GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Lowered to Hold Rating by Zacks Research

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) was downgraded by stock analysts at Zacks Research from a “strong-buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Other research analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Weiss Ratings raised shares of GDS from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a research report on Monday. Wall Street Zen raised shares of GDS from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “overweight” rating and set a $64.00 target price on shares of GDS in a research report on Tuesday, March 17th. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have assigned a Buy rating and three have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.90.

GDS Trading Down 3.1%

Shares of GDS opened at $40.41 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 2.60 and a quick ratio of 2.60. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 77.71 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a 50-day moving average of $42.70 and a 200 day moving average of $39.94. GDS has a 1-year low of $22.53 and a 1-year high of $48.61.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, May 20th. The company reported $1.53 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.03) by $1.56. The business had revenue of $426.13 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $436.44 million. GDS had a net margin of 8.12% and a return on equity of 8.79%. On average, research analysts expect that GDS will post 1.16 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of GDS. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board grew its position in shares of GDS by 77.7% in the 2nd quarter. Canada Pension Plan Investment Board now owns 7,004,083 shares of the company’s stock worth $214,115,000 after buying an additional 3,062,658 shares during the last quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP grew its position in shares of GDS by 45.0% in the 4th quarter. Sachem Head Capital Management LP now owns 9,300,000 shares of the company’s stock worth $324,570,000 after buying an additional 2,885,000 shares during the last quarter. WCM Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of GDS in the 1st quarter worth approximately $68,092,000. Barclays PLC grew its position in GDS by 20,731.3% during the 4th 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Carrhae Capital LLP grew its position in GDS by 295.4% during the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 33.71% of the company’s stock.

GDS Company Profile

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.