Semiconductor equipment maker Photronics had its Relative Strength (RS) Rating upgraded from 70 to 82 Monday, a significant upgrade. The 80 RS Rating is a key benchmark for CAN SLIM investors. Photronics stock closed at 20.11 Monday, down fractionally for the day but holding above its 50-day line. It's up 45% from its 13.86 2023 low, set in late April.
Photronics Stock Joins Top Price Performers
The raised 82 Relative Strength Rating shows that Photronics tops 81% of all stock for price strength over the past year. Market research shows that the best-performing stocks typically have an RS Rating over 80 in the early stages of their moves.
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Among its other key ratings Photronics stock has an 89 Composite Rating, out of 99. It also carries an outstanding 94 Earnings Per Share Rating and a B SMR Rating (sales + profit margins + return on equity) on an A-to-E scale with A the best. One yellow flag is its D+ Accumulation/Distribution Rating. That shows that mutual funds, ETFs and the like are selling more shares than buying.
Photronics makes photomasks, the templates that semiconductor makers use to etch lines onto computer chips, and makers of flat panel displays and monitors use for their circuitry as well.
Photronics Grew This Past Year, At Slowing Pace
Small-cap Photronics has had a good four quarters although its results weren't all that strong recently. Last quarter it reported a 9% increase in earnings to 51 cents per share, on 2% higher sales to $224.2 million. In the same quarter a year ago it reported a 55% surge in earnings, also to 51 cents per share. The next three quarters it reported EPS grew 25%, 42% and then 9% last quarter.
Sales growth followed a similar trajectory, from 16% to 11%, 12% and then 2% last quarter. The company is expected to report its latest earnings and sales numbers on or around Dec. 13. Investors will want to see if it returns to higher rates of sales and earnings growth.
Photronics stock holds the No. 8 rank among its peers in the 27-stock Electronics-Semiconductor Equipment industry group. ASML Holding and Axcelis Technologies are among the group's highest-rated stocks.
When looking for the best stocks to buy and watch, one factor to watch closely is relative price strength.
IBD's proprietary RS Rating tracks market leadership by using a 1 (worst) to 99 (best) score that indicates how a stock's price performance over the last 52 weeks matches up against that of all other stocks.
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