Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) Trading Down 7.9% – Here’s What Happened

Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR)’s share price was down 7.9% on Thursday . The stock traded as low as $35.70 and last traded at $35.96. Approximately 370,133 shares were traded during trading, a decline of 75% from the average daily volume of 1,509,089 shares. The stock had previously closed at $39.03.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently issued reports on AEHR. Weiss Ratings reissued a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Aehr Test Systems in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. William Blair upgraded shares of Aehr Test Systems from a “market perform” rating to an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, March 2nd. Craig Hallum reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Aehr Test Systems in a report on Friday, January 9th. Zacks Research upgraded shares of Aehr Test Systems from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Monday, December 8th. Finally, Lake Street Capital initiated coverage on shares of Aehr Test Systems in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Aehr Test Systems presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $21.00.

Aehr Test Systems Stock Performance

The stock has a market capitalization of $1.08 billion, a P/E ratio of -116.60 and a beta of 2.22. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $33.04 and a 200-day simple moving average of $27.87.

Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ:AEHR) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, January 8th. The semiconductor company reported ($0.04) EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.08) by $0.04. Aehr Test Systems had a negative return on equity of 4.57% and a negative net margin of 16.63%.The company had revenue of $9.88 million for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $11.45 million. Equities research analysts forecast that Aehr Test Systems will post 0.1 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Aehr Test Systems

In related news, Director Laura Oliphant sold 4,546 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, January 22nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $31.40, for a total value of $142,744.40. Following the sale, the director directly owned 18,432 shares in the company, valued at $578,764.80. The trade was a 19.78% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, Director Rhea J. Posedel sold 13,998 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, February 13th. The shares were sold at an average price of $30.02, for a total transaction of $420,219.96. Following the sale, the director directly owned 456,979 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,718,509.58. This represents a 2.97% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 6.80% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. William Blair Investment Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Aehr Test Systems in the third quarter valued at $26,920,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its holdings in shares of Aehr Test Systems by 129.9% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 830,664 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $16,771,000 after acquiring an additional 469,400 shares during the last quarter. Kennedy Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Aehr Test Systems in the 2nd quarter worth $5,751,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Aehr Test Systems by 1,137.2% during the third quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 366,570 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,037,000 after purchasing an additional 336,940 shares during the period. Finally, Next Century Growth Investors LLC raised its position in shares of Aehr Test Systems by 99.9% during the fourth quarter. Next Century Growth Investors LLC now owns 552,506 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $11,155,000 after purchasing an additional 276,160 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 69.69% of the company’s stock.

Aehr Test Systems Company Profile

Aehr Test Systems develops, manufactures and sells semiconductor test and burn-in equipment used by device manufacturers to ensure quality and reliability of integrated circuits. Its products are designed for wafer-level reliability assessment, functional test and stress screening of memory devices, system-on-chips, optical components and power semiconductors. By focusing on wafer-level burn-in and testing processes, the company helps reduce cost and improve yield for high-volume semiconductor production.

The company’s product portfolio includes FOX series wafer probe test and burn-in systems as well as ABTS burn-in ovens.