AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) Trading Up 7.9% – Time to Buy?

AXT Inc (NASDAQ:AXTI) was up 7.9% during mid-day trading on Thursday . The company traded as high as $108.50 and last traded at $112.9240. Approximately 1,331,368 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 87% from the average daily volume of 10,423,698 shares. The stock had previously closed at $104.61.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on AXTI shares. B. Riley Financial boosted their price objective on shares of AXT to $21.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group set a $35.00 price objective on shares of AXT in a report on Tuesday, February 17th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (e+)” rating on shares of AXT in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Wedbush lifted their price target on shares of AXT from $8.50 to $28.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised shares of AXT from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 14th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, AXT has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $22.80.

AXT Price Performance

The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $74.06 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $38.34. The stock has a market cap of $7.84 billion, a P/E ratio of -384.46 and a beta of 1.75.

AXT (NASDAQ:AXTI) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.01) earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.04) by $0.03. AXT had a negative net margin of 14.69% and a negative return on equity of 5.71%. The firm had revenue of $26.92 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $26.22 million. AXT has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.060-0.080 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that AXT Inc will post 0.2 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other AXT news, Director David C. Chang sold 20,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $46.00, for a total transaction of $920,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 72,744 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,346,224. This represents a 21.56% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Morris S. Young sold 37,905 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, March 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $51.13, for a total transaction of $1,938,082.65. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 2,275,328 shares in the company, valued at $116,337,520.64. This trade represents a 1.64% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 502,278 shares of company stock valued at $21,196,754. 5.97% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Trading of AXT

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Kestra Advisory Services LLC raised its position in AXT by 6.8% during the first quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC now owns 6,408 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $365,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. American Capital Advisory LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at about $27,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at about $31,000. Leonteq Securities AG bought a new position in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at about $57,000. Finally, KBC Group NV bought a new position in shares of AXT in the first quarter valued at about $88,000. 49.52% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

AXT Company Profile

AXT, Inc (NASDAQ: AXTI) is a global supplier of compound and single-element semiconductor substrates, offering a range of materials critical for high-performance electronic and optoelectronic devices. Founded in 1986 and headquartered in Fremont, California, AXT specializes in the development, manufacture and distribution of wafers composed of gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP), gallium nitride (GaN) and other compound semiconductor materials. These substrates serve as the foundational platforms for devices used in data communications, wireless infrastructure, advanced computing, consumer electronics and photovoltaic applications.

AXT’s product portfolio encompasses a variety of wafer sizes, dopant concentrations and crystal orientations, tailored to meet the precise specifications of its customers.