Short Interest in CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) Grows By 10.5%

CommScope Holding Company, Inc. (NASDAQ:COMM) saw a significant growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 9,540,000 shares, a growth of 10.5% from the December 15th total of 8,630,000 shares. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,260,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.2 days.

CommScope Stock Performance

Shares of COMM stock traded down $0.04 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $5.36. 2,676,848 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,716,963. The firm has a market cap of $1.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -1.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 0.57 and a beta of 1.92. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $5.17 and its 200-day simple moving average is $4.63. CommScope has a twelve month low of $0.86 and a twelve month high of $7.19.

CommScope (NASDAQ:COMM) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, November 7th. The communications equipment provider reported ($0.05) EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.33 by ($0.38). CommScope had a negative return on equity of 1.01% and a negative net margin of 18.10%. The business had revenue of $1.08 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $1.42 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.10 earnings per share. CommScope’s revenue was up 2.7% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that CommScope will post -0.85 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have recently commented on COMM shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of CommScope from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $5.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, January 14th. Morgan Stanley cut shares of CommScope from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $5.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Tuesday, December 17th. Finally, Raymond James cut CommScope from a “market perform” rating to an “underperform” rating in a report on Monday, January 6th. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating and four have assigned a hold rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $3.00.

Institutional Trading of CommScope

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Bank of New York Mellon Corp grew its position in CommScope by 7.9% in the second quarter. Bank of New York Mellon Corp now owns 1,194,041 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,469,000 after buying an additional 87,530 shares during the last quarter. Rhumbline Advisers boosted its stake in shares of CommScope by 23.3% during the 2nd quarter. Rhumbline Advisers now owns 347,323 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 65,605 shares in the last quarter. XTX Topco Ltd grew its holdings in shares of CommScope by 263.1% in the 2nd quarter. XTX Topco Ltd now owns 198,264 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $244,000 after acquiring an additional 143,654 shares during the last quarter. P Schoenfeld Asset Management LP raised its position in shares of CommScope by 233.3% during the second quarter. P Schoenfeld Asset Management LP now owns 1,000,000 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock worth $1,230,000 after purchasing an additional 700,000 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of CommScope by 268.0% during the second quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 661,777 shares of the communications equipment provider’s stock valued at $814,000 after purchasing an additional 481,947 shares during the last quarter. 88.04% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.