On the whole, I like pick-and-shovel plays and Versum Materials (VSM) is a good example in the chip space, as this producer of specialty chemicals, gases, and other materials is heavily leveraged to ongoing growth in chip production volume and ever-increasing chip design complexity. Although Versum has some modest exposure to equipment and some volume risk from improving yields, the general outlook for Versum is healthy as a critical supplier to fabs.
Relative to Entegris (ENTG), though, I’m not quite as interested in the value proposition offered by these shares. I