| Snowflake Score | |
|---|---|
| Valuation | 2/6 |
| Future Growth | 5/6 |
| Past Performance | 1/6 |
| Financial Health | 5/6 |
| Dividends | 0/6 |
ACMR Stock Overview
ACM Research, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells single-wafer wet cleaning equipment for enhancing the manufacturing process and yield for integrated chips worldwide.
ACM Research Competitors
Price History & Performance
| Historical stock prices | |
|---|---|
| Current Share Price | US$17.62 |
| 52 Week High | US$39.71 |
| 52 Week Low | US$11.23 |
| Beta | 0.62 |
| 1 Month Change | 6.34% |
| 3 Month Change | 27.40% |
| 1 Year Change | -37.00% |
| 3 Year Change | 259.10% |
| 5 Year Change | n/a |
| Change since IPO | 773.72% |
Recent News & Updates
ACM Research Is Still Facing Unresolved Issues
ACM Research staged a strong recovery in its latest report, putting it back on track after getting derailed in Q1 due to COVID-19 lockdowns. The stock has rallied in recent weeks after a major decline, but there is reason to believe further gains will be harder to come by. ACMR is a lot more affordable than in the past, but there are also a number of unresolved issues weighing on the company. ACMR has gotten some things done, but there is still a lot to be done to make a long position in ACMR truly worth it. ACM Research (ACMR) made huge strides in its latest earnings report, far surpassing expectations. While some might have been taken by surprise, most shouldn’t be. For starters, the base was lowered with ACMR suffering big declines in Q1. In addition, the Q1 results were primarily the result of COVID-19 lockdowns in China. So it stood to reason that ACMR would recover along with the lifting of restrictions in China. Nevertheless, the Q2 numbers were much better than expected. However, ACMR still faces a number of unresolved issues. Why will be covered next. ACMR comes roaring back If there’s one thing ACMR can agree with, it’s that COVID-19 can have a huge impact on quarterly results, especially if it involves resorting to lockdowns to combat the spread of COVID-19. Unfortunately for ACMR, China has decided to stick with lockdowns when it comes to dealing with COVID-19 outbreaks. These lockdowns resulted in ACMR falling into the red in Q1. Revenue fell by as much as 55.7% QoQ. However, the subsequent lifting of restrictions put ACMR in a position to make up for lost sales, if only in part. In fact, the top and the bottom line far surpassed consensus estimates in Q2. Q2 revenue increased by 147% QoQ and 94% YoY to $104.4M. GAAP EPS increased by 80% YoY to $0.18 and non-GAAP EPS increased by 266.7% YoY to $0.22. In comparison, consensus estimates expected revenue of $72.3M and non-GAAP EPS of just $0.03. Note that the 362.6% YoY increase in GAAP operating income is much more than the 86.3% YoY increase in net income. This is because of an unrealized gain of $3.78M due to the trading of securities in Q2 FY2021, which boosted GAAP earnings in that quarter. In contrast, there was a $0.42M unrealized loss due to the trading of securities in Q2 FY2022, skewing the quarterly comparisons. The table below shows the numbers for Q2 FY2022. (GAAP) Q2 FY2022 Q1 FY2022 Q2 FY2021 QoQ YoY Revenue $104.395M $42.186M $53.864M 147.46% 93.81% Gross margin 42.3% 46.7% 40.2% (440bps) 210bps Income (loss) from operations $20.035M ($9.306M) $4.331M - 362.60% Net income (loss) $12.236M ($5.786M) $6.567M - 86.33% EPS $0.18 ($0.09) $0.10 - 80.00%. (Non-GAAP) Revenue $104.395M $42.186M $53.864M 147.46% 93.81% Gross margin 42.4% 46.9% 40.5% (450bps) 190bps Income (loss) from operations $22.004M ($7.932M) $5.666M - 288.35% Net income (loss) $14.628M ($0.554M) $4.119M - 255.13% EPS $0.22 ($0.01) $0.06 - 266.67% Source: ACMR Form 8-K ACMR shipped 13 tools in Q2 that were originally supposed to be shipped in Q1. The rebound in Q2 offset the losses suffered in Q1, putting ACMR on track to hit the goals set at the start of FY2022. Guidance still calls for FY2022 revenue of $365-405M, an increase of 48% YoY at the midpoint. From the Q2 earnings call: “I will now provide our outlook. We have a strong order through year end. Due to a tight supply chain environment, we are keeping our outlook unchanged in the range of $365 million to $405 million. The range of our outlook consider among other factors, continued expansion of production and shipping