GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

GDS Holdings (NASDAQ:GDS)’s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday . The stock had previously closed at $30.41, but opened at $31.87. GDS shares last traded at $31.7750, with a volume of 260,432 shares changing hands.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

GDS has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. TD Cowen decreased their price target on shares of GDS from $37.00 to $36.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, May 21st. Piper Sandler set a $36.00 price target on GDS in a research report on Thursday, May 21st. Wall Street Zen raised GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and issued a $64.00 target price on shares of GDS in a report on Tuesday, March 17th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of GDS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research note on Monday, May 18th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating and two have issued a Hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $48.04.

GDS Stock Performance

The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $36.16 and its 200-day moving average price is $39.82. The company has a market capitalization of $6.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.25, a quick ratio of 1.87 and a current ratio of 1.87.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Friday, May 15th. The company reported $1.53 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $1.56. GDS had a return on equity of 15.62% and a net margin of 23.83%.The business had revenue of $426.12 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $436.44 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $3.47 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.7% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that GDS Holdings will post 5.65 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other GDS news, Director Judy Qing Ye sold 37,394 shares of GDS stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, June 2nd. The stock was sold at an average price of $36.21, for a total value of $1,354,036.74. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, VP Yixin Qian sold 10,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, June 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $35.25, for a total transaction of $352,500.00. Following the sale, the vice president directly owned 66,865 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,356,991.25. This represents a 13.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. 7.99% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On GDS

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of GDS. Advisors Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of GDS during the first quarter valued at approximately $25,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in GDS during the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Leonteq Securities AG acquired a new stake in GDS during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in GDS by 41.6% during the 2nd quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,806 shares of the company’s stock worth $55,000 after buying an additional 531 shares during the period. Finally, Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. increased its stake in GDS by 113.0% during the 2nd quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. now owns 1,836 shares of the company’s stock worth $56,000 after buying an additional 974 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

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.