CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) gapped up before the market opened on Monday . The stock had previously closed at $4.82, but opened at $5.33. CommScope shares last traded at $5.32, with a volume of 1,358,616 shares traded.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on COMM shares. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft restated a “hold” rating and set a $7.00 price target on shares of CommScope in a research note on Thursday, February 27th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded CommScope from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, January 14th. Finally, StockNews.com raised CommScope from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, May 5th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $4.75.

CommScope Trading Up 13.8%

The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $4.50 and its 200 day moving average price is $5.06. The stock has a market cap of $1.19 billion, a P/E ratio of -1.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.41 and a beta of 2.06.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The communications equipment provider reported $0.14 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.07 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $1.11 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $1.11 billion. CommScope had a negative net margin of 18.10% and a negative return on equity of 1.01%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 23.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned ($0.08) earnings per share. On average, analysts anticipate that CommScope Holding Company, Inc. will post -0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted its stake in CommScope by 151.9% in the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 900,089 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $5,500,000 after buying an additional 542,794 shares during the last quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC lifted its position in shares of CommScope by 130.6% during the fourth quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 45,650 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $238,000 after purchasing an additional 25,855 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank bought a new stake in shares of CommScope during the fourth quarter worth $2,212,000. Franklin Resources Inc. bought a new position in shares of CommScope in the third quarter valued at about $755,000. Finally, Arizona State Retirement System bought a new position in CommScope in the 4th quarter valued at about $326,000. 88.04% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

CommScope Company Profile

CommScope Holding Company, Inc provides infrastructure solutions for communications, data center, and entertainment networks worldwide. The company operates through Connectivity and Cable Solutions (CCS); Outdoor Wireless Networks (OWN); Networking, Intelligent Cellular and Security Solutions (NICS), and Access Network Solutions (ANS) segments.