Vishay Precision Group just delivered one of its sharpest weeks in recent memory — a 34% rally driven by a Q1 earnings beat and the first order intake exceeding $100 million since 2022, landing the stock at $85.57 and leaving short sellers nursing losses as SI eases from a prior build.
The trigger was Tuesday's Q1 2026 results. Orders crossing the $100 million mark for the first time in four years was the headline catalyst, and the company backed it up with a Q2 revenue guide of $85–90 million alongside an 8–10% organic growth target. The stock was already up 28% on the day before the dust settled. The 1-month gain is now 71% — a move that has decisively repriced the company away from the depressed levels where shorts had been building positions through April.
Options positioning tells the most interesting side story. The put/call ratio, which spent all of April grinding between 0.25 and 0.31, spiked sharply after earnings to 0.79 on May 11 before pulling back to 0.69 on May 12 — still more than two standard deviations above its 20-day average of 0.36. That is close to the 52-week high of 0.80. The surge in put activity in the wake of a 34% rally is unusual. It likely reflects investors hedging a position that moved very fast, rather than outright bearish conviction — but it flags that not everyone is comfortable holding at these levels. Short interest itself eased 5% on the week to 8.2% of the float, down from a recent peak near 8.6%. Borrowing costs are undemanding at 0.44% annualised. Availability remains loose — no squeeze mechanics are in play; shorts have simply been running for the exits as the stock moved against them.
B. Riley's Josh Nichols responded quickly on May 13, lifting his price target from $63 to $109 while keeping a Buy rating. At $85.57, VPG trades at a meaningful discount to that revised target, which suggests the Street sees further room to run if the order momentum sustains. That said, the stock now trades at 68x trailing earnings and 26x EV/EBITDA — multiples that expanded roughly 27% and 12% respectively over the past month. The PE has moved up more than 16 points in 30 days alone. For context, forward EPS estimates are running 80 percentage points above last year's, placing VPG in the top quintile of the universe on forward earnings momentum — but the 90-day EPS momentum score, at just 13, tells a more cautious story about whether that acceleration is durable. The valuation rerating has been swift and significant.
Ownership is worth noting briefly. T. Rowe Price built a material new position in the March quarter, adding over 250,000 shares to reach a 2.1% stake — the largest single quarterly addition among the top 15 holders. Portolan Capital and Peak6 also added meaningfully in earlier quarters. Insider activity is stale (last reported January 2026), with the CEO and CFO both recorded as selling shares at $38.50 in scheduled transactions — prices that now look well in the rear-view mirror given Tuesday's close.
Peer context underscores just how much VPG stood out this week. Close correlates PLXS and VSH were roughly flat to modestly positive on the week. NOVT fell 13%. The broader electronic equipment peer group was not pricing in the kind of order recovery that VPG announced — which is part of why the move was so violent.
The next earnings event is flagged for May 19. Whether that represents a follow-on investor call or a preliminary filing is the key thing to clarify — given the results already dropped on May 12, the May 19 date warrants watching for any