Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) Shares Gap Up - What's Next?

Key Points

• Cohu shares jumped at Friday’s open, rising from a prior close of $34.90 to $38.52 before last trading at $37.10.
• The semiconductor equipment maker reported quarterly EPS of $0.43, beating the $0.35 estimate, while revenue of $172.96 million exceeded forecasts and rose 37% year over year.
• Analysts’ consensus rating is Moderate Buy, with an average price target of $74.38; recent targets ranged from $65 to $90.

Shares of Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $34.90, but opened at $38.52. Cohu shares last traded at $37.1020, with a volume of 108,782 shares.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on COHU. Stifel Nicolaus upped their price objective on shares of Cohu from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Robert W. Baird set a $83.00 target price on shares of Cohu in a research report on Thursday, October 29th. Needham & Company LLC reissued a "buy" rating and issued a $65.00 price target on shares of Cohu in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. Zacks Research lowered shares of Cohu from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, August 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $90.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have given a Buy rating, one has issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus target price of $74.38.

Cohu Stock Performance

The stock has a market cap of $1.76 billion, a PE ratio of -71.43 and a beta of 1.60. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.36, a current ratio of 5.16 and a quick ratio of 4.24. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $56.38 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $47.26.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $0.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.35 by $0.08. Cohu had a negative net margin of 3.97% and a positive return on equity of 1.47%. The firm had revenue of $172.96 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $170.25 million. During the same quarter last year, the business earned ($0.06) earnings per share. The business's revenue was up 37.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Cohu, Inc. will post 0.63 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Cohu

In other news, CEO Luis A. Muller sold 55,794 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, September 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $60.00, for a total transaction of $3,347,640.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 871,825 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $52,309,500. This represents a 6.01% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Also, SVP Christopher Bohrson sold 10,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, August 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $55.82, for a total transaction of $558,200.00. Following the sale, the senior vice president owned 159,702 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,914,565.64. This represents a 5.89% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders sold 116,692 shares of company stock worth $7,374,716 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 3.05% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. BlackRock Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Cohu during the second quarter valued at about $545,932,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in Cohu in the second quarter worth about $77,814,000. Emerald Advisers LLC purchased a new stake in Cohu in the first quarter worth about $23,887,000. Paradigm Capital Management Inc. NY bought a new stake in Cohu during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $42,794,000. Finally, Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC boosted its position in Cohu by 125.5% during the 1st quarter. Segall Bryant & Hamill LLC now owns 955,344 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $29,253,000 after acquiring an additional 531,661 shares in the last quarter. 94.67% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Cohu

Cohu, Inc is a global provider of semiconductor test and inspection equipment and related services. The company supplies solutions used by semiconductor manufacturers and outsourced semiconductor assembly and test providers to evaluate devices during production, helping improve manufacturing quality, reliability and efficiency.

Cohu's product portfolio includes semiconductor test handlers, contactors and other interface products, inspection and metrology systems, thermal-management equipment, and software for test-data analysis and factory automation.

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