# Acm Research (ACMR.US)

Canonical: https://gigainvestors.com/s/ACMR

Analysis as of: 2026-10-16T07:26:10.910Z. Financial observations: FY2015–FY2026.

Listing currency: USD. Reporting currency: USD.

## Verdict

Not a wonderful business

Quality tests for Buy: not passed (profit record: pass; earnings resilience is evidence only). Published buy qualification: no.

Share price: $58.09 per share; close as of 2026-10-15.

## Checklist

### understandable: fail

- 0 revenue declines in the last 10 years (informational)

- operating margin variation exceeds 0.35

- Financial history: 10 years

- Years with declining revenue: 0

- Years with a net loss: 1

- Operating margin variation: 0.35×

Chart: Operating margin; fiscal year observations.

- FY2017: 0.02×

- FY2018: 0.09×

- FY2019: 0.17×

- FY2020: 0.14×

- FY2021: 0.15×

- FY2022: 0.15×

- FY2023: 0.17×

- FY2024: 0.19×

- FY2025: 0.12×

- LTM to Jun 2026: 0.13×

### moat: pass

- Years with nonpositive invested capital use equity plus debt and leases; positive earnings with no positive capital are shown above 100%.

- ROIC, median of available years: 17.5%

- ROIC, second-lowest year: 10.7%

- Typical minus recent gross margin: 2.8 pp

- Typical gross margin (annual median): 47.1%

- Recent gross margin (lower of latest and 3-year median): 44.4%

- Years with nonpositive capital: 1

- Capital spending / revenue: 5.0%

- ROIC including acquisitions, ten-year median: 13.8%

Chart: ROIC excluding acquisitions; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: >100%

- FY2017: 2.0%

- FY2018: 16.6%

- FY2019: 31.4%

- FY2020: 23.6%

- FY2021: 31.3%

- FY2022: 10.7%

- FY2023: 13.7%

- FY2024: 18.4%

- FY2025: 16.5%

### economics: fail

- owner earnings cash conversion below threshold

- incremental invested capital return below threshold

- working capital as a share of revenue rose more than 10pp and ends positive

- Owner earnings / net income, 5-yr: 0.71×

- Cash conversion uses consolidated totals: No

- Owner earnings, five-year total: $249M

- Net income, five-year total: $352M

- Return on incremental invested capital: 7.2%

- Working capital / revenue, annual change: 4.9 pp

- Working capital / revenue, change between three-year averages: 31.4 pp

- Working capital / revenue, final three-year average: 118.0%

Chart: Annual owner cash / profit; fiscal year observations.

- FY2021: 1.00×

- FY2022: -0.79×

- FY2023: 0.76×

- FY2024: 0.88×

- FY2025: 0.98×

### management: fail

- Historical market-dollar context (not the management verdict): 2017 to 2025 (8 years)

- potential debt-funded buybacks (informational)

- buybacks unrelated to price (informational)

- ROIC first 3 years vs last 3 years: 16.6% vs 16.5%

- Per-share earnings: 0.04 to 1.40 (three-year endpoint medians)

- five-year and ten-year diluted share growth both above threshold

- Management verdict uses per-share economic progress: Yes

- Ordinary dilution, 10-year annual growth: 21.4%

- Ordinary dilution, 5-year annual growth: 1.2%

- Market cap gain: $2.4B

- Cumulative retained earnings: $360M

- Diluted shares, 10-year annual growth: 21.4%

- Diluted shares, 5-year annual growth: 1.2%

- $1 test, starting fiscal year: FY2017

- $1 test, ending fiscal year: FY2025

- Per-share value growth: 54.3%

- Per-share value change: $1.35

- Per-share value, starting three-year median: $0.04

- Per-share value, ending three-year median: $1.40

- Buybacks concentrated in cheaper years (correlation): -1.00

- Average buyback yield: 0.4%

- Buyback history: 3 years

- Debt-funded buybacks: Yes

- Acquisition spending: $12M

- Cumulative net income, 10 years: $397M

- ROIC, first three-year median: 16.6%

- ROIC, last three-year median: 16.5%

Chart: Earnings per share; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: $0.04

- FY2017: -$0.01

- FY2018: $0.12

- FY2019: $0.33

- FY2020: $0.30

- FY2021: $0.58

- FY2022: $0.60

- FY2023: $1.19

- FY2024: $1.56

- FY2025: $1.40

### accounting: fail

- earnings not backed by cash

- Sloan accruals: 3.6%

- Receivables to sales index (DSRI): 1.12×

- Restructuring years, last five: 0

- Earnings backed by cash: No

- Operating cash / earnings: -0.11×

- Accounting red flags: 0

- Goodwill and intangibles / equity: 0.00×

Chart: Sloan accruals; fiscal year observations.

