Axcelis Technologies shares fell Thursday after the semiconductor equipment supplier beat Wall Street's targets for the first quarter but offered mixed guidance for the current period. ACLS stock retreated more than 7% on the news.
The Beverly, Mass.-based company late Wednesday said it earned $1.43 a share on sales of $254 million in the March quarter. Analysts polled by FactSet had predicted Axcelis earnings of $1.30 a share on sales of $239.8 million. On a year-over-year basis, Axcelis earnings rose 17% while sales climbed 25%.
For the current quarter, Axcelis predicted earnings of $1.46 a share on sales of $257.5 million. That's based on the midpoint of its outlook. Wall Street had been looking for earnings of $1.51 a share on sales of $250.3 million in the second quarter.
For the full year, Axcelis expects to achieve revenue greater than $1.03 billion. Analysts were forecasting $1 billion in 2023 sales.
ACLS Stock Is A Tech Leader
On the stock market today, ACLS stock fell 7.4% to close at 113.54. During the regular session Wednesday, ACLS stock advanced 0.7% to close at 122.61.
"Axcelis delivered strong first-quarter financial performance with a new backlog record as a result of significant demand," Chief Executive Mary Puma said in a news release.
Axcelis makes ion implantation systems, which provide a critical step in the process of manufacturing integrated circuits. Ion implantation equipment creates charged regions within silicon wafers to enable transistor functionality.
ACLS stock is on the IBD Tech Leaders list. Axcelis has an IBD Composite Rating of 97 out of 99, according to IBD Stock Checkup. That puts it in the top 3% of stocks for key metrics over the past 12 months.
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