Zacks Research Downgrades Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) to Strong Sell

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) was downgraded by equities researchers at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Separately, Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novanta from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “sell (d+)” rating in a research report on Saturday, October 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Novanta currently has a consensus rating of “Sell” and a consensus target price of $133.00.

Novanta Stock Performance

NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $119.35 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $114.57 and a 200-day moving average price of $117.59. The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 81.19 and a beta of 1.59. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.56, a quick ratio of 1.54 and a current ratio of 2.51. Novanta has a fifty-two week low of $98.27 and a fifty-two week high of $157.11.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Monday, November 3rd. The technology company reported $0.87 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.81 by $0.06. Novanta had a return on equity of 14.53% and a net margin of 5.50%.The company had revenue of $247.84 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $245.95 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.85 earnings per share. Novanta’s revenue was up 1.4% on a year-over-year basis. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.240-3.300 EPS and its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.870-0.930 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Novanta will post 3.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Novanta declared that its board has initiated a share buyback plan on Thursday, September 18th that allows the company to repurchase $200.00 million in outstanding shares. This repurchase authorization allows the technology company to reacquire up to 4.9% of its stock through open market purchases. Stock repurchase plans are usually an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in NOVT. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Novanta by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 485,196 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,042,000 after acquiring an additional 9,243 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio lifted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 8,193.5% during the second quarter. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio now owns 11,445 shares of the technology company’s stock worth $1,476,000 after purchasing an additional 11,307 shares during the period. Sequoia Financial Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Novanta in the second quarter worth $340,000. Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Novanta by 51.2% in the second quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 9,666 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $1,246,000 after buying an additional 3,272 shares during the period. Finally, Atika Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Novanta in the second quarter valued at about $1,367,000. Institutional investors own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

About Novanta

Novanta, Inc (NASDAQ: NOVT) is a global technology company that designs and manufactures precision components, subsystems and software used in advanced photonics and motion control applications. The company serves customers in the medical device and advanced industrial markets, supplying critical technologies for diagnostics and therapeutic systems, semiconductor and electronics manufacturing, and scientific instrumentation. Novanta’s product portfolio includes laser control modules, optics, beam delivery systems, high-precision motors, actuators, stages, and fluidics solutions designed to meet stringent accuracy and reliability requirements.

Novanta’s Photonics segment delivers laser and energy delivery components that enable minimally invasive surgical procedures and diagnostic imaging.