What Happened?
A number of stocks jumped in the afternoon session after the semiconductor sector continued to rally as a favorable July inflation report boosted investor confidence for a potential Federal Reserve interest rate cut in September. Lower-than-expected inflation data for July increased market expectations for a Federal Reserve interest rate cut next month, with futures markets pricing in a 96.2% probability. A potential rate cut lowers borrowing costs, which is particularly beneficial for growth-oriented sectors like technology and semiconductors as it can fuel investment and expansion.
The stock market overreacts to news, and big price drops can present good opportunities to buy high-quality stocks.
Among others, the following stocks were impacted:
- Analog Semiconductors company Sensata Technologies (NYSE: ST) jumped 5.6%. Is now the time to buy Sensata Technologies? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Analog Semiconductors company Vishay Intertechnology (NYSE: VSH) jumped 4.4%. Is now the time to buy Vishay Intertechnology? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Analog Semiconductors company Power Integrations (NASDAQ: POWI) jumped 4.3%. Is now the time to buy Power Integrations? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company Entegris (NASDAQ: ENTG) jumped 5%. Is now the time to buy Entegris? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
- Semiconductor Manufacturing company Amtech (NASDAQ: ASYS) jumped 6.9%. Is now the time to buy Amtech? Access our full analysis report here, it’s free.
Zooming In On Amtech (ASYS)
Amtech’s shares are very volatile and have had 23 moves greater than 5% over the last year. In that context, today’s move indicates the market considers this news meaningful but not something that would fundamentally change its perception of the business.
The previous big move we wrote about was 12 days ago when the stock dropped 3.3% on the news that the U.S. jobs report for July came in significantly weaker than expected while new widespread import tariffs were announced, sparking fears of a potential economic slowdown. The U.S. economy added only 73,000 jobs, far below estimates, and massive downward revisions to the prior two months painted a much weaker picture of the labor market. This has stoked recession fears, which would directly impact demand for chips used in countless products. Compounding these worries, the White House announced new tariffs, including a 20% levy on imports from Taiwan, a global hub for chip manufacturing. This dual shock of slowing domestic growth and renewed trade friction creates a challenging outlook for the highly cyclical and globally connected semiconductor industry, leading to a broad-based sell-off.
Amtech is down 11.8% since the beginning of the year, and at $4.94 per share, it is trading 26.7% below its 52-week high of $6.74 from August 2024. Investors who bought $1,000 worth of Amtech’s shares 5 years ago would now be looking at an investment worth $997.98.
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