Seeking Alpha: Ultratech Still Predictably Unpredictable, But Orders Are Improving

Ultratech (NASDAQ:UTEK) is never going to be Honeywell (NYSE:HON) or Coca-Cola (NYSE:KO), so if you're looking for a consistent, predictable company without a lot of quarter-to-quarter surprises, please look elsewhere. What Ultratech does offer, though, is leverage to what looks like an improving semiconductor order cycle, as well as leverage to specific drivers like advanced packaging for logic chips, 3D metrology, and perhaps the ongoing move to smaller FinFET nodes.

These shares have done pretty well since my last write-up, with Ultratech's roughly 20% move ahead of the SOX Index (up about 12%), though not as strong as the 25% move at Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) and Rudolph (NYSE:RTEC). Valuation remains tricky; if the company could regain the 20%-plus operating margins and 15%-plus FCF margins of prior upswings, there would still be upside, but UTEK faces a lot of competition in its key markets, and there are legitimate questions about its ability to execute.

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Ultratech Still Predictably Unpredictable, But Orders Are Improving