Axcelis Technologies
ACLS on Nasdaq. Axcelis sells ion implantation equipment and services to semiconductor chip manufacturers. Market value $4.4bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to June 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to December 2025.
We can't read total debt from the filing, so debt is left out.
Should I look at this?
Good business, but not cheap right now
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
See cheaper Industrials stocks on the list
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $1.50 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
The filings do not give us enough to work this out.
Quality score: 80 of 100. Price score: 36 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$141.15 a share, 92% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $73.60 to $193.78.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Tuesday’s close (6 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
Spare cash swings from quarter to quarter here: $66 million in the past 12 months, $107 million in the year to December 2025.
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $662m | $920m | $1.1bn | $1.0bn | $839m |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 19.2% | 23.1% | 23.5% | 20.7% | 14.2% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn | 0.03bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Not enough data
- Financial strength (Piotroski)5 of 8 checks we could run
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- DebtUnknown
- Revenue growth, five yearsStrong, 12.1% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 6% fewer since 2021
The quarter to June 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $215 million last quarter, up 11% on a year ago.
- Profit: $23 million, down 26% on a year ago.
- It keeps 10 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 18 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $66 million, down from $123 million.
- 2% fewer shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit more of the company.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 2 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $257m |
| December 2024 | $252m |
| March 2025 | $193m |
| June 2025 | $195m |
| September 2025 | $214m |
| December 2025 | $238m |
| March 2026 | $199m |
| June 2026 | $215m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| September 2024 | $49m |
| December 2024 | $50m |
| March 2025 | $29m |
| June 2025 | $31m |
| September 2025 | $26m |
| December 2025 | $34m |
| March 2026 | $9m |
| June 2026 | $23m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 26 February 2026
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 5 November 2026
Who owns it
7 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 7 last quarter. 441 funds in all.
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| Barrow HanleyBarrow Hanley team | $74m | 0.2% | Added |
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $56m | <0.1% | Cut |
| First Eagle Investment ManagementMatthew McLennan | $27m | <0.1% | Added |
| GMOJeremy Grantham | $26m | <0.1% | Cut |
| Royce & AssociatesChuck Royce | $12m | 0.1% | Cut |
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $5m | <0.1% | Cut |
| Gotham Asset ManagementJoel Greenblatt | $2m | <0.1% | Cut |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$953m
- FMR$782mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$470m
- Vanguard Capital Management$263m
- State Street$233mAdded
- Victory Capital Management$215mCut
- Reinhart Partners, Llc.$176mCut
- Geode Capital Management$158mAdded
- BNP PARIBAS ASSET MANAGEMENT Holding$152mCut
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$134mCut
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
5 investors own more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor15.3%Since 31 March 2025
- FMR LLCPassive investorat least 13.4%+2.1 pts(filed with 1 related holder)Since 30 June 2026
- Vanguard Portfolio ManagementPassive investor8.1%Since 31 March 2026
- Vanguard Capital ManagementPassive investor5.3%Since 31 March 2026
- American Century Investment Management, Inc.Passive investorat least 4.3%−0.9 pts(filed with 2 related holders)Since 30 September 2025
- REINHART PARTNERS, LLC.Passive investorSold down below 5%Since 30 June 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 15.3% | 31 March 2025 | |
FMR LLC Passive investor | at least 13.4%+2.1 pts (filed with 1 related holder) | 30 June 2026 | |
Vanguard Portfolio Management Passive investor | 8.1% | 31 March 2026 | |
Vanguard Capital Management Passive investor | 5.3% | 31 March 2026 | |
American Century Investment Management, Inc. Passive investor | at least 4.3%−0.9 pts (filed with 2 related holders) | 30 September 2025 | |
REINHART PARTNERS, LLC. Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 30 June 2026 | |
The Vanguard Group Passive investor | Sold down below 5% | 13 March 2026 |
From Schedule 13D and 13G filings: anyone owning more than 5% must file one.
What insiders did
No insider bought shares on the open market in the last 12 months. 13 sold $6m, $2m of it under preset trading plans.
