GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Shares Gap Down – What’s Next?

GDS Holdings (NASDAQ:GDS) shares gapped down before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $31.61, but opened at $30.49. GDS shares last traded at $30.7070, with a volume of 272,926 shares traded.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have commented on GDS. Piper Sandler set a $36.00 price objective on shares of GDS in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Weiss Ratings raised shares of GDS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Monday, May 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of GDS in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Zacks Research raised shares of GDS from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, June 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating and two have given a Hold rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $48.04.

GDS Price Performance

The company has a current ratio of 1.87, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $37.24 and a 200 day moving average price of $39.96. The stock has a market capitalization of $6.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.07 and a beta of 0.41.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last released its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $1.56. The company had revenue of $426.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $436.44 million. GDS had a return on equity of 15.62% and a net margin of 23.83%.GDS’s quarterly revenue was up 23.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $3.47 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect 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 the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total transaction of $1,354,036.74. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Yixin Qian sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $352,500.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the vice president directly owned 66,865 shares in the company, valued at $2,356,991.25. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. 7.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GDS

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of GDS. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board raised its holdings in shares of GDS by 77.7% during the second quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,004,083 shares of the company’s stock valued at $214,115,000 after acquiring an additional 3,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP boosted its stake in shares of GDS by 45.0% in the fourth quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 9,300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,570,000 after acquiring an additional 2,885,000 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of GDS during the first quarter worth approximately $68,092,000. Barclays PLC increased its position in shares of GDS by 20,731.3% during the fourth quarter. Barclays PLC now owns 1,720,247 shares of the company’s stock worth $60,037,000 after purchasing an additional 1,711,989 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Carrhae Capital LLP increased its position in shares of GDS by 295.4% during the third quarter. Carrhae Capital LLP now owns 1,648,278 shares of the company’s stock worth $63,788,000 after purchasing an additional 1,231,375 shares in the last quarter. 33.71% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.