Tuesday, March 16, 2021

Leading-Edge Chip Production Has Pulled FormFactor To A New Level

The combination of increasingly expensive chip production processes, more expensive advanced packaging architecture, and lower yields is a real sweet spot for wafer probe card specialist FormFactor (FORM), and the strong growth of leading-edge chip demand has continued to drive strong financial results from this “picks and shovels” supplier to chip manufacturers.

It’s a little challenging to find really good comps for FormFactor, but the roughly 70% share price appreciation since my last update is not only quite a bit better than I expected, but on par with the performance of companies like ASML (ASML) and Teradyne (TER) that are also leveraged to some of the same drivers (namely, leading-edge chip demand).

FormFactor has exceeded my expectations on multiple fronts, leveraging better-than-expected underlying demand through share gains and strong product development, as well as improved financial performance (gross margins, etc.). I do find the shares pretty fully-valued here, though, and it’s hard for me to see underlying volume outperformance emerging as such a strong near-term driver again.

 

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Leading-Edge Chip Production Has Pulled FormFactor To A New Level

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