- FY2016: 10.6%

- FY2017: 11.5%

- FY2018: -0.3%

- FY2019: 4.4%

- FY2020: 9.5%

- FY2021: 7.4%

- FY2022: 8.2%

- FY2023: 10.2%

- FY2024: -2.6%

- FY2025: 3.6%

## Holders

- [David Hoeft](https://gigainvestors.com/DAC): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Mason Hawkins](https://gigainvestors.com/SE): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

- [Lee Ainslie](https://gigainvestors.com/mc): tracked 13F investor; follow the investor page for holding quarter and amounts.

## Price story

Down 54% since Jun 2026 · "ACM Research reports mixed Q3 results; narrows FY25 outlook" (seekingalpha.com, Nov 2025) · sales +15.1%

Story as of 2026-10-16T09:58:13.688Z; price observation 2026-10-15.

- 2025-11-05: ACM Research reports mixed Q3 results; narrows FY25 outlook ([seekingalpha.com](https://seekingalpha.com/news/4515566-acm-research-reports-mixed-q3-results-narrows-fy25-outlook?utm_source=feed_news_all&utm_medium=referral&feed_item_type=news))

- 2026-02-25: ACM Research’s AI Surge Collides With Export Controls and Chip Spending Cycles ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/news/acm-research-ai-surge-collides-182650490.html))

- 2026-05-08: ACMR Q1 Earnings Beat Estimates on ECP Strength and Packaging Demand ([finance.yahoo.com](https://finance.yahoo.com/markets/stocks/articles/acmr-q1-earnings-beat-estimates-163900159.html))

### Sales · FY2025–2026

sales +15.1%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm; observed 2026-03-02.

- FY2017: $37M 

- FY2018: $75M 

- FY2019: $108M 

- FY2020: $157M 

- FY2021: $260M 

- FY2022: $389M 

- FY2023: $558M 

- FY2024: $782M 

- FY2025: $901M 

- FY2026: $1.0B 

### Gross margin · FY2025

gross margin 44.4%; source https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm; observed 2026-03-02.

- FY2016: 48.7% 

- FY2017: 47.2% 

- FY2018: 46.2% 

- FY2019: 47.1% 

- FY2020: 44.4% 

- FY2021: 44.2% 

- FY2022: 47.2% 

- FY2023: 49.5% 

- FY2024: 50.1% 

- FY2025: 44.4% 

## Owner memo

Memo as of 2026-10-16T08:06:05.509Z.

### How it makes money

Operates in semiconductor equipment & materials; annual sales are USD 901.3 million.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: revenue 901309000; grossProfit 400067000; margin = grossProfit / revenue.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); ACMR.US: ACM Research, Inc., together with its subsidiaries, develops, manufactures, and sells capital equipment in Mainland China and internationally. It also develops, manufactures, and sells a range of packaging tools to wafer assembly and packaging customers. The company provides wet cleaning equipment for front end production processes; electrochemical plating, furnace, PECVD, and track platforms; Space Alternated Phase Shift, technology for flat and wafer surfaces; timely energized bubble oscillation, technology for patterned wafer surfaces at advanced process nodes; and Tahoe technology; and semi-critical cleaning tools. It also offers advanced packaging equipment, such as coaters, developers, photoresist strippers, scrubbers, wet etchers and copper-plating equipment; and advanced packaging products include: Ultra ECP ap, which delivers a uniform metal layer to finished wafers prior to packaging; Ultra C Developer, which applies liquid developer to selected parts of photoresist to resolve an image; Ultra C PR Megasonic-Assisted Stripper, which removes photoresist; Ultra C Scrubber, which scrubs and cleans wafers; Ultra C Thin Wafer Scrubber, which addresses a sub-market of cleaning very thin wafers for certain Asian assembly factories; and Ultra C Wet Etcher, which etches silicon wafers and copper and titanium interconnects. In addition, the company provides ECP technology for advanced metal plating; Ultra fn Furnace, a dry processing tool; Ultra Pmax PECVD tools, a proprietary designed chamber, gas distribution unit, and chuck; and Ultra Track, a 300mm process tool that delivers uniform air downflow, fast robot handling and configurable software to address specific customer requirements. It markets and sells its products under the SAPS, TEBO, ULTRA C, ULTRA Fn, Ultra ECP, Ultra ECP map, and Ultra ECP ap trademarks through direct sales force and third-party representatives. ACM Research, Inc. was incorporated in 1998 and is headquartered in Fremont, California.

