Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) Cut to “Sell (D+)” at Weiss Ratings

Weiss Ratings cut shares of Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) from a hold (c-) rating to a sell (d+) rating in a research report released on Saturday morning,Weiss Ratings reports.

A number of other analysts have also recently commented on the company. Robert W. Baird lowered their price target on Novanta from $139.00 to $133.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Zacks Research raised Novanta from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, October 6th. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Novanta from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, August 11th. Two research analysts have rated the stock with a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Reduce” and an average target price of $133.00.

Novanta Stock Performance

Shares of NASDAQ:NOVT opened at $131.29 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $4.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 77.23 and a beta of 1.49. Novanta has a 1-year low of $98.76 and a 1-year high of $184.11. The company has a current ratio of 2.54, a quick ratio of 1.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.57. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $111.68 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $119.13.

Novanta (NASDAQ:NOVT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, August 5th. The technology company reported $0.76 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.02. The company had revenue of $241.05 million during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $237.97 million. Novanta had a return on equity of 14.70% and a net margin of 6.41%.Novanta’s revenue was up 2.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.73 EPS. Novanta has set its FY 2025 guidance at 3.220-3.360 EPS. Q3 2025 guidance at 0.780-0.850 EPS. Equities analysts predict that Novanta will post 3.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Novanta declared that its board has authorized a share repurchase program on Thursday, September 18th that permits the company to buyback $200.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the technology company to buy up to 4.9% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are generally an indication that the company’s leadership believes its stock is undervalued.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Novanta

A number of large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 485,196 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $62,042,000 after buying an additional 9,243 shares during the last quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 163.8% in the 1st quarter. Advantage Alpha Capital Partners LP now owns 38,823 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $4,964,000 after buying an additional 24,107 shares during the last quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. T. Rowe Price Investment Management Inc. now owns 693,090 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $88,626,000 after buying an additional 12,921 shares during the last quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Novanta by 0.9% in the 1st quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 91,578 shares of the technology company’s stock valued at $11,710,000 after buying an additional 797 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas acquired a new stake in shares of Novanta in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $818,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 98.35% of the company’s stock.

About Novanta

Novanta, Inc engages in the provision of core technology solutions to healthcare and advanced industrial original equipment manufacturers. It operates through the following segments: Photonics, Vision, and Precision Motion. The Photonics segment designs, manufactures, and markets photonics-based solutions, including laser scanning and laser beam delivery, CO2 laser, continuous wave and ultrafast laser, and optical light engine products.