
• Insiders sold roughly 249,705 shares (~$1.02M) over the last quarter (including sales by Longitude Capital and the COO), while institutional investors own about 52.6% of the company.

Rapid Micro Biosystems (NASDAQ:RPID - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Wall Street Zen from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Sunday.

Separately, Weiss Ratings reissued a "sell (d-)" rating on shares of Rapid Micro Biosystems in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $8.00.

Rapid Micro Biosystems Price Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:RPID opened at $2.12 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average is $3.37 and its 200 day moving average is $3.48. The stock has a market cap of $96.38 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.98 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a quick ratio of 2.36, a current ratio of 3.31 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. Rapid Micro Biosystems has a 12-month low of $1.91 and a 12-month high of $4.94.

Rapid Micro Biosystems (NASDAQ:RPID - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, March 12th. The company reported ($0.28) EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.23) by ($0.05). Rapid Micro Biosystems had a negative net margin of 140.30% and a negative return on equity of 95.40%. The business had revenue of $11.28 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $10.93 million. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Rapid Micro Biosystems will post -1.1 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, major shareholder Longitude Capital Partners Ii, sold 49,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $3.88, for a total value of $190,120.00. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, COO John J. Addington Wilson sold 9,603 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $4.32, for a total value of $41,484.96. Following the completion of the sale, the chief operating officer owned 316,762 shares in the company, valued at $1,368,411.84. The trade was a 2.94% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 249,705 shares of company stock worth $1,021,364. 29.96% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of Rapid Micro Biosystems

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in RPID. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Rapid Micro Biosystems by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 204,079 shares of the company's stock worth $704,000 after buying an additional 3,143 shares during the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. boosted its stake in Rapid Micro Biosystems by 46.1% during the 2nd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 16,922 shares of the company's stock valued at $58,000 after purchasing an additional 5,341 shares during the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new stake in Rapid Micro Biosystems during the 2nd quarter valued at $144,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Rapid Micro Biosystems by 6.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 965,018 shares of the company's stock valued at $3,223,000 after purchasing an additional 60,655 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Evernest Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Rapid Micro Biosystems by 355.1% during the 3rd quarter. Evernest Financial Advisors LLC now owns 200,234 shares of the company's stock valued at $669,000 after purchasing an additional 156,234 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.60% of the company's stock.

About Rapid Micro Biosystems

Rapid Micro Biosystems NASDAQ: RPID develops and commercializes automated microbial detection and contamination control solutions for the life sciences industry. Its flagship offering, the Growth Direct® System, leverages digital imaging and proprietary growth indicator plates to identify and count microorganisms more rapidly than traditional culture-based methods. The company's technology platform is designed to streamline quality control workflows in pharmaceutical, biotechnology and vaccine manufacturing settings, helping clients reduce release times and improve operational efficiency.

In addition to the Growth Direct® System, Rapid Micro Biosystems offers an integrated suite of software and consumables that support automated data capture, analysis and reporting.

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