Short Interest in Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) Declines By 6.1%

Daqo New Energy Corp. (NYSE:DQ) was the target of a large decline in short interest in October. As of October 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,680,000 shares, a decline of 6.1% from the October 15th total of 3,920,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 1,430,000 shares, the short-interest ratio is presently 2.6 days. Approximately 5.7% of the shares of the stock are short sold.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on DQ. Daiwa America raised shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 30th. Nomura Securities raised Daqo New Energy to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, August 28th. HSBC upgraded Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Roth Mkm dropped their target price on Daqo New Energy from $23.00 to $15.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, August 28th. Finally, Hsbc Global Res upgraded shares of Daqo New Energy from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, four have given a buy rating and three have assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $22.26.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Daqo New Energy

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Daqo New Energy during the first quarter valued at approximately $3,457,000. Sylebra Capital LLC raised its holdings in Daqo New Energy by 103.9% in the 2nd quarter. Sylebra Capital LLC now owns 943,692 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $13,778,000 after purchasing an additional 480,980 shares in the last quarter. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Daqo New Energy by 112.3% during the 2nd quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 322,635 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $4,710,000 after purchasing an additional 170,660 shares in the last quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. increased its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 20.6% during the first quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 10,734 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $302,000 after buying an additional 1,834 shares during the period. Finally, Mackenzie Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Daqo New Energy by 6.4% during the second quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp now owns 2,496,997 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $36,456,000 after buying an additional 149,610 shares during the period. 47.22% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Daqo New Energy Price Performance

Shares of Daqo New Energy stock opened at $18.33 on Wednesday. Daqo New Energy has a one year low of $13.62 and a one year high of $30.85. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $20.26 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $18.40. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.21 billion, a P/E ratio of -9.91 and a beta of 0.32.

Daqo New Energy (NYSE:DQ) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.92) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.80) by ($0.12). The firm had revenue of $198.50 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $186.90 million. Daqo New Energy had a negative return on equity of 1.90% and a negative net margin of 9.16%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned ($0.09) earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Daqo New Energy will post -3.5 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Daqo New Energy Company Profile

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.