Short Interest in iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) Declines By 17.8%

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) was the target of a significant drop in short interest in November. As of November 15th, there was short interest totalling 4,010,000 shares, a drop of 17.8% from the October 31st total of 4,880,000 shares. Based on an average trading volume of 1,040,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 3.9 days. Approximately 13.9% of the company’s stock are sold short.

Institutional Trading of iRobot

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of IRBT. CWM LLC boosted its holdings in iRobot by 474.6% during the second quarter. CWM LLC now owns 2,758 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 2,278 shares in the last quarter. nVerses Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of iRobot in the third quarter worth about $39,000. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of iRobot by 1,167.8% during the 2nd quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 4,653 shares of the industrial products company’s stock worth $42,000 after acquiring an additional 4,286 shares in the last quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of iRobot during the 2nd quarter valued at about $61,000. Finally, Sunbelt Securities Inc. increased its stake in shares of iRobot by 72.6% in the 2nd quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after purchasing an additional 3,175 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 77.42% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

IRBT has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a report on Thursday, November 7th. StockNews.com lowered iRobot from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Sunday, October 27th.

iRobot Stock Performance

NASDAQ IRBT traded up $0.54 during trading hours on Monday, reaching $8.15. The stock had a trading volume of 1,251,359 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,786,023. iRobot has a 52-week low of $5.83 and a 52-week high of $39.99. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $7.88 and a 200 day moving average of $8.62. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a quick ratio of 0.94 and a current ratio of 1.45. The stock has a market cap of $249.06 million, a P/E ratio of -1.66 and a beta of 0.86.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of ($0.06) by $0.09. The business had revenue of $193.40 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $218.41 million. iRobot had a negative net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 100.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned ($3.09) EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that iRobot will post -5.74 earnings per share for the current year.

About iRobot

iRobot Corporation designs, builds, and sells robots and home innovation products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and internationally. The company offers floor care products, including Roomba floor vacuuming robots; Roomba accessories and consumables, such as the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal, replacement dirt disposal bags for the Clean Base, filters, brushes, and batteries; Braava family of automatic floor mopping robots; and Braava accessories and consumables, which include cleaning solution, washable and disposable mopping pads, replacement tanks, and batteries, as well as subscription services.