MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Stock Jumps 5.8% – Still a Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP)’s share price rose 5.8% during trading on Wednesday. The company traded as high as $47.07 and last traded at $48.0470. Approximately 677,386 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 89% from the average session volume of 6,432,073 shares. The stock had previously closed at $45.43.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

MP has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “overweight” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, August 19th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “buy” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Tuesday, September 8th. Freedom Broker started coverage on MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, September 16th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $57.00 target price for the company. Barclays lowered their price target on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Friday, July 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have issued a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.29.

MP Materials Trading Up 5.7%

The company has a current ratio of 9.51, a quick ratio of 8.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $51.12 and a 200 day simple moving average of $55.50. The firm has a market cap of $8.56 billion, a PE ratio of -140.92 and a beta of 1.94.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of ($0.01). MP Materials had a negative net margin of 19.85% and a negative return on equity of 1.21%. The firm had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $96.89 million. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.13) EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Oak Thistle LLC acquired a new stake in shares of MP Materials during the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,543,000. Amundi raised its holdings in MP Materials by 260.2% in the 1st quarter. Amundi now owns 385,001 shares of the company’s stock worth $18,580,000 after purchasing an additional 278,126 shares during the period. Myriad Asset Management Advisors LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,229,000. NewEdge Advisors LLC boosted its position in MP Materials by 135.8% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 39,866 shares of the company’s stock worth $2,233,000 after purchasing an additional 22,958 shares in the last quarter. Finally, WMS Group LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $557,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corp. is a rare earth materials company that owns and operates the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and processing facility in California. The site produces rare earth concentrate, with a focus on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-strength permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production by developing domestic capabilities to separate rare earth elements and manufacture neodymium-iron-boron (NdFeB) magnets.