MP Materials (NYSE:MP) Trading Up 8.5% – Time to Buy?

MP Materials Corp. (NYSE:MP) shot up 8.5% during mid-day trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $61.51 and last traded at $61.35. 6,931,651 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 34% from the average session volume of 10,516,509 shares. The stock had previously closed at $56.55.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently weighed in on MP. Deutsche Bank Aktiengesellschaft raised shares of MP Materials from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and boosted their price objective for the company from $68.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, November 10th. Bank of America boosted their target price on shares of MP Materials from $78.00 to $112.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised MP Materials from a “neutral” rating to an “overweight” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $75.00 to $74.00 in a report on Friday, November 14th. BMO Capital Markets raised MP Materials from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $76.00 to $75.00 in a report on Monday, November 24th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of MP Materials in a research report on Thursday, January 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, thirteen have given a Buy rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, MP Materials has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $78.91.

MP Materials Stock Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.47, a quick ratio of 7.51 and a current ratio of 8.05. The stock has a market cap of $10.87 billion, a P/E ratio of -86.41 and a beta of 1.60. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $59.80 and its 200-day moving average price is $64.95.

MP Materials (NYSE:MP) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, November 6th. The company reported ($0.10) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.15) by $0.05. MP Materials had a negative return on equity of 7.69% and a negative net margin of 50.55%.The company had revenue of $53.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $49.72 million. During the same period last year, the firm earned ($0.12) EPS. MP Materials’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.9% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that MP Materials Corp. will post -0.19 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at MP Materials

In related news, CEO James H. Litinsky sold 385,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $62.94, for a total transaction of $24,231,900.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 13,105,965 shares in the company, valued at approximately $824,889,437.10. The trade was a 2.85% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CFO Ryan Corbett sold 38,146 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, December 9th. The stock was sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $2,288,760.00. Following the sale, the chief financial officer owned 156,666 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,399,960. The trade was a 19.58% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 991,557 shares of company stock worth $62,785,202. Insiders own 9.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Calamos Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of MP Materials during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $16,726,000. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. lifted its position in MP Materials by 132.7% in the second quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 176,984 shares of the company’s stock worth $5,888,000 after buying an additional 100,915 shares during the last quarter. Campbell & CO Investment Adviser LLC purchased a new position in MP Materials during the third quarter worth $670,000. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the third quarter valued at $550,000. Finally, Pier 88 Investment Partners LLC bought a new position in MP Materials during the third quarter valued at $1,089,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 52.55% of the company’s stock.

MP Materials Company Profile

MP Materials Corporation operates as a vertically integrated producer of rare earth materials in North America. The company owns and manages the Mountain Pass Rare Earth Mine and Processing Facility in California, the only commercially viable rare earth mining and processing site in the United States. MP Materials extracts, separates and refines critical rare earth elements—such as neodymium, praseodymium, and cerium—which are essential inputs for permanent magnets used in electric vehicles, wind turbines, and various defense applications.

The Mountain Pass mine first began commercial rare earth production in the 1950s and was later operated by Molycorp until its bankruptcy in 2015.