Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) Given Consensus Recommendation of "Hold" by Brokerages

Key Points

• Axcelis Technologies has a consensus “Hold” rating from six covering analysts, with an average 1-year price target of $116.25. Analyst opinions are mixed, ranging from one sell to three buys.
• The company reported Q1 earnings of $0.72 per share, slightly ahead of estimates, and revenue of $198.96 million, up 3.3% year over year. Axcelis also raised its Q2 2026 EPS guidance to about $0.90, which was viewed as a positive signal.
• Despite the earnings update, shares were said to be down 7.2%, while insider trading drew attention after CEO Russell Low sold 7,468 shares in a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 transaction. Institutional ownership remains high at 89.98%.

Shares of Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report) have been given a consensus recommendation of "Hold" by the six ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, two have given a hold recommendation and three have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $116.25.

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on ACLS shares. B. Riley Financial upgraded Axcelis Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 price target for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Zacks Research upgraded Axcelis Technologies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded Axcelis Technologies from a "hold (c-)" rating to a "hold (c)" rating in a research report on Wednesday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Axcelis Technologies from $90.00 to $100.00 and gave the company an "underperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, January 13th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Russell Low sold 7,468 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $156.75, for a total transaction of $1,170,609.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 123,570 shares of the company's stock, valued at $19,369,597.50. This trade represents a 5.70% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Also, Director Jorge Titinger sold 1,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, February 20th. The shares were sold at an average price of $80.00, for a total value of $80,000.00. Following the sale, the director directly owned 6,477 shares in the company, valued at approximately $518,160. The trade was a 13.37% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 10,956 shares of company stock worth $1,540,361. Corporate insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Axcelis Technologies

Large investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. REAP Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. Close Asset Management Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Axcelis Technologies during the third quarter valued at $27,000. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in Axcelis Technologies by 145.1% during the second quarter. EverSource Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 451 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $31,000 after buying an additional 267 shares during the period. Caitlin John LLC purchased a new position in Axcelis Technologies during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Finally, Advisory Services Network LLC purchased a new position in Axcelis Technologies during the third quarter worth about $32,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 89.98% of the company's stock.

Axcelis Technologies Trading Down 7.2%

Shares of ACLS stock opened at $158.66 on Friday. Axcelis Technologies has a fifty-two week low of $55.93 and a fifty-two week high of $171.61. The stock has a market cap of $4.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 41.86, a P/E/G ratio of 20.44 and a beta of 1.93. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $105.37 and a 200-day simple moving average of $92.72. The company has a quick ratio of 3.11, a current ratio of 4.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.01. Axcelis Technologies had a return on equity of 13.73% and a net margin of 14.33%.The business had revenue of $198.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.03 million. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $0.88 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Axcelis Technologies has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.900- EPS. On average, analysts forecast that Axcelis Technologies will post 2.86 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Key Stories Impacting Axcelis Technologies

Here are the key news stories impacting Axcelis Technologies this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Management raised its Q2 FY2026 EPS outlook to about $0.90, above the consensus ~$0.78, signaling stronger near-term profit expectations and providing a clear positive catalyst for revenues and margins ahead. Q1 Financial Results (PR Newswire)
• Positive Sentiment: Market interest ahead of earnings was amplified by Axcelis’ planned participation and technical presentations at the Advanced Semiconductor Manufacturing Conference (ASMC), which investors interpreted as reinforcement of the company’s process leadership and a reason for the pre-earnings run-up. QuiverQuant ASMC / Pre-earnings Analysis
• Neutral Sentiment: Q1 revenue and margins were solid: revenue ~$199.0M with GAAP gross margin ~40.5% (non‑GAAP ~40.7%). Non‑GAAP EPS reported was around $0.72, roughly in line with expectations on a non‑GAAP basis, providing some offset to the headline EPS figure. Q1 Financial Results (PR Newswire)
• Negative Sentiment: Axcelis missed the headline EPS consensus for Q1 (reported about $0.60 vs. consensus ~$0.71), which likely triggered the selloff as investors reacted to the earnings miss despite the stronger guidance. Earnings Snapshot (Yahoo Finance)
• Negative Sentiment: CEO Russell Low sold 7,468 shares at an average ~$156.75 under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 plan; while prearranged sales lessen governance concern, insider selling can still weigh on sentiment in a short-term pullback. SEC Form 4 (Insider Sale)

Axcelis Technologies Company Profile

Axcelis Technologies, Inc is a leading developer and manufacturer of ion implantation and cleaning equipment used in the fabrication of semiconductor chips. The company specializes in high-current, medium-current and high-energy ion implantation systems, which are critical for introducing precisely controlled dopants into silicon wafers. Axcelis also offers plasma-based cleaning and dry strip tools that support advanced process nodes in logic, memory and power device manufacturing.

The company's product portfolio encompasses single-wafer and multi-wafer cluster tools designed to deliver high throughput, accuracy and uniformity for semiconductor process steps.

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