Short Interest in Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Declines By 6.1%

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) was the target of a significant decrease in short interest in the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,680,000 shares, a decrease of 6.1% from the October 15th total of 3,920,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,430,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 5.7% of the company’s shares are short sold.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Daqo New Energy

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mackenzie Financial Corp raised its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 6.4% in the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,496,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,456,000 after acquiring an additional 149,610 shares in the last quarter. Ariose Capital Management Ltd raised its position in Daqo New Energy by 23.9% in the 2nd quarter. Ariose Capital Management Ltd now owns 1,181,124 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $17,244,000 after purchasing an additional 228,200 shares in the last quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC boosted its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 103.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 943,692 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $13,778,000 after buying an additional 480,980 shares during the period. State Street Corp grew its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 1.1% during the third quarter. State Street Corp now owns 842,921 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $17,170,000 after buying an additional 8,983 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Point72 Asset Management L.P. purchased a new stake in shares of Daqo New Energy during the second quarter worth approximately $11,080,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

DQ has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. HSBC raised shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Hsbc Global Res raised Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Daiwa America raised Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 30th. Nomura Securities upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their target price on Daqo New Energy from $38.40 to $34.05 and set a “buy” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, August 26th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Price Performance

DQ stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Monday, hitting $18.94. 86,570 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 1,186,440. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $20.10 and its 200 day simple moving average is $18.40. Daqo New Energy has a 1 year low of $13.62 and a 1 year high of $30.85. The company has a market cap of $1.25 billion, a PE ratio of -10.41 and a beta of 0.32.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.92) earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.80) by ($0.12). The company had revenue of $198.50 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.90 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative net margin of 9.16% and a negative return on equity of 1.90%. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned ($0.09) earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Daqo New Energy will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current year.

Daqo New Energy declared that its Board of Directors has authorized a stock repurchase program on Monday, July 22nd that allows the company to repurchase $100.00 million in shares. This repurchase authorization allows the semiconductor company to repurchase up to 8.6% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase programs are typically a sign that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Daqo New Energy Company Profile

Daqo New Energy Corp., together with its subsidiaries, manufactures and sells polysilicon to photovoltaic product manufacturers in the People's Republic of China. Its products are used in ingots, wafers, cells, and modules for solar power solutions. The company was formerly known as Mega Stand International Limited and changed its name to Daqo New Energy Corp.