Azenta (NASDAQ:AZTA) Hits New 1-Year Low Following Weak Earnings

Shares of Azenta, Inc. (NASDAQ:AZTA) hit a new 52-week low during trading on Wednesday following a dissappointing earnings announcement. The stock traded as low as $17.38 and last traded at $18.7890, with a volume of 602893 shares. The stock had previously closed at $24.61.

The company reported ($0.04) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.10 by ($0.14). Azenta had a negative net margin of 10.34% and a positive return on equity of 1.43%. The business had revenue of $144.80 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $148.30 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.01 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 1.4% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

AZTA has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research raised Azenta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, January 26th. Weiss Ratings cut Azenta from a “sell (d-)” rating to a “sell (e+)” rating in a research report on Monday. Evercore reduced their price objective on Azenta from $50.00 to $45.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, February 5th. TD Cowen reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Azenta in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reduced their price objective on Azenta from $42.00 to $40.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, February 4th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, three have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $41.33.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Assetmark Inc. lifted its position in Azenta by 54.1% in the fourth quarter. Assetmark Inc. now owns 832 shares of the company’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Osaic Holdings Inc. lifted its position in Azenta by 44.9% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 1,242 shares of the company’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 385 shares during the period. CWM LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 27.3% in the fourth quarter. CWM LLC now owns 1,822 shares of the company’s stock worth $61,000 after purchasing an additional 391 shares during the period. Neuberger Berman Group LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 6.2% in the third quarter. Neuberger Berman Group LLC now owns 7,695 shares of the company’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 451 shares during the period. Finally, Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in Azenta by 10.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 6,482 shares of the company’s stock worth $225,000 after purchasing an additional 618 shares during the period. 99.08% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Azenta Stock Down 23.5%

The stock has a market capitalization of $866.99 million, a P/E ratio of -13.95 and a beta of 1.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $23.56 and a 200 day moving average of $30.23.

About Azenta

Azenta, Inc (NASDAQ: AZTA) is a life sciences technology company specializing in sample management, cryogenic storage and genomic services for research and clinical applications. Formerly the Life Sciences division of Brooks Automation, Azenta provides integrated solutions that enable customers to store, track and analyze biological samples with high levels of automation, data integrity and efficiency. Its offerings span automated storage systems, biorepository management software and end‐to‐end sample tracking workflows.

In addition to hardware and informatics platforms for sample storage, Azenta’s Genomics business delivers next‐generation sequencing (NGS), DNA synthesis, and molecular biology services.