Photronics
PLAB on Nasdaq. Photronics sells photomasks, the templates chip and display makers use to print circuits. Market value $1.8bn.
Price checks use the past 12 months to July 2026. Quality checks use five annual reports, the latest for the year to October 2025.
Should I look at this?
Worth a closer look
Why it could be worth it
What to watch out for
Nothing stood out in the numbers we check.
This is not advice. Check the numbers below.
For every $100 of what the whole company costs, it produced $6.03 of spare cash in the past 12 months. A savings account pays about $4.
You pay 6.6 years of operating profit for the business. The average large US company costs around 18.
Each dollar kept in the business earns 29 cents a year. Above 10 is good.
Quality score: 100 of 100. Price score: 100 of 100. Our list needs 70 on quality and 60 on price.
$31.07 a share, 55% above its 1-year low
Over the past year the price has ranged from $20.05 to $56.00.
Pays no dividend
Prices from Monday’s close (5 October).
Five years of cash, in billions
Spare cash swings from quarter to quarter here: $110 million in the past 12 months, $60 million in the year to October 2025.
| Revenue | |||||
| Revenue | $664m | $825m | $892m | $867m | $849m |
| Operating margin | |||||
| Operating margin | 14.2% | 25.7% | 28.4% | 25.6% | 24.5% |
| Debt to equity | |||||
| Debt to equity | 0.18 | 0.09 | 0.03 | 0.02 | 0.00 |
| Shares outstanding | |||||
| Shares outstanding | 0.06bn | 0.06bn | 0.06bn | 0.06bn | 0.06bn |
Health checks
- Free cash flow positive5 of 5 years
- Accounting looks honest (Beneish)Nothing unusual
- Financial strength (Piotroski)7 of 9
- Profit backed by cash (accruals)Yes
- Debt0.00× equity
- Revenue growth, five yearsSlow, 6.9% a year
- Buying back its own sharesYes, 4% fewer since 2021
The quarter to July 2026
How the business did, compared with the same quarter a year earlier.
- Sales: $216 million last quarter, up 3% on a year ago.
- Profit: $29 million, up 26% on a year ago.
- It keeps 22 cents of each $1 of sales as operating profit, down from 25 cents a year earlier.
- Spare cash over the past 12 months: $110 million, up from $65 million.
- 1% more shares than a year ago. Each share owns a bit less of the company.
- It has $546 million more cash than debt, up from $479 million a year ago.
- Sales grew on a year ago in 2 of the last 4 quarters.
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | $223m |
| January 2025 | $212m |
| April 2025 | $211m |
| July 2025 | $210m |
| October 2025 | $216m |
| January 2026 | $225m |
| April 2026 | $210m |
| July 2026 | $216m |
| Quarter to | Amount |
|---|---|
| October 2024 | $34m |
| January 2025 | $43m |
| April 2025 | $9m |
| July 2025 | $23m |
| October 2025 | $62m |
| January 2026 | $43m |
| April 2026 | $31m |
| July 2026 | $29m |
From the company's quarterly reports to the SEC.
Dates
- Next results (estimated)
- n/a
- Last annual report (10-K)
- 17 December 2025
- Next quarterly (estimated, 10-Q)
- 10 December 2026
Who owns it
7 long-term investors we follow own it, unchanged from 7 last quarter. 313 funds in all.
- Barrow HanleyBarrow Hanley team
- Value
- $4,326
- Share of fund
- <0.1%
| Fund | Value | Share of that fund | Change |
|---|---|---|---|
| LSV Asset ManagementJosef Lakonishok | $71m | 0.1% | Cut |
| Boston PartnersBoston Partners team | $21m | <0.1% | Cut |
| Heartland AdvisorsBill Nasgovitz | $12m | 0.6% | Added |
| Royce & AssociatesChuck Royce | $11m | <0.1% | Cut |
| Hotchkis & WileyHotchkis & Wiley team | $11m | <0.1% | Cut |
| GMOJeremy Grantham | $2m | <0.1% | Added |
| Barrow HanleyBarrow Hanley team | $4,326 | <0.1% |
Largest holders overall
- BlackRock$309m
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LP$118mCut
- American Century Companies$110mAdded
- Vanguard Portfolio Management$97mAdded
- Vanguard Capital Management$81m
- State Street$76mAdded
- LSV Asset Management$71mCut
- Geode Capital Management$71mAdded
- Invesco$60mAdded
- Price T Rowe Associates$51mAdded
From 13F filings for the quarter ended 30 June 2026.
