One-glance verdict
Overvalued
$46.45 our estimate vs market $285.04
Wall Street consensus: $412.31 (787.6% higher than our fair-value estimate)
514% above our estimate, beyond the bull case
Fundamentals snapshot
MKS Inc.
MKSI · NMS · Technology · Scientific & Technical Instruments
Current price
$285.04
52-week range
$88.49 - $447.62
Market cap
$19.25B
Balance sheet
Stretched
2.48x Stretched
Net debt $3.72B. Interest coverage shows how many times profit covers the interest bill.
What stands out
3 Rewards
3 Risks
3 rewards · 3 risks
- Reward Revenue grew 3.6% last year.
- Reward Returns 12.7% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
- Risk Stock trades 101.5% above its 5-year average P/E.
- Risk Operating margin compressed from 18.9% to 16.0% over 3 years.
What this company does
MKS Inc.
MKS Inc. makes the highly specialized tools and materials needed to manufacture computer chips and other advanced electronics, like smartphones and TVs. The company earns money by selling these critical components to the world's largest technology manufacturers. Because its products are a necessary part of the electronics supply chain (the entire network of businesses involved in creating and distributing a product), the company's performance often reflects the overall health and demand of the global tech industry.
How the company got here
Founded in 1961, MKS started by creating a specialized instrument to measure gas pressure for making semiconductor chips (the tiny electronic components that power everything from phones to cars). Over the years, it grew by developing more tools to control the manufacturing environment for these sensitive electronics. A key strategy has been acquiring other companies to add new technologies, such as purchasing Newport Corporation in 2016 for its laser and light-based tools, and Atotech in 2022 for its specialty chemicals and plating technology. These moves transformed MKS from a component supplier into a broad provider of technology solutions for electronics and other advanced manufacturing industries.
What it actually does
MKS provides the highly specialized tools, chemicals, and systems that other companies use to manufacture complex electronics like semiconductor chips and printed circuit boards (the green boards that hold all the chips inside a device). Think of them as a high-tech support crew for the factories that make the building blocks of our digital world. Their products are designed to solve very precise manufacturing challenges, like creating perfectly controlled environments (a vacuum), using lasers to cut or shape materials with extreme accuracy, and applying specialty chemicals to create electrical pathways. These technologies are critical for making electronic devices smaller, faster, and more powerful.
Vacuum Solutions Division (VSD)
This is the company's original and foundational business, making instruments that create and measure vacuums and control gas flows. Companies making semiconductors need an extremely clean, controlled environment, and this division provides the gear to measure pressure, deliver specific gases, and generate plasma (an energized gas used in chip making). Customers are primarily the large manufacturers of semiconductor equipment who build these tools into their complex factory machines. This segment provides the essential building blocks for controlling the physical environment during the chip-making process.
Photonics Solutions Division (PSD)
This part of the company focuses on using light and lasers for manufacturing and research. It offers a wide range of products, including lasers for precise cutting and drilling, instruments to measure light and power, and systems to control vibration and motion at a microscopic level. For example, a customer might use an MKS laser to drill microscopic holes in a flexible circuit board for a smartphone. This division serves a broad set of customers in semiconductor manufacturing, electronics, and scientific research who need to work with materials on a very small and precise scale.
Materials Solutions Division (MSD)
This division, which was created through the major acquisition of Atotech, provides specialty chemicals, equipment, and software used in manufacturing electronics. Its main business is in electroplating, a process that uses chemistry to coat surfaces with thin layers of metal, which is how the tiny copper circuits on a printed circuit board are created. Customers in the electronics and automotive industries pay for these chemical solutions and the related equipment to manufacture things like circuit boards, chip packaging, and connectors. This segment adds a recurring revenue stream (ongoing sales of consumable chemicals) to the company's business.
