Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) Raised to Strong-Buy at Singular Research

Key Points

• Singular Research has upgraded Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) to a "strong-buy" rating, reflecting positive sentiment from analysts.
• Photronics reported Q3 earnings with an EPS of $0.51, exceeding estimates and achieving revenue of $210.39 million, although its revenue showed a slight year-over-year decline of 0.3%.
• Despite recent downgrades from other analysts, the overall consensus rating for Photronics remains "Buy" with an average price target of $31.00.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) was upgraded by stock analysts at Singular Research to a "strong-buy" rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday, September 4th,Zacks.com reports.

Several other analysts have also recently commented on PLAB. Wall Street Zen cut Photronics from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a research report on Friday, May 30th. Craig Hallum started coverage on Photronics in a research report on Wednesday, June 11th. They set a "buy" rating and a $32.00 price target for the company. Finally, DA Davidson dropped their price target on Photronics from $35.00 to $30.00 and set a "buy" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, May 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating and two have issued a Buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Photronics has a consensus rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $31.00.

Photronics Stock Up 2.4%

Shares of PLAB stock traded up $0.53 during trading hours on Thursday, hitting $22.54. 170,484 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 635,076. The firm has a market cap of $1.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 12.81 and a beta of 1.53. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $20.78 and a two-hundred day moving average of $19.85. Photronics has a fifty-two week low of $16.46 and a fifty-two week high of $31.60.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 27th. The semiconductor company reported $0.51 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.39 by $0.12. Photronics had a return on equity of 8.19% and a net margin of 12.67%.The firm had revenue of $210.39 million during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $204.30 million. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.51 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was down .3% on a year-over-year basis. Photronics has set its Q4 2025 guidance at 0.420-0.480 EPS. On average, equities analysts forecast that Photronics will post 2.3 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Photronics

In other news, Director Kang Jyh Lee sold 4,882 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, June 20th. The stock was sold at an average price of $18.35, for a total transaction of $89,584.70. Following the completion of the transaction, the director directly owned 532,100 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,764,035. This represents a 0.91% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, Director Mitchell G. Tyson sold 15,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, July 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $19.97, for a total value of $299,550.00. Following the transaction, the director owned 56,927 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,136,832.19. This represents a 20.85% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 74,382 shares of company stock worth $1,534,335. Insiders own 3.20% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Photronics

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the business. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC raised its position in Photronics by 2.1% in the 1st quarter. SummerHaven Investment Management LLC now owns 30,540 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $634,000 after purchasing an additional 625 shares in the last quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP increased its stake in Photronics by 6.8% in the second quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 14,847 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $280,000 after purchasing an additional 945 shares during the last quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co increased its position in Photronics by 11.9% during the first quarter. Perkins Coie Trust Co now owns 9,400 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $195,000 after buying an additional 1,000 shares during the period. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS increased its position in Photronics by 7.7% during the second quarter. Commonwealth of Pennsylvania Public School Empls Retrmt SYS now owns 16,319 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $307,000 after buying an additional 1,162 shares during the period. Finally, MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. increased its position in Photronics by 3.5% during the fourth quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 35,047 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $826,000 after buying an additional 1,197 shares during the period. 88.38% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Photronics Company Profile

Photronics, Inc, together with its subsidiaries, engages in the manufacture and sale of photomask products and services in the United States, Taiwan, China, Korea, Europe, and internationally. It offers photomasks that are used in the manufacture of integrated circuits and flat panel displays (FPDs); and to transfer circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers, and FDP substrates.