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Maker of photomasks — the master templates used to print circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and displays.
Maker of photomasks — the master templates used to print circuit patterns onto semiconductor wafers and displays.
Each chip or display design needs its own set of masks, made to order in plants located near customers in Asia, the US and Europe, so sales follow customers' new designs rather than their unit volumes. Asia accounts for most of the business, and masks for advanced chips carry higher prices.
Moat: narrow (process know-how, switching costs, scale). Photomask precision requirements and fab qualification make switching suppliers costly for chipmakers.
Headquarters: Brookfield, Connecticut, US · Founded: 1969 · Employees: 1,908
Size Photronics (PLAB) is a United States Information Technology company (Electronic Production Equipment) with a market value of $1.61B, the 1940th largest of 3,117 United States companies the cockpit tracks. Shares closed at $27.36 on 6 Nov 2026.
Performance Over six months the shares fell 49.0%, against -23.4% for the median peer and -1.1% for the United States market (cap-weighted) — 3rd lowest of 20 in its peer set.
Growth Revenue grew 1.2% over the last twelve months (peer median +11.0%); the operating margin is 22.5% (peer median 8.5%).
Valuation It trades at 13.3× forward earnings against a peer median of 28.2× (cheapest of 15).
Price implies For today's price to make sense, revenue must grow about 2% a year for seven years (Req g). Recent delivered growth is +7%, so the hurdle is -5 pp: the price already allows for a slowdown.
Capital Return on invested capital runs 1.9 points below its cost of capital (11.9% WACC).
Short interest Short interest is 6.8% of the free float (15 Oct 2026).
Next results Next results expected around 16 Dec 2026 (exchange calendar; dates can move).
| TTM | FY2025 | FY2024 | FY2023 | FY2022 | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Revenue | $867M | $849M | $867M | $892M | $825M |
| Revenue growth | — | -2% | -3% | +8% | — |
| Gross profit | $292M | $300M | $316M | $336M | $294M |
| EBITDA | $274M | $286M | $304M | $334M | $292M |
| Net income | $165M | $136M | $131M | $125M | $119M |
| Free cash flow | $110M | $59.7M | $131M | $171M | $163M |
| Capital expenditure | $198M | $188M | $131M | $131M | $113M |
| Total debt | $3.89M | $5.96M | $23.0M | $30.7M | $45.6M |
The default views of Competitor Analysis ▸ Charts, drawn from the same data. Open them in the cockpit to change the axes, pin companies and read every value.
| Company | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photronics PLAB | $1.61B | -49% | +1% | 22% | 13.3× | 1.9% |
| Dai Nippon Printing 7912.T | $6.96B | -14% | +4% | 7% | 11.8× | n/a |
Peer set: Industry: the same industry and sector in any market, nearest in size. This is the same default set the interactive Competitor Analysis opens with.
| Measure | PLAB | Peer median | Rank in peer set |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1-month return | -7.9% | -16.4% | 5th highest of 21 |
| 6-month return | -49.0% | -23.4% | 3rd lowest of 20 |
| Distance from 52-week high | -51.1% | -51.1% | 10th lowest of 21 |
| Revenue growth (TTM) | +1.2% | +11.0% | 5th lowest of 21 |
| Operating margin | 22.5% | 8.5% | 3rd highest of 21 |
| Forward P/E | 13.3× | 28.2× | cheapest of 15 |
| Growth the price implies (Req g, 7 yrs) | 1.9% | 13.1% | 2nd least demanding of 14 |
| Growth delivered (Del g) | +6.9% | +10.3% | 5th lowest of 14 |
| Hurdle (Req g minus delivered) | -4.9 pp | +3.4 pp | 5th least demanding of 14 |
| ROIC minus cost of capital | -1.9 pp | -2.8 pp | 10th highest of 21 |
| EV / EBITDA | 5.1× | 13.5× | cheapest of 6 |
| Net debt / EBITDA | -2.4× | -0.4× | least indebted of 6 |
| Company | Market | Market cap | 6M return | Revenue growth | Op. margin | Forward P/E | Req g | Delivered g |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Photronics PLAB | United States | $1.61B | -49% | +1% | 22% | 13.3× | 1.9% | +6.9% |
| CTS CTS | United States | $1.65B | -6% | +7% | 16% | 20.3× | 8.5% | +5.0% |
| Shenzhen Sinexcel Electric 300693.SZ | China | $1.57B | -28% | +27% | 15% | 17.2× | 13.1% | +35.0% |
| Beijing Relpow Technology 300593.SZ | China | $1.68B | -27% | +16% | -14% | 286.9× | n/a | n/a |
| Shenzhen Bluetrum Technology 688332.SS | China | $1.71B | -17% | +6% | 7% | 37.6× | n/a | n/a |
| Sichuan Injet Electric 300820.SZ | China | $1.71B | +4% | -12% | 13% | 35.8× | 29.9% | +29.0% |
| Aehr Test Systems AEHR | United States | $1.75B | -45% | -15% | -28% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Visual Photonics Epitaxy 2455.TW | Taiwan | $1.80B | -17% | +34% | 26% | 34.1× | 38.7% | +5.0% |
| Suzhou Betely Polymer Materials 301697.SZ | China | $1.44B | n/a | +45% | 5% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| DBG Technology 300735.SZ | China | $1.81B | -28% | +17% | 2% | 26.0× | 3.5% | +31.6% |
| Shenzhen Microgate Technology 300319.SZ | China | $1.86B | +12% | +11% | 8% | 30.5× | 22.5% | +10.3% |
| Nolato NOLA-B.ST | Sweden | $1.40B | +5% | 0% | 10% | 18.8× | 3.9% | +0.2% |
| TKD Science and Technology 603738.SS | China | $1.39B | -37% | +20% | 9% | 42.5× | 44.4% | +8.4% |
| TPV Technology 000727.SZ | China | $1.38B | -23% | +7% | -1% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shenzhen Success Electronics 002289.SZ | China | $1.33B | -9% | +237% | 27% | n/a | 24.4% | +18.8% |
| Dongguan Tarry Electronics 300976.SZ | China | $1.33B | +4% | +19% | 9% | 15.3× | 17.5% | +27.2% |
| Doosan Fuel Cell 336260.KS | South Korea | $1.33B | -56% | -19% | -31% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Kitron KIT.OL | Norway | $2.02B | -20% | +54% | 10% | 22.0× | -0.6% | +16.9% |
| Plug Power PLUG | United States | $2.03B | -54% | +11% | -68% | n/a | n/a | n/a |
| Shenzhen SED Industry 000032.SZ | China | $2.03B | -36% | +5% | 1% | 42.9× | 7.0% | +8.9% |
| TXC 3042.TW | Taiwan | $1.28B | -26% | +9% | 17% | 14.4× | 10.7% | +3.9% |