Lam Research shares plunge 10%, supply chain upends Q4 results and outlook

Lam Research, one of the most prominent suppliers of the tools used to make semiconductors, this afternoon reported Q4 revenue that missed Wall Street’s expectations. Its outlook for revenue was disappointing as well, sending the company’s shares down 10% in late trading. 

CEO Tim Archer said the company is seeing “a robust wafer fabrication spending environment,” using the term for the overall chip equipment market.

Archer added, “While supply chain conditions worsened in late December and are causing near-term impacts to our results, we expect wafer fabrication equipment investments to again increase in calendar year 2022, leading to another strong growth year for Lam.”

Revenue in the three months ending in December 2021 rose to $4.23 billion, yielding a net profit of $8.53 a share.

Analysts had been modeling $4.41 billion and $8.51 per share.

For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $3.95 billion to $4.55 billion, and EPS in a range of $6.70 to $8.20. That compares to consensus for $4.5 billion and a $8.74 per share.