operation in Shanghai.” A transcript of the Q2 FY2022 earnings call can be found here. Valuations are down ACMR looks to be back on track. In addition, ACMR used to trade at extremely high multiples as mentioned in an older article, but they have come down quite a bit. Multiples used to reach into the triple digits in the past. Granted, they are not as low as they used to be a few months ago after the recent rally in the stock, but they are much lower on average. For instance, the stock is valued at 1.76 times book value. In comparison, the 5-year average is 7.16x. The table below shows the multiples for ACMR. ACMR Market cap $1.16B Enterprise value $900.98M Revenue ("ttm") $308.7M EBITDA $45.5M Trailing P/E 40.54 Forward P/E 28.31 PEG ratio 8.65 Price/sales 3.71 Price/book 1.76 EV/sales 2.92 Trailing EV/EBITDA 19.79 Forward EV/EBITDA 15.94 Source: SeekingAlpha Why ACMR is still not in the clear Earnings have recovered and valuations are more reasonable than before. Some might see this as justification for going long ACMR. However, ACMR still faces a number of pitfalls. For instance, the numbers in Q2 were much better than in Q1 due to the absence of severe COVID-19 lockdowns in China, but there’s always the possibility of another bout of tough restrictions popping up. As long as China stays committed to using lockdowns to fight COVID-19, earnings are at risk of being hammered. There are other potential problems out there that have yet to be resolved. For instance, ACMR has been listed as one of the companies that could be delisted by the U.S. government for not abiding by U.S. accounting regulations. “I'm pleased with the progress with our new auditor. On May 19, we appointed PCAOB compliant auditor, Armanino as our independent public accounting firm for our first year 2022 audit. On June 30, this was ratified by our shareholders. Following our 2022 annual auditing and filing of the 10-K, we expect to be removed from this published by the SEC pursuing to the U.S. holding foreign company accountable factor.” ACMR has responded by appointing a new auditor, which it believes will result in getting removed from the list of companies that could be delisted. On the other hand, it’s worth pointing out that China and the U.S. have yet to come to an agreement on the issue. A number of Chinese companies have recently decided to leave the NYSE due to this issue. The threat of delisting remains out there for ACMR. It’s also worth mentioning that short interest spiked in the aftermath of ACMR being added to the list of companies facing delisting. Short interest rose in early March after the SEC mentioned ACMR and it now stands at 6.7M or 15.2% of the share float, roughly 6 times more than where it was before ACMR was added to the list of companies to be delisted. The stock has hit resistance The delisting news had another consequence. The stock fell off a cliff in early March, resulting in ACMR losing half of its value in a couple of days. On the other hand, while ACMR is still down 31% YTD, the stock has recouped some of its losses in recent months. The chart below shows how the stock has recovered to a certain degree. Source: finviz.com However, the rally has come to a standstill in recent days. The stock seems to have hit resistance. Note how the stock has problems breaking through the upper trendline in the chart above. The resistance imposed by this trendline has been in place for all of 2022. It's not impossible for the stock to move higher, but if the trend holds, the stock is likely to move lower. Note that the stock is back to where it used to be in the summer of 2020. In other words, anyone who invested in ACMR back in the summer of 2020 has nothing to show for the last two years. It’s true the stock rallied at certain points, but, whatever gains were made, were lost as quickly as they were won. Investor takeaways ACMR has recovered lost ground with its latest quarterly results. ACMR suffered a significant setback in Q1 with sales falling to just $42M, putting it in danger of missing out on its FY2022 target of $365-405M in annual revenue. However, ACMR managed to surpass expectations with a quick rebound. Sales grew 147% sequentially to $104.4M. ACMR got derailed in Q1 by COVID-19 lockdowns, but it’s now back on track when it comes to hitting its targets set at the start of FY2022.