### Why customers stay

Margins ranged from 44.4% to 50.1% during 2023–25; it earns 17.5% on its capital.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2023: grossProfit / revenue = 49.5%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2024: grossProfit / revenue = 50.1%.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: grossProfit / revenue = 44.4%.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); 10-year return on capital observations [[2016,1.1948838741029009],[2017,0.020269774943185985],[2018,0.16637156491921662],[2019,0.3137742504409171],[2020,0.2357638850799153],[2021,0.3129130061652712],[2022,0.10659816392653525],[2023,0.13710215520184058],[2024,0.18356379366904557],[2025,0.1646427985119004]]; median 0.1749676792941311. ROIC follows the displayed moat series; financial companies use return on tangible equity.

### Where the cash goes

Spends 40.5% of cash earnings on expansion; earns 7.2% on new investment.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2016: growth capex 0; upkeep 817000; owner earnings 401000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2018: growth capex 1654000; upkeep 417000; owner earnings 6574000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.2515972010952236.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2019: growth capex 337000; upkeep 788000; owner earnings 18894000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.017836350164073252.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2021: growth capex 7359000; upkeep 2353000; owner earnings 37757000. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.19490425616441984.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2023: growth capex 33076413.56888196; upkeep 31261586.43111804; owner earnings 58845052.31837702. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.5620933666593472.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); FY2024: growth capex 57070396.5082269; upkeep 25392603.4917731; owner earnings 91449646.52704012. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.6240636095991048.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: growth capex 37213872.01682495; upkeep 19069127.983175047; owner earnings 91962375.32589121. Growth capex / owner earnings = 0.4046641018671873.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); Incremental return on capital 0.07168911622232553, from the economics test's unchanged annual inputs.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); Dividend observations: [[2016,0],[2017,13087000],[2018,0],[2019,18740000],[2020,555000],[2021,0],[2022,0],[2023,3951000],[2024,6900000],[2025,7578000]]. Zero only counted when supported by a complete cash-flow statement.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); FY2025: cash repurchases 6988000 USD.

### Are managers owners

Insiders own 3.9% of the company.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-10-16); ACMR.US SharesStats.PercentInsiders = 3.8649999999999998 percentage points; cache date 2026-10-16.

### What could break it

US import tariffs could raise product costs.

- Source: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm (filed 2026-03-02); . personnel therein, may be further impacted by the addition of ACM Shanghai, ACM Korea and related entities to the BIS Entity List;

•the U.S. Government has implemented an outbound investment review mechanism, which may prevent us from taking advantage of investment opportunities outside the United States and/or receiving capital from investors in the United States that could otherwise be advantageous to our stockholders;

•changes in government trade policies that could limit the demand for our tools and/or increase the cost of our tools;

•we may be subject to risks related to recent U.S. tariffs on the semiconductor industry;

•changes in political and economic policies with respect to mainland China; and

•mainland China’s currency exchange control and government restrictions on investment repatriation may impact our ability to transfer funds outside of mainland China;

Risks Related to the STAR Listing of ACM Shanghai

•our ability to implement our strategy to expand our mainland China operations;

15

Table of Contents

•our ability to achieve the results contemplated by our business strategy and our strategy for growth in mainland China and expectations related to the STAR Listing;

•the effect of ACM Shanghai’s status as a publicly traded company that is controlled, but less than wholly owned, by ACM Research;

•our ability to manage potentially inconsistent accounting and disclosure requirements of ACM Research and ACM Shanghai as a result of the STAR Listing;

Risks Related to Our Intellectual Property and Data Security

•our ability to protect our intellectual property, including in mainland China;

•breaches of our cybersecurity systems;

Risks Related to Ownership of Class A Common Stock

•the volatility in the market price of Class A common stock;

•the difficulty to predict the effect of the STAR Listing on the Class A common stock;

•the dual class structure of common stock, which has the effect of concentrating voting control with our executive officers and directors; and

•manipulative short sellers of our stock, which may drive down the market price of our Class A common stock and could result in litigation;

Risks Related to International Aspects of Our Business

If any mainland China central government authority were to determine that existing mainland China laws or regulations require that ACM Shanghai obtain the authority’s permission or approval to continue the listing of ACM Research’s Class A common stock in the United States or if those existing mainland China laws and regulations, or interpretations thereof, were to change to require such permission or approval, or if we inadvertently conclude that permissions or approvals are not required, ACM Shanghai may be unable to obtain the required permission or approval or may only be able to obtain such permission or approval on terms and conditions that impose material new r

### What the price says

The price is 4.3 times annual sales.

- Source: https://eodhd.com/financial-apis/stock-etfs-fundamental-data-feeds/ (filed 2026-03-02); Closing price 58.09 USD; reporting-to-trading FX 1; FY2025 annual sales per share 13.390040895150578; price multiple 4.33829892342138. FY2025 cash earnings/share 1.3662128819626453. Closing-price date 2026-10-15.

