In the latest trading session, Axcelis Technologies (ACLS) closed at $133.44, marking a +0.95% move from the previous day. This change outpaced the S&P 500's 0.57% gain on the day. At the same time, the Dow added 0.43%, and the tech-heavy Nasdaq gained 0.33%.

Prior to today's trading, shares of the semiconductor services company had lost 0.04% over the past month. This has lagged the Computer and Technology sector's gain of 7.94% and the S&P 500's gain of 1.72% in that time.

Axcelis Technologies will be looking to display strength as it nears its next earnings release. On that day, Axcelis Technologies is projected to report earnings of $1.16 per share, which would represent a year-over-year decline of 4.92%. Meanwhile, the Zacks Consensus Estimate for revenue is projecting net sales of $240 million, up 17.88% from the year-ago period.

For the full year, our Zacks Consensus Estimates are projecting earnings of $5.55 per share and revenue of $982.4 million, which would represent changes of +1.65% and +6.78%, respectively, from the prior year.

It is also important to note the recent changes to analyst estimates for Axcelis Technologies. These revisions help to show the ever-changing nature of near-term business trends. With this in mind, we can consider positive estimate revisions a sign of optimism about the company's business outlook.

Research indicates that these estimate revisions are directly correlated with near-term share price momentum. Investors can capitalize on this by using the Zacks Rank. This model considers these estimate changes and provides a simple, actionable rating system.

The Zacks Rank system, which ranges from #1 (Strong Buy) to #5 (Strong Sell), has an impressive outside-audited track record of outperformance, with #1 stocks generating an average annual return of +25% since 1988. Within the past 30 days, our consensus EPS projection remained stagnant. Axcelis Technologies is currently sporting a Zacks Rank of #3 (Hold).

Digging into valuation, Axcelis Technologies currently has a Forward P/E ratio of 23.82. Its industry sports an average Forward P/E of 23.82, so we one might conclude that Axcelis Technologies is trading at a no noticeable deviation comparatively.

The Electronics - Manufacturing Machinery industry is part of the Computer and Technology sector. This group has a Zacks Industry Rank of 228, putting it in the bottom 10% of all 250+ industries.

The Zacks Industry Rank gauges the strength of our industry groups by measuring the average Zacks Rank of the individual stocks within the groups. Our research shows that the top 50% rated industries outperform the bottom half by a factor of 2 to 1.

Be sure to follow all of these stock-moving metrics, and many more, on Zacks.com.

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