Piper Jaffray Reiterates Rating, PT On NANO

Piper Jaffray is reiterating its Overweight rating and its $21 price target on Nanometrics Inc. (NASDAQ: NANO) as the company moves forward with a positive outlook and a strong portfolio.

According to Piper Jaffray, “We believe that NANO is well positioned at leading customers with a strong product portfolio to outperform the equipment sector. As dimensions shrink, chip structures become more complex and failure modes multiply. NANO's OCD product has proven it can provide critical measurement of the most advance chip structure. In addition, new metrology is required for the most advanced packaging processes, and NANO's Unifire product is winning share at leading manufacturers in these applications as well. We believe that NANO's OCD and UniFire products are broadening account penetration into the foundry market. Finally, it appears that the industry is starting in earnest to work on the transition to 450mm wafer. NANO will likely start to see 450mm revenue in CY12. These dynamics increase our confidence in our estimates and belief that NANO will outperform its peer group going forward.”

NANO closed at $15.70 yesterday.