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Strength Seen in Axcelis (ACLS): Can Its 6.9% Jump Turn into More Strength?

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Axcelis Technologies (ACLS - Free Report) shares soared 6.9% in the last trading session to close at $80.53. The move was backed by solid volume with far more shares changing hands than in a normal session. This compares to the stock's 9.6% gain over the past four weeks.

The rally came after the company announced that it has shipped multiple Purion VXE high energy systems to multiple leading CMOS image sensor manufacturers in Asia. The Purion VXE is an extended energy range solution for the industry-leading Purion XE high energy implanter. Axcelis maintains a leading position in the image sensor market.

This semiconductor services company is expected to post quarterly earnings of $0.92 per share in its upcoming report, which represents a year-over-year change of +91.7%. Revenues are expected to be $193.2 million, up 45.5% from the year-ago quarter.

While earnings and revenue growth expectations are important in evaluating the potential strength in a stock, empirical research shows a strong correlation between trends in earnings estimate revisions and near-term stock price movements.

For Axcelis, the consensus EPS estimate for the quarter has remained unchanged over the last 30 days. And a stock's price usually doesn't keep moving higher in the absence of any trend in earnings estimate revisions. So, make sure to keep an eye on ACLS going forward to see if this recent jump can turn into more strength down the road.

The stock currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) stocks here >>>>

Axcelis belongs to the Zacks Electronics - Manufacturing Machinery industry. Another stock from the same industry, MKS Instruments (MKSI - Free Report) , closed the last trading session 1.5% higher at $155.25. Over the past month, MKSI has returned 0.5%.

MKS Instruments' consensus EPS estimate for the upcoming report has remained unchanged over the past month at $2.59. Compared to the company's year-ago EPS, this represents a change of +1.2%. MKS Instruments currently boasts a Zacks Rank of #4 (Sell).


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