What management is betting on now
Management is focused on being the go-to provider for the increasingly complex challenge of connecting all the tiny parts of an electronic device, a strategy they call "Optimizing the Interconnect." This means combining their expertise in vacuums, lasers, and chemistry to help manufacturers build smaller, more powerful, and more complex chips and circuit boards, especially for demanding applications like artificial intelligence (AI). They are also focused on growing their recurring revenue (the steady income from selling consumable products like chemicals and services) to make the business more resilient to the ups and downs of the semiconductor industry. A key priority is also paying down the debt taken on for the Atotech acquisition.
How the company got here
Founded in 1961, MKS started by creating a specialized instrument to measure gas pressure for making semiconductor chips (the tiny electronic components that power everything from phones to cars). Over the years, it grew by developing more tools to control the manufacturing environment for these sensitive electronics. A key strategy has been acquiring other companies to add new technologies, such as purchasing Newport Corporation in 2016 for its laser and light-based tools, and Atotech in 2022 for its specialty chemicals and plating technology. These moves transformed MKS from a component supplier into a broad provider of technology solutions for electronics and other advanced manufacturing industries.
What it actually does
MKS provides the highly specialized tools, chemicals, and systems that other companies use to manufacture complex electronics like semiconductor chips and printed circuit boards (the green boards that hold all the chips inside a device). Think of them as a high-tech support crew for the factories that make the building blocks of our digital world. Their products are designed to solve very precise manufacturing challenges, like creating perfectly controlled environments (a vacuum), using lasers to cut or shape materials with extreme accuracy, and applying specialty chemicals to create electrical pathways. These technologies are critical for making electronic devices smaller, faster, and more powerful.
Vacuum Solutions Division (VSD)
This is the company's original and foundational business, making instruments that create and measure vacuums and control gas flows. Companies making semiconductors need an extremely clean, controlled environment, and this division provides the gear to measure pressure, deliver specific gases, and generate plasma (an energized gas used in chip making). Customers are primarily the large manufacturers of semiconductor equipment who build these tools into their complex factory machines. This segment provides the essential building blocks for controlling the physical environment during the chip-making process.
Photonics Solutions Division (PSD)
This part of the company focuses on using light and lasers for manufacturing and research. It offers a wide range of products, including lasers for precise cutting and drilling, instruments to measure light and power, and systems to control vibration and motion at a microscopic level. For example, a customer might use an MKS laser to drill microscopic holes in a flexible circuit board for a smartphone. This division serves a broad set of customers in semiconductor manufacturing, electronics, and scientific research who need to work with materials on a very small and precise scale.
Materials Solutions Division (MSD)
This division, which was created through the major acquisition of Atotech, provides specialty chemicals, equipment, and software used in manufacturing electronics. Its main business is in electroplating, a process that uses chemistry to coat surfaces with thin layers of metal, which is how the tiny copper circuits on a printed circuit board are created. Customers in the electronics and automotive industries pay for these chemical solutions and the related equipment to manufacture things like circuit boards, chip packaging, and connectors. This segment adds a recurring revenue stream (ongoing sales of consumable chemicals) to the company's business.
What management is betting on now
Management is focused on being the go-to provider for the increasingly complex challenge of connecting all the tiny parts of an electronic device, a strategy they call "Optimizing the Interconnect." This means combining their expertise in vacuums, lasers, and chemistry to help manufacturers build smaller, more powerful, and more complex chips and circuit boards, especially for demanding applications like artificial intelligence (AI). They are also focused on growing their recurring revenue (the steady income from selling consumable products like chemicals and services) to make the business more resilient to the ups and downs of the semiconductor industry. A key priority is also paying down the debt taken on for the Atotech acquisition.
Price history
How the share price has moved
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Loading price history…
Earnings history
Last 8 quarters — what happened
Click any quarter to read the call summary and what the numbers say.
