Entegris puts up big profit, revenue numbers

Entegris, due to sweeping changes to the U.S. tax code, reported a fourth-quarter loss of $28.3 million, but blew away Wall Street expectations when that one-time aberration is removed.

Company shares, which hit an all-time high late last month, jumped 3 percent in midday trading Tuesday.

The maker of equipment used in chip manufacturing recorded a loss of 20 cents per share. However, when earnings are adjusted for tax changes and extinguishing debt, per-share earnings jumped 75 percent from last year, to 42 cents.

That easily beat Wall Street projections of 37 cents, according to a survey of industry analysts by Zacks Investment Research.

All three of the company's divisions experienced growth on strong demand for advanced memory and chip production, driving revenue up 14 percent, to $350.6 million. That also topped Wall Street projections for $340.7 million.

CEO Bertrand Loy said in a company release Tuesday that rising demand for artificial intelligence technology in automobiles and industry could lead to "a multi-year period of growth."

For the year, the company had a profit of $85.1 million, or 59 cents per share. Revenue was $1.34 billion.

For the current quarter ending in April, Entegris expects per-share earnings to range from 39 to 44 cents, better than the 37 cents projected by analysts, according to a poll by FactSet.

Entegris expects first-quarter revenue of between $355 million and $365 million for the first quarter, also topping Wall Street estimates of $343 million.

Shares of Entegris Inc. have increased 2 percent since the beginning of the year, and 58 percent in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on ENTG at https://www.zacks.com/ap/ENTG