Semiconductor maker Photronics stock tanks on weak guidance

Shares of Photronics are moving lower after the company's forward guidance disappointed investors.

Video transcript

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RACHELLE AKUFFO: I will start with my pick which is Photonics. The semiconductor and flat-panel display maker, ticker PLAB. Now, despite a beat on fiscal third quarter profit and revenue, investors really honed in on the downbeat forward guidance. And you can see the stock really sinking there to 14-year lows, actually, down more than 23% right now.

Now, John Jordan, the executive vice president and CFO did note that there was softness in the higher-end customer activity, as well as ongoing pronounced [? mask ?] capacity shortage issues. Now, those are the plates with microscopic images of electronic circuits that are actually used in semiconductors.

Now, to cushion the blow before revealing that guidance, Jordan said our visibility is always limited as our backlog is typically one to three weeks and demand for some of our product is inherently uneven and difficult to predict. But he also said that the company says it's on track for the best year ever.

So we know that the semiconductor companies have been under pressure so far this year with a lot of supply chain issues and even despite the passage of the Chips Act. So Seana, not out of the woods yet.

SEANA SMITH: Yeah, and Rachelle, we got a note out from Citi earlier today talking about the semiconductor industry, how it could potentially be a challenging couple of months here ahead. So certainly a huge down day for Photonics. Like you're saying, a lot of that having to do with the guidance. They mentioned the strong dollar in their report. Also, just the drop in demand that they're expecting. So two big headwinds here.