Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) saw a significant growth in short interest in October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 3,920,000 shares, a growth of 9.8% from the September 30th total of 3,570,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 959,600 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 4.1 days. Approximately 6.0% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Daqo New Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. BNP Paribas Financial Markets increased its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 142.1% during the first quarter. BNP Paribas Financial Markets now owns 696,865 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $19,617,000 after acquiring an additional 409,057 shares in the last quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Daqo New Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,457,000. Jupiter Asset Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Daqo New Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $9,647,000. Sylebra Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 103.9% during the second quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 943,692 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,778,000 after acquiring an additional 480,980 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 112.3% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 322,635 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,710,000 after acquiring an additional 170,660 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

Daqo New Energy Price Performance

DQ stock traded up $0.40 during trading on Thursday, reaching $22.66. The company had a trading volume of 1,451,406 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,188,038. Daqo New Energy has a 52 week low of $13.62 and a 52 week high of $30.85. The company has a market cap of $1.50 billion, a P/E ratio of -22.20 and a beta of 0.32. The business has a 50 day moving average of $18.42 and a 200 day moving average of $18.47.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last released its quarterly earnings results on Monday, August 26th. The semiconductor company reported ($1.81) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.56) by ($1.25). Daqo New Energy had a negative return on equity of 1.04% and a negative net margin of 4.11%. The company had revenue of $219.91 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $406.50 million. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.34 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Daqo New Energy will post -3.35 earnings per share for the current year.

Daqo New Energy declared that its board has initiated a share buyback program on Monday, July 22nd that authorizes the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization authorizes the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 8.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares repurchase programs are usually an indication that the company’s board of directors believes its shares are undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group cut their price target on shares of Daqo New Energy from $38.40 to $34.05 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. HSBC upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Nomura Securities upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Daiwa America upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy to a “hold” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 9th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group began coverage on shares of Daqo New Energy in a research report on Thursday, July 11th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, two have issued a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and two have issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Company Profile

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp.