Needham & Company Downgrades Cohu (COHU) to Hold; Not Much on the Horizon to Attract New Buyers

October 20, 2011 7:22 AM EDT
Get Alerts COHU Hot Sheet
Price: $59.30 +1.65%

Rating Summary:
    11 Buy, 2 Hold, 1 Sell

Rating Trend: Up Up

Today's Overall Ratings:
    Up: 13 | Down: 14 | New: 11
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Needham & Company downgraded Cohu (NASDAQ: COHU) from Buy to Hold.

Needham analyst says, "COHU reported Q3 revenue of $71.8M, just above consensus and our estimate of $71M with EPS of $0.17 (pro-forma tax rate of 15%) just above our $0.15 estimate (GAAP EPS was in line at $0.14). COHU's corporate book-to-bill was 0.85 with backlog of $74.5M, down significantly Q/Q. The semi equipment orders decreased 30% Q/Q and the semi equipment book-to-bill was 0.81. COHU cited economic concerns and cautious capital expenditures by the semi group for its muted revenue guidance of $65M for Q4. This is down 9% Q/Q and about 12% below our revenue estimate. Though there are some positive aspects to COHU's business – a gravity handler upgrade at an analog customer and a record unit order quarter for the Pyramid handler – handler orders are slowing and expectations remain depressed for the foreseeable future. We consequently downgrade the shares from Buy to Hold and have adjusted our model lower. Our 2011 revenue/EPS is adjusted from $316M/$1.03 to $307M/$0.96 and our 2012 revenue/EPS from $319M/$1.40 to $303M/$1.05."

For more ratings news on Cohu click here and for the rating history of Cohu click here.

Shares of Cohu closed at $11.01 yesterday.


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