The share price of Camtek Ltd. (Nasdaq: CAMT; TASE:CAMT) rose 80.4% on the TASE yesterday, and subsequently rose 72.1% on Nasdaq to $4.56, giving a market cap of $137 million, amid market speculation that there are developments over a takeover. The share price rose a further 16.8% to NIS 18.89 in morning trading on the TASE today, and has more than doubled in three trading days.
On Sunday, Camtek's parent company Priortech Ltd. (TASE:PRTC) denied reports in the US about a possible acquisition offer for the company. "At the request of the Israel Securities Authority, the company states that it is unaware of any information that is not known to the public that could have caused the jump in the share price of the company or of its subsidiary Camtek in the past two days, and the company wishes to clarify that there are no grounds for the rumor about an offer to purchase by the company for the purchase of the subsidiary's shares."
The jump in Camtek's share price today is, however, apparently related to assessments that the share price will skyrocket because of the company's entry into the 3D printer for printed circuit boards (PCB) market.
A column published on Monday in "Seeking Alpha" predicts that Camtek's share price could soar to $23, compared with last Friday's closing price of $2.65 on Nasdaq. It states that an analyst estimates Camtek's earnings per share for 2014 at $0.25, but adds that this estimate probably does not include revenue from the 3D printer launch, because the company has not provided guidance on it. "The $0.25 EPS on the core business could be increased greatly in the future from sales of the printers and ink."
"Seeking Alpha" says, "I think it is beneficial to compare Camtek to the other 3D printer stocks as they are entering the field. Organovo Holdings Inc. (Nasdaq: ONVO) is a 3D printer company that will have no significant sales through 2014. It has a market cap of over $700 million. That kind of market cap would make Camtek a $23 stock.
"Organovo has a $707 million market cap and trades 642 times sales, Voxeljet AG (NYSE: VJET) has a $559 million market cap and trades 50 times sales, and The ExOne Company (Nasdaq: XONE) has a $770 million market cap and trades 26 times sales. In comparison Camtek has a $90 million market cap and trades just over 1 times sales.
"The P/E ratios for 3D printing stocks range from approximately 50 for Stratasys Inc. (Nasdaq: SSYS) and 3D Systems Corp. (NYSE: DDD) to over 300 for Voxeljet. Applying that range to the $0.25 EPS estimate (which may be conservative if it does not include 3D printer revenue) would make the share price for Camtek range from $12.50 to $75."
After Camtek published its financial report for the third quarter, CEO Roy Porat said, "This 3D solder mask printing technology will expand our addressable market by an additional $600-700 million… it creates a great opportunity to sell many printers, but even more exciting is the opportunity for future consumable ink revenues "
Porat cautioned that it was premature to provide guidance for 2014, he added, "We have to remember, although 3D printing is a technology that is out there already, but 3D printing for our application, which is a functional 3D printing, has not been done yet in the world. So as far as I know we're the first one."
Camtek, nicknamed over the years as the "small Orbotech Ltd. (Nasdaq: ORBK)", develops automated optical inspection (AOI) systems for PCBs and semiconductor wafers.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 26, 2013
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