Some info may be worth to note:
1) 1998, AMAT contributed roughly 40% to ASTX's revenue. So, aboout $5 million of last quarter revenue came from AMAT. Worst to the worst, if this $142 supply contract is a complete replacement to the old one, then AMAT would averagely award ASTX quarter revenue around $10 million. So, there is $5 million bump in quarter revenue just from AMAT. That is significant in comparison with last quarter's revenue of $20.9 million.
2) 1997 gross profit of 36%. 1998 dropped to 34% primarily because of 4th quarter downturn. The latest quarter gross profit improved back to 34% from the preceeding quarter of 27% primarily due to manufacturing facility consolidation and volume improvement. I would assume this gross profit in uptrend and eventually come back to 36%.
3) In most of 1998's quarters, ASTX's quarter earning was in 14-18 cents range. The latest quarter took an unusual high tax rate, almost 50%, which I don't know the reason of it. Otherwise, the earning could be in teens. 1.6 book-to-bill ratio seems to be able to bring the quarter sales to new historical high. Consequently, the stock price deserves a new high. |
