Short Interest in IRIDEX Co. (NASDAQ:IRIX) Increases By 13.3%

IRIDEX Co. (NASDAQ:IRIX) saw a large increase in short interest during the month of August. As of August 31st, there was short interest totalling 61,200 shares, an increase of 13.3% from the August 15th total of 54,000 shares. Currently, 0.5% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 29,300 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 2.1 days.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have commented on IRIX. Stifel Nicolaus decreased their target price on IRIDEX from $3.00 to $2.00 in a research note on Friday, August 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on IRIDEX in a research report on Wednesday, September 13th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock.

IRIDEX Price Performance

Shares of IRIX stock traded down $0.04 on Tuesday, hitting $2.10. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 80,261 shares, compared to its average volume of 22,961. The stock has a market capitalization of $34.08 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -4.46 and a beta of 1.19. IRIDEX has a fifty-two week low of $1.31 and a fifty-two week high of $2.74. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $2.05.

IRIDEX (NASDAQ:IRIX) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 10th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.17) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.06). The firm had revenue of $12.86 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $14.23 million. IRIDEX had a negative return on equity of 48.09% and a negative net margin of 13.78%. Analysts predict that IRIDEX will post -0.48 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On IRIDEX

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp acquired a new stake in IRIDEX in the first quarter worth $56,000. AMH Equity Ltd acquired a new stake in IRIDEX in the first quarter worth $55,000. Clayton Partners LLC acquired a new stake in IRIDEX in the first quarter worth $58,000. State Street Corp raised its holdings in IRIDEX by 9.7% in the first quarter. State Street Corp now owns 44,718 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $207,000 after purchasing an additional 3,956 shares during the period. Finally, Perkins Capital Management Inc. increased its position in shares of IRIDEX by 12.2% during the second quarter. Perkins Capital Management Inc. now owns 50,450 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock worth $109,000 after acquiring an additional 5,500 shares in the last quarter. 23.95% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

IRIDEX Company Profile

IRIDEX Corporation, an ophthalmic medical technology company, provides therapeutic based laser systems, delivery devices, and consumable instrumentation to treat sight-threatening eye diseases in ophthalmology. It offers laser consoles, such as Cyclo G6 laser system for use in the treatment of glaucoma; IQ 532 and IQ 577 laser systems, which are used for the treatment of retinal disorders; and OcuLight TX, OcuLight SL, OcuLight SLx, OcuLight GL, and OcuLight GLx laser photocoagulation systems that are used to treat proliferative diabetic retinopathy, macular holes, retinal tears, and detachments.