- Sayiner NecipDirectorSold
- Date
- 3 June 2026
- Shares
- 1,586
- Price
- $157.44
- Value
- $249,700
- Mahoney Robert JohnEVP Global OperationsSold
- Date
- 2 June 2026
- Shares
- 1,155
- Price
- $155.24
- Value
- $179,302
- Sutton ToddVP Corporate ControllerSold
- Date
- 27 May 2026
- Shares
- 2,000
- Price
- $159.99
- Value
- $319,980
- St Dennis ThomasDirectorSold
- Date
- 22 May 2026
- Shares
- 900
- Price
- $155.37
- Value
- $139,833
- Evans EileenEVP, General Counsel and Sec'ySold
- Date
- 22 May 2026
- Shares
- 926
- Price
- $155.51
- Value
- $144,002
- Blumenstock Gerald MEVP, Research, Dev. & Eng.Sold
- Date
- 21 May 2026
- Shares
- 1,161
- Price
- $152.70
- Value
- $177,285
- Tatnall ChristopherEVP Global Customer OperationsSold
- Date
- 20 May 2026
- Shares
- 1,166
- Price
- $149.75
- Value
- $174,609
- Quirk JeanneDirectorSold
- Date
- 19 May 2026
- Shares
- 1,789
- Price
- $140.22
- Value
- $250,854
- GRAVES GREGORY BDirectorSold
- Date
- 19 May 2026
- Shares
- 3,225
- Price
- $141.61
- Value
- $456,707
- KURTZWEIL JOHN TDirectorSold
- Date
- 19 May 2026
- Shares
- 3,500
- Price
- $138.79
- Value
- $485,765
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 June 2026 | Sayiner Necip Director | Sold | 1,586 | $157.44 | $249,700 |
| 2 June 2026 | Mahoney Robert John EVP Global Operations | Sold | 1,155 | $155.24 | $179,302 |
| 27 May 2026 | Sutton Todd VP Corporate Controller | Sold | 2,000 | $159.99 | $319,980 |
| 22 May 2026 | St Dennis Thomas Director | Sold | 900 | $155.37 | $139,833 |
| 22 May 2026 | Evans Eileen EVP, General Counsel and Sec'y | Sold | 926 | $155.51 | $144,002 |
| 21 May 2026 | Blumenstock Gerald M EVP, Research, Dev. & Eng. | Sold | 1,161 | $152.70 | $177,285 |
| 20 May 2026 | Tatnall Christopher EVP Global Customer Operations | Sold | 1,166 | $149.75 | $174,609 |
| 19 May 2026 | Quirk Jeanne Director | Sold | 1,789 | $140.22 | $250,854 |
| 19 May 2026 | GRAVES GREGORY B Director | Sold | 3,225 | $141.61 | $456,707 |
| 19 May 2026 | KURTZWEIL JOHN T Director | Sold | 3,500 | $138.79 | $485,765 |
From Form 4 filings: insiders must report trades in their own company's shares within two days.
Warning signs in its filings
Problems the company itself reported to the SEC, in its own words.
None of the warning signs we check for were found.
We look for five warning signs: doubt it can keep going, weak checks on its own accounts, a notice that its past accounts can't be relied on, a change of auditor, and one customer bringing in a big share of sales. We don't check lawsuits, investigations or debt yet.
We checked the auditor's report, internal controls, restatement notices, auditor changes and big customers in the 10-K filed 26 Feb 2026, plus the 10-Q filed 6 Aug 2026 and 4 later 8-Ks.
A 10-K is the yearly report every US company files with the SEC. An 8-K is a short notice of a big event.
What could go wrong
Cheap for a reason is the question the numbers cannot answer.
Whether the price already reflects the risks is what the deep dive is for.
The deep dive
Everything above is arithmetic on public filings. The deep dive reads the last ten years of annual reports, the proxy statements, and the earnings calls, then argues the case the way Buffett, Klarman, and Hohn would, and checks every claim against the source.
- What the business is worth, as a range, and the margin of safety at today’s price
- Prices to start buying, buy, and buy hard
- The three things that would make this a mistake
- Every number footnoted to the filing it came from
Your first deep dive is free.
Not advice. Numbers on this page come from SEC filings and are updated each night; prices are updated again after the US market closes. The five-year figures are rounded.