AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIDR) Short Interest Up 88.9% in April

AEye, Inc. (NASDAQ:LIDR) saw a significant increase in short interest in the month of April. As of April 30th, there was short interest totaling 4,201,333 shares, an increase of 88.9% from the April 15th total of 2,224,409 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 10,623,388 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 0.4 days. Approximately 10.5% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on LIDR. Craig Hallum began coverage on shares of AEye in a research note on Friday, April 24th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $3.50 price objective for the company. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of AEye in a research note on Friday, March 27th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $4.75.

AEye Price Performance

Shares of LIDR stock traded down $0.03 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $1.86. 895,949 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 7,003,725. The stock has a market cap of $84.35 million, a P/E ratio of -1.65 and a beta of 2.80. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $1.87 and its two-hundred day moving average is $2.02. AEye has a 52-week low of $0.66 and a 52-week high of $6.44.

AEye (NASDAQ:LIDR) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, May 13th. The company reported ($0.15) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.11) by ($0.04). The firm had revenue of $0.10 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $0.28 million. AEye had a negative net margin of 12,698.89% and a negative return on equity of 49.42%.

Institutional Trading of AEye

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. State Street Corp lifted its position in shares of AEye by 685.1% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,573,781 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,896,000 after buying an additional 1,373,334 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of AEye by 1,836.8% during the first quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,394,472 shares of the company’s stock valued at $2,524,000 after buying an additional 1,322,472 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of AEye during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,460,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of AEye by 819.6% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 676,840 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,685,000 after buying an additional 603,241 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of AEye by 29.1% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 509,717 shares of the company’s stock valued at $938,000 after buying an additional 114,958 shares during the last quarter. 21.58% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About AEye

AEye, Inc is a technology company specializing in adaptive LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) systems designed to support advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS), autonomous vehicles and other sensing applications. Through its intelligent detection and ranging (iDAR) platform, AEye integrates high-performance sensors with real-time data processing software to deliver customizable sensing ‘pipelines’ that prioritize relevant objects and environmental features. This approach enables longer detection ranges, higher resolution imagery and dynamic field-of-view adjustment, making AEye’s offerings well suited for complex driving environments and safety-critical scenarios.

The company’s core product suite centers on solid-state and hybrid LiDAR sensors that can be configured for a variety of end uses, including passenger vehicles, commercial trucks, robotics, mapping and defense.