Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) Shares Gap Down – Should You Sell?

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT) shares gapped down prior to trading on Tuesday . The stock had previously closed at $141.84, but opened at $131.53. Camtek shares last traded at $131.2750, with a volume of 86,510 shares.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have commented on the stock. Northland Securities set a $174.00 price objective on shares of Camtek in a report on Wednesday, May 13th. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Camtek from $175.00 to $185.00 and gave the stock an “overweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 13th. Wall Street Zen raised shares of Camtek from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, March 21st. Needham & Company LLC upped their price target on shares of Camtek from $175.00 to $190.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 12th. Finally, Weiss Ratings raised shares of Camtek from a “hold (c-)” rating to a “hold (c)” rating in a report on Thursday, May 14th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating and seven have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $174.67.

Camtek Price Performance

The business has a fifty day moving average of $172.79 and a 200-day moving average of $159.41. The company has a current ratio of 8.35, a quick ratio of 7.46 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.71. The firm has a market cap of $6.53 billion, a PE ratio of 160.98, a PEG ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 1.55.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Tuesday, May 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.70 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.69 by $0.01. Camtek had a return on equity of 22.26% and a net margin of 9.63%.The firm had revenue of $121.66 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $120.15 million. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts predict that Camtek Ltd. will post 3.14 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Camtek

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. grew its position in shares of Camtek by 38.2% during the 1st quarter. Harel Insurance Investments & Financial Services Ltd. now owns 2,302,009 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $349,008,000 after purchasing an additional 636,773 shares in the last quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP raised its position in shares of Camtek by 18.6% in the second quarter. Wasatch Advisors LP now owns 3,506,727 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $296,529,000 after buying an additional 550,072 shares in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Camtek in the fourth quarter worth $57,772,000. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. raised its position in shares of Camtek by 31.1% in the third quarter. Menora Mivtachim Holdings LTD. now owns 2,099,351 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $220,537,000 after buying an additional 497,918 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Camtek by 169.8% during the third quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 479,053 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $50,325,000 after buying an additional 301,484 shares during the period. 41.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.