Short Interest in iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) Expands By 11.7%

iRobot Co. (NASDAQ:IRBT) was the target of a large growth in short interest during the month of December. As of December 31st, there was short interest totalling 3,340,000 shares, a growth of 11.7% from the December 15th total of 2,990,000 shares. Based on an average daily volume of 1,310,000 shares, the days-to-cover ratio is currently 2.5 days. Approximately 11.7% of the shares of the company are sold short.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. StockNews.com raised iRobot from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a report on Friday. Needham & Company LLC reiterated a “hold” rating on shares of iRobot in a research note on Thursday, November 7th.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. nVerses Capital LLC purchased a new position in iRobot in the third quarter worth $39,000. Sunbelt Securities Inc. boosted its stake in iRobot by 72.6% in the second quarter. Sunbelt Securities Inc. now owns 7,550 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $69,000 after acquiring an additional 3,175 shares during the last quarter. Olympiad Research LP purchased a new stake in shares of iRobot during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $89,000. SG Americas Securities LLC bought a new stake in shares of iRobot in the 4th quarter worth approximately $97,000. Finally, Quest Partners LLC lifted its stake in iRobot by 39.8% in the third quarter. Quest Partners LLC now owns 11,546 shares of the industrial products company’s stock valued at $100,000 after purchasing an additional 3,285 shares during the last quarter. 77.42% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

iRobot Trading Up 6.6 %

NASDAQ IRBT traded up $0.55 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $8.85. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,325,690 shares, compared to its average volume of 1,453,871. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.24, a current ratio of 1.45 and a quick ratio of 0.94. iRobot has a 52 week low of $5.83 and a 52 week high of $28.09. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $8.21 and a 200-day simple moving average of $8.43. The stock has a market cap of $270.46 million, a P/E ratio of -1.92 and a beta of 0.80.

iRobot (NASDAQ:IRBT) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, November 6th. The industrial products company reported $0.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of ($0.06) by $0.09. iRobot had a negative net margin of 16.15% and a negative return on equity of 100.79%. The company had revenue of $193.40 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $218.41 million. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted ($3.09) EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 3.9% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that iRobot will post -5.74 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

iRobot Company Profile

iRobot Corporation designs, builds, and sells robots and home innovation products in the United States, Europe, the Middle East, Africa, Japan, and internationally. The company offers floor care products, including Roomba floor vacuuming robots; Roomba accessories and consumables, such as the Clean Base Automatic Dirt Disposal, replacement dirt disposal bags for the Clean Base, filters, brushes, and batteries; Braava family of automatic floor mopping robots; and Braava accessories and consumables, which include cleaning solution, washable and disposable mopping pads, replacement tanks, and batteries, as well as subscription services.