Ultra Clean Holdings Inc
🔔 Watch stock
Assessment
Our Rating
A journalistic assessment by our editorial team at the time of the deep dive — it rates the company, not the entry point. Not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell.
The business works in principle, but one material question is open. As long as it stays open, our findings do not carry a quality verdict.
Why this colour
The business carries itself and the balance sheet is solid: an equity ratio of 41.1 percent as of December 26, 2025, $323.5 million of cash, an Altman Z-Score of 4.52 and a refinancing that has all but removed the interest burden. Two operating questions remain open, neither of which has anything to do with the share price. First, the margin: 15.7 percent gross and 2.1 percent operating is structurally thin, because the designs belong to the customers and research spending runs at 1.6 percent of revenue. Second, concentration: a single customer accounts for 37.0 percent of revenue, and its share has risen over two years, not fallen. None of this threatens the company's existence — but proven quality looks different. The decision is yours.
What the thesis turns on
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
Ultra Clean Holdings builds the internals of the machines that make chips — subassemblies, gas delivery systems, precision components — and cleans used parts. Fiscal 2025 revenue was $2,054.0 million, 2.1 percent below the prior year, at a gross margin of 15.7 percent. The bottom line showed a loss of $181.2 million, driven mainly by a $151.1 million goodwill impairment whose trigger was the company's own falling share price. Two customers deliver 58.7 percent of revenue, one of them 37.0 percent alone. In March 2026 the company raised $600 million at 0.00 percent, repaid its bank debt with it, and in the process created up to 10,089,120 potential new shares. Not investment advice.
Market position & demand
Ultra Clean is a fixed part of the supply chain for chip fabrication equipment and generated roughly 95.7 percent of fiscal 2025 revenue within the semiconductor industry. The annual report filed February 23, 2026 anticipates a period of historically elevated demand driven by new device architectures, memory for artificial intelligence and advanced packaging.
Customer dependency
Lam Research and Applied Materials accounted for 58.7 percent of fiscal 2025 revenue, at 37.0 and 21.7 percent, and 58.5 percent in the first quarter of 2026. None of these customers is obligated to place orders, and the annual report states that the designs and intellectual property belong to them.
Earnings power & margin
Gross margin fell to 15.7 percent in fiscal 2025 from 17.0 percent, and the operating margin was 2.1 percent. The bottom line showed a $181.2 million loss, with a further $17.9 million in the first quarter of 2026. A research budget of 1.6 percent of revenue reflects the role of a contract manufacturer, not a developer.
Balance sheet & financing
Cash stood at $323.5 million on March 27, 2026, the equity ratio at 41.1 percent as of the December 26, 2025 balance sheet date and the Altman Z-Score at 4.52 (data as of July 25, 2026). The spring 2026 refinancing replaced interest-bearing bank debt with $600 million at 0.00 percent to 2031 and extended a revolving facility, raised to $250 million, to April 2031.
Dilution
The convertible can create up to 10,089,120 shares, roughly 22.5 percent of the 44,828,352 outstanding as of April 23, 2026. It first becomes convertible in a quarter commencing after June 26, 2026 if the price exceeds $110.17 on 20 out of 30 trading days. The capped call only works up to $104.07.
Valuation
Roughly $4.16 billion of market capitalization ($92.75 on July 24, 2026 times 44,828,352 shares) is about twice fiscal 2025 revenue of $2,054.0 million. There is no price-to-earnings ratio for lack of earnings; against the $2.35 per share estimate for the current year the multiple would be roughly 39 times. Four analyst ratings carry a mean price target of $113.40 (data as of July 25, 2026).
Worth Noting
UCTT reached our research list as number 3 of 28 U.S. hits in our in-house Moglen one-week screen (data as of July 25, 2026, relative strength rating 98) — part of our series filling the top 50 of that screen with analyses. The screen lists are recalculated daily.
Fiscal-year trap: the fiscal year ends on the Friday nearest December 31. Fiscal 2025 ran from December 28, 2024 to December 26, 2025, and the first quarter of 2026 from December 27, 2025 to March 27, 2026. Individual fiscal years can therefore contain 53 weeks instead of 52.
Four fifths of the fiscal 2025 loss of $181.2 million is an accounting figure: the $151.1 million goodwill impairment costs no cash, and operating activities still generated $65.0 million in 2025. The reverse also holds: the $25.9 million tax provision was incurred despite a pre-tax loss, and it is payable in cash.
Recency note: the latest quarterly report (10-Q) is dated April 29, 2026 and covers the quarter through March 27, 2026. Every filing after it was reviewed — the Form 10-Q/A of May 1, 2026 (adding two omitted Rule 10b5-1 trading arrangements, not a restatement), the Form 8-K of May 26, 2026 on the annual meeting, the Form S-8 of July 10, 2026 and the Form 8-K of July 8, 2026 on the chief financial officer transition effective August 5, 2026. There is no merger, acquisition, take-private or delisting under way.
