Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS) Sets New 12-Month High - Should You Buy?

Key Points

• Axcelis Technologies hit a new 52-week high, trading as high as $184.65 and last seen around $192.56, reflecting strong recent momentum in the stock.
• The company’s latest earnings beat expectations slightly, with Q1 revenue of $198.96 million and EPS of $0.72, while management guided Q2 2026 EPS to 0.900. Analysts currently have a consensus rating of Hold despite some recent upgrades.
• Insiders have been selling shares, including recent transactions by a vice president and a director, while institutional investors continue to hold the vast majority of the stock at 89.98% ownership.

Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report)'s share price hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The company traded as high as $184.65 and last traded at $192.5560, with a volume of 5116 shares trading hands. The stock had previously closed at $180.12.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently commented on ACLS. Weiss Ratings lowered shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c-)" rating in a research report on Tuesday, May 12th. B. Riley Financial raised shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and set a $150.00 target price for the company in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, Zacks Research upgraded shares of Axcelis Technologies from a "strong sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Three research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, two have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $116.25.

Axcelis Technologies Trading Up 5.1%

The company has a market cap of $5.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 58.96, a PEG ratio of 12.75 and a beta of 1.91. The company has a current ratio of 4.59, a quick ratio of 2.99 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.04. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $141.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $106.66.

Axcelis Technologies (NASDAQ:ACLS - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.72 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.01. Axcelis Technologies had a net margin of 11.93% and a return on equity of 12.19%. The business had revenue of $198.96 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $195.03 million. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.88 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 3.3% on a year-over-year basis. Axcelis Technologies has set its Q2 2026 guidance at 0.900- EPS. Analysts forecast that Axcelis Technologies, Inc. will post 3.21 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Axcelis Technologies

In other Axcelis Technologies news, VP Todd Sutton sold 2,574 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, May 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $163.89, for a total transaction of $421,852.86. Following the transaction, the vice president owned 7,817 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,281,128.13. The trade was a 24.77% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, Director Gregory B. Graves sold 3,225 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, May 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $141.61, for a total value of $456,692.25. Following the completion of the sale, the director owned 5,473 shares in the company, valued at $775,031.53. This represents a 37.08% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Insiders sold 36,039 shares of company stock worth $5,461,394 over the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.49% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Victory Capital Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Axcelis Technologies by 85.9% during the 4th quarter. Victory Capital Management Inc. now owns 1,807,404 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $145,207,000 after purchasing an additional 835,242 shares during the last quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 0.4% in the first quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 844,097 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $78,565,000 after purchasing an additional 3,057 shares during the last quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 7.5% in the first quarter. Goldman Sachs Group Inc. now owns 635,393 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $31,560,000 after purchasing an additional 44,275 shares during the last quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its position in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 3,402.5% in the first quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 491,745 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $45,772,000 after purchasing an additional 477,705 shares during the period. Finally, Invesco Ltd. raised its position in shares of Axcelis Technologies by 23.8% in the fourth quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 478,897 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $38,475,000 after purchasing an additional 92,162 shares during the period. 89.98% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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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