What Happened?
A number of stocks fell in the morning session after the U.S. jobs report for July came in significantly weaker than expected while new widespread import tariffs were announced, sparking fears of a potential economic slowdown. The U.S. economy added only 73,000 jobs, far below estimates, and massive downward revisions to the prior two months painted a much weaker picture of the labor market. This has stoked recession fears, which would directly impact demand for chips used in countless products. Compounding these worries, the White House announced new tariffs, including a 20% levy on imports from Taiwan, a global hub for chip manufacturing. This dual shock of slowing domestic growth and renewed trade friction creates a challenging outlook for the highly cyclical and globally connected semiconductor industry, leading to a broad-based sell-off.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Analog Semiconductors company Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE: VSH) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Vishay Intertechnology? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company Amtech (NASDAQ: ASYS) fell 3.3%. Is now the time to buy Amtech? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Analog Semiconductors company Impinj (NASDAQ: PI) fell 3.2%. Is now the time to buy Impinj? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company Nova (NASDAQ: NVMI) fell 3.1%. Is now the time to buy Nova? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company FormFactor (NASDAQ: FORM) fell 3%. Is now the time to buy FormFactor? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Amtech (ASYS)
Amtech’s shares are very volatile and have had 24 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 4 days ago when the stock gained 3.2% as the stock continued its recent downward slide amid technical weakness and lingering concerns from a previous earnings report. The stock's decline extended a negative trend from the previous week, which included a technical sell signal being issued on July 23rd. The weak sentiment appeared to be rooted in the company's second-quarter fiscal 2025 results. In that report, Amtech announced that both its revenue and adjusted EBITDA fell below guidance. The company attributed the miss to a delayed shipment and an extended downturn in the capital equipment market for its mature node semiconductor clients, which resulted in non-cash impairments and inventory write-downs.
Amtech is down 15.7% since the beginning of the year, and at $4.72 per share, it is trading 30% below its 52-week high of $6.74 from August 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Amtech’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $914.73.
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