Zacks Research Upgrades Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) to “Strong-Buy”

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) was upgraded by Zacks Research from a “hold” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research report issued to clients and investors on Wednesday,Zacks.com reports.

Several other research firms have also issued reports on ASYS. Roth Mkm reissued a “buy” rating and set a $22.00 target price on shares of Amtech Systems in a research note on Friday, May 8th. Weiss Ratings lowered Amtech Systems from a “sell (d+)” rating to a “sell (d)” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Wall Street Zen raised Amtech Systems from a “buy” rating to a “strong-buy” rating in a research note on Sunday, May 17th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, one has given a Buy rating, one has assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $22.00.

Amtech Systems Price Performance

ASYS stock opened at $20.67 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $300.96 million, a P/E ratio of 121.59 and a beta of 1.99. Amtech Systems has a 12 month low of $4.12 and a 12 month high of $25.71. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $20.04 and its 200-day simple moving average is $15.54.

Amtech Systems (NASDAQ:ASYS) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 7th. The semiconductor company reported $0.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.05 by $0.05. Amtech Systems had a net margin of 3.11% and a return on equity of 5.58%. The company had revenue of $20.47 million for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $19.50 million. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Amtech Systems will post 0.24 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. NewEdge Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Amtech Systems by 84.2% in the 1st quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 26,891 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $314,000 after buying an additional 12,291 shares in the last quarter. Bank of America Corp DE raised its holdings in shares of Amtech Systems by 28,941.0% during the first quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 22,652 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $265,000 after acquiring an additional 22,574 shares during the last quarter. Empowered Funds LLC lifted its position in shares of Amtech Systems by 9.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 32,318 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $377,000 after acquiring an additional 2,800 shares in the last quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership increased its position in shares of Amtech Systems by 5.3% during the first quarter. Arrowstreet Capital Limited Partnership now owns 365,387 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock worth $4,268,000 after purchasing an additional 18,354 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sei Investments Co. raised its position in shares of Amtech Systems by 104.5% in the first quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 92,515 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $1,081,000 after buying an additional 47,282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 50.21% of the company’s stock.

About Amtech Systems

Amtech Systems, Inc is a global supplier of capital equipment and aftermarket parts for the solar photovoltaic and semiconductor industries. The company’s solutions support key steps in wafer and cell production, offering both new machinery and spares designed to optimize yield, throughput and energy efficiency. Amtech operates through two primary segments: solar manufacturing and semiconductor & electronics packaging.

In its solar segment, Amtech provides diffusion furnaces, epitaxy reactors and plasma-enhanced chemical vapor deposition (PECVD) systems used in high-volume solar cell fabrication.