Zacks Research Downgrades Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) to Strong Sell

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) was downgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong sell” rating in a research report issued on Monday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also commented on the company. Wall Street Zen lowered Amtech Systems from a “buy” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, February 7th. Benchmark reaffirmed a “hold” rating on shares of Amtech Systems in a research report on Tuesday, December 2nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Amtech Systems in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Sell”.

Amtech Systems Stock Up 2.5%

NASDAQ:ASYS opened at $13.15 on Monday. Amtech Systems has a 52-week low of $3.20 and a 52-week high of $18.59. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $13.93 and a 200-day simple moving average of $10.53. The company has a market capitalization of $189.49 million, a PE ratio of -6.14 and a beta of 1.67.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 5th. The semiconductor company reported $0.03 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.07 by ($0.04). The business had revenue of $18.97 million for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $19.25 million. Amtech Systems had a negative net margin of 41.28% and a negative return on equity of 1.53%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Amtech Systems will post 0.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Amtech Systems

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in ASYS. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Amtech Systems by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 133,001 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,670,000 after purchasing an additional 1,720 shares during the last quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in shares of Amtech Systems by 15.2% in the fourth quarter. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC now owns 30,760 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $386,000 after purchasing an additional 4,060 shares in the last quarter. Kestra Advisory Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Amtech Systems during the 4th quarter worth about $88,000. State Street Corp lifted its stake in Amtech Systems by 14.6% during the fourth quarter. State Street Corp now owns 62,790 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 8,000 shares during the period. Finally, Millennium Management LLC boosted its stake in Amtech Systems by 90.4% in the 4th quarter. Millennium Management LLC now owns 22,748 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $285,000 after buying an additional 10,802 shares in the last quarter. 50.21% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Amtech Systems Company Profile

Amtech Systems, Inc is a global supplier of capital equipment and aftermarket parts for the solar photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. The company’s solutions support key steps in wafer and cell production, offering both new machinery and spares designed to optimize yield, throughput and energy efficiency. Amtech operates through two primary segments: solar manufacturing and semiconductor & electronics packaging.

In its solar segment, Amtech provides diffusion furnaces, epitaxy reactors and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) systems used in high-volume solar cell fabrication.