Why FormFactor Stock Fell 34% Despite a $300M Teradyne Deal
FormFactor sits 34% below its Sept. 30 high and AMSC 25% below its Aug. 4 high. Neither has a filing that points to a company problem.
Seoul — FormFactor (FORM) closed at $98.51 on Oct. 23, down 34.0% from its Sept. 30 closing high of $149.31. American Superconductor (AMSC) closed at $25.12, 24.9% below its Aug. 4 high of $33.45. Filings from the past seven days show no earnings miss or lawsuit at either company.
Prices are Oct. 23 U.S. closes. On that day FormFactor rose 3.66% and AMSC 0.44%. The big drops came earlier.
At a glance
| Stock | Why it fell | Verdict | Evidence | What to check next |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| FormFactor | Down 15.29% on Oct. 22. Peer Cohu's weak results and sector supply-chain worries were reported the same day | Sector/market move | Press only | Q3 results on Oct. 29; closing of the Teradyne share sale |
| AMSC | Down 10.66% on Oct. 14 and 6.12% on Oct. 22. No filing around either date | Cause not confirmed | None | Next quarterly results; new filings |
FormFactor: down 34%, but no company problem in the filings
FormFactor is 34.0% below its high. It is down 6.2% over five days and 5.3% since July 24. So it sits near where it was three months ago, after a large swing in between. It climbed through Sept. 30, fell through most of October, and dropped from $112.18 to $95.03 on Oct. 22, a 15.29% one-day decline.
The biggest company event in the filings is the Teradyne deal. An 8-K filed on Oct. 13 on SEC EDGAR says FormFactor agreed to sell 2,234,887 new shares to Teradyne in a private placement for about $300 million, or roughly $134 a share. Closing is expected in fiscal fourth quarter 2026. Paper Trail's own check records it as a strategic technology partnership that includes a joint chip-test platform. It is also a share issuance, which dilutes existing holders, and that deserves equal weight.
No filing explains the Oct. 22 drop. Benzinga reported that day that Cohu posted worse-than-expected adjusted EPS. On Oct. 23, Yahoo reported that equipment names including Applied Materials and Lam Research fell on warnings about component supply bottlenecks. Both are press reports, not statements from FormFactor. On Oct. 22, the company also opened a new probe-card factory.
The counter-evidence is on record. According to Paper Trail's own check, the CEO has only sold shares in recent months, with no purchases. A Form 4 and a Form 144 were filed on Oct. 14; the list does not include their contents, so we could not confirm the size. The same record shows the stock 39% behind the market over six months. On the other side, FormFactor beat estimates in each of the last four quarters, and earnings estimates for this year and next rose 25.5% and 38.7% over 90 days. The results data does not point to a company problem.
AMSC: down 25%, with nothing pointing to a cause
AMSC is 24.9% below its high, down 2.1% over five days and 17.7% since July 24. The largest daily drop was 10.66% on Oct. 14, and it fell another 6.12% on Oct. 22. There were no SEC filings in the past seven days. News from the past three days is mostly options quote pages, with nothing explaining the decline. The verdict is cause not confirmed.
Paper Trail's own check suggests a broader AI and semiconductor pullback may be a factor, but that is an inference. What is confirmed: latest-quarter net income rose 285% from a year earlier, and the debt ratio is 1%. Oppenheimer's view that a U.S. executive order banning Chinese power equipment imports would help AMSC is also reported.
The same record has the other side. Analysts made one upward and five downward earnings revisions in 30 days, and this year's EPS estimate is down 16.5% over 90 days. The CEO and CFO have only sold shares in recent months. Six-month return versus the market is -57%. Strong financials sit beside falling estimates and insider selling, and none of it explains a drop with no filing behind it.
Two things to check next. For FormFactor, the Oct. 29 Q3 report will show whether the Oct. 22 drop traces to earnings, and whether the Teradyne share sale closes as planned. For AMSC, watch the next earnings date, any new 8-K, and whether insider-sale filings continue.