Akoustis Technologies is heading to $10, says Roth Capital

Roth Capital Partners analyst Suji Desilva reported on Akoustis Technologies (Akoustis Technologies Stock Quote, Charts, News, Analysts, Financials NASDAQ:AKTS) on Monday, reiterating a “Buy” rating on the stock and saying the integrated device manufacturer looks to be building momentum for sequential growth over upcoming quarters.

Charlotte, NC-based Akoustis, which designs and builds radio frequency (RF) filters for the mobile wireless sector and is commercializing its XBAW acoustic wave technology for smartphones, reported its first quarter fiscal 2023 (ended Sept) results on Monday, showing record quarterly revenue of $5.6 million for a 195 per cent year-over-year increase. Akoustis’ non-GAAP operating loss for the quarter was $15.6 million compared to a loss of $10.7 million a year earlier. (All figures in US dollars.)

The company said sales have been robust as have its design wins, despite the ongoing supply chain challenges in consumer electronics. Along with multiple new design wins and purchase orders achieved over the fiscal Q1, Akoustis said it completed the process flow for its new WLP and chip-scale package (CSP) products and has a design for its first tier-1 5G mobile customer for the WLP. 

With its commentary, management guided for fiscal second quarter revenue growth of between five and ten per cent sequentially.

“Our current growth is being driven largely by production ramps of our patented XBAW RF filter solutions to multiple customers across our diverse end markets, including Wi-Fi 6 and Wi-Fi 6E, 5G mobile and infrastructure, timing control, automotive and other markets,” said founder and CEO Jeff Shealy in a press release.

Looking at the quarterly results, Desilva said the $5.6 million topline was slightly above his estimate at $5.5 million, while the analyst said AKTS remains well-funded, ending the quarter with a cash balance of over $60 million.

“AKTS continues to track toward C1H23 production of ramp of its first mobile customer as the company has begun production with its in-house wafer level packaging (WLP) capabilities. In wireless infrastructure, we are encouraged that AKTS has secured a strong CBRS design win footprint where orders are being pulled in and driving 5G deployments. We believe AKTS has multi-quarter building ramp opportunity and steady filter share gain ahead,” Desilva said.

For the full fiscal 2023 year, Desilva is forecasting Akoustis to deliver $27.5 million in revenue compared to $15.4 million in fiscal 2022 and EPS of negative $0.93 per share compared to negative $0.91 per share for 2022. For fiscal 2024, he is calling for revenue of $55.0 million and EPS of negative $0.64 per share.

With the update and maintained “Buy” rating, Desilva also kept a $10.00 target price on Akoustis, representing at press time a projected one-year return of 178 per cent.