Kulicke & Soffa Doubles Revenue as Growth Accelerates
Fiscal third-quarter revenue reached $330.4 million, edging above the company’s guided range.
Kulicke & Soffa Industries (KLIC), the semiconductor assembly equipment maker, more than doubled quarterly revenue from a year earlier as demand growth accelerated and profitability widened.
Revenue rose 36.2% from the preceding quarter and 122.6% from a year earlier. The sequential increase followed growth of 12.4% in the fiscal first quarter and 21.5% in the second, extending the company’s upward trajectory.
The revenue result exceeded Kulicke & Soffa’s prior guidance midpoint by $20.4 million and finished slightly above the $330 million upper end of its range. GAAP diluted earnings increased to $1.07 a share from 66 cents in the preceding quarter and a loss of 6 cents a year earlier. Adjusted earnings rose to $1.20 a share from 79 cents and 7 cents, respectively.
Higher volume produced operating leverage despite pressure on gross margin. GAAP operating margin widened to 20.7% from 15.9% sequentially and negative 4.1% a year earlier, while gross margin narrowed 1.5 percentage points from the preceding quarter to 47.8%. Operating cash flow climbed to $45.2 million from $10.3 million in the second quarter, and adjusted free cash flow increased to $41 million from $6.3 million.
For the fiscal fourth quarter, Kulicke & Soffa expects revenue of $375 million at the midpoint, implying sequential growth of about 13.5%. The company guides to GAAP earnings of $1.29 a share and adjusted earnings of $1.42 a share, both above third-quarter levels.
The company's expanded Advanced Solutions production facility is scheduled for completion in the second half of fiscal 2027. The project followed its earlier plan to raise fiscal 2026 capital spending to about $22 million from $12 million, supporting capacity for as much as $400 million in annual thermocompression-bonding system sales.
Share repurchases remained limited, with Kulicke & Soffa buying 5,000 shares for $0.5 million during the quarter after purchasing 3,000 shares for $0.1 million in the preceding period. That pace remained well below the 0.5 million shares repurchased for $16.7 million in the fiscal fourth quarter of 2025 as the company directed capital toward expanded production capacity.