Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT) Shares Gap Up - Should You Buy?

Camtek Ltd. (NASDAQ:CAMT - Get Free Report) gapped up before the market opened on Friday . The stock had previously closed at $71.89, but opened at $73.85. Camtek shares last traded at $75.82, with a volume of 50,572 shares trading hands.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have recently commented on CAMT. Northland Securities upped their price target on shares of Camtek from $99.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Needham & Company LLC reaffirmed a "buy" rating and set a $95.00 price objective on shares of Camtek in a research report on Wednesday, November 13th. Northland Capmk raised shares of Camtek from a "hold" rating to a "strong-buy" rating in a report on Monday, August 5th. B. Riley lowered their price target on shares of Camtek from $150.00 to $140.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, StockNews.com raised shares of Camtek from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Wednesday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Buy" and a consensus target price of $110.57.

Camtek Stock Up 3.6 %

The company's fifty day simple moving average is $78.66 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.67. The firm has a market capitalization of $3.38 billion, a PE ratio of 34.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.31 and a beta of 1.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 0.38, a current ratio of 5.28 and a quick ratio of 4.36.

Camtek (NASDAQ:CAMT - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Tuesday, November 12th. The semiconductor company reported $0.75 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.69 by $0.06. The firm had revenue of $112.30 million during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $108.51 million. Camtek had a return on equity of 24.21% and a net margin of 26.53%. The company's revenue was up 39.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.46 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Camtek Ltd. will post 2.53 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Camtek

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in CAMT. Blue Trust Inc. increased its holdings in Camtek by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 2,721 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $341,000 after acquiring an additional 108 shares in the last quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in Camtek by 1.5% in the 2nd quarter. Petra Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 8,290 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $1,038,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Camtek by 78.8% in the 3rd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 329 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $26,000 after buying an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its stake in Camtek by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 9,561 shares of the semiconductor company's stock worth $755,000 after buying an additional 148 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ellsworth Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Camtek by 3.4% during the second quarter. Ellsworth Advisors LLC now owns 7,393 shares of the semiconductor company's stock valued at $926,000 after acquiring an additional 245 shares during the last quarter. 41.93% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

About Camtek

Camtek Ltd., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells inspection and metrology equipment for semiconductor industry. The company provides Eagle-i, a system that delivers 2D inspection and metrology capabilities; Eagle-AP, which addresses the advanced packaging market using software and hardware technologies that deliver superior 2D and 3D inspection and metrology capabilities on the same platform; and Golden Eagle, a panel inspection and metrology system to address the challenges fanout wafer level packaging applications.