Sands Capital Management, LLC - International Growth on VAT Group

VAT Group is the leading supplier of high-precision vacuum valves for semiconductor equipment, with roughly 70 percent share in its core application. Order intake rose 47 percent year over year, book-to-bill reached 1.6 times, and backlog stood 42 percent above year-end. Sands expects rising deposition and etch intensity, leading-edge logic, and high-bandwidth memory to increase valve content per tool, while recurring service revenue adds durability. The main debate is valuation after the shares rose to roughly 64 times forward earnings.