Important for the credit agreement: the temporary leverage relief to 6.00:1.00 from the Ninth Amendment of February 26, 2026 applied only to the periods ending on or about March 31 and June 30, 2026. The Tenth Amendment of April 23, 2026 reset the covenants: consolidated secured net leverage of no more than 3.25:1.00 and cash interest coverage of no less than 3.00:1.00. As of March 27, 2026 all covenants were met and the revolver was undrawn.
Easy to confuse: Ultra Clean Holdings (UCTT) is a supplier to the equipment makers, not an equipment maker itself and not a chip manufacturer. Comparing its metrics with Applied Materials or Lam Research is misleading — the business model and margin structure are fundamentally different.
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of August 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at UCTT since then.
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Price history
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
52-week range: 21.70 $ to 142.60 $ · Last price: 67.50 $ (As of: September 17, 2026)
Key figures
Key figures at a glance
Every figure we hold for this stock, grouped by topic. The question mark next to a label explains what the number means.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 09/18/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
Highlighted are things our editorial team noticed: green = stands out as strong, red = deserves a closer look. No single metric is a verdict on its own — always read it in context.
Comparison
Industry comparison
The stock alongside the largest companies in the same group. The median row is the middle value of the companies shown above — not of the whole industry.
Industry: Semiconductor Equipment & Materials
| Company | Market cap ($B) | P/E | EV/EBITDA | Gross Margin % | EBIT Margin % | Sales Growth (Year) % | Perf. 1Y % |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ultra Clean Holdings Inc UCTT | 3.3 | – | 24.9 | 15.8 | 2.1 | -2.1 | 160.7 |
| Lam Research Corp LRCX | 371.4 | 47.0 | 41.9 | 50.5 | 35.0 | 23.7 | 122.2 |
| Applied Materials Inc AMAT | 331.4 | 36.5 | 31.3 | 49.4 | 31.9 | 4.4 | 135.6 |
| KLA Corporation KLAC | 220.8 | 46.0 | 37.8 | 61.3 | 41.2 | 23.9 | 71.6 |
| Teradyne Inc TER | 57.6 | 59.4 | 34.3 | 59.2 | 37.6 | 13.1 | 209.5 |
| Qnity Electronics, Inc Q | 24.5 | 47.5 | 20.3 | 46.2 | 22.8 | 9.7 | 20.8 |
| Entegris Inc ENTG | 22.4 | 69.9 | 25.9 | 45.6 | 18.0 | -1.4 | 41.1 |
| Onto Innovation Inc ONTO | 13.7 | 109.7 | 49.6 | 55.5 | 16.8 | 1.8 | 115.5 |
| Amkor Technology Inc AMKR | 11.9 | 23.7 | 8.5 | 15.5 | 6.0 | 6.2 | 81.4 |
| Median of companies shown | 24.5 | 47.2 | 31.3 | 49.4 | 22.8 | 6.2 | 115.5 |
Based on the most recently reported figures. Only stocks from the same trading venue are lined up, so the market caps are counted in one currency. Compare in a chart →
Fiscal years
Annual Figures
Fiscal years from the audited annual reports, oldest first. EBIT is the operating profit before interest and taxes; total assets are everything the company owns.
Revenue, operating income and net income per fiscal year $M
Revenue Operating income Net income
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($M) | EBIT ($M) | Net Income ($M) | EPS ($) | Operating Cash Flow ($M) | Equity ($M) | Total Assets ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2016 | 563 | 22 | 10 | 0.30 | 18 | 216 | 381 |
| 2017 | 924 | 89 | 75 | 2.19 | 49 | 300 | 558 |
| 2018 | 1,097 | 61 | 37 | 0.94 | 45 | 436 | 962 |
| 2019 | 1,066 | 30 | -9 | -0.24 | 121 | 437 | 1,019 |
| 2020 | 1,399 | 121 | 78 | 1.89 | 97 | 533 | 1,103 |
| 2021 | 2,102 | 186 | 120 | 2.69 | 212 | 849 | 2,025 |
| 2022 | 2,374 | 120 | 40 | 0.88 | 47 | 888 | 1,961 |
| 2023 | 1,735 | 35 | -31 | -0.70 | 136 | 839 | 1,868 |
| 2024 | 2,098 | 91 | 24 | 0.52 | 65 | 874 | 1,920 |
| 2025 | 2,054 | 44 | -181 | -4.00 | 66 | 711 | 1,729 |
Quarters
Quarterly Figures
Each bar is one quarter, the last one is the most recent. Use the switch to step through the individual figures.
Revenue & Profit
Cash Flow
Balance Sheet
Margins
Per Share
Click the chart or tab into it, then use ← and → to step through the periods.
