3 Electronics Stocks to Watch From a Challenging Industry
The Zacks Electronics - Manufacturing Machinery industry is suffering from raging inflation, higher material lead times and weak smartphone demand. Nevertheless, industry participants are benefiting from increased capital spending on high-performance computing, artificial intelligence, mobility, augmented reality and virtual reality, advanced packaging lithography, and wet processing solutions by semiconductor manufacturers. The ongoing transformation in the cloud computing and automotive end markets is noteworthy. MKS Instruments MKSI, Axcelis ACLS and Veeco Instruments VECO are gaining from the above-mentioned trends. These companies provide solutions to semiconductor manufacturers and OEMs. Strength in cloud & data centers, healthcare and automotive has been the key catalysts for these industry participants.
Industry Description
The Zacks Electronics - Manufacturing Machinery industry comprises companies that provide a range of solutions to address the needs of wafer processing facilities, as well as device packaging and test facilities, of semiconductor manufacturing processes. The solutions offered by the industry participants include thin-film processing systems, photonics, process-control tools (that perform macro defect inspections and metrology), metal organic chemical vapor deposition, advanced packaging lithography, wet etch and clean, laser annealing and 3D wafer inspection systems. A few industry participants also offer micro-contamination control products and advanced material-handling solutions. Notably, contamination-free transportation, storage and delivery of materials have gained immense significance in recent times.
3 Trends Shaping the Future of the Electronics Industry
Miniaturization Enhances Prospects: Industry participants are benefiting from the ongoing transition in semiconductor manufacturing technology. The demand for advanced packaging, which enables the miniaturization of electronic products, remains strong. The consistent shift to smaller dimensions and the rapid adoption of new device architecture like FinFET transistors and 3D-NAND, along with the increasing utilization of new manufacturing materials to increase transistor and bit density, are driving the demand for solutions provided by the industry players. Moreover, the emergence of techniques like wafer-level packaging is driving the need for a high-purity manufacturing environment free of contaminants. The rising demand for clean processing, as well as wafer carrier cleaning and conditioning tools, is a key catalyst for the industry participants.
Complex Process Driving Demand: The requirement for faster, more powerful and energy-efficient semiconductors is expected to increase rapidly with the robust adoption of cloud computing, IoT and AI. Semiconductor manufacturers like Intel, Samsung and Taiwan Semiconductors are primarily looking to maximize manufacturing yields at lower costs. This is making semiconductor manufacturing processes more complex and driving the demand for solutions offered by industry participants. The rapid adoption of IoT-supported factory automation solutions is another contributing factor. The increasing deployment of 5G and the growing demand for edge computing are other key catalysts.
DRAM Demand Strong: The improving demand for NAND and DRAM is a positive for the industry participants. Strong SSD demand, driven by data center and cloud spending, is another key catalyst. DRAM is expected to benefit from strong demand in the data center, enterprise and cloud segments. Strong demand for chips and higher spending on semiconductor capital equipment are aiding the industry participants.
Zacks Industry Rank Indicates Dim Prospects
The Zacks Electronics - Manufacturing Machinery industry is housed within the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #170, which places it in the bottom 32% of more than 250 Zacks industries.
The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is the average of the Zacks Rank of all the member stocks, indicates dim near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than 2 to 1.
The industry’s position in the bottom 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is a result of the negative earnings outlook for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, it appears that analysts are pessimistic about this group’s earnings growth potential. Since Jun 30, 2022, the industry’s earnings estimates for the current year have decreased 59.1%.
Despite the gloomy industry outlook, a few stocks are worth watching due to their strong prospects. Before we present the stocks that you may want to consider for your portfolio, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.
Industry Beats Sector and S&P 500
The Zacks Electronics - Manufacturing Machinery industry has outperformed the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector and the S&P 500 composite over the past year.
The industry has returned 46.7% over this period compared with the S&P 500’s gain of 15.9% and the broader sector’s increase of 37.2%.
One-Year Price Performance
Industry's Current Valuation
On the basis of the trailing 12-month EV/EBITDA ratio, which is a commonly used multiple for valuing Electronics - Manufacturing Machinery companies, we see that the industry is trading at 12.33X compared with the S&P 500’s 13.38X. It is below the sector’s trailing 12-month EV/EBITDA of 10.13X.
Over the last five years, the industry traded as high as 17.78X and as low as 4.98X, with the median being 11.87X, as the charts below show.
EV/EBITDA Ratio (TTM)
3 Electronics Stocks to Watch Right Now
Veeco – This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company is benefiting from strong demand for its laser annealing product line, ion beam deposition system for EUV, advanced packaging lithography and wet processing solutions. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Veeco shares surged 33.6% year to date. The Zacks Consensus Estimates for 2023 earnings is pegged at $1.32 per share, up by a penny over the past 30 days.
Price and Consensus: VECO
MKS Instruments: This Andover, MA-based company is gaining from the growing adoption of its solutions, which are used in the majority of the steps needed to manufacture a semiconductor chip. It is benefiting from the strong adoption of Photonics and Optical solutions.
Photonics is benefiting from the strong demand for its advanced lithography, metrology and inspection applications. The optical solutions business continues to gain traction across the EUV ecosystem for both lithography and inspection applications, with OXY metrology and inspection applications continuing to grow as a percentage of its overall semiconductor revenues.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for this Zacks Rank #3 (Hold) company’s 2023 earnings has been steady at $3.22 per share over the past 30 days.
Price and Consensus: MKSI
Axcelis: This Zacks Rank #3 company is primarily a producer of ion implantation equipment used to fabricate semiconductor chips in the United States, Europe and Asia.
Headquartered in Beverly, MA, Axcelis is riding on solid capital spending in the implant-intensive mature process technology markets. The strong adoption of the Purion product family has been a catalyst. It is also benefiting from strong growth in the power device market.
The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Axcelis’ 2023 earnings has increased 0.5% to $6.47 per share over the past 30 days.
Price and Consensus: ACLS
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MKS Instruments, Inc. (MKSI) : Free Stock Analysis Report
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