CAMT vs COHU: Which Is the Better Buy in 2026?

Same yardstick, side by side (as of August 2026). Valuation lined up like this is most meaningful for two names in the same corner of the market, which these are. Figures are approximate; verify before investing.

Reading it: COHU is the cheaper of the two on forward earnings, but cheaper is not the same as better. Pair the valuation with growth (how far the forward P/E sits below the trailing P/E) and risk (beta) before you decide.

The metrics above tell you which is the marginally better business. The bigger risk for most people is not picking the slightly worse stock, it is over-concentrating. CAMT and COHU share themes, so owning both, or adding either to what you already hold, can quietly push a large share of your portfolio into one bet.

This is the part a generic comparison page cannot answer, because it depends on what you own. Connect your brokerage and Walnut shows your real, combined CAMT and COHU exposure, flags overlap with your existing positions, and tells you if adding one would tip you past a concentration you are comfortable with, read-only by default, with your login staying at your broker. Walnut is not an investment adviser.

Camtek Ltd. builds high-end optical inspection and metrology systems for semiconductor manufacturing. Its machines sit on the production floor at integrated device manufacturers, foundries and outsourced assembly and test houses (OSATs), scanning wafers and packages for defects and measuring three-dimensional features such as bumps, pillars and through-silicon vias. The Eagle family handles two-dimensional inspection and the Hawk line covers three-dimensional metrology. End applications span advanced interconnect packaging and heterogeneous integration, high-bandwidth memory, CMOS image sensors, compound semiconductors, MEMS and RF. The company is headquartered in Israel with manufacturing in Israel and Germany, files as a foreign private issuer on Nasdaq, and reported about 89 percent of sales into Asia Pacific in its most recent full geographic disclosure, with China alone around 31 percent.

Full CAMT guide

Cohu, Inc. is a global supplier of test, automation, inspection, metrology, and software-analytics products and services to the semiconductor industry. Its equipment sits in the back end of chip manufacturing: test handlers (including thermal handlers like its Eclipse line), test contactors and interface products, inspection and metrology tools, and the software that runs and analyzes them. Roughly 40% of sales come from test and inspection systems, while about 60% is recurring revenue from interface products, spares, software, and services, which cushions the deep cyclicality of capital-equipment orders. Cohu serves customers across automotive, industrial, mobile, computing, and consumer chip end-markets, so its business tracks the broad health of the semiconductor cycle.

Full COHU guide

Both fit overlapping themes, but they are not interchangeable. The useful comparison is which set of drivers and risks you want exposure to.

• CAMT drivers: HBM and the memory stack; OSATs moving up the value chain.
• COHU drivers: AI and high-performance-computing ramp; Cyclical recovery in core end-markets.

A faster-growing, richer-valued name usually swings harder, so it suits a longer horizon and a higher tolerance for volatility; a steadier, more cash-generative business suits a more conservative or income-minded investor. The honest test is which set of risks you could hold through a drawdown: Customer concentration is real: a handful of memory makers, foundries and OSATs decide most of the year, and a single pushed order can move a quarter. For COHU, cohu is small and cyclical, so its orders and revenue are lumpy and swing hard with the semiconductor capital-equipment cycle and with automotive, industrial, and computing chip demand it does not control.

Growth-minded investors who believe the theme has years to run tend to accept the richer multiple for more upside; value-minded investors lean toward the cheaper forward earnings and steadier profile. Pick CAMT if you believe its drivers more; COHU if you believe its. Many investors hold both, but since they share themes, that is a concentrated bet, not diversification. Decide deliberately and check overlap. For the full detail, see the CAMT and COHU guides.

CAMT. Trailing GAAP earnings are misleading here. A roughly $89 million one-time capital loss on the repurchase of most of the 2021 convertible notes in the third quarter of 2025 dragged GAAP net income to about $48 million on a trailing basis, which is why headline trailing P/E screens near triple digits while forward P/E sits near 38. Non-GAAP net income for full-year 2025 was about $159 million. Second quarter 2026 results were scheduled for August 10, 2026, with guidance of $129 million to $131 million in revenue.

COHU. As of June 2026 Cohu traded around a ~$2.8 billion market cap on roughly $481 million of trailing revenue, a price-to-sales ratio near 5.8x, while its trailing price-to-earnings ratio was negative because it was still posting losses coming out of the downturn. The valuation reflects an early-cycle recovery and AI/high-performance-computing optimism rather than current earnings, so results and the stock are sensitive to whether 2026 growth guidance of 20% to 25% and margin recovery actually materialize. Figures are approximate and change with each quarter and the chip cycle.

Headline figures (approximate, August 2026): CAMT shows revenue (ttm) ~$499M (FY2025 ~$496M, up ~16%), q1 2026 revenue ~$122M, up ~2.5% year over year, gross margin ~51%, non-gaap operating margin ~25%; COHU shows revenue (fy2025) ~$453 million (up ~13%), revenue (ttm) ~$481 million, q1 2026 revenue ~$125 million, net income (ttm) ~-$56 million (loss).

CAMT and COHU are related but distinct: same themes, different businesses and risks. Neither wins in the abstract; the right pick is whichever thesis you actually believe, sized so you are not over-concentrated in one theme. Walnut can show your combined CAMT and COHU exposure against your real portfolio. It is not an investment adviser.