Ultra Clean Technologies
The $120 million of sales was a pleasant surprise, but that didn't translate into strong profits. CEO Clarence Granger noted that gross margins were weak and will "remain a focus" for Ultra Clean in coming quarters, compounded by a higher tax rate.
Ultra Clean's woes didn't affect the chip-making equipment industry to any great degree. Companies like Benchmark Electronics
There's no doubt in my mind that audacious manufacturing buildout plans from Intel
No, this crash was Ultra Clean's personal disaster and not an indictment of the sector in which it works. Fellow Fool John Keeling sees low-quality earnings in Ultra Clean, and the company has plans to raise as much as $100 million by way of dilutive stock sales. That's a lot of new shares for a $240 million micro-cap company.
In short, Ultra Clean's operations and management hardly inspire a lot of confidence. How this manages to be a five-star CAPS stock (out of five) is beyond me.
If you can explain that mystery to me, the comments box is waiting below.