Let's dig into the relative performance of Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC) and its peers as we unravel the now-completed Q4 semiconductor manufacturing earnings season.
The semiconductor industry is driven by demand for advanced electronic products like smartphones, PCs, servers, and data storage. The need for technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G networks, and smart cars is also creating the next wave of growth for the industry. Keeping up with this dynamism requires new tools that can design, fabricate, and test chips at ever smaller sizes and more complex architectures, creating a dire need for semiconductor capital manufacturing equipment.
The 14 semiconductor manufacturing stocks we track reported a mixed Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.4%, while next quarter's revenue guidance was 5.6% below consensus. Valuation multiples for many growth stocks have not yet reverted to their early 2021 highs, though the market was optimistic at the end of 2023 due to cooling inflation. The start of 2024 has been a different story as mixed signals have led to market volatility, and semiconductor manufacturing stocks have held roughly steady amidst all this, with share prices up 2.8% on average since the previous earnings results.
Weakest Q4: Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC)
Headquartered in Singapore, Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) is a provider of production equipment and tools used to assemble semiconductor devices
Kulicke and Soffa reported revenues of $171.2 million, down 2.9% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 0.5%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a decline in its operating margin.
Fusen Chen, Kulicke & Soffa's President and Chief Executive Officer, stated, "While Automotive and Power Semiconductor weakness has impacted the industry, as well as our fiscal Q2 outlook, we anticipate semiconductor unit growth will return to a more normal growth rate later this fiscal year. As the market growth returns, we anticipate reaching new milestones across our specific K&S opportunities within Advanced Packaging, Advanced Display and Advanced Dispense."
The stock is down 6.5% since the results and currently trades at $47.01.
Is now the time to buy Kulicke and Soffa? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Best Q4: Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI)
Headquartered in Israel, Nova (NASDAQ: NVMI) is a provider of quality control systems used in semiconductor manufacturing.
Nova reported revenues of $134.2 million, down 11.3% year on year, outperforming analyst expectations by 4.8%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' EPS estimates and a significant improvement in its inventory levels.
The stock is up 11.1% since the results and currently trades at $174.99.
Is now the time to buy Nova? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB)
Sporting a global footprint of facilities, Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) is a manufacturer of photomasks, templates used to transfer patterns onto semiconductor wafers.
Photronics reported revenues of $216.3 million, up 2.5% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 1.7%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with a miss of analysts' revenue and EPS estimates.
Photronics had the weakest performance against analyst estimates in the group. The stock is down 14% since the results and currently trades at $26.88.
Read our full analysis of Photronics's results here.
Lam Research (NASDAQ:LRCX)
Founded in 1980 by David Lam, who pioneered semiconductor etching technology, Lam Research (NASDAQ:LCRX) is one of the leading providers of the wafer fabrication equipment used to make semiconductors.
Lam Research reported revenues of $3.76 billion, down 28.8% year on year, surpassing analyst expectations by 1.4%. It was a strong quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in its inventory levels and a solid beat of analysts' EPS estimates.
Lam Research had the slowest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is up 13.6% since the results and currently trades at $964.2.
Read our full, actionable report on Lam Research here, it's free.
Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Moving away from a low margin storage device management chips in one of the biggest semiconductor business model pivots of the past decade, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a fabless designer of special purpose data processing and networking chips used by data centers, communications carriers, enterprises, and autos.
Marvell Technology reported revenues of $1.43 billion, flat year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a miss of analysts' EPS estimates.
The stock is down 19.1% since the results and currently trades at $68.73.
Read our full, actionable report on Marvell Technology here, it's free.
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