SMART Global (NASDAQ:SGH) Shares Gap Up on Earnings Beat

SMART Global Holdings, Inc. (NASDAQ:SGH)’s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a stronger than expected earnings report. The stock had previously closed at $23.22, but opened at $25.71. SMART Global shares last traded at $26.48, with a volume of 690,157 shares changing hands.

The company reported $0.37 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.30 by $0.07. SMART Global had a negative net margin of 15.79% and a positive return on equity of 11.82%. The company had revenue of $300.58 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $300.00 million. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.46 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 12.7% compared to the same quarter last year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SGH. Barclays raised their price target on shares of SMART Global from $24.00 to $27.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Rosenblatt Securities reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $35.00 price objective on shares of SMART Global in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Stifel Nicolaus reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $27.50 price objective on shares of SMART Global in a report on Wednesday, July 3rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC raised their price objective on shares of SMART Global from $27.00 to $30.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a buy rating, Based on data from MarketBeat.com, SMART Global currently has a consensus rating of “Buy” and an average price target of $29.88.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other SMART Global news, insider Joseph Gates Clark sold 2,529 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 24th. The shares were sold at an average price of $17.94, for a total transaction of $45,370.26. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now owns 92,386 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,657,404.84. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 2.30% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Graham Capital Management L.P. bought a new stake in shares of SMART Global in the 3rd quarter valued at $284,000. Deutsche Bank AG increased its stake in shares of SMART Global by 46.3% in the 3rd quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 482,967 shares of the company’s stock valued at $11,760,000 after acquiring an additional 152,918 shares in the last quarter. American Century Companies Inc. increased its stake in shares of SMART Global by 42.3% in the 3rd quarter. American Century Companies Inc. now owns 292,916 shares of the company’s stock valued at $7,133,000 after acquiring an additional 87,035 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of SMART Global by 11.1% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 6,024,986 shares of the company’s stock valued at $146,708,000 after acquiring an additional 603,294 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SG Americas Securities LLC increased its stake in shares of SMART Global by 75.6% in the 4th quarter. SG Americas Securities LLC now owns 234,927 shares of the company’s stock valued at $4,447,000 after acquiring an additional 101,159 shares in the last quarter.

SMART Global Stock Down 2.7 %

The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $21.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $21.47. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.80, a quick ratio of 2.66 and a current ratio of 3.30. The company has a market cap of $1.49 billion, a P/E ratio of -7.76 and a beta of 1.69.

About SMART Global

SMART Global Holdings, Inc, a memory-focused company, engages in the designing and development of enterprise solutions in the United States, China, Europe, and internationally. It operates through Memory Solutions, Intelligent Platform Solutions, and LED Solutions segments. The company offers dynamic random access memory modules, solid-state and flash storage, and other advanced memory solutions for networking and telecom, data analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning applications; and supply chain services including procurement, logistics, inventory management, temporary warehousing, programming, kitting, and packaging services.