Camtek (CAMT) closed the most recent trading day at $70.33, moving -4.23% from the previous trading session. The stock trailed the S&P 500, which registered a daily loss of 1.13%. At the same time, the Dow lost 1.79%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq lost 1.3%.
Prior to today's trading, shares of the maker of automatic optical inspection and process enhancement systems had gained 10.42% outpaced the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 7.36% and the S&P 500's gain of 3.55%.
The investment community will be paying close attention to the earnings performance of Camtek in its upcoming release. It is anticipated that the company will report an EPS of $0.79, marking a 19.7% rise compared to the same quarter of the previous year. Simultaneously, our latest consensus estimate expects the revenue to be $121.65 million, showing a 18.58% escalation compared to the year-ago quarter.
For the entire fiscal year, the Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $3.2 per share and a revenue of $488.2 million, representing changes of +13.07% and +13.74%, respectively, from the prior year.
Investors should also note any recent changes to analyst estimates for Camtek. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. As a result, upbeat changes in estimates indicate analysts' favorable outlook on the business health and profitability.
Empirical research indicates that these revisions in estimates have a direct correlation with impending stock price performance. To exploit this, we've formed the Zacks Rank, a quantitative model that includes these estimate changes and presents a viable rating system.
The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection has moved 0.21% lower. Camtek currently has a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).
In terms of valuation, Camtek is presently being traded at a Forward P/E ratio of 22.96. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 27.46, so one might conclude that Camtek is trading at a discount comparatively.
Also, we should mention that CAMT has a PEG ratio of 1.82. This popular metric is similar to the widely-known P/E ratio, with the difference being that the PEG ratio also takes into account the company's expected earnings growth rate. The average PEG ratio for the Electronics - Measuring Instruments industry stood at 1.87 at the close of the market yesterday.
The Electronics - Measuring Instruments industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. At present, this industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of 199, placing it within the bottom 20% of over 250 industries.
The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.
Keep in mind to rely on Zacks.com to watch all these stock-impacting metrics, and more, in the succeeding trading sessions.
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Camtek Ltd. (CAMT): Free Stock Analysis ReportThis article originally published on Zacks Investment Research (zacks.com).
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