Ichor Holdings

Ichor just posted revenue of 294.8 million dollars, up 24 percent from a year ago and up 15 percent from last quarter. Even better, the company swung from a 9.4 million dollar loss last year to a profit of 1 million dollars. Gross margin climbed from 11.3 percent to 13.9 percent, which means they are keeping more of every dollar they sell.

Management expects next quarter revenue of about 330 million dollars, another big step up. Adjusted earnings per share are guided to roughly 45 cents, up from 34 cents this quarter and negative a year ago. They also say customer demand visibility now extends well into 2027, which is rare for a business this cyclical.

Even after all the improvement, Ichor only keeps about 14 cents of gross profit on every dollar of sales, and just 2.4 percent as operating profit. That leaves almost no cushion if costs rise or a customer pushes for lower prices. Over the last twelve months the company still shows a negative profit margin of roughly 5 percent.

The business actually used 15.9 million dollars of cash in the quarter, mostly because inventory jumped 38.4 million dollars as they build ahead of demand. The 256 million dollar cash pile looks great, but nearly all of it came from selling 2.5 million new shares, which slices the pie into more pieces for existing owners. Growth here is being funded by investors, not yet by the business itself.