Apple sensor supplier AMS reports huge earnings gain, new deals

Shares of Austrian sensor maker AMS rose ten percent amid heavy losses on global stock exchanges, making it the top performer among Europe’s major stocks, The Financial Times reports.

The gain was spurred by a full-year 2017 earnings report, which confirmed earlier statements that the company had nearly doubled its revenues in 2017, and expects strong growth over the next two years. AMS reported a 252 percent increase in Q4, and a full-year adjusted gross margin of 43 percent.

The performance was largely due to production to supply optical sensors for Apple’s iPhone X, and AMS stock had been negatively affected by initial sales reports for the new smartphone, but the company has made several recent moves to diversify its customer base.

Those moves include the acquisition of Swiss facial recognition company KeyLemon. AMS also announced that it has won a large contract with a major Asian smartphone manufacturer, and has formed two partnerships to develop technology for autonomous vehicles.

“AMS has very good momentum in Android and if 3D sensing is accelerated, AMS’ revenue growth will be less dominated by Apple than before, which is positive for the stock’s multiple,” Northern Trust Capital Markets head of research Paul Moran commented on the KeyLemon deal, per the Times.

Article Topics

AMS  |  Apple  |  biometrics  |  facial recognition  |  KeyLemon  |  optical sensor