FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM) Shares Gap Up - Still a Buy?

Key Points

• FormFactor shares surged at Friday’s open, rising from a prior close of $71.76 to $81.03 before trading near $78.90.
• The company beat quarterly expectations, reporting EPS of $1.04 versus $0.86 forecast and revenue of $280.55 million; revenue increased 38.4% year over year.
• Analysts have a Moderate Buy consensus rating and an average price target of $139.73, while insiders sold 46,710 shares worth about $5.52 million over the past 90 days.

FormFactor, Inc. (NASDAQ:FORM - Get Free Report)'s stock price gapped up before the market opened on Friday. The stock had previously closed at $71.76, but opened at $81.03. FormFactor shares last traded at $78.8980, with a volume of 194,907 shares changing hands.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on FORM shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of FormFactor from a "hold (c)" rating to a "hold (c+)" rating in a report on Friday, October 16th. Stifel Nicolaus set a $115.00 price objective on shares of FormFactor in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. Zacks Research downgraded shares of FormFactor from a "strong-buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Monday, October 19th. Freedom Capital upgraded shares of FormFactor from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday. Finally, TD Cowen raised their target price on FormFactor from $100.00 to $110.00 and gave the stock a "hold" rating in a research note on Thursday, October 29th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, seven have issued a Buy rating and four have assigned a Hold rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, FormFactor currently has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $139.73.

FormFactor Stock Performance

The company has a quick ratio of 3.02, a current ratio of 3.68 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.01. The company has a market cap of $6.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 36.20 and a beta of 1.27. The business has a fifty day moving average of $114.31 and a 200 day moving average of $113.65.

FormFactor (NASDAQ:FORM - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 28th. The semiconductor company reported $1.04 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.86 by $0.18. The business had revenue of $280.55 million for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $270.52 million. FormFactor had a net margin of 17.72% and a return on equity of 18.40%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 38.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.33 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that FormFactor, Inc. will post 2.96 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, Director Kelley Steven-Waiss sold 2,100 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, September 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.10, for a total value of $201,810.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 24,426 shares of the company's stock, valued at $2,347,338.60. This represents a 7.92% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Mike Slessor sold 11,098 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, October 14th. The stock was sold at an average price of $125.20, for a total transaction of $1,389,469.60. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 455,596 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $57,040,619.20. The trade was a 2.38% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 46,710 shares of company stock valued at $5,520,564. Corporate insiders own 0.79% of the company's stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in FORM. Bank of America Corp DE purchased a new position in FormFactor during the 2nd quarter valued at about $285,257,000. VIRGINIA RETIREMENT SYSTEMS ET Al bought a new stake in FormFactor during the second quarter worth about $2,047,000. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio bought a new stake in FormFactor during the second quarter worth about $3,940,000. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its holdings in FormFactor by 3.1% in the third quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 659,667 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $98,495,000 after purchasing an additional 19,745 shares during the period. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company purchased a new stake in FormFactor in the second quarter worth about $4,108,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 98.76% of the company's stock.

About FormFactor

FormFactor, Inc is a semiconductor test and measurement company that designs and manufactures equipment and components used to evaluate integrated circuits during the wafer fabrication and production process. Its products help semiconductor manufacturers and suppliers measure electrical performance, identify defects and improve the development and manufacturing of advanced chips.

The company's portfolio includes probe cards used for wafer-level testing, as well as probe stations, analytical systems and related accessories for semiconductor engineering and production applications.

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