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What: Mobileye NV (MBLY +0.00%) has been on quite a ride since the beginning of the year. The semi-autonomous automotive technology maker has seen its stock price fall as much as 42% since January, but recently, it's off its early 2016 price by about 3%, according to data provided by S&P Global Market Intelligence. The roller-coaster changes have been driven by analysts cutting their price targets earlier in the year, which was later offset by a solid earnings report in February and a promising presentation by the company at the William Blair growth stock conference in mid-June.
So what: The start of Mobileye's tumultuous past few months kicked off when Morgan Stanley cut its price target for the stock from $80 to $57 at the beginning of January (Happy New Year, Mobileye!). In response, shareholders sent Mobileye's stock price tumbling for about a month.
Then in February, Mobileye reported Q4 revenue of $71.8 million and non-GAAP earnings per share (EPS) of $0.15. Both revenue and earnings were higher than the company's forecasts, and that good news helped push the stock up toward the end of February.
The stock nearly rebounded back to its early January price in late June, after Chief Communications Officer Dan Galves gave a presentation at an investor conference (his PowerPoint skills must be killer). A recent Bloomberg article noted that 14 analysts have a buy rating for the company, two recommend holding, and none recommend selling the stock. While it's a bit odd that a presentation could help bump the stock price up, analysts were apparently pleased with the company's explanation of its position in the automative market, and so were investors.
Now what: Despite the stock price instability this year, Mobileye is still in a solid position within the automotive market. Its products are used by 90% of worldwide automakers building advanced driver assistance systems (ADAS) and its revenues are increasing at a steady clip -- with revenue guidance for the full year expected to be up 40% year over year.
Some investors may be scared off by Mobileye's P/E ratio of 119 (the industry average is 36), but the company's current revenue growth should help offset those worries.
