Ultra Clean Holdings Inc (UCTT)
🔔 Watch stock
symbol.quality_heading
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.
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.
symbol.quality_note
Ultra Clean Holdings ranks 3rd in our in-house Moglen one-week screen (U.S. selection, data as of July 25, 2026): the company builds the internals of the machines that make chips — and collects 58.7 percent of its revenue from exactly two customers. We read the Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 27, 2026, the Form 10-K for fiscal 2025 and everything filed with the U.S. securities regulator, the SEC, since. Three numbers stand out that no momentum list will show you: $151.1 million of written-off goodwill, a $600 million convertible note at zero percent, and a buyback of 672,608 shares that ran outside the company's own program. Read along before you trust the tape more than the balance sheet.
Read the analysis
Stock Watch
This analysis is as of July 26, 2026. Stock Watch will tell you what's changed at UCTT since then.
Later $1 a month per stock — signing up is free, and you'll be the first to know when it launches.
Appears in These Scanners
This stock currently matches 25 of our scanner strategies — each hit links to the scanner.
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
Trading Day
Key levels of the most recently completed trading day — not a live quote.
52-Week Range
Current price 83.30 $ — 51% of the range above the low.
Lowest and highest closing price over the last 52 weeks. The marker shows where the current price sits within that range: close to the high speaks for strength, close to the low for weakness.
Basics
Performance
Technical Indicators
Calculated from the price history · as of 08/03/2026
Valuation
Profitability
Balance Sheet & Safety
Growth
Dividend
This stock currently pays no dividend.
Quality & Screener
AI Rating
Uses AIUltra 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.
„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.
„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.
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
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.
Analysts & Price Target
The price target sits 39.7% above the current price.
- Consensus
- Strong Sell
- Analyst Ratings
- 4
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.
Estimates by Fiscal Year
| Fiscal Year | EPS Estimate ($) | EPS Range ($) | Revenue Estimate ($M) | Expected Growth | Analysts |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12/31/2026 | 2.57 | 2.09 – 3.48 | 2,538 | 145.1% | 5 |
| 12/31/2027 | 3.94 | 3.15 – 4.92 | 3,332 | 53.0% | 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.
Next Reporting Date
- Expected Earnings per Share
- 0.44 $
Expected date of the next quarterly or annual figures. Dates do shift occasionally — only the invitation issued by the company is binding.
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
These companies report in different currencies — switch on “Indexed” or pick a margin for a fair comparison.
The figures could not be loaded right now.
Source: fundamental data
Quarterly Figures
| Quarter | EPS (Earnings Per Share) | EPS YoY (%) | Sales ($M) | Sales YoY (%) | Net Margin (%) | OCF ($M) | FCF ($M) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2024: Q4 | 0.36 | – | 563 | 26.70 | 2.90 | 17 | 0 |
| 2025: Q1 | -0.11 | – | 519 | 8.60 | -1.00 | 28 | 16 |
| 2025: Q2 | -3.58 | -951.90 | 519 | 0.50 | -31.20 | 29 | 12 |
| 2025: Q3 | -0.24 | – | 510 | -5.60 | -2.10 | 0 | -11 |
| 2025: Q4 | -0.07 | -120.30 | 507 | -10.00 | -0.70 | 8 | -3 |
| 2026: Q1 | -0.40 | – | 534 | 2.90 | -3.40 | -33 | -43 |
- EPS (Earnings Per Share):
- Quarterly profit divided by the total share count — how much of the profit works out to a single share.
- YoY (Year over Year):
- Change versus the same quarter a year ago — this is how you compare without seasonal distortion (e.g. the holiday shopping season).
- Sales:
- All revenue for the quarter, before any costs are deducted — the top line of the income statement.
- Net Margin:
- What percentage of sales is left over as profit in the end. Negative means the company is posting a loss.
- OCF (Operating Cash Flow):
- The cash that actually flows into the till from the core business during the quarter — harder to dress up than book profit.
- FCF (Free Cash Flow):
- Operating cash flow minus capital expenditures — the money that's genuinely free to use, say for paying down debt, buybacks, or dividends.
Annual Figures
| Fiscal Year | Revenue ($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 | 65 | 711 | 1,729 |
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.
Assessment: Opportunities & Risks
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
- 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.
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 | 25. Mar 2004 |
| ISIN | US90385V1070 |
Management
| Name | Title | Birth Year |
|---|---|---|
| Jinsong Xiao | CEO & Director | 1971 |
| Sheri L. Savage | Chief Financial Officer & Senior VP of Finance | 1971 |
| Jeffrey L. Mckibben | Chief Information Officer | 1963 |
| Christopher S. Cook | Chief Business Officer | 1969 |
| 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 | – |
| Jamie J. Palfrey | Chief Human Resources Officer | 1968 |
Executives per the latest required filings; titles kept in their original language. Source: fundamental data.
Chart
Interactive price chart (TradingView).
Data as of: July 31, 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.