Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) Short Interest Up 25.6% in March

Astera Labs, Inc. (NASDAQ:ALAB) was the target of a significant growth in short interest during the month of March. As of March 13th, there was short interest totaling 13,516,520 shares, a growth of 25.6% from the February 26th total of 10,763,918 shares. Currently, 9.1% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 4,874,844 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is presently 2.8 days.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have weighed in on ALAB. Citigroup reduced their price objective on shares of Astera Labs from $275.00 to $250.00 and set a “buy” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, February 11th. Loop Capital initiated coverage on shares of Astera Labs in a research note on Thursday, March 5th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $250.00 target price on the stock. Barclays set a $165.00 price target on shares of Astera Labs in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. Northland Securities boosted their price objective on shares of Astera Labs from $175.00 to $195.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, December 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “overweight” rating and issued a $210.00 price objective on shares of Astera Labs in a research report on Wednesday, December 3rd. Fifteen analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, six have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Astera Labs currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $202.22.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, Director Jack R. Lazar sold 2,500 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 16th. The stock was sold at an average price of $130.00, for a total value of $325,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 84,851 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $11,030,630. This represents a 2.86% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, General Counsel Philip Mazzara sold 10,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 2nd. The shares were sold at an average price of $117.47, for a total value of $1,174,700.00. Following the transaction, the general counsel owned 128,084 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $15,046,027.48. The trade was a 7.24% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 384,292 shares of company stock valued at $48,724,919. Company insiders own 12.50% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Astera Labs

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Royal Bank of Canada lifted its holdings in Astera Labs by 167.3% in the first quarter. Royal Bank of Canada now owns 152,453 shares of the company’s stock valued at $9,097,000 after acquiring an additional 95,409 shares during the period. AQR Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Astera Labs by 213.4% in the 1st quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 11,391 shares of the company’s stock worth $680,000 after purchasing an additional 7,756 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Astera Labs by 917.3% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 4,639 shares of the company’s stock worth $277,000 after buying an additional 4,183 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its position in Astera Labs by 37.6% during the second quarter. Creative Planning now owns 13,368 shares of the company’s stock valued at $1,209,000 after buying an additional 3,656 shares during the period. Finally, Cetera Investment Advisers grew its position in Astera Labs by 167.1% during the second quarter. Cetera Investment Advisers now owns 9,131 shares of the company’s stock valued at $826,000 after buying an additional 5,712 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 60.47% of the company’s stock.

Astera Labs Price Performance

Shares of Astera Labs stock opened at $112.47 on Monday. Astera Labs has a twelve month low of $47.13 and a twelve month high of $262.90. The company’s 50 day moving average is $138.30 and its 200 day moving average is $162.90. The company has a market cap of $19.26 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 92.19, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.21 and a beta of 1.75.

Astera Labs (NASDAQ:ALAB) last posted its earnings results on Tuesday, February 10th. The company reported $0.58 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by $0.07. The business had revenue of $270.58 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $249.46 million. Astera Labs had a net margin of 25.70% and a return on equity of 16.12%. The firm’s revenue was up 91.8% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.37 EPS. Astera Labs has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.530-0.540 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Astera Labs will post 0.34 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Astera Labs

Astera Labs is a fabless semiconductor company that develops connectivity solutions for data center and cloud infrastructure. The firm focuses on addressing signal integrity and link management challenges that arise as server architectures incorporate higher-bandwidth processors and accelerators. Its technology is aimed at improving reliability and performance for high-speed interconnects used in servers, storage systems and compute accelerators.

The company’s product portfolio centers on silicon devices and accompanying firmware and software that enhance and manage high-speed links.