Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Shares Gap Up After Better-Than-Expected Earnings

Photronics, Inc. (NASDAQ:PLAB – Get Rating)’s share price gapped up before the market opened on Wednesday following a better than expected earnings announcement. The stock had previously closed at $17.21, but opened at $18.92. Photronics shares last traded at $19.43, with a volume of 343,889 shares.

The semiconductor company reported $0.54 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.10. Photronics had a return on equity of 11.09% and a net margin of 14.04%. The company had revenue of $229.30 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $211.00 million. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.49 EPS. Photronics’s quarterly revenue was up 12.1% on a year-over-year basis.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the company. DA Davidson reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Photronics in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. StockNews.com started coverage on Photronics in a research report on Thursday, May 18th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Finally, Northland Securities upped their price target on Photronics from $18.00 to $21.00 in a research report on Thursday.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Photronics

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Raymond James & Associates acquired a new stake in Photronics in the first quarter worth $219,000. Citigroup Inc. increased its position in Photronics by 2.1% in the first quarter. Citigroup Inc. now owns 61,988 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,052,000 after buying an additional 1,281 shares during the period. MetLife Investment Management LLC increased its position in Photronics by 53.6% in the first quarter. MetLife Investment Management LLC now owns 32,418 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $550,000 after buying an additional 11,313 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in Photronics by 15.0% in the first quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 53,138 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $902,000 after buying an additional 6,920 shares during the period. Finally, BlackRock Inc. increased its position in Photronics by 0.8% in the first quarter. BlackRock Inc. now owns 9,805,463 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $166,400,000 after buying an additional 78,778 shares during the period. 90.41% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Photronics Price Performance

The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.02, a current ratio of 3.89 and a quick ratio of 3.25. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $15.81 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $17.16. The stock has a market capitalization of $1.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 10.18 and a beta of 1.18.

Photronics Company Profile

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Photronics, Inc engages in the provision of photomasks. It manufactures semiconductors and flat-panel displays and is used as masters to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and FPD substrates during the fabrication of integrated circuits, a variety of FPDs and other types of electrical and optical components.