Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) Sets New 52-Week High – Still a Buy?

Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) shares hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Monday . The stock traded as high as $50.83 and last traded at $50.3860, with a volume of 57561 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $49.54.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

COHU has been the subject of several research reports. Zacks Research raised Cohu from a “strong sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “sell (d-)” rating on shares of Cohu in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Stifel Nicolaus upped their target price on Cohu from $32.00 to $34.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 18th. Evercore reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $53.00 price objective on shares of Cohu in a research report on Tuesday, April 28th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $60.00 price objective on Cohu and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, one has given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Cohu presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $49.00.

Cohu Stock Up 2.5%

The company has a quick ratio of 5.31, a current ratio of 6.43 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.37. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $35.18 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $29.13. The stock has a market cap of $2.40 billion, a P/E ratio of -42.59 and a beta of 1.61.

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April 30th. The semiconductor company reported $0.01 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.03 by ($0.02). Cohu had a negative net margin of 11.54% and a negative return on equity of 3.50%. The company had revenue of $125.12 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $122.14 million. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted ($0.02) EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 29.3% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that Cohu, Inc. will post 0.17 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Cohu news, SVP Christopher Bohrson sold 1,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, April 15th. The stock was sold at an average price of $38.00, for a total value of $38,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the senior vice president owned 175,202 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,657,676. The trade was a 0.57% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. The transaction was executed under a pre-arranged Rule 10b5-1 trading plan. The sale was made to cover tax withholding obligations related to the vesting of equity awards. Insiders own 3.05% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Cohu

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in COHU. Tudor Investment Corp ET AL bought a new position in shares of Cohu during the third quarter valued at approximately $243,960,000. SG Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Cohu during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $33,174,000. Invesco Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Cohu by 478.4% during the second quarter. Invesco Ltd. now owns 1,175,282 shares of the semiconductor company’s stock valued at $22,612,000 after acquiring an additional 972,088 shares in the last quarter. Emerald Advisers LLC bought a new position in shares of Cohu during the first quarter valued at approximately $23,887,000. Finally, Emerald Mutual Fund Advisers Trust bought a new position in shares of Cohu during the first quarter valued at approximately $14,999,000. Institutional investors own 94.67% of the company’s stock.

Cohu Company Profile

Cohu, Inc is a global provider of semiconductor test and inspection solutions, offering a broad portfolio of products designed to support chip manufacturers, outsourced semiconductor assembly and test (OSAT) providers, and electronics original equipment manufacturers (OEMs). The company’s product lineup includes automatic test handlers, wafer probers, test sockets, thermal subassembly systems and burn-in boards, all engineered to optimize throughput, accuracy and reliability in semiconductor production and final test.

Founded in 1947 and headquartered in Poway, California, Cohu has grown through both organic development and targeted acquisitions to become a recognized leader in test handling and interconnect technologies.