Kulicke & Soffa soars on strong FQ3 guidance
- Though its FQ2 results were ho-hum, Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC +9.8%) is guiding for FQ3 revenue of $165M-$175M, well above a $154.4M consensus.
- Mainstay ball bonder equipment sales rose 80.9% Q/Q, and copper-capable hardware accounted for 69.7% of them. Wedge bonder equipment sales fell 32.7% Q/Q. Gross margin rose 200 bps Q/Q and 450 bps Y/Y to 50.5%.
- The chip equipment maker's shares are making new 52-week highs. They jumped last week after activist investor Lemelson Capital disclosed a position and called for a major buyback.
- Kulicke ended FQ2 with $596.3M in cash/investments (equal to 55% of its current market cap), and no debt.
- FQ2 results, PR