Cantor starts MKS Instruments with Overweight on semi upcycle

Cantor Fitzgerald initiated coverage of MKS Instruments with an Overweight rating and $140 price target. The firm views MKS as the market leader in wafer fab equipment subsystems and substrate equipment. The company is “highly levered to a semi industry upcycle” with a “best-in-class” portfolio, the analyst tells investors in a research note. “While we may not be out of the woods just yet from a cyclical perspective, the customer inventory digestion period has now largely passed” and the secular underpinnings driving wafer fab equipment growth “remain well-intact,” setting up for strong growth off a 2024 trough for MKS Instruments, contends Cantor.