ACM Research Q2 2022 Earnings Preview
ACM Research (NASDAQ:ACMR) is scheduled to announce Q2 earnings results on Friday, August 5th, before market open. The consensus EPS Estimate is $0.03 (-84.2% Y/Y) and the consensus Revenue Estimate is $72.28M (+34.3% Y/Y). Over the last 2 years, ACMR has beaten EPS estimates 88% of the time and has beaten revenue estimates 75% of the time. Over the last 3 months, EPS estimates have seen 1 upward revision and 4 downward. Revenue estimates have seen 0 upward revisions and 7 downward.
Shareholder Returns
| ACMR | US Semiconductor | US Market | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7D | -8.0% | 2.4% | 1.4% |
| 1Y | -37.0% | -3.2% | -8.4% |
Return vs Industry: ACMR underperformed the US Semiconductor industry which returned -4.2% over the past year.
Return vs Market: ACMR underperformed the US Market which returned -9% over the past year.
Price Volatility
| ACMR volatility | |
|---|---|
| ACMR Average Weekly Movement | 9.4% |
| Semiconductor Industry Average Movement | 8.6% |
| Market Average Movement | 7.6% |
| 10% most volatile stocks in US Market | 17.1% |
| 10% least volatile stocks in US Market | 3.1% |
Stable Share Price: ACMR is not significantly more volatile than the rest of US stocks over the past 3 months, typically moving +/- 9% a week.
Volatility Over Time: ACMR's weekly volatility (9%) has been stable over the past year.
About the Company
| Founded | Employees | CEO | Website |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1998 | 877 | David Wang | https://www.acmrcsh.com |
ACM Research, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells single-wafer wet cleaning equipment for enhancing the manufacturing process and yield for integrated chips worldwide. It offers space alternated phase shift technology for flat and patterned wafer surfaces, which employs alternating phases of megasonic waves to deliver megasonic energy in a uniform manner on a microscopic level; timely energized bubble oscillation technology for patterned wafer surfaces at advanced process nodes, which provides cleaning for 2D and 3D patterned wafers; Tahoe technology for delivering cleaning performance using less sulfuric acid and hydrogen peroxide; and electro-chemical plating technology for advanced metal plating. The company markets and sells its products under the Ultra C brand name through direct sales force and third-party representatives.
ACM Research Fundamentals Summary
| ACMR fundamental statistics | |
|---|---|
| Market Cap | US$1.04b |
| Earnings (TTM) | US$32.17m |
| Revenue (TTM) | US$308.74m |
32.5x
P/E Ratio3.4x
P/S RatioIs ACMR overvalued?
See Fair Value and valuation analysisEarnings & Revenue
| ACMR income statement (TTM) | |
|---|---|
| Revenue | US$308.74m |
| Cost of Revenue | US$169.76m |
| Gross Profit | US$138.97m |
| Other Expenses | US$106.80m |
| Earnings | US$32.17m |
Last Reported Earnings
Jun 30, 2022
Next Earnings Date
n/a
| Earnings per share (EPS) | 0.54 |
| Gross Margin | 45.01% |
| Net Profit Margin | 10.42% |
| Debt/Equity Ratio | 3.5% |
How did ACMR perform over the long term?
See historical performance and comparisonValuation
Is ACMR undervalued compared to its fair value, analyst forecasts and its price relative to the market?
Valuation Score
2/6Valuation Score 2/6
Price-To-Earnings vs Peers
Price-To-Earnings vs Industry
Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio
Below Fair Value
Significantly Below Fair Value
Analyst Forecast
Key Valuation Metric
Which metric is best to use when looking at relative valuation for ACMR?
