Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Short Interest Update

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) was the target of a large increase in short interest in the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,940,000 shares, an increase of 11.3% from the December 15th total of 3,540,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,400,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.8 days. Approximately 6.0% of the shares of the company are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently commented on the stock. HSBC upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Daiwa America raised Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 30th. StockNews.com raised Daqo New Energy to a “sell” rating in a report on Monday, September 23rd. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded Daqo New Energy from a “neutral” rating to an “outperform” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Finally, 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has assigned a hold rating, four have issued a buy rating and three have given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.26.

Daqo New Energy Price Performance

DQ stock traded up $0.13 on Monday, reaching $19.01. 758,443 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 744,415. Daqo New Energy has a 12 month low of $13.62 and a 12 month high of $30.85. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $19.44 and its 200 day moving average price is $18.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $1.26 billion, a PE ratio of -10.28 and a beta of 0.26.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last posted 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 business had revenue of $198.50 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $186.90 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned ($0.09) EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Daqo New Energy will post -3.5 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Daqo New Energy

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the business. Signaturefd LLC boosted its stake in Daqo New Energy by 27.3% during the third quarter. Signaturefd LLC now owns 2,809 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 602 shares in the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its stake in Daqo New Energy by 4.3% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 18,657 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $415,000 after buying an additional 764 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its stake in Daqo New Energy by 15.4% during the third quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 10,500 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $214,000 after buying an additional 1,400 shares in the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 22.2% in the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 8,104 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $118,000 after purchasing an additional 1,470 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 132.3% in the 3rd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 4,567 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $93,000 after purchasing an additional 2,601 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.