GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

GDS Holdings (NASDAQ:GDS) gapped up prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $34.69, but opened at $37.03. GDS shares last traded at $37.83, with a volume of 1,030,135 shares traded.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

GDS has been the topic of several analyst reports. Zacks Research downgraded GDS from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Weiss Ratings upgraded GDS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Saturday, May 2nd. Piper Sandler set a $36.00 target price on GDS in a report on Thursday, May 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and set a $64.00 price target on shares of GDS in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating and three have issued a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $48.04.

GDS Stock Performance

The stock’s fifty day moving average is $40.25 and its two-hundred day moving average is $40.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87. The firm has a market capitalization of $6.71 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.32 and a beta of 0.39.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $1.56. GDS had a return on equity of 15.62% and a net margin of 23.83%.The firm had revenue of $426.13 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $436.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $3.47 EPS. GDS’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that GDS Holdings will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Judy Qing Ye sold 37,394 shares of GDS stock in a transaction on Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total value of $1,354,036.74. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 7.99% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GDS

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Parallel Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of GDS by 6.2% in the 1st quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 7,330 shares of the company’s stock worth $295,000 after purchasing an additional 429 shares during the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE increased its position in shares of GDS by 25.5% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 2,177,301 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,723,000 after purchasing an additional 442,414 shares during the last quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of GDS by 73.5% in the 1st quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 2,160 shares of the company’s stock worth $87,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC increased its position in shares of GDS by 640.6% in the 1st quarter. Electron Capital Partners LLC now owns 780,979 shares of the company’s stock worth $31,466,000 after purchasing an additional 675,531 shares during the last quarter. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company acquired a new stake in GDS during the first quarter valued at approximately $11,988,000. Institutional investors own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

About GDS

GDS Holdings Limited, founded in 2001 and headquartered in Shanghai, is a leading network-neutral data center services provider in China. The company operates a portfolio of state-of-the-art data center facilities designed to support the mission-critical IT infrastructure of cloud service providers, internet enterprises, financial institutions, and government entities. GDS was among the first Chinese providers to offer high-density colocation solutions, catering to customers with demanding computing and storage requirements.

GDS specializes in delivering scalable colocation, cross-connect, and interconnection services within its facilities, enabling clients to establish high-speed, low-latency connections to major cloud platforms and internet exchange points.