As the Q4 earnings season comes to a close, it’s time to take stock of this quarter's best and worst performers in the semiconductor manufacturing industry, including Entegris (NASDAQ:ENTG) and its peers.

The semiconductor industry is driven by demand for advanced electronic products like smartphones, PCs, servers, and data storage. The need for technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G networks, and smart cars is also creating the next wave of growth for the industry. Keeping up with this dynamism requires new tools that can design, fabricate, and test chips at ever smaller sizes and more complex architectures, creating a dire need for semiconductor capital manufacturing equipment.

The 14 semiconductor manufacturing stocks we track reported a mixed Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.4%. while next quarter's revenue guidance was 5.6% below consensus. Stocks, especially growth stocks where cash flows further in the future are more important to the story, had a good end of 2023. The beginning of 2024 saw mixed inflation data, however, leading to more volatile stock performance, but semiconductor manufacturing stocks have shown resilience, with share prices up 5.5% on average since the previous earnings results.

Entegris (NASDAQ:ENTG)

With fabs representing the company’s largest customer type, Entegris (NASDAQ:ENTG) supplies products that purify, protect, and generally ensure the integrity of raw materials needed for advanced semiconductor manufacturing.

Entegris reported revenues of $812.3 million, down 14.1% year on year, topping analyst expectations by 4%. It was a slower quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a decline in its gross margin.

Bertrand Loy, Entegris’ president and chief executive officer, said: “Our unit driven model has displayed strong resilience during the current industry downturn. We closed 2023 with fourth quarter sales and non-GAAP EPS results above our guidance. For the year, we outperformed the market by 6 points, driven in large part by our strong position at the leading-edge technology nodes. In addition, we divested three non-core businesses and used the proceeds and free cash flow to pay off $1.3 billion of debt. We also continued to make significant R&D and capacity investments, which are vital for our long-term growth.”

The stock is up 6% since the results and currently trades at $131.65.

Read our full report on Entegris here, it's free.

Best Q4: Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI)

Headquartered in Israel, Nova (NASDAQ: NVMI) is a provider of quality control systems used in semiconductor manufacturing.

Nova reported revenues of $134.2 million, down 11.3% year on year, outperforming analyst expectations by 4.8%. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with an impressive beat of analysts' EPS estimates and a significant improvement in its inventory levels.

The stock is up 11.1% since the results and currently trades at $174.99.

Is now the time to buy Nova? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Weakest Q4: Kulicke and Soffa (NASDAQ:KLIC)

Headquartered in Singapore, Kulicke & Soffa (NASDAQ: KLIC) is a provider of production equipment and tools used to assemble semiconductor devices

Kulicke and Soffa reported revenues of $171.2 million, down 2.9% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 0.5%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a decline in its operating margin.

The stock is down 6.5% since the results and currently trades at $47.01.

Read our full analysis of Kulicke and Soffa's results here.

Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER)

Sporting most major chip manufacturers as its customers, Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) is a US-based supplier of automated test equipment for semiconductors as well as other technologies and devices.

Teradyne reported revenues of $670.6 million, down 8.4% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 0.9%. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a miss of analysts' revenue estimates.

The stock is up 1.7% since the results and currently trades at $106.32.

Read our full, actionable report on Teradyne here, it's free.

Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC)

Operating for more than 60 years, Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) is a provider of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors used for Internet of Things systems and cloud connectivity.

Semtech reported revenues of $192.9 million, up 15.2% year on year, surpassing analyst expectations by 1.2%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with a decline in its operating margin and a miss of analysts' EPS estimates.

The stock is up 20.5% since the results and currently trades at $33.15.

Read our full, actionable report on Semtech here, it's free.

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