ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) Shares Gap Up – Time to Buy?

ACM Research, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACMR) gapped up before the market opened on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $39.97, but opened at $41.53. ACM Research shares last traded at $41.3610, with a volume of 426,926 shares changing hands.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

ACMR has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Zacks Research lowered shares of ACM Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 12th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b-)” rating on shares of ACM Research in a research report on Monday, December 22nd. Finally, Roth Capital restated a “buy” rating and set a $40.00 target price on shares of ACM Research in a research report on Wednesday, November 5th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $38.00.

ACM Research Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 2.48, a current ratio of 3.48 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.10. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $36.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $32.67. The stock has a market cap of $2.52 billion, a PE ratio of 24.47 and a beta of 1.46.

ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, November 5th. The specialty retailer reported $0.36 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.47 by ($0.11). ACM Research had a return on equity of 7.11% and a net margin of 13.30%.The company had revenue of $269.16 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $251.72 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.63 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 32.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that ACM Research, Inc. will post 1.17 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, insider Lisa Feng sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, November 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $33.77, for a total transaction of $506,550.00. Following the completion of the sale, the insider owned 50,001 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,688,533.77. This represents a 23.08% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, insider David H. Wang sold 70,000 shares of ACM Research stock in a transaction on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $33.06, for a total transaction of $2,314,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider directly owned 802,708 shares in the company, valued at $26,537,526.48. This represents a 8.02% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 265,000 shares of company stock worth $8,849,150. 25.00% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in ACM Research by 12.8% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,846,413 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $189,640,000 after buying an additional 549,971 shares during the last quarter. LSV Asset Management raised its position in shares of ACM Research by 462.9% in the 3rd quarter. LSV Asset Management now owns 2,504,305 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $97,993,000 after purchasing an additional 2,059,405 shares during the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in ACM Research by 39.3% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 2,302,351 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $59,631,000 after purchasing an additional 649,116 shares in the last quarter. Triata Capital Ltd grew its position in ACM Research by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Triata Capital Ltd now owns 2,003,225 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock worth $78,386,000 after purchasing an additional 413,000 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. increased its stake in ACM Research by 32.5% during the 2nd quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 1,421,688 shares of the specialty retailer’s stock valued at $36,822,000 after purchasing an additional 348,936 shares in the last quarter. 66.75% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

ACM Research Company Profile

ACM Research, Inc (NASDAQ:ACMR) designs, develops and markets wet processing equipment for the semiconductor industry. The company focuses on advanced wafer cleaning technologies that address critical contamination-control requirements for logic, memory and advanced packaging applications. Since its founding in 2003, ACM Research has engineered modular platform tools that can be configured for a range of spin, scrub and batch cleaning processes.

Its product portfolio encompasses single-wafer spin cleaning systems featuring high-purity megasonic capabilities, dynamic chemical scrubbing modules for post-CMP residue removal and batch-process cleaning equipment designed for high-throughput production environments.