AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Shares Up 5.2% – Time to Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) shot up 5.2% on Friday . The stock traded as high as $122.22 and last traded at $120.9940. 2,432,889 shares traded hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 77% from the average session volume of 10,463,702 shares. The stock had previously closed at $114.98.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on AXTI shares. Wedbush boosted their target price on AXT from $8.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. B. Riley Financial lifted their price target on shares of AXT to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Needham & Company LLC downgraded shares of AXT from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Tuesday, January 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of AXT in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group set a $35.00 target price on shares of AXT in a research note on Tuesday, February 17th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

AXT Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $8.03 billion, a P/E ratio of -395.23 and a beta of 1.75. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $68.10 and a 200-day moving average price of $35.38.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.04) by $0.03. The company had revenue of $26.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.22 million. AXT had a negative return on equity of 6.11% and a negative net margin of 14.69%.AXT has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.060-0.080 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that AXT Inc will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, Director Jesse Chen sold 8,083 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $50.25, for a total value of $406,170.75. Following the sale, the director directly owned 109,526 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $5,503,681.50. This represents a 6.87% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Morris S. Young sold 37,905 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.13, for a total transaction of $1,938,082.65. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 2,275,328 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $116,337,520.64. The trade was a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 502,278 shares of company stock worth $21,196,754. Corporate insiders own 5.97% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On AXT

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in AXTI. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new stake in shares of AXT in the 1st quarter worth approximately $27,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in AXT during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $31,000. XTX Topco Ltd purchased a new position in AXT during the second quarter valued at $42,000. Jefferies Financial Group Inc. purchased a new position in AXT during the third quarter valued at $52,000. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG bought a new stake in AXT in the first quarter worth $57,000. 49.52% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) is a global supplier of compound and single-element semiconductor substrates, offering a range of materials critical for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of wafers composed of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and other compound semiconductor materials. These substrates serve as the foundational platforms for devices used in data communications, wireless infrastructure, advanced computing, consumer electronics and photovoltaic applications.

AXT’s product portfolio encompasses a variety of wafer sizes, dopant concentrations and crystal orientations, tailored to meet the precise specifications of its customers.