None of the selected stocks reports this metric. Pick another metric or switch between annual and quarterly.
· Total · per year
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The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 0.36 | – | 563 | 26.70 | 2.90 | 17 | 0 |
| 2025: Q1 | -0.11 | – | 519 | 8.60 | -1.00 | 28 | 16 |
| 2025: Q2 | -3.58 | -951.90 | 519 | 0.50 | -31.20 | 29 | 12 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.24 | – | 510 | -5.60 | -2.10 | 0 | -11 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.07 | -120.30 | 507 | -10.00 | -0.70 | 8 | -3 |
| 2026: Q1 | -0.40 | – | 534 | 2.90 | -3.40 | -33 | -43 |
| 2026: Q2 | 0.19 | 105.30 | 645 | 24.30 | 1.30 | -41 | -57 |
What Do These Terms Mean?
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Screening
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 24 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
Quality & Balance Sheet
Breakout & Setup
Momentum & Trend
- 21-EMA Trend
- Above the 50- & 200-SMA
- CANSLIM Type RS
- Gary Antonacci: Dual Momentum (Stock Adaptation)
- High ADR (≥5%)
- Mark Minervini: Trend Criteria — 1 Month
- Mike Webster: Swing Trading List
- Near 52-Week High
- Oliver Kell: Doublers
- Oliver Kell: Strength on Down Day
- Qullamaggie: Top Gainers 6M
- Qullamaggie: Trend Intensity (13/65)
- RS Leader (≥90)
- RS New Highs
- Richard Moglen: 1 Week Top Performers
- Richard Moglen: Top Performers 3/6 Month
- Stage 2 Leader
- Stan Weinstein: Stage 2
Research
Risk & Weakness
Only genuine hits from verified scanners count; pure ranking metrics (P/E, P/S, and similar, which just sort the whole universe) don't count as a hit. Scanners marked in red are red-flag signals (risk/short scanners) — appearing there is not a seal of approval. View all scanners
Outlook
Analysts & Price Target
Combined picture of the price targets and recommendations of every analyst covering the stock. Price targets are expectations for the next 12 months, not promises — and they often follow the price rather than predict it.
Distribution of Recommendations
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 3.16 | 3.03 – 3.54 | 2,723 | 201.4% | 5 |
| 12/31/2027 | 5.87 | 5.08 – 6.59 | 3,868 | 85.5% | 4 |
Average of the analyst estimates for the coming fiscal years. The range shows how far the most optimistic and the most cautious estimate sit apart — the wider it is, the less certain the expectation.
Valuation
What is priced in?
Free cash flow over the past twelve months is negative, which rules out a serious reverse calculation. Any growth rate only makes a negative cash flow more negative; no present value comes out of it. What the price reflects here is therefore not a stream of cash flows, but the expectation that there will be one at all.
A simplified model calculation — not a forecast and not a recommendation.
AI classification
AI Rating
Ultra Clean verkauft keine KI-Produkte, setzt KI aber nach eigener Darstellung im eigenen Betrieb ein — mit Regeln und Grenzen für die Belegschaft und mit bereits laufenden Implementierungen; KI erscheint zusätzlich als Nachfragetreiber der Halbleiterindustrie, nicht als eigene Umsatzquelle.
View the full file — quotes, sources, reviewed filings
„While we have implemented strict limitations and guidelines, we permit our employees to use certain AI capabilities in their job functions."
Wir haben zwar strenge Beschränkungen und Richtlinien eingeführt, gestatten unseren Beschäftigten aber, bestimmte KI-Fähigkeiten in ihren Arbeitsaufgaben zu nutzen.
10-K · 2026-02-23 · View SEC filing
„Our AI implementations may result in errors or unintended outcomes due to algorithmic flaws, inadequate training data, or inherent biases, which could expose us to liability and reputational damage."
Unsere KI-Implementierungen können aufgrund fehlerhafter Algorithmen, unzureichender Trainingsdaten oder inhärenter Verzerrungen zu Fehlern oder unbeabsichtigten Ergebnissen führen, was uns Haftungsrisiken und Reputationsschäden aussetzen könnte.
10-K · 2026-02-23 · View SEC filing
„Over the long term, we believe the semiconductor market we serve will continue to grow due to multi-year industry demand from a broad range of drivers, such as new process architecture (e.g. gate all around) and memory devices (e.g. high bandwidth memory) necessary for cloud, artificial intelligence (“AI”) and machine learning (“ML”) applications."
Langfristig gehen wir davon aus, dass der von uns bediente Halbleitermarkt weiter wachsen wird, getragen von mehrjähriger Branchennachfrage aus einer Vielzahl von Treibern — etwa neuen Prozessarchitekturen (zum Beispiel Gate-all-around) und Speicherbausteinen (zum Beispiel High-Bandwidth-Memory), die für Cloud-, Künstliche-Intelligenz- und Maschinelles-Lernen-Anwendungen nötig sind.
