Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Short Interest Down 6.1% in October

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) saw a large decline in short interest during the month of October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,680,000 shares, a decline 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 short-interest ratio is currently 2.6 days. Approximately 5.7% of the company’s shares are sold short.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on DQ. Jefferies Financial Group lowered their price objective on Daqo New Energy from $38.40 to $34.05 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, August 26th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com upgraded Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a research note on Monday, September 23rd. Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Nomura Securities raised Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, August 28th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have assigned a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and an average target price of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Stock Down 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE:DQ opened at $19.03 on Tuesday. Daqo New Energy has a fifty-two week low of $13.62 and a fifty-two week high of $30.85. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $20.19 and a 200 day simple moving average of $18.40.

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

Daqo New Energy declared that its Board of Directors has initiated a stock repurchase plan on Monday, July 22nd that permits the company to buyback $100.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor company to buy up to 8.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback plans are usually an indication that the company’s board believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Daqo New Energy

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Daqo New Energy by 9.2% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 33,546 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $683,000 after buying an additional 2,813 shares during the last quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio acquired a new position in Daqo New Energy during the 3rd quarter valued at about $1,053,000. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 26.0% during the 3rd quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 128,422 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $2,616,000 after buying an additional 26,462 shares in the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP boosted its holdings in shares of Daqo New Energy by 395.7% in the third quarter. Wexford Capital LP now owns 164,809 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $3,357,000 after acquiring an additional 131,564 shares in the last quarter. Finally, State Street Corp increased its stake 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 valued at $17,170,000 after acquiring an additional 8,983 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 47.22% of the company’s stock.

About Daqo New Energy

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.