The shares of FormFactor, Inc.(NASDAQ: FORM) stock rallied over 11.7% on December 15th, 2017 (as of 2:06PM EST; Source: Google finance) as analysts from Needham enhanced their view on the stock to “Strong Buy” from “Buy”. The stock generated over 48.9% in this year to date.
The group delivered the highest DRAM probe card revenues since the second quarter of 2015 and realized the highest third quarter sales in engineering systems history. They reported the highest-ever quarterly shipments to a major customer.
For the third quarter of fiscal 2017, the group’s quarterly revenues lost 0.2% yoy to $143.7 million, against the second quarter of fiscal 2017, but surged 16.6% against the prior corresponding period. The group’s broad market positioning across high growth semiconductor end markets such as data center, mobile and automotive continued to drive their growth. FormFactor is well positioned to capitalize on industry momentum to deliver top-line growth and strong profitability.
Net income on a GAAP basis, fell to $12.6 million, or $0.17 per fully-diluted share, from earlier quarter net income of $17.6 million, or $0.24 per fully-diluted share. The group’s free cash flow reached $12.4 million, from a free cash flow for the second quarter of 2017 of $21.2 million, and free cash flow for the third quarter of 2016 of $1.8 million.
The group expects their fourth quarter revenue to decrease from the third quarter, as their major client uses the all-time record shipments in the third quarter. The group’s strength of the overall semiconductor industry, coupled with their specific growth opportunities in advanced packaging, mobile data, and automotive ICs, would place them to generate a decent growth in the first half of 2018. The group us aiming for $650 million dollars of revenue and a $1.50 of non-GAAP earnings per share.
For the fourth quarter ending on December 30, 2017, the group forecasts revenues to be in the range of $126 million to $134 million while gross margin is forecasted to be in the range of 38% to 41%