Merit Medical Systems Inc. (NASDAQ: MMSI) stock jumped 0.83% on Thursday to $68.32 against a previous-day closing price of $67.76. With 0.41 million shares changed hands, the volume of the stock remained heavier than its average volume of 0.35 million shares. During the session, the Medical Instruments & Supplies company that operates in wider Healthcare sector, reached to the highest price of $68.77 whereas the lowest price it dropped to was $67.63. The 52-week range on MMSI shows that it touched its highest point at $85.62 and its lowest point at $52.79 during that stretch. It currently has a 1-year price target of $89.62. Beta for the stock currently stands at 0.96.
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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 MMSI was up-trending over the past week, with a rise of 7.83%, but this was down by -0.10% over a month. Three-month performance dropped to -17.63% while six-month performance rose 0.43%. The stock gained 13.85% in the past year, while it has lost -3.26% so far this year. A look at the trailing 12-month EPS for MMSI yields 1.54 with Next year EPS estimates of 3.20. For the next quarter, that number is 0.65. This implies an EPS growth rate of 53.00% for this year and 11.11% for next year. EPS is expected to grow by 11.50% annually over the next five years; however, over the past five years, the company experienced an annual growth rate of 16.80%.
Float and Shares Shorts:
At present, 57.54 million MMSI shares are outstanding with a float of 56.35 million shares on hand for trading. On Aug 14, 2023, short shares totaled 0.97 million, which was 1.69% higher than short shares on Jul 13, 2023. In addition to Mr. Fred P. Lampropoulos as the firm’s Founder, Chairman, CEO & Pres, Mr. Raul Parra Jr., CPA serves as its CFO & Treasurer.
Institutional Ownership:
Through their ownership of 96.71% of MMSI’s outstanding shares, institutional investors have majority control over the company. Other institutions hold 59.60% of MMSI, in contrast to 4.37% held by mutual funds. Shares owned by individuals account for 35.48%. As the largest shareholder in MMSI with 15.05% of the stake, BlackRock Fund Advisors holds 8,655,183 shares worth 8,655,183. A second-largest stockholder of MMSI, The Vanguard Group, Inc., holds 6,833,095 shares, controlling over 11.89% of the firm’s shares. William Blair Investment Manageme is the third largest shareholder in MMSI, holding 3,400,633 shares or 5.92% stake. With a 7.07% stake in MMSI, the iShares Core S&P Small Cap ETF is the largest stakeholder. A total of 4,064,410 shares are owned by the mutual fund manager. The Vanguard Total Stock Market ETF, which owns about 3.11% of MMSI stock, is the second-largest Mutual Fund holder. It holds 1,785,962 shares valued at 133.36 million. Vanguard Small Cap Index Fund holds 2.59% of the stake in MMSI, owning 1,491,233 shares worth 111.35 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 Jun 29, 2023, MMSI reported revenue of $294.98M and operating income of $24.44M. The EBITDA in the recently reported quarter was $46.21M and diluted EPS was $0.27.
Analysts Ratings:
Reading analyst opinions is an effective way to decide where to invest, and there are several opinions available for MMSI 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 MMSI analysts setting a high price target of $102.00 and a low target of $70.00, the average target price over the next 12 months is $89.63. Based on these targets, MMSI could surge 49.3% to reach the target high and rise by 2.46% to reach the target low. Reaching the average price target will result in a growth of 31.19% 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.
Summary of Insider Activity:
Insiders traded MMSI stock several times over the past three months with 1 Buys and 1 Sells. In these transactions, 8,000 shares were bought while 8,000 shares were sold. The number of buy transactions has increased to 22 while that of sell transactions has risen to 21 over the past year. The total number of shares bought during that period was 137,884 while 144,822 shares were sold.
