Karman (NYSE:KRMN) Shares Gap Up – Should You Buy?

Karman Holdings Inc. (NYSE:KRMN) shares gapped up before the market opened on Thursday . The stock had previously closed at $91.72, but opened at $97.02. Karman shares last traded at $101.4350, with a volume of 648,176 shares trading hands.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on KRMN. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Karman from $58.00 to $75.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, September 29th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “hold (c-)” rating on shares of Karman in a research report on Monday, December 29th. Truist Financial began coverage on shares of Karman in a research note on Friday, October 10th. They set a “buy” rating and a $89.00 price target for the company. Citigroup began coverage on Karman in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $84.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reduced their price objective on Karman from $93.00 to $85.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 7th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and one has issued a Hold rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Buy” and a consensus target price of $80.43.

Karman Trading Up 10.2%

The stock has a market capitalization of $13.38 billion and a P/E ratio of 404.69. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $71.31 and its 200-day moving average price is $63.67. The company has a quick ratio of 2.69, a current ratio of 2.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.27.

Karman (NYSE:KRMN) last posted its earnings results on Friday, November 7th. The company reported $0.10 earnings per share for the quarter, hitting analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.10. The company had revenue of $121.79 million during the quarter. Karman had a return on equity of 11.11% and a net margin of 2.65%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 41.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.04 EPS.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider Stephanie Sawhill sold 62,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, November 13th. The stock was sold at an average price of $63.93, for a total transaction of $3,963,660.00. Following the sale, the insider owned 504,939 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $32,280,750.27. This trade represents a 10.94% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CFO Michael Willis sold 115,000 shares of Karman stock in a transaction dated Monday, November 17th. The shares were sold at an average price of $58.63, for a total value of $6,742,450.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief financial officer owned 859,709 shares in the company, valued at $50,404,738.67. This trade represents a 11.80% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. Insiders sold 251,000 shares of company stock worth $15,419,170 in the last three months.

Institutional Trading of Karman

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in KRMN. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Karman by 83.7% during the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 373 shares of the company’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Towarzystwo Funduszy Inwestycyjnych PZU SA acquired a new stake in Karman in the third quarter worth about $29,000. Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Karman by 56.4% during the third quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 455 shares of the company’s stock worth $33,000 after acquiring an additional 164 shares during the last quarter. Wexford Capital LP purchased a new stake in shares of Karman during the third quarter worth about $41,000. Finally, Hilltop National Bank purchased a new position in shares of Karman in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $42,000.

About Karman

We specialize in the upfront design, testing, manufacturing, and sale of mission-critical systems for existing and emerging missile and defense, and space programs. Our integrated payload protection, propulsion, and interstage system solutions are deployed across a wide variety of existing and emerging programs supporting important Department of Defense (“DoD”) and space sector initiatives. We estimate that no single program accounted for more than 10% of sales for the nine months ended September 30, 2024 or the twelve months ended December 31, 2023, with revenue from over 100 active programs supporting current production and next-generation space, missile, hypersonic, and defense applications.