Stardust Power (NASDAQ:SDST) Posts Earnings Results, Misses Estimates By $0.14 EPS

Stardust Power (NASDAQ:SDST) released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday. The company reported ($0.53) earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.39) by ($0.14), FiscalAI reports.

Here are the key takeaways from Stardust Power’s conference call:

• Management said Q1 marked a transition from de-risking the Muskogee Lithium Refinery to financing and execution, with the project now positioned for major construction once funding is secured.
• The company received its air quality construction permit and completed FEL 3 engineering with third-party validation, clearing key regulatory and technical hurdles needed to begin construction.
• Stardust Power said it advanced financing options by securing access to up to $15 million through an equity financing facility and signing an LOI for up to $150 million in project-level financing.
• The company expanded its feedstock pipeline with multiple LOIs, including one for up to 15,000 metric tons per annum of lithium chloride from a U.S.-based brine project, supporting its domestic sourcing strategy.
• Financially, the company remains pre-revenue and still depends on additional capital to fund the next 12 months, while Q1 net loss widened to $5.2 million from $3.8 million year over year.

Stardust Power Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of NASDAQ SDST traded up $0.02 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $2.28. 98,006 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 306,430. Stardust Power has a 12-month low of $1.42 and a 12-month high of $7.67. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $2.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $3.34. The company has a market cap of $22.73 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.05 and a beta of 0.56.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Stardust Power news, insider Bruce Czachor sold 17,655 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, March 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $2.29, for a total transaction of $40,429.95. Following the completion of the sale, the insider directly owned 22,345 shares in the company, valued at $51,170.05. This represents a 44.14% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders have sold 27,041 shares of company stock worth $62,140 in the last quarter. 55.30% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. State Street Corp purchased a new position in Stardust Power in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD purchased a new position in Stardust Power during the fourth quarter worth $69,000. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Stardust Power by 40.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 59,143 shares of the company’s stock valued at $181,000 after purchasing an additional 16,989 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 32.79% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Stardust Power from a “strong sell” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, April 18th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of Stardust Power in a research report on Tuesday, April 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Reduce”.

About Stardust Power

Stardust Power Inc is a vertically-integrated lithium refinery that engages in producing battery-grade lithium. The company was founded in 2022 and is based in Greenwich, Connecticut.