FY2024 Q2
$95.00M
FY2024 Q3
$141.00M
FY2024 Q4
$125.00M
FY2025 Q1
$123.00M
FY2025 Q2
$136.00M
FY2025 Q3
$146.00M
FY2025 Q4
$92.00M
FY2026 Q1
$28.00M
Revenue
$1.08B
Net income
$84.00M
Diluted EPS
1.18
Operating cash flow
$53.00M
Free cash flow
$28.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$1.03B
Net income
$107.00M
Diluted EPS
1.58
Operating cash flow
$142.00M
Free cash flow
$92.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$988.00M
Net income
$74.00M
Diluted EPS
1.10
Operating cash flow
$197.00M
Free cash flow
$146.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$973.00M
Net income
$62.00M
Diluted EPS
0.92
Operating cash flow
$165.00M
Free cash flow
$136.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$936.00M
Net income
$52.00M
Diluted EPS
0.77
Operating cash flow
$141.00M
Free cash flow
$123.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$935.00M
Net income
$90.00M
Diluted EPS
1.34
Operating cash flow
$176.00M
Free cash flow
$125.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$896.00M
Net income
$62.00M
Diluted EPS
0.92
Operating cash flow
$163.00M
Free cash flow
$141.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Revenue
$887.00M
Net income
$23.00M
Diluted EPS
0.33
Operating cash flow
$122.00M
Free cash flow
$95.00M
Fetching…
Sources
Is it cheap or expensive?
Fair value $46.45 vs current price $285.04
Wall Street consensus is the average analyst price target: $412.31 (787.6% higher than our fair-value estimate).
Our most-likely fair value is $46.45 a share — about 83.7% below today's price of $285.04, so the stock currently looks expensive (overvalued).
Is it drowning in debt?
Stretched
Net debt $3.7B. Interest coverage 2.5x.
Net debt
$3.72B
Interest coverage
2.48x
MKS Inc.'s profit covers its interest bill about 2.5 times over. which is stronger than most peers shown here.
Stretched
Worse cushion
Baseline
Better cushion
MKSI
BASELINE
MKS Inc.
Total debt $4.29B Interest coverage 2.48x This is the baseline the peer rows are being compared against.
Total debt $683.10M Interest coverage 13.27x +436% vs MKSI Carries about 5.4x more debt cushion than MKSI.
Total debt $3.43B Interest coverage 2.20x -11% vs MKSI Has roughly the same debt cushion as MKSI.
Total debt $1.70B Interest coverage 3.91x +58% vs MKSI Carries about 1.6x more debt cushion than MKSI.
Total debt $780.40M Interest coverage 1.14x -54% vs MKSI Carries about 2.2x less debt cushion than MKSI.
Total debt $1.41B Interest coverage 8.22x +232% vs MKSI Carries about 3.3x more debt cushion than MKSI.
What you should know
The case for and against MKSI
3 Rewards
3 Risks
Rewards
-
Revenue grew 3.6% last year.
-
Returns 12.7% on equity, ahead of 66% of its peers.
-
Free cash flow was positive in 10/10 years.
Risks
-
Stock trades 101.5% above its 5-year average P/E.
-
Operating margin compressed from 18.9% to 16.0% over 3 years.
-
Insider ownership is only 0.5% (peer median: 2.0%).
The numbers
All the key metrics, grouped by purpose
Tap any ? icon to learn what it means.
Valuation
How expensive the stock looks
P/E (TTM)
59.76x
Forward P/E
18.56x
P/B
6.82x
P/S
4.73x
EV/EBITDA
26.62x
PEG ratio
1.32x
Profitability
How much profit each dollar creates
Gross margin
46.6%
Operating margin
16.0%
Net margin
8.0%
ROE
12.7%
ROA
4.3%
Health
Liquidity and balance-sheet strength
Debt / equity
1.53x
Current ratio
1.11x
Quick ratio
0.59x
Total debt
$4.29B
Total cash
$569.00M
Growth
How the business has been compounding
Revenue TTM
$4.07B
Revenue 5Y CAGR
7.4%
EPS TTM
4.77
EPS 5Y CAGR
-7.7%
Cash flow
How much cash the business throws off
Operating CF TTM
$557.00M
Free CF TTM
$497.00M
FCF margin
12.2%
Dividend
Shareholder payout
Yield
0.3%
Payout ratio
19.0%
Last ex-div date
2026-06-03