Other financial metrics that can be useful for relative valuation.
| What is ACMR's n/a Ratio? | |
|---|---|
| n/a Ratio | 0x |
| n/a | n/a |
| Market Cap | US$1.04b |
| Key Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Enterprise Value/Revenue | 2.6x |
| Enterprise Value/EBITDA | 17.4x |
| PEG Ratio | 1.3x |
Price to Earnings Ratio vs Peers
How does ACMR's PE Ratio compare to its peers?
| ACMR PE Ratio vs Peers |
|---|
| Company | PE | Estimated Growth | Market Cap |
|---|---|---|---|
| Peer Average | 21.1x | ||
CAMT Camtek | 19.6x | 8.0% | US$1.4b |
ICHR Ichor Holdings | 16.5x | 18.6% | US$1.0b |
UCTT Ultra Clean Holdings | 18.9x | 53.2% | US$1.5b |
VECO Veeco Instruments | 29.4x | 18.8% | US$1.2b |
ACMR ACM Research | 32.5x | 24.9% | US$1.0b |
Price-To-Earnings vs Peers: ACMR is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (32.5x) compared to the peer average (21.1x).
Price to Earnings Ratio vs Industry
How does ACMR's PE Ratio compare vs other companies in the US Semiconductor Industry?
Price-To-Earnings vs Industry: ACMR is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (32.5x) compared to the US Semiconductor industry average (19.3x)
Price to Earnings Ratio vs Fair Ratio
What is ACMR's PE Ratio compared to its Fair PE Ratio? This is the expected PE Ratio taking into account the company's forecast earnings growth, profit margins and other risk factors.
| Fair Ratio | |
|---|---|
| Current PE Ratio | 32.5x |
| Fair PE Ratio | 26.6x |
Price-To-Earnings vs Fair Ratio: ACMR is expensive based on its Price-To-Earnings Ratio (32.5x) compared to the estimated Fair Price-To-Earnings Ratio (26.6x).
Share Price vs Fair Value
What is the Fair Price of ACMR when looking at its future cash flows? For this estimate we use a Discounted Cash Flow model.
Below Fair Value: ACMR ($17.62) is trading below our estimate of fair value ($33.75)
Significantly Below Fair Value: ACMR is trading below fair value by more than 20%.
Analyst Price Targets
What is the analyst 12-month forecast and do we have any statistical confidence in the consensus price target?
Analyst Forecast: Target price is more than 20% higher than the current share price, but analysts are not within a statistically confident range of agreement.
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Future Growth
How is ACM Research forecast to perform in the next 1 to 3 years based on estimates from 10 analysts?
Future Growth Score
5/6Future Growth Score 5/6
Earnings vs Savings Rate
Earnings vs Market
High Growth Earnings
Revenue vs Market
High Growth Revenue
Future ROE
24.9%
Forecasted annual earnings growth
Earnings and Revenue Growth Forecasts
Analyst Future Growth Forecasts
Earnings vs Savings Rate: ACMR's forecast earnings growth (24.9% per year) is above the savings rate (1.9%).
Earnings vs Market: ACMR's earnings (24.9% per year) are forecast to grow faster than the US market (14.4% per year).
High Growth Earnings: ACMR's earnings are expected to grow significantly over the next 3 years.
Revenue vs Market: ACMR's revenue (23.3% per year) is forecast to grow faster than the US market (7.8% per year).
High Growth Revenue: ACMR's revenue (23.3% per year) is forecast to grow faster than 20% per year.
Earnings per Share Growth Forecasts
Future Return on Equity
Future ROE: ACMR's Return on Equity is forecast to be low in 3 years time (12.3%).
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Past Performance
How has ACM Research performed over the past 5 years?
Past Performance Score
1/6Past Performance Score 1/6
Quality Earnings
Growing Profit Margin
Earnings Trend
Accelerating Growth
Earnings vs Industry
High ROE
47.4%
Historical annual earnings growth
Earnings and Revenue History
Quality Earnings: ACMR has a high level of non-cash earnings.
Growing Profit Margin: ACMR's current net profit margins (10.4%) are lower than last year (15.3%).
Past Earnings Growth Analysis
Earnings Trend: ACMR has become profitable over the past 5 years, growing earnings by 47.4% per year.
Accelerating Growth: ACMR's earnings growth over the past year (10.2%) is below its 5-year average (47.4% per year).
Earnings vs Industry: ACMR earnings growth over the past year (10.2%) underperformed the Semiconductor industry 56.1%.
Return on Equity
High ROE: ACMR's Return on Equity (5%) is considered low.
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Financial Health
How is ACM Research's financial position?
