Vishay reports November 4 with a 24% gross margin guide and the stock down 28% from its high

A margin promise meets a 28% drawdown

Vishay Intertechnology▼−9.72% — Vishay Intertechnology, down 9.72 percent today, a components maker in Malvern, Pennsylvania, founded in 1962 by Felix Zandman, builds the least glamorous parts on a circuit board: resistors, diodes, capacitors and power MOSFETs, the transistor switches that manage power flow ⁶²⁵. Results for the fiscal third quarter, ended October 3, land before the New York Stock Exchange opens on Wednesday, November 4↗ ⁵.

Management guided gross margin to 24%, plus or minus 50 basis points↗, hitting its exit-2026 goal a quarter early ⁴¹. The market has answered with a 28% three-month drawdown: at $26.71 on October 27, the stock sat about 2% above its post-earnings low of $26.08, down from a twelve-month high of $69.47 ¹².

The slide began with the August 5 report↗, when revenue of $888.6 million missed the Street's $904.9 million even as adjusted earnings of $0.19 beat the $0.15 consensus ³². The stock has since bounced to $29.43, still up 103% this year ⁵.

The order book keeps backing management

The demand data sides with management. Book-to-bill, the ratio of orders to shipments, reached 1.32↗, so orders ran 32% ahead of shipments, and backlog rose 18% to $1.9 billion, about 6.1 months of sales ⁴. Industrial revenue jumped 30.1% year over year on smart-grid, AI power and high-voltage DC programs ⁴, and Americas passive-component orders hit a 20-year high on AI power, smart-grid and defense demand ¹.

Pricing is what makes the guide testable. Average selling prices rose 2% sequentially, increases are announced on about a third of running part numbers, and there is little sign of customers pulling orders forward to dodge them ¹⁴³. Adjusted revenue of $918.6 million, the company's preferred measure, cleared the top of its own guidance ⁴.

Consensus at the top of the guide sets up a midpoint miss

The bear case has receipts too. The Street models earnings of $0.29 a share on $971.9 million of revenue, near the top of the $945–975 million guide, so the $960 million midpoint would read as a shortfall ¹. The guide was issued 2% above the Street's $941.6 million estimate; estimates have since climbed past its midpoint ³.

The quarter also faces costs revenue does not: the $830 million equity raise added 17.25 million shares, the effective tax rate is guided to a stubborn 35–40%, and inventory built to $807 million ⁴¹. Short interest stands at 11.67% ⁸. Management is watching for double ordering as lead times stretch, and recent product releases quote 8 to 16 weeks ¹⁷. Into that gap stepped Brooklands Fund Management, reporting a new stake of 794,600 shares worth about $25.9 million↗, its tenth-largest holding ².

Twenty-four is the number to watch

Vishay lost $31 million in 2024 on $2.9 billion of sales ⁶; a company that spent that year losing money is now promising a 30% gross margin by 2028 ¹. Hold 24% with revenue near the top of the range and a December guide pointing higher, and the turnaround stays intact; miss, and the three-month slide reads as vindication ¹.

The tell on the call is book-to-bill ¹. Comfortably above 1, with distributor inventory holding near 18 weeks, down from 20, says demand is real; a slide toward parity alongside rising channel stock would say customers were ordering twice ¹⁴.