Big holders and activists
4 investors own more than 5%.
- BlackRock, Inc.Passive investor15.0%Since 31 March 2025
- Dimensional Fund Advisors LPPassive investor6.2%Since 30 June 2026
- American Century Investment Management, Inc.Passive investorat least 5.7%(filed with 3 related holders)Since 30 June 2026
- Vanguard Portfolio ManagementPassive investor5.1%Since 30 June 2026
- The Vanguard GroupPassive investorSold down below 5%Since 13 March 2026
| Holder | Stake | Since | |
|---|---|---|---|
BlackRock, Inc. Passive investor | 15.0% | 31 March 2025 | |
Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Passive investor | 6.2% | 30 June 2026 | |
American Century Investment Management, Inc. Passive investor | at least 5.7% (filed with 3 related holders) | 30 June 2026 | |
Vanguard Portfolio Management Passive investor | 5.1% | 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. 10 sold $25m, $225,200 of it under preset trading plans.
- Lee Kang JyhDirectorSold
- Date
- 29 September 2026
- Shares
- 10,000
- Price
- $30.75
- Value
- $307,500
- Park Han KyungSVP & GM of FPD OpsSold
- Date
- 25 September 2026
- Shares
- 9,500
- Price
- $30.37
- Value
- $288,515
- Lee Kang JyhDirectorSold
- Date
- 24 September 2026
- Shares
- 7,500
- Price
- $29.50
- Value
- $221,250
- Lee Kang JyhDirectorSold
- Date
- 22 September 2026
- Shares
- 10,000
- Price
- $29.70
- Value
- $297,000
- ZHANG RUIVP, CAO & Corporate ControllerSold
- Date
- 17 April 2026
- Shares
- 4,556
- Price
- $46.70
- Value
- $212,765
- Lee Kang JyhDirectorSold
- Date
- 16 April 2026
- Shares
- 20,000
- Price
- $45.92
- Value
- $918,500
- Lee Kang JyhDirectorSold
- Date
- 15 April 2026
- Shares
- 10,000
- Price
- $45.10
- Value
- $451,000
- Wang Hsueh-ChunSVP/COO IC & US/EU Mnstrm OpsSold
- Date
- 14 April 2026
- Shares
- 19,250
- Price
- $45.30
- Value
- $872,025
- MACRICOSTAS CONSTANTINE SDirectorSold
- Date
- 14 April 2026
- Shares
- 50,000
- Price
- $45.35
- Value
- $2m
- Lee Kang JyhDirectorSold
- Date
- 13 April 2026
- Shares
- 5,000
- Price
- $45.00
- Value
- $225,000
| Date | Who | Did | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 29 September 2026 | Lee Kang Jyh Director | Sold | 10,000 | $30.75 | $307,500 |
| 25 September 2026 | Park Han Kyung SVP & GM of FPD Ops | Sold | 9,500 | $30.37 | $288,515 |
| 24 September 2026 | Lee Kang Jyh Director | Sold | 7,500 | $29.50 | $221,250 |
| 22 September 2026 | Lee Kang Jyh Director | Sold | 10,000 | $29.70 | $297,000 |
| 17 April 2026 | ZHANG RUI VP, CAO & Corporate Controller | Sold | 4,556 | $46.70 | $212,765 |
| 16 April 2026 | Lee Kang Jyh Director | Sold | 20,000 | $45.92 | $918,500 |
| 15 April 2026 | Lee Kang Jyh Director | Sold | 10,000 | $45.10 | $451,000 |
| 14 April 2026 | Wang Hsueh-Chun SVP/COO IC & US/EU Mnstrm Ops | Sold | 19,250 | $45.30 | $872,025 |
| 14 April 2026 | MACRICOSTAS CONSTANTINE S Director | Sold | 50,000 | $45.35 | $2m |
| 13 April 2026 | Lee Kang Jyh Director | Sold | 5,000 | $45.00 | $225,000 |
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 17 Dec 2025, plus the 10-Q filed 10 Sep 2026 and 7 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
It moved up our list overnight. The deep dive tells you if the move is real.
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.