Piper Jaffray reiterated a Neutral rating on Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO), and cut the price target to $20.00 (from $22.00), following the company's 4Q earnings report. VECO reported Q4 EPS of $0.01 compared to estimates of -$0.04 on modestly better than expected revenues of $107M (versus $99M). The sequential improvement in bookings came from the 17% increase QoQ in the combined Advanced Packaging, MEMS and RF end markets. Piper Jaffray is lowering 1Q EPS estimates to -$0.27 (from -$0.09) on revenues of $76.6M (from $83.7M), which reflects expected weakness in the MOCVD business. Piper is modeling for progressively stronger quarters through FY16, resulting in $0.29 in EPS for the full-year (from $0.58).

Analyst Mike Ritzenthaler commented, "We maintain our Neutral rating on VECO shares and lower our price target to $20 (from $22) following a Q4 beat, the recovery of bookings from Q3, but an outlook for Q1 that came in well below estimates. Management’s commentary on the call reiterated the departure from several quarters of gathering momentum behind the MOCVD business, but highlighted strength in PSP products and advanced packaging. We expect bookings to continue to increase off of strength in advanced packaging, MEMS and RF markets. Our Neutral rating balances Veeco's dominant market share position with the limited visibility into a recovery in chip oversupply and the likelihood for lumpy MOCVD results."

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Shares of Veeco Instruments Inc. closed at $19.09 yesterday.