Why Photronics Stock Is Plummeting Today
Key Points
Photronics's sales and earnings in fiscal Q2 came in below Wall Street's estimates.
The company's guidance for the current quarter was also underwhelming.
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Photronics (NASDAQ: PLAB) stock is getting hammered in Thursday's trading. The photomasks specialist's price was down 33.2% as of 11 a.m. ET and had been off as much as 35.2% earlier in the session.
Before this morning's market open, Photronics released results for the second quarter of its 2026 fiscal year -- which ended May 3. Sales and earnings for the period came in below Wall Street's targets, and the company's forward guidance didn't do anything to assuage investor concerns.
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Photronics's fiscal Q2 results were disappointing
In fiscal Q2, Photronics posted non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share of $0.42 on revenue of $209.9 million. The performance came in significantly below the average analyst estimates, which had called for per-share earnings of $0.31 and sales of roughly $203.8 million. Wall Street had been targeting modest sales growth in the quarter, but revenue actually wound up being down 0.5% year over year in the period.
Photronics' guidance for fiscal Q3 wasn't exciting
For the current quarter, Photronics is guiding for sales between $207 million and $215 million. For comparison, the business posted sales of $210.3 million in last year's quarter. Meanwhile, adjusted earnings per share are projected to be between $0.39 and $0.45 -- suggesting a significant decline from per-share earnings of $0.51 in last year's quarter. While the company had seen valuation support in conjunction with bullish momentum for the broader semiconductor space, its recent quarterly report and guidance suggest that the business isn't seeing a substantial demand upswing despite industry tailwinds.
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Keith Noonan has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.
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