MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Jumps 5.8% – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s stock price rose 5.8% during mid-day trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $47.07 and last traded at $48.0470. Approximately 677,386 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,432,073 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently commented on MP. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price target on shares of MP Materials from $75.00 to $60.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, July 17th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Needham & Company LLC reduced their target price on MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Finally, Citigroup restated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Wednesday, July 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.29.

MP Materials Trading Up 5.7%

The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $51.12 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $55.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.56 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -140.92 and a beta of 1.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The firm had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $96.89 million. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned ($0.13) earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Trading of MP Materials

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. EMC Capital Management purchased a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. REAP Financial Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its holdings in shares of MP Materials by 73.3% in the second quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth about $36,000. Finally, Markowski Investments acquired a new stake in MP Materials during the second quarter worth about $43,000. 52.55% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and processing facility in California. The site produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.