10-Q · 2026-04-29 · View SEC filing
Filings Reviewed: 10-Q 2026-04-29 · 10-K 2026-02-23 · 10-Q 2025-10-29 · 10-Q 2025-07-29 · 10-Q 2025-04-29 · 10-K 2025-02-25
Rated on July 25, 2026 · How the Rating Is Built
Growth
Growth Score
Ten checks against the annual reports — each one passed counts a point.
- Revenue grows by more than 15% a year over three years -4.7%
- More than 10% revenue growth is expected for the coming year 19.7%
- Share count grows by less than 3% a year -0.3%
- Revenue growth plus cash-flow margin add up to at least 40 ("Rule of 40") -1.3%
- Gross margin at 40% or higher and without meaningful erosion 15.7%
- Goodwill from acquisitions does not grow faster than revenue 6.6%
- Net debt below twice EBITDA failed
- Operating cash flow covers the profits of the last three years 455 m
- Return on capital at 15% or higher, or up versus two years ago 3.1%
- Insiders hold at least 10% or are net buyers 2.0%
A criterion without figures counts neither as passed nor as failed; a score is only produced from 7 judgeable criteria upwards. Source: fundamental data. All ten criteria in detail
Quality check
AAQS
6/10The AAQS (AlleAktien Quality Score) checks 10 quality criteria on growth, profitability, and balance-sheet strength — per the methodology developed and published by AlleAktien, calculated by us from our own fundamental data. A stock counts as a quality stock from 9 out of 10 points. Where a company has a shorter listing history, we calculate over the fiscal years available (at least five).
- Sales growth 10Y > 5% 15.5%
- Exp. sales growth 3Y > 5% 37.2%
- EBIT growth 10Y > 5% 7.7%
- Exp. EBIT growth 3Y > 5% 37.2%
- Net debt < 4x EBIT 11.4x
- EBIT positive, 10Y straight 10
- Max. EBIT decline < 50% 81.0%
- Return on equity > 15% -41.2%
- ROCE > 15% 3.1%
- Expected return > 10% 37.9%
View stocks with the full AAQS score · Read the methodology at AlleAktien
Source: fundamental data
Insiders
Insider Transactions
Reportable transactions by officers and major shareholders from SEC Form 4 filings. "Other" includes things like stock grants and option exercises without a buy/sell character.
| Date | Person | Role | Type | Shares | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Aug 31, 2026 | Keogh Michael Dennis | Chief Financial Officer | Other | 20,917 | 0.00 | – |
| Aug 31, 2026 | Cook Christopher S | President, Products Division | Other | 12,497 | 67.83 | 847,672 |
The company
About the Company
Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. entwickelt und liefert kritische Subsysteme, Komponenten und Teile sowie Reinigungs- und Analysedienste für die Halbleiterindustrie in den USA und international.
- Employees
- 6,948
- Headquarters
- Hayward, CA
- Address
- 26462 Corporate Avenue, 94545 Hayward, United States
- Phone
- 510 576 4400
- Website
- uct.com
- IPO Date
- 03/25/2004
- ISIN
- US90385V1070
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Jinsong Xiao | CEO & Director | 1971 |
| Jeffrey L. Mckibben | Chief Information Officer | 1963 |
| Sheri L. Savage | Finance Advisor | 1971 |
| Christopher S. Cook | Chief Business Officer | 1969 |
| Michael D. Keogh Jr. | Chief Financial Officer | 1971 |
| Robert Wunar | Chief Operating Officer | – |
| Brian E. Harding CPA | Senior VP & Chief Accounting Officer | 1981 |
| Rhonda M. Bennetto B.B.A. | Senior Vice President of Investor Relations | – |
| Yoonku Cho | General Counsel & Corporate Secretary | 1978 |
| Cheryl Knepfler | Managing Director of Marketing | – |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Filings
Company Filings (8-K)
An 8-K is the filing a US company must use to disclose material events immediately — takeovers, changes at the top, major contracts or payment troubles, for instance. The links open the original document at the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).
- 08/14/2026 Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (UCTT): Entry into a Material Definitive Agreement; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
- 08/06/2026 Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (UCTT): Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers: Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
- 08/03/2026 Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (UCTT): Results of Operations and Financial Condition; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
- 07/08/2026 Ultra Clean Holdings, Inc. (UCTT): Departure of Directors or Certain Officers; Election of Directors; Appointment of Certain Officers: Compensatory Arrangements of Certain Officers; Financial Statements and Exhibits SEC ↗
Data as of: September 17, 2026 · Source: fundamental data & SEC filings (annual and quarterly reports, 10-K/10-Q)
Note: pure fact-based analysis, not investment advice and not a solicitation to buy or sell. All figures without guarantee.