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Semiconductor Manufacturing Stocks Q4 Highlights: Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC)


Petr Huřťák /
2023/04/11 5:33 am EDT

The end of an earnings season can be a great time to assess how companies are handling the current business environment and discover new stocks. Let’s have a look at how Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC) and the rest of the semiconductor manufacturing stocks fared in Q4.

The semiconductor industry is driven by demand for advanced electronic products like smartphones, PCs, servers and data storage. The growth of data and technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G networks and smart cars are also creating a next wave of growth for the industry. To keep up with ever changing customer needs requires new tools that can design, fabricate and test at ever smaller sizes and more complex architectures, and that is driving the demand for semiconductor capital manufacturing equipment.

The 14 semiconductor manufacturing stocks we track reported a slower Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.62%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 3.47% above consensus. Tech stocks have been under pressure as inflation makes their long-dated profits less valuable and while some of the semiconductor manufacturing stocks have fared somewhat better than others, they have not been spared, with share prices declining 5.93% since the previous earnings results, on average.

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 $176.2 million, down 61.8% year on year, missing analyst expectations by 0.15%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and underwhelming guidance for the next quarter.

Kulicke and Soffa Total Revenue

Kulicke and Soffa delivered the slowest revenue growth of the whole group. The stock is down 6.41% since the results and currently trades at $50.22.

Read our full report on Kulicke and Soffa 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 $151.2 million, up 24.5% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.31%. It was a strong quarter for the company, with very optimistic guidance for the next quarter and a significant improvement in inventory levels.

Nova  Total Revenue

The stock is up 7.5% since the results and currently trades at $98.05.

Is now the time to buy Nova ? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Weakest Q4: 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 $1.42 billion, up 5.62% 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 decline in operating margin.

The stock is down 14.5% since the results and currently trades at $39.5.

Read our full analysis of Marvell Technology's results here.

Amtech (NASDAQ:ASYS)

Focusing on Silicon Carbide and Power Semiconductor sectors, Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) produces machinery and related chemicals needed for manufacturing semiconductors.

Amtech reported revenues of $21.6 million, down 21.1% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and operating margin.

The stock is down 15.4% since the results and currently trades at $9.07.

Read our full, actionable report on Amtech 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 $211.1 million, up 11.2% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 5.02%. It was a solid quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in gross margin.

The stock is down 12.4% since the results and currently trades at $15.79.

Read our full, actionable report on Photronics here, it's free.

The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned