Ahead of the Bell: Analyst upgrades FormFactor

NEW YORK - An Oppenheimer analyst upgraded shares of FormFactor Inc. on Monday, saying the chip testing equipment maker's orders are starting to recover.

In a client note, Oppenheimer analyst Gary Hsueh raised his rating for the stock to "Outperform" from "Perform" and increased his price target by $8 to $30. Hsueh said checks indicate the company is being helped by major equity and debt refinancing by DRAM, or dynamic random access memory, chipmakers, as well as by a resurgence in DRAM research and development spending that is intended to make up for lower investments in the past year.

"Specifically, our checks indicate that FORM recently gained visibility on a 3x sequential uptick in wafer probe card orders from its largest customer, Elpida, for Q3 (Sept). Also, FORM is strongly positioned to regain share at Samsung and Inotera/Nanya for DDR3 wafer probe cards in Q4," he wrote.

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