Financial Health Score
5/6Financial Health Score 5/6
Short Term Liabilities
Long Term Liabilities
Debt Level
Reducing Debt
Debt Coverage
Interest Coverage
Financial Position Analysis
Short Term Liabilities: ACMR's short term assets ($900.6M) exceed its short term liabilities ($252.7M).
Long Term Liabilities: ACMR's short term assets ($900.6M) exceed its long term liabilities ($31.6M).
Debt to Equity History and Analysis
Debt Level: ACMR has more cash than its total debt.
Reducing Debt: ACMR's debt to equity ratio has reduced from 23.4% to 3.5% over the past 5 years.
Debt Coverage: ACMR's operating cash flow is negative, therefore debt is not well covered.
Interest Coverage: ACMR earns more interest than it pays, so coverage of interest payments is not a concern.
Balance Sheet
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Dividend
What is ACM Research current dividend yield, its reliability and sustainability?
Dividend Score
0/6Dividend Score 0/6
Notable Dividend
High Dividend
Stable Dividend
Growing Dividend
Earnings Coverage
Cash Flow Coverage
0.21%
Forecast Dividend Yield
Dividend Yield vs Market
Notable Dividend: Unable to evaluate ACMR's dividend yield against the bottom 25% of dividend payers, as the company has not reported any recent payouts.
High Dividend: Unable to evaluate ACMR's dividend yield against the top 25% of dividend payers, as the company has not reported any recent payouts.
Stability and Growth of Payments
Stable Dividend: Insufficient data to determine if ACMR's dividends per share have been stable in the past.
Growing Dividend: Insufficient data to determine if ACMR's dividend payments have been increasing.
Earnings Payout to Shareholders
Earnings Coverage: Insufficient data to calculate payout ratio to determine if its dividend payments are covered by earnings.
Cash Payout to Shareholders
Cash Flow Coverage: Unable to calculate sustainability of dividends as ACMR has not reported any payouts.
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Management
How experienced are the management team and are they aligned to shareholders interests?
11.6yrs
Average management tenure
CEO
David Wang (61 yo)
24.58yrs
Tenure
US$398,876
Compensation
Dr. Hui Wang, also known as David, Ph D., serves as Chairman of ACM Research (Shanghai), Inc. Dr. Wang has been Chief Executive Officer, President and Director at ACM Research, Inc. since January 1998 and...
CEO Compensation Analysis
Compensation vs Market: David's total compensation ($USD398.88K) is below average for companies of similar size in the US market ($USD3.83M).
Compensation vs Earnings: David's compensation has been consistent with company performance over the past year.
Leadership Team
Experienced Management: ACMR's management team is seasoned and experienced (11.6 years average tenure).
Board Members
Experienced Board: ACMR's board of directors are considered experienced (5.8 years average tenure).
Ownership
Who are the major shareholders and have insiders been buying or selling?
Insider Trading Volume
Insider Buying: Insufficient data to determine if insiders have bought more shares than they have sold in the past 3 months.
Ownership Breakdown
Dilution of Shares: Shareholders have not been meaningfully diluted in the past year.
Top Shareholders
Company Information
ACM Research, Inc.'s employee growth, exchange listings and data sources
Key Information
- Name: ACM Research, Inc.
- Ticker: ACMR
- Exchange: NasdaqGM
- Founded: 1998
- Industry: Semiconductor Equipment
- Sector: Semiconductors
- Implied Market Cap: US$1.044b
- Shares outstanding: 59.27m
- Website: https://www.acmrcsh.com
Number of Employees
Location
- ACM Research, Inc.
- 42307 Osgood Road
- Suite I
- Fremont
- California
- 94539
- United States
Listings
Company Analysis and Financial Data Status
| Data | Last Updated (UTC time) |
|---|---|
| Company Analysis | 2022/08/18 00:00 |
| End of Day Share Price | 2022/08/18 00:00 |
| Earnings | 2022/06/30 |
| Annual Earnings | 2021/12/31 |
Unless specified all financial data is based on a yearly period but updated quarterly. This is known as Trailing Twelve Month (TTM) or Last Twelve Month (LTM) Data. Learn more here.