Horizon Technology Finance (NASDAQ:HRZN) Posts Quarterly Earnings Results, Meets Estimates

Horizon Technology Finance (NASDAQ:HRZN) issued its earnings results on Thursday. The investment management company reported $0.18 earnings per share for the quarter, meeting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.18, Zacks reports. Horizon Technology Finance had a return on equity of 11.15% and a net margin of 5.27%. The firm had revenue of $24.06 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $25.12 million.

Here are the key takeaways from Horizon Technology Finance’s conference call:

• Pipeline and portfolio expanded: Horizon funded nine investments totaling $98 million and ended its fourth consecutive quarter of debt portfolio growth at $650 million. Its committed, approved, and awarded backlog rose to $351 million, though many commitments depend on companies meeting milestones.
• Income covered the declared distribution: Third-quarter net investment income was $0.19 per share, above the $0.18 in quarterly distributions declared for January through March 2027. However, NII was below $0.32 per share a year earlier.
• Credit stress drove a sharp NAV decline: NAV fell to $5.56 per share from $6.23 in the prior quarter, mainly due to write-downs on stressed investments; management said most, if not all, of the credits in active workout processes are on non-accrual.
• Strong liquidity and share repurchases: The company reported $211 million of available liquidity and net leverage of 0.82x, and repurchased just over 2 million shares at an average $4.90 during the quarter.
• Venture market remains uneven: Management cited strong overall venture investment, largely concentrated in AI, while exits for non-AI companies remain muted. It expects lower loan prepayment activity in Q4 than in Q3 and described the origination pipeline as strong but fluid.

Horizon Technology Finance Trading Down 1.7%

NASDAQ:HRZN opened at $3.96 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $4.47 and its 200 day simple moving average is $4.75. Horizon Technology Finance has a twelve month low of $3.77 and a twelve month high of $6.85. The firm has a market capitalization of $265.44 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of 11.00 and a beta of 1.00.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

HRZN has been the subject of several research analyst reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Horizon Technology Finance from $4.25 to $4.50 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, September 1st. Keefe, Bruyette & Woods reduced their price objective on Horizon Technology Finance from $5.00 to $4.50 and set a “market perform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings cut Horizon Technology Finance from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 19th. Compass Point began coverage on shares of Horizon Technology Finance in a research report on Thursday, August 27th. They set a “buy” rating and a $5.50 target price for the company. Finally, Oppenheimer dropped their target price on shares of Horizon Technology Finance from $6.00 to $5.00 and set a “market perform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 7th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Buy rating, five have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $5.00.

About Horizon Technology Finance

Horizon Technology Finance Corporation (NASDAQ: HRZN) is a specialty finance company that has elected to be regulated as a business development company. It provides secured venture loans to development-stage companies backed by venture capital or private equity investors.

The company primarily finances businesses in the technology, life sciences, healthcare information and sustainability sectors. Its lending solutions are designed to support needs such as product development, commercialization, acquisitions, working capital and other corporate purposes.