MKS Revenue Hits Record $1,413 Million As Chip Sales Climb 54%, And It Adds A $500 Million Buyback
The chip-tool supplier also guided fourth-quarter revenue to $1,490 million and lowered the ownership bar for calling a special meeting to 25%.
MKS, which makes instruments, subsystems and process-control products for chipmakers and electronics manufacturers, reported record third-quarter revenue of $1,413 million, above the high end of its own guidance. The board also approved a $500 million share buyback, according to an 8-K filed Wednesday.
Chips and packaging lead the quarter
Semiconductor sales rose to $638 million from $415 million a year earlier, the 54% growth CEO John T.C. Lee cited. Electronics & Packaging reached $415 million against $289 million, a 43% gain, and Specialty Industrial added $360 million against $284 million.
GAAP net income, the standard-accounting measure, hit a record $236 million, or $3.26 per diluted share, against $74 million, or $1.10, a year ago. Adjusted EBITDA was a record $434 million, and adjusted earnings were $4.18 per diluted share. Gross margin was 47.7% versus 46.6%.
Free cash flow was $243 million, up from $147 million in the third quarter of 2025. "Our business momentum continued to build in the third quarter," Lee said, pointing to AI-era demands in stacking, scaling and new materials.
Fourth-quarter guidance and the buyback
For the fourth quarter, MKS guided revenue of $1,490 million, plus or minus $40 million, and adjusted earnings of $5.00 per share, plus or minus $0.38. That outlook excludes the pending sale of its Ophir Optics business.
The new repurchase program, effective November 2, replaces a July 2011 plan that had about $28 million left. The board can suspend or end it at any time, and the company said it lets MKS return capital while it keeps investing in growth and strengthening the balance sheet.
Separately, the board cut the share ownership needed to call a special shareholder meeting to 25% from 40%, measured on a net long basis.
Converts move to short-term debt
MKS's $1.4 billion of convertible notes were classified as short-term debt at September 30 because the stock price kept meeting the conversion condition, so noteholders can convert during the fourth quarter. The company had $676 million in cash. In November it prepaid $100 million of its USD term loan B.
Nine-month GAAP net income was $495 million, versus $188 million a year earlier. The company pays a $0.25 quarterly dividend, payable December 7 to holders of record November 25.
Management holds its earnings call Thursday at 8:30 a.m. ET.
Sources
- 8-K Filing — MKS INC (MKSI) — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit mksi-ex99_1.htm — MKS INC 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- Exhibit mksi-ex99_2.htm — MKS INC 8-K exhibit — SEC EDGAR
- MKS Inc. Reports Third Quarter 2026 Financial Results — globenewswire.com
