Why Kulicke & Soffa Shares Tanked

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of semiconductor equipment maker Kulicke & Soffa fell as much as 12% after the company reported its first-quarter earnings results.

So what: For the quarter, Kulicke & Soffa reported a 5% decline in revenue to $114 million and an adjusted profit of $0.07, excluding one-time items. Both figures were modestly ahead of the $107.2 million in revenue and $0.06 that Wall Street had been expecting. The wheels fell off the bus, however, when the company offered revenue guidance for the second-quarter to the tune of $90 million to $100 million, well below the $127 million the Street expected. Kulicke's management noted that this is typically their slow time of the year and visibility should improve after the Chinese New Year.

Now what: While everyone else is choosing to run away, I'd choose this moment to get excited. Kulicke & Soffa is in a cyclical industry, and with cyclical industries comes the normal ebb-and-flow of the tech cycle. Although the company's guidance may not be indicative of it, Intel's capital expenditures forecast of $13 billion this year, which was $2 billion higher than in 2012, could be the signal of higher spending that management was waiting for. Kulicke & Soffa regularly produces positive free cash flow and $494.2 million in cash ($6.45 per share) with no debt. If anything, I'd use a day like today to dig deeper into Kulicke & Soffa.

Craving more input? Start by adding Kulicke & Soffa to your free and personalized Watchlist so you can keep up on the latest news with the company.

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The article Why Kulicke & Soffa Shares Tanked originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Sean Williams has no material interest in any companies mentioned in this article. You can follow him on CAPS under the screen name TMFUltraLong, track every pick he makes under the screen name TrackUltraLong, and check him out on Twitter, where he goes by the handle @TMFUltraLong.The Motley Fool owns shares of Intel. Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of, and writing puts on, Intel. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools don't all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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