Zacks Research Upgrades Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) to Strong-Buy

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) was upgraded by analysts at Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note issued on Thursday,Zacks.com reports.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. TD Cowen raised their price objective on Ultra Clean from $35.00 to $70.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Oppenheimer increased their price target on Ultra Clean from $35.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday. Needham & Company LLC lifted their price objective on Ultra Clean from $50.00 to $70.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday. Craig Hallum reiterated a “buy” rating and issued a $100.00 price objective on shares of Ultra Clean in a research report on Tuesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings restated a “sell (d)” rating on shares of Ultra Clean in a report on Monday, December 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $81.25.

Ultra Clean Stock Performance

Shares of UCTT stock opened at $60.68 on Thursday. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $43.40 and a 200-day moving average of $32.06. Ultra Clean has a one year low of $16.66 and a one year high of $73.80. The stock has a market cap of $2.76 billion, a PE ratio of -15.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.08 and a beta of 2.02. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.60, a current ratio of 3.19 and a quick ratio of 1.91.

Ultra Clean (NASDAQ:UCTT) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Monday, February 23rd. The semiconductor company reported $0.22 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.23 by ($0.01). Ultra Clean had a negative net margin of 8.82% and a positive return on equity of 3.88%. The firm had revenue of $506.70 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $503.34 million. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.51 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Ultra Clean has set its Q1 2026 guidance at 0.180-0.340 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Ultra Clean will post 1.09 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Ultra Clean

In other Ultra Clean news, Director David T. Ibnale sold 23,500 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, December 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $26.63, for a total value of $625,805.00. Following the sale, the director owned 45,241 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,204,767.83. The trade was a 34.19% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 1.90% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Ultra Clean

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Ultra Clean by 6.2% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 4,990,724 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $126,415,000 after purchasing an additional 293,048 shares during the last quarter. Invesco Ltd. increased its stake in Ultra Clean by 63.1% in the 4th quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 3,399,834 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $86,118,000 after buying an additional 1,315,407 shares during the last quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC lifted its position in Ultra Clean by 41.5% during the 2nd quarter. Frontier Capital Management Co. LLC now owns 2,754,163 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $62,161,000 after buying an additional 808,277 shares in the last quarter. State Street Corp boosted its stake in shares of Ultra Clean by 5.0% during the 4th quarter. State Street Corp now owns 1,852,482 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $46,923,000 after buying an additional 87,931 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Ultra Clean by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 1,122,908 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $25,347,000 after acquiring an additional 44,041 shares in the last quarter. 96.06% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Ultra Clean Company Profile

Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc is a global supplier of critical consumables and process tools for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. The company specializes in precision parts cleaning, chemical–mechanical planarization (CMP) slurries, surface conditioning pads, and specialty components used in wafer fabrication and advanced packaging. Ultra Clean also provides assembly and test hardware, tooling, and automated modules designed to support complex front-end and back-end processes in semiconductor fabs.

Ultra Clean’s product portfolio encompasses a range of cleaning systems and consumables aimed at particle and film removal, as well as CMP slurries and pads that are engineered for uniform material removal and planarization.