I’m long
$PDFS PDF Solution
I’m hyper bullish on all CPU stocks. Specially if they are made in America.
$PDFS is the hidden gem I’ve overlooked.
$INTC just crushed ERs and is trading 15% AH.
$PDFS Also up AH tonight. 9.5% AH
Intel is one of
$PDFS key customers. They work with PDF Solutions directly to improve fab yields.
PDF Solutions builds the data intelligence layer inside semiconductor fabs. Their Exensio platform manages over 24,000 manufacturing machines worldwide.
It collects fab data across every step of production, normalizes it, and uses AI to find yield problems and close the loop before bad wafers become bad chips.
Intel ramping fabs means more yield complexity. More yield complexity means more value for Exensio. That’s the thesis in one sentence.
FY2025 numbers: $219M revenue, up 22% YoY. Q4 up 25%. Non-GAAP operating margin at 21%. Recurring revenue 94% of total. $254M backlog heading into 2026.
They also just licensed Intel’s own AI Studio, rebranded it as Exensio Studio AI, and embedded it into the platform. Intel’s technology, running inside PDFS’s product, sold back to fabs including Intel.
Management is guiding 20% revenue growth for 2026. Intel just guided Q2 revenue of $13.8-14.8B, well above the $13.1B Wall Street expected. When Intel invests in manufacturing, PDFS benefits directly.
The cherry on top is their management team
Two Carnegie Mellon PhDs founded this company in 1991 and never left. Kibarian still CEO. Michaels still EVP. Their CTO literally held the Keithley Professorship at CMU before joining full time.
CFO Adnan Raza: Goldman Sachs TMT banking, AT&T Bell Labs, Synaptics executive team. The finance brain knows both Wall Street and silicon.
The board has a former Synopsys co-CEO and a current Intel director.
All of this at a 1.75B MC
I’m long.