GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Shares Gap Down – Here’s Why

GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS) shares gapped down prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $20.63, but opened at $18.78. GDS shares last traded at $19.07, with a volume of 811,921 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James raised shares of GDS from an “outperform” rating to a “strong-buy” rating and set a $53.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com cut shares of GDS from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Royal Bank of Canada cut shares of GDS from an “outperform” rating to a “sector perform” rating and increased their price target for the company from $26.00 to $37.00 in a research note on Tuesday, February 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded GDS from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and set a $45.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Finally, Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded GDS from a “neutral” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $39.48.

GDS Trading Down 4.7 %

The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25. The stock has a market capitalization of $3.75 billion, a PE ratio of -6.45 and a beta of 0.23. The business’s 50-day moving average is $31.28 and its two-hundred day moving average is $25.13.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.27) by $0.17. GDS had a negative net margin of 35.97% and a negative return on equity of 8.22%. The business had revenue of $425.13 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $3.11 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned ($2.16) earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts anticipate that GDS Holdings Limited will post -0.89 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GDS

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new stake in shares of GDS during the third quarter worth $64,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in GDS by 26.8% in the 4th quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the company’s stock valued at $75,000 after buying an additional 672 shares during the period. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its stake in shares of GDS by 1,904.2% during the 4th quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,788 shares of the company’s stock valued at $90,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599 shares during the last quarter. Blue Trust Inc. boosted its position in shares of GDS by 121.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,557 shares of the company’s stock worth $132,000 after acquiring an additional 3,053 shares during the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC purchased a new position in GDS during the fourth quarter worth approximately $310,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

About GDS

GDS Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates data centers in the People's Republic of China. The company provides colocation services comprising critical facilities space, customer-available power, racks, and cooling; managed hosting services, including business continuity and disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating system, database, and server middleware services; managed cloud services; and consulting services.