News

As the Q4 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of this quarter’s best and worst performers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, including Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) and its peers.

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 satisfactory Q4. As a group, revenues beat analysts’ consensus estimates by 1.6% while next quarter’s revenue guidance was 1.8% below.

Amidst this news, share prices of the companies have had a rough stretch. On average, they are down 18% since the latest earnings results.

Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT)

Founded in 1967 as the first company to develop tools for other businesses in the semiconductor industry, Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) is the largest provider of semiconductor wafer fabrication equipment.

Applied Materials reported revenues of $7.17 billion, up 6.8% year on year. This print was in line with analysts’ expectations, but overall, it was a decent quarter for the company with a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates.

“The industry drive to accelerate the development of advanced compute and more sophisticated AI is gaining momentum,” said Gary Dickerson, President and CEO.

The stock is down 22.3% since reporting and currently trades at $143.20.

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

Best 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 $166.1 million, down 3% year on year, outperforming analysts’ expectations by 0.7%. The business had a very strong quarter with a significant improvement in its inventory levels and a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates.

Although it had a fine quarter compared to its peers, the market seems unhappy with the results as the stock is down 28% since reporting. It currently trades at $31.24.

Is now the time to buy Kulicke and Soffa? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it’s free .

Weakest Q4: FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM)

With customers across the foundry and fabless markets, FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) is a US-based provider of test and measurement technologies for semiconductors.

FormFactor reported revenues of $189.5 million, up 12.7% year on year, in line with analysts’ expectations. It was a softer quarter as it posted a significant miss of analysts’ adjusted operating income and EPS estimates.

As expected, the stock is down 31.7% since the results and currently trades at $28.08.

Read our full analysis of FormFactor’s results here.

Amkor (NASDAQ:AMKR)

Operating through a largely Asian facility footprint, Amkor Technologies (NASDAQ:AMKR) provides outsourced packaging and testing for semiconductors.

Amkor reported revenues of $1.63 billion, down 7% year on year. This result lagged analysts' expectations by 2.1%. Taking a step back, it was a satisfactory quarter as it also recorded a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates but an increase in its inventory levels.

Amkor had the weakest performance against analyst estimates among its peers. The stock is down 30.1% since reporting and currently trades at $17.03.

Read our full, actionable report on Amkor here, it’s free.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC)

A public company since the late 1960s, Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) is a provider of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors used for Internet of Things systems and cloud connectivity.

Semtech reported revenues of $251 million, up 30.1% year on year. This number was in line with analysts’ expectations. It was a strong quarter as it also put up a solid beat of analysts’ EPS estimates and an impressive beat of analysts’ adjusted operating income estimates.

The stock is up 8.8% since reporting and currently trades at $35.51.

Read our full, actionable report on Semtech here, it’s free.

Want to invest in winners with rock-solid fundamentals? Check out our Top 6 Stocks and add them to your watchlist. These companies are poised for growth regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate.

Join Paid Stock Investor Research

Help us make StockStory more helpful to investors like yourself. Join our paid user research session and receive a $50 Amazon gift card for your opinions. Sign up here .