After seeing Semitool on a Forbes list as among the "10 best run
small companies in America" last summer I bought a few shares and
following since. This co, based in Kalispell, Montana, seems to be
a tight little ship with strong demand even now for automated wafer
processing systems and new products like VTP1500 vertical furnace.
Sales in Q ending Sept 30 were $51.5 million compared to $40.4 million same Q last yr. (net income 0.24/share compared to 0.36).
'97 consensus estimate on www.stocksmart.com is 11 pct lower than
for this yr. PE is around 8.3. Not bad compared to forecasts e.g. for LRCX. Why has this stock, which only went public last year,
kept drifting down to below $9 recently with little volume? With
only some 13 million shares outstanding maybe this is a good sleeper
with big upside when institutions or individuals take notice.
Buyers recorded in last yr or so included Fidelity Emerging
Growth and Vanguard Small Cap, Seller of note was Seligman
Henderson last summer.
Any thoughts out there on Semitool?
Dipak Roy |
