IRIDEX Co. (NASDAQ:IRIX) Sees Significant Increase in Short Interest

IRIDEX Co. (NASDAQ:IRIX) was the recipient of a large growth in short interest in the month of October. As of October 15th, there was short interest totalling 336,800 shares, a growth of 9.9% from the September 30th total of 306,500 shares. Approximately 2.7% of the company’s stock are short sold. Based on an average daily trading volume, of 24,800 shares, the short-interest ratio is currently 13.6 days.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On IRIDEX

An institutional investor recently raised its position in IRIDEX stock. AMH Equity Ltd raised its stake in IRIDEX Co. (NASDAQ:IRIX) by 15.3% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 456,400 shares of the medical equipment provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 60,400 shares during the period. IRIDEX accounts for approximately 1.3% of AMH Equity Ltd’s holdings, making the stock its 20th biggest holding. AMH Equity Ltd owned 2.81% of IRIDEX worth $1,360,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 20.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Separately, StockNews.com initiated coverage on shares of IRIDEX in a research note on Thursday, October 24th. They set a “hold” rating on the stock.

IRIDEX Price Performance

IRIDEX stock opened at $1.61 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $1.80 and its 200 day moving average price is $2.15. The company has a market capitalization of $26.17 million, a price-to-earnings ratio of -2.40 and a beta of 0.78. IRIDEX has a 12-month low of $1.45 and a 12-month high of $3.65.

IRIDEX (NASDAQ:IRIX) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 8th. The medical equipment provider reported ($0.16) earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of ($0.12) by ($0.04). The company had revenue of $12.63 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $12.80 million. IRIDEX had a negative return on equity of 134.37% and a negative net margin of 21.84%. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.17) EPS.

IRIDEX Company Profile

IRIDEX Corporation, an ophthalmic medical technology company, provides therapeutic based laser systems, delivery devices, and consumable instrumentation to treat sight-threatening eye diseases in ophthalmology. It offers laser consoles, such as Cyclo G6 laser system for use in the treatment of glaucoma; IQ 532 and IQ 577 laser systems, which are used for the treatment of retinal disorders; and OcuLight TX, OcuLight SL, OcuLight SLx, OcuLight GL, and OcuLight GLx laser photocoagulation systems that are used to treat proliferative diabetic retinopathy, macular holes, retinal tears, and detachments.