We have noted Futu's positive performance during today's afternoon trading session, during which it logged a 4.0% outperformance of the S&P 500. At its current price of $149.15, the company is now trading in range of its average target price of $146.02, which calls into question its ability to keep moving higher. Analysts have given the Capital Markets stock target prices ranging from $111.79243 to $188.88403 dollars per share, with an average rating of buy.
We can use Futu's short interest as a proxy for determining general market sentiment regarding the stock. The short interest is the percentage of the share float that represents short positions, meaning that the investor believes the stock will decline in the future. Since FUTU's short interest is 5.1%, the market sentiment is mixed on this stock.
When a stock is sold short, it means an investor has borrowed shares of the stock from their broker, and then sold them at the going market price. The investor hopes for the price to decline, so that they might buy those shares back at a lower price in the future. Once they do, they can return the borrowed shares to their broker, and keep the profit they made on the transaction.
A possible indicator of market sentiment on a stock (besides its share price, of course) is the portion of institutional investors that make up its shareholders. Institutions such as banks, hedge funds, and wealth managers deploy significant resources towards identifying good investments. If they are invested heavily in a given company's stock, it could mean it's a good investment. Or it could mean the company is being targeted by a takeover attempt.
For what it's worth, institutions own 43.3% of Futu's shares, which is an average amount. It means that many institutions are invested, but not to the extent that they would be in a stock such as Apple or Amazon, whose institutional ownership rates hover around 60%. Bear in mind that institutional ownership is just one piece of the puzzle in determining market sentiment, and you should not consider this factor alone in making an investment decision.
In conclusion, we see mixed market sentiment regarding Futu because of an analyst consensus of little upside potential, a buy rating, an average amount of shares sold short, and only a small number of institutional investors. At Market Inference, we believe that any investment decision should be preceded by an in-depth analysis of the company's fundamental values and a comparison with similar stocks.
Here's a snapshot of some important facts to keep in mind about FUTU:
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The stock has trailing 12 month earnings per share (EPS) of $5.95
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Futu has a trailing 12 month Price to Earnings (P/E) ratio of 25.1 compared to the S&P 500 average of 29.3
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The company has a Price to Book (P/B) ratio of 0.69 in contrast to the S&P 500's average ratio of 4.74
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Futu is a Finance company, and the sector average P/E and P/B ratios are 15.92 and 1.78 respectively
