Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) Sets New 52-Week High – Time to Buy?

Shares of Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $165.43 and last traded at $162.2650, with a volume of 168014 shares changing hands. The stock had previously closed at $157.00.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

CAMT has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Morgan Stanley began coverage on Camtek in a research note on Monday, December 1st. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $110.00 target price on the stock. Zacks Research raised Camtek from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, February 2nd. Wall Street Zen upgraded Camtek from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Sunday, January 11th. Evercore reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $190.00 target price on shares of Camtek in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised their price target on shares of Camtek from $130.00 to $140.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Monday, December 15th. Eight analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and five have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $142.17.

Camtek Price Performance

The company’s 50-day moving average is $131.91 and its 200-day moving average is $112.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $7.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 188.38, a PEG ratio of 3.49 and a beta of 1.57. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.90, a current ratio of 7.58 and a quick ratio of 6.52.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The semiconductor company reported $0.81 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.83 by ($0.02). Camtek had a return on equity of 23.82% and a net margin of 9.86%.The company had revenue of $128.12 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $127.10 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.77 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 9.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Camtek Ltd. will post 2.93 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Camtek

A number of institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in CAMT. Engineers Gate Manager LP increased its stake in Camtek by 220.9% during the fourth quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 6,454 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $686,000 after acquiring an additional 4,443 shares during the last quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Camtek by 126.1% during the 4th quarter. Boothbay Fund Management LLC now owns 11,852 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $1,260,000 after purchasing an additional 6,611 shares during the period. Altshuler Shaham Ltd grew its holdings in shares of Camtek by 33.4% during the 4th quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd now owns 8,472 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $910,000 after purchasing an additional 2,119 shares during the period. EFG International AG acquired a new stake in Camtek during the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,092,000. Finally, Amundi raised its holdings in Camtek by 106.8% in the fourth quarter. Amundi now owns 8,738 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $929,000 after buying an additional 4,513 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 41.93% of the company’s stock.

About Camtek

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ: CAMT) is a provider of automated inspection and metrology solutions for the semiconductor and printed circuit board (PCB) industries. The company develops, manufactures and markets a suite of inline and stand-alone systems that perform high‐resolution 2D and 3D measurements, defect review and process control. Its products are used by integrated device manufacturers, foundries, OSAT (outsourced semiconductor assembly and test) providers, and PCB fabricators to optimize yield, improve product quality and reduce production costs.

Camtek’s core offerings include wafer inspection systems that detect and classify defects on patterned wafers, patterned wafer metrology tools for overlay and critical dimension measurements, and advanced packaging inspection platforms for 3D ICs and fan-out wafer-level packaging.