Camtek’s Record Revenue and a Fund’s Mysterious $3M Exit Amid 30% Rally

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In the grand bazaar of capital, where fortunes are bartered like trinkets and logic is a rare currency, First Wilshire Securities Management has performed a curious ritual. During the third quarter, it divested 81,598 shares of Camtek (CAMT +0.32%), a gesture that, according to SEC filings dated November 14, cost the fund an estimated $2.67 million. One might wonder if the devil himself, cloaked in a pinstripe suit, whispered this decision into the fund’s ear-a reminder that even in times of prosperity, the market demands sacrifice.

What Happened

The transaction, recorded in the annals of financial bureaucracy, reduced First Wilshire’s stake to 206,424 shares, valued at $21.68 million by quarter’s end. This amounted to a 1.94% shift in the fund’s total reportable assets under management. A number, yes, but in the theater of investing, numbers are mere props. The true performance lies in the subtext: a 30% ascent in Camtek’s share price over the past year, outpacing the S&P 500 by double digits. Yet here we are, witnessing a ballet of profit-taking and portfolio discipline, choreographed by the invisible hand of risk management.

What Else to Know

Camtek now constitutes 5.77% of First Wilshire’s 13F AUM, a role akin to a supporting actor in a farcical opera. The fund’s top holdings read like a ledger of modern alchemy: EZPW, LBTYA, ECVT, SGOV-each a symbol of transformation, each a gamble against entropy. Camtek, at 5.8%, holds its own, a testament to its niche in the semiconductor world, where precision and prophecy reign supreme.

Company Overview

Metric Value
Price (as of Wednesday) $109.14
Market Capitalization $5 billion
Revenue (TTM) $485.24 million
Net Income (TTM) $47.83 million

Company Snapshot

  • Camtek, a purveyor of inspection and metrology systems-Eagle-i, Eagle-AP, Golden Eagle-caters to the semiconductor industry’s obsession with perfection. Its clients, spread across Asia Pacific, the U.S., and Europe, demand miracles in silicon and glass.
  • The company’s revenue flows from the sale of high-precision equipment and software, tools that turn chaos into order. Yet in a world where AI-driven packaging is the new gospel, Camtek’s offerings are both relic and oracle.
  • Its global presence and proprietary technology position it as a supplier to the titans of the chipmaking world. But in the realm of semiconductors, even titans must dance to the tune of Moore’s Law.

Camtek is a company that has mastered the art of the paradox: it thrives on precision yet operates in a world of uncertainty. Its inspection systems, with their 2D and 3D capabilities, are less machines than metaphors-measuring not just components but the very pulse of technological progress. And yet, for all its sophistication, it remains subject to the whims of investors who see only numbers and not the alchemy behind them.

Foolish Take

Operationally, Camtek is a beast unchained. Record quarterly revenue of $126 million, a 12% year-over-year leap, and non-GAAP operating margins near 30% suggest a company in its prime. Management, ever the optimist, has signaled another strong quarter, buoyed by the relentless tide of AI-driven advanced packaging. Yet in this triumph, First Wilshire’s exit reads less as a betrayal and more as a ritual-a necessary act to balance the scales of greed and prudence.

For a fund where Camtek remains a top holding at nearly 6%, the trimming of exposure is not a rejection but a recalibration. The stock’s 30% ascent over the past year is a testament to its vigor, yet it dances on a tightrope above a chasm of volatility. To lock in gains is to acknowledge the market’s capricious nature, where even the most robust companies must contend with the absurdity of human emotion.

And so, we are left with a lesson: great businesses do not march in straight lines. They zigzag, they lurch, they defy logic. Camtek’s balance sheet, flush with cash after recent financing, is a fortress. Its margins expand like a well-fed belly. Yet in the theater of investing, the audience-composed of algorithms, hedge funds, and the occasional sentient spreadsheet-demands spectacle. Short-term volatility, driven by the whims of positioning, is not a warning but an invitation to observe the absurdity of it all.

Glossary

13F reportable assets under management (AUM): A bureaucratic confession of a fund’s holdings, filed with the SEC like a ledger of sins.

Exposure: The weight of capital placed on a single bet, often a gamble against the void.

Stake: Ownership, a claim on the future, written in the ink of hope and mathematics.

Assets under management (AUM): The sum of a fund’s soul, measured in dollars and despair.

Outperforming: A fleeting victory, a dance on the edge of a knife.

Inspection and metrology systems: Instruments of truth in a world of approximations.

Advanced packaging: The art of enclosing complexity in a shell of simplicity.

CMOS image sensors: Devices that capture light and turn it into stories.

MEMS: Tiny worlds of mechanics and electricity, where the impossible becomes mundane.

RF segments: The frequency of innovation, tuned to the chaos of wireless communication.

Proprietary hardware and software: Secrets locked in code, guarded by the ghosts of engineers past.

TTM: A four-letter acronym that tells a thousand tales of time and turnover.

And so, dear reader, the market continues its eternal waltz-a dance of numbers and nonsense, where even the devil might pause to admire Camtek’s resilience. 🐍

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2025-12-25 03:23