## Monthly share-price history (USD per share)

- 2017-11: $6.75 per share

- 2017-12: $5.25 per share

- 2018-01: $5.37 per share

- 2018-02: $6.80 per share

- 2018-03: $12.30 per share

- 2018-04: $10.10 per share

- 2018-05: $12.71 per share

- 2018-06: $10.78 per share

- 2018-07: $12.96 per share

- 2018-08: $14.11 per share

- 2018-09: $11.07 per share

- 2018-10: $9.55 per share

- 2018-11: $11.15 per share

- 2018-12: $10.88 per share

- 2019-01: $9.31 per share

- 2019-02: $11.35 per share

- 2019-03: $15.43 per share

- 2019-04: $17.23 per share

- 2019-05: $19.26 per share

- 2019-06: $15.61 per share

- 2019-07: $17.43 per share

- 2019-08: $14.30 per share

- 2019-09: $13.86 per share

- 2019-10: $12.59 per share

- 2019-11: $13.81 per share

- 2019-12: $18.45 per share

- 2020-01: $34.74 per share

- 2020-02: $34.95 per share

- 2020-03: $29.61 per share

- 2020-04: $39.93 per share

- 2020-05: $59.79 per share

- 2020-06: $62.36 per share

- 2020-07: $95.94 per share

- 2020-08: $88.81 per share

- 2020-09: $69.10 per share

- 2020-10: $70.37 per share

- 2020-11: $82.62 per share

- 2020-12: $81.25 per share

- 2021-01: $90.00 per share

- 2021-02: $97.16 per share

- 2021-03: $80.79 per share

- 2021-04: $78.95 per share

- 2021-05: $75.98 per share

- 2021-06: $102.22 per share

- 2021-07: $92.86 per share

- 2021-08: $89.15 per share

- 2021-09: $110.00 per share

- 2021-10: $106.17 per share

- 2021-11: $87.42 per share

- 2021-12: $85.27 per share

- 2022-01: $79.65 per share

- 2022-02: $82.42 per share

- 2022-03: $20.69 per share

- 2022-04: $15.11 per share

- 2022-05: $15.16 per share

- 2022-06: $16.83 per share

- 2022-07: $16.88 per share

- 2022-08: $16.89 per share

- 2022-09: $12.46 per share

- 2022-10: $6.40 per share

- 2022-11: $9.06 per share

- 2022-12: $7.71 per share

- 2023-01: $12.49 per share

- 2023-02: $10.38 per share

- 2023-03: $11.70 per share

- 2023-04: $9.35 per share

- 2023-05: $10.11 per share

- 2023-06: $13.08 per share

- 2023-07: $13.10 per share

- 2023-08: $17.56 per share

- 2023-09: $18.11 per share

- 2023-10: $13.60 per share

- 2023-11: $16.64 per share

- 2023-12: $19.54 per share

- 2024-01: $17.22 per share

- 2024-02: $30.92 per share

- 2024-03: $29.14 per share

- 2024-04: $25.52 per share

- 2024-05: $21.60 per share

- 2024-06: $23.06 per share

- 2024-07: $17.95 per share

- 2024-08: $18.04 per share

- 2024-09: $20.30 per share

- 2024-10: $18.80 per share

- 2024-11: $17.19 per share

- 2024-12: $15.10 per share

- 2025-01: $20.55 per share

- 2025-02: $25.94 per share

- 2025-03: $23.34 per share

- 2025-04: $19.47 per share

- 2025-05: $22.55 per share

- 2025-06: $25.90 per share

- 2025-07: $30.36 per share

- 2025-08: $28.22 per share

- 2025-09: $39.13 per share

- 2025-10: $41.46 per share

- 2025-11: $33.41 per share

- 2025-12: $39.45 per share

- 2026-01: $58.12 per share

- 2026-02: $55.68 per share

- 2026-03: $39.35 per share

- 2026-04: $51.69 per share

- 2026-05: $86.56 per share

- 2026-06: $126.89 per share

- 2026-07: $78.47 per share

- 2026-08: $72.82 per share

- 2026-09: $80.92 per share

- 2026-10: $58.09 per share

## Annual estimated value (USD per share)

Historical values use today's bond yield for every fiscal year

Historical values use today's FX rate into trading currency for every fiscal year

Historical values use current restated fundamentals and current commodity classification; they are not point-in-time estimates

## Sources

[Original 10-K filing](https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1680062/000162828026013231/acmr-20251231.htm); period 2025-12-31, filed 2026-03-02.

Estimates depend on assumptions and are not guarantees or investment advice. Underlying data remains subject to its source licenses; public reading does not grant bulk redistribution rights.