Wall Street analysts’ outlook for Waterdrop Inc. (WDH)

Waterdrop Inc. (NYSE: WDH) stock fell -1.92% on Thursday to $2.56 against a previous-day closing price of $2.61. With 0.51 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained lighter than its average volume of 0.63 million shares. During the session, the Insurance – Diversified company that operates in wider Financial sector, reached to the highest price of $2.5895 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $2.5000. The 52-week range on WDH shows that it touched its highest point at $3.36 and its lowest point at $0.97 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $2.80.

Price Performance and Earnings:

Stock performance is one of the indicators that investors use to determine whether they will profit from a stock. The price performance of WDH was down-trending over the past week, with a drop of -10.18%, but this was down by -10.49% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -16.34% while six-month performance rose 69.54%. The stock gained 141.51% in the past year, while it has lost -23.12% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for WDH yields 0.21 with Next year EPS estimates of 0.19. For the next quarter, that number is 0.02. This implies an EPS growth rate of 126.20% for this year and 26.70% for next year.

Float and Shares Shorts:

At present, 390.34 million WDH shares are outstanding with a float of 295.36 million shares on hand for trading. On May 14, 2023, short shares totaled 0.6 million, which was 0.16% higher than short shares on Apr 13, 2023. In addition to Dr. Peng Shen as the firm’s Co-Founder, Chairman & CEO, Mr. Guang Yang serves as its Co-Founder, VP of Fin., GM of International Bus. & Director.

Institutional Ownership:

Other institutions hold 1.47% of WDH, in contrast to 0.34% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for –. As the largest shareholder in WDH with 1.02% of the stake, Morgan Stanley & Co. LLC holds 3,193,651 shares worth 3,193,651. A second-largest stockholder of WDH, Acadian Asset Management LLC, holds 1,131,824 shares, controlling over 0.36% of the firm’s shares. Mayr Investment Managers GmbH is the third largest shareholder in WDH, holding 185,000 shares or 0.06% stake. With a 0.22% stake in WDH, the Invesco Zacks Mid Cap ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 698,396 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The WM Aktien Global UI – Fonds, which owns about 0.06% of WDH stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 185,000 shares valued at 0.54 million. Goldman Sachs ETF Tr. – Innovativ holds 0.02% of the stake in WDH, owning 57,112 shares worth 0.17 million.

An Overview of Recent Financials:

Understanding a company as a customer does not mean you will understand it as an investor. The wise investor uses quantitative research to analyze metrics such as revenue, net income, and earnings. In its fiscal quarter reported on Dec 30, 2022, WDH reported revenue of $701.42M and operating income of $155.92M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was $155.76M and diluted EPS was $0.50.

Analysts Ratings:

Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for WDH since 0 analysts follow the stock currently. In the same way, a target price assigned to a stock can also reveal much about its potential. With WDH analysts setting a high price target of $24.03 and a low target of $23.37, the average target price over the next 12 months is $23.70. Based on these targets, WDH could surge 838.67% to reach the target high and rise by 812.89% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 825.78% from current levels.

EPS: Estimates vs Actual

It is also common to use earnings estimates to evaluate a firm’s growth potential and to determine trading strategy.