Needham & Company Remains Bullish as Axcelis Technologies (ACLS) Reports Mixed 3Q

Needham & Company maintained a Buy rating on Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ: ACLS), and cut the price target to $15.00 (from $17.00), following the company's 3Q earnings report. Revenue of $65.7MM missed the Street's $67.7MM estimates. However, EPS of $0.07 beat the consensus estimate of $0.04 as GM came in better than expected at 36.7%. Revenue and EPS guidance of $65-70MM and $0.04-$0.08 is substantially below the Street's $75.1MM/$0.15 because of delays in customer spend into 1Q17.

Analyst Edwin Mok commented, "ACLS reported a mixed 3Q16 and provided 4Q16 guidance well short of the Street's model due to customers delaying product shipments into 1Q17. Management appears very confident that the tools will ship in 1Q17 based on ramp-up plans of memory customers, and projected a material jump of its business. While ACLS is not able to gain market share this year, we continue to believe growing VNAND investments and the recovery in DRAM spending by its leading Korean customers, coupled with additional orders from trailing edge foundry applications, will enable ACLS to grow in 2017 and meet its market share target of 22-28%. With management focused on driving cost out of the model, we continue to see solid earnings growth ahead. Therefore, we maintain our Buy, but lower our PT from $17 to $15 on reduced estimates."

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Axcelis Technologies click here. For more ratings news on Axcelis Technologies click here.

Shares of Axcelis Technologies closed at $13.45 yesterday.

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