Camtek Up 20% Beats Q2 Views; Makes Bullish Remark On Pending Product

Camtek Ltd.

shares gained 20 percent Tuesday after posting second-quarter profits that were double Wall Street views. Israeli-based Camtek, which makes automation equipment for electronics manufacturing and packaging, also told investors that its technology testing for a key pending product called Griphon bolsters confidence that the product will soon launch and start producing revenue in 2015. Griphon, a 3D inkjet product for computer chip solder mask manufacturing, "will be the dominant technology in the printed circuit board industry for years to come," Chief Executive Rafi Amit said in a statement. The company posted second-quarter earnings of $0.08 cents a share on revenue of $23.2 million. Year-earlier earnings were $0.01 cent on revenue of $22 million. Analysts expected earnings of $0.04 cents on revenue of $23.5 million. Small-cap Camtek is frequently volatile. For example, shares soared as much as 57 percent in a single day earlier this month on news of a product launch. The company has also been something of a favorite of short sellers, with 1.4 of its 30.5 million shares held as short interest earlier this year. That number has since declined, however, to about a half-million shares. Camtek traded recently at $4.11, up 19.68 percent.