Investing

Aterian Rises 37% on Strong Sales Guidance Bump; CEO Pledges to Receive 80% of Salary in Stock

Ben Ward

Published: January 18, 2023 3:56 am

Last Updated: January 18, 2023 12:00 pm

Shares of technology-enabled consumer products platform provider Aterian closed the trading day Tuesday with a hefty 37.4% gain after hitting an intra-day high of $1.61(+65.9%) by lunch before day traders banked profits in the afternoon.

The spike of investor sentiment followed a bullish fourth quarter guidance update with a twist from Co-Founder and CEO Yaniv Sarig. ATER shares continued their momentum in after-hours trading, rising a further +4.5%.

ATER has risen 1 rank this week in popularity with retail investors, claiming the top spot on the leaderboard from TSLA.

In the fourth quarter trading update, Aterian told investors that it expects to report net revenue of $54 to $55 million for the fourth quarter and full year net revenue of $220 to $221 million.

The updated fourth quarter guidance represents a 9% upgrade at the mid-point when compared to the previous guidance range of $45 to $55 million. Fintel journalists highlighted the fourth quarter initial expectations in a November article.

Co-Founder and CEO Yaniv Sarig discussed how the firm remains on track in its efforts to liquidate higher cost inventory in order to protect market share and reach their target for a sustainable contribution margin.

Sarig added “We continue to believe we are on the path to achieving Adjusted EBITDA profitability in the second half of 2023”

Sarig also enticed investors with his bold decision to receive 80% of his 2023 in the form of restricted ATER stock. Aterians CEO called the move “a testament to my confidence” in the stock.

Analyst Brian Kinstlinger from Alliance Global Partners remained bullish on ATER’s outlook after the trading update but lowered his ‘buy’ recommendation target from $4.00 to $2.50 due to a lower applied sales multiple.

Alliance Global thinks Aterian’s revenue upside in the trading update came from quicker inventory liquidation than first expected. The firm expects losses from liquidating will continue through the first quarter of 2023 but should benefit the company in the second half along with lower shipping container pricing.

When analysing sentiment from sell-side institutions, Fintel’s consensus target price of $2.68 suggests there could be as much as 234% upside to the share price this year.

Research on the Fintel platform picked up several call options purchases for ATER on Tuesday after the news release. These were executed at spot prices ranging from $1.245 to $1.59 at $1.5 and $2 strike prices.

Sentiment in the options market remains bullish as indicated by Fintel’s 0.19 put/call ratio for ATER. This sentiment indicator assesses all open put and call option demand for the stock over the last 3 months. A ratio of 0.19 indicates that open call interest significantly outweighs put open interest.

Aterian will next update investors when releasing audited full year results in March.

This article originally appeared on Fintel