Coherent Corp (NASDAQ:COHR) stock traded 20% lower ahead of Wednesday’s open after giving investors weaker-than-expected guidance for the upcoming financial year.
The optical and semiconductor tech company warned the market, in quarterly results last night, that it is not expecting to see a “meaningful rebound” from the macroeconomic challenges that have impacted its business in the past year.
For its fourth quarter, Coherent reported earnings (adjusted EBITDA) per share of 41 cents, a big drop from 98 cents in the same period last year.
The earnings figure did beat the pessimistic Wall Street consensus of 38 cents per share, however.
Revenue for the quarter amounted to US$1.21 billion, marking a 36% increase from last’s year’s comparative, and, beat expectations for US$1.15 billion.
Pitching guidance for the current quarter, Coherent sees revenue in a range between US$1 billion and US$1.1 billion, while for the full year, it guided at US$4.5 billion to US$4.7 billion. Earnings guidance, meanwhile, is set at US$1.00 to US$1.50 per share for the full year.
The outlook for both revenue and earnings fell beneath the market consensus forecasts prior to the results announcement.
"Macroeconomic headwinds and uncertainty continue to affect nearly all our end markets and restrain our near-term growth and visibility,” the company said in an open letter to shareholders.
“We are prepared for a reset year with these external challenges persisting at least through the first half of our fiscal 2024, and potentially into the second half of our fiscal year as our customers continue to take proactive measures to manage inventory and cash.”
It added: “While we believe we are well positioned to benefit from any improvement in the macroeconomic environment, we are not assuming we will see signs of a meaningful rebound in fiscal 2024.”
In New York, Coherent stock was down US$10.11 or 21.5% changing hands at US$37.20 per share.