Amkor soars to $8 on Q4 beat, margin strength
- Amkor (NASDAQ:AMKR) had a Q4 gross margin of 22.9%, up from 18.8% in Q3 and 19.9% a year ago, soundly above guidance of 17%-20%, and contributing heavily to its big Q4 EPS beat.
- Q1 guidance is for revenue of $715M-$765M and EPS of $0.04-$0.14, in-line with a consensus of $730.9M and $0.09. GM is expected to drop to 16%-19% during the seasonally weak quarter.
- With strong iPhone-related chip packaging and testing sales providing a boost, the Communications vertical accounted for 60% of Q4 sales, up from 56% in Q3 and 55% a year ago. Consumer made up 11%, Automotive 10%, Networking 10%, and Computing 9%.
- The 2015 capex budget has been set at $600M - that's equal to 19% of a current 2015 revenue consensus of $3.22B. $150M of the spending will be directed towards a new Korean factory and R&D center.
- Amkor ended Q4 with $450M in cash, and $1.5B in debt.
- Shares +13.5% AH to $8.00. Q4 results, PR
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