Amtech Earnings Beat Estimates; Shares Pop 22%

Shares of Amtech spiked 22% at end of trading on Friday after the capital equipment manufacturer’s quarterly profit blew past the Street consensus.

Amtech Systems (ASYS) posted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.05 during the first quarter, which came in ahead of the $0.08 net loss per share expected by analysts. Revenue decreased 13.4% year-on-year to $18 million, but topped analysts’ estimates of $16.55 million.

This reflected a sequential quarterly revenue growth of 19% on the back of the shipment of Amtech’s 300mm clustered HTR diffusion furnace to a global power semiconductor client. Favorable product mix also helped the company generate a higher gross margin of 41.8% in Q1, compared to 32.9% in the previous quarter.

Looking ahead for 2Q 2021, Amtech sees revenues of between $18 million to $20 million and a gross margin of ~40%. This outlook reflects the impact from the shipping container shortage and associated delays in products shipped from China amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Amtech CEO Michael Whang expects the increasing product demand for Amtech’s semiconductor segment to continue in the second quarter with an expanding quoting activity across different end markets. Further, amid the present chip shortages in the market, he sees long-term demand drivers remaining strong in the years ahead.  (See Amtech stock analysis on TipRanks)

On Friday, Benchmark Co. analyst Mark Miller upgraded the stock to Buy from Hold with a price target of $10 (7.4% downside potential). Mark sees Amtech having a profitable fiscal 2021 based on his revised forecasts and increased quoting activity in Amtech’s end markets. The stock has already yielded 104% over the past year.

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