GDS (NASDAQ:GDS) Shares Gap Up - Here's Why

GDS Holdings Limited (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $19.82, but opened at $20.51. GDS shares last traded at $21.49, with a volume of 326,139 shares.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently weighed in on GDS. Citigroup restated an "outperform" rating on shares of GDS in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. StockNews.com lowered GDS from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Friday, February 28th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded GDS from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $45.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, March 18th. Daiwa Capital Markets upgraded GDS from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating in a report on Tuesday, February 11th. Finally, JMP Securities set a $40.00 price target on shares of GDS in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, one has given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and three have issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Buy" and an average target price of $39.48.

GDS Price Performance

The company has a market cap of $4.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of -7.34 and a beta of 0.23. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $30.46 and its 200 day simple moving average is $25.13. The company has a quick ratio of 1.19, a current ratio of 1.19 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 2.25.

GDS (NASDAQ:GDS - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, March 19th. The company reported ($0.10) earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of ($0.27) by $0.17. GDS had a negative net margin of 35.97% and a negative return on equity of 8.22%. The firm had revenue of $425.13 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $3.11 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted ($2.16) EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 9.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that GDS Holdings Limited will post -0.89 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On GDS

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of GDS. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio purchased a new position in shares of GDS in the third quarter valued at approximately $64,000. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of GDS by 26.8% in the fourth quarter. PNC Financial Services Group Inc. now owns 3,177 shares of the company's stock worth $75,000 after acquiring an additional 672 shares in the last quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN increased its position in shares of GDS by 1,904.2% during the fourth quarter. Wells Fargo & Company MN now owns 3,788 shares of the company's stock worth $90,000 after acquiring an additional 3,599 shares during the period. Blue Trust Inc. raised its stake in shares of GDS by 121.9% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 5,557 shares of the company's stock valued at $132,000 after acquiring an additional 3,053 shares in the last quarter. Finally, LPL Financial LLC purchased a new position in GDS in the fourth quarter valued at $310,000. 33.71% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About GDS

GDS Holdings Limited, together with its subsidiaries, develops and operates data centers in the People's Republic of China. The company provides colocation services comprising critical facilities space, customer-available power, racks, and cooling; managed hosting services, including business continuity and disaster recovery, network management, data storage, system security, operating system, database, and server middleware services; managed cloud services; and consulting services.