MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Down 2.9% – What’s Next?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shares dropped 2.9% during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as low as $48.88 and last traded at $49.21. Approximately 4,419,375 shares changed hands during mid-day trading, a decline of 32% from the average session volume of 6,528,590 shares. The stock had previously closed at $50.68.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently commented on MP. Barclays cut their price target on MP Materials from $69.00 to $65.00 and set an “overweight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, July 16th. DA Davidson restated a “buy” rating and issued a $82.00 price objective on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Monday, August 24th. Zacks Research lowered shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report on Wednesday, August 26th. Citigroup reiterated a “positive” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research note on Wednesday, July 15th. Finally, Needham & Company LLC reduced their price target on shares of MP Materials from $81.00 to $73.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Two analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $78.21.

MP Materials Trading Down 2.9%

The company has a quick ratio of 8.56, a current ratio of 9.51 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.48. The firm has a market capitalization of $8.76 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -144.73 and a beta of 1.94. The business has a 50-day moving average of $51.22 and a two-hundred day moving average of $56.41.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 6th. The company reported ($0.01) EPS for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.01). The company had revenue of $108.49 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $96.89 million. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 1.21% and a negative net margin of 19.85%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 89.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned ($0.13) EPS. Research analysts predict that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.12 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. EMC Capital Management acquired a new position in shares of MP Materials in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in MP Materials in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Toth Financial Advisory Corp grew its position in MP Materials by 73.3% in the second quarter. Toth Financial Advisory Corp now owns 520 shares of the company’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. University of Texas Texas AM Investment Management Co. acquired a new position in MP Materials during the fourth quarter worth $36,000. Finally, Markowski Investments acquired a new position in MP Materials during the second quarter worth $43,000. Institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

About MP Materials

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 is one of the largest rare earth production facilities in the Western Hemisphere and produces rare earth concentrate, with an emphasis on neodymium-praseodymium (NdPr), materials used in high-performance permanent magnets.

The company is expanding its operations beyond mining and concentrate production into separated rare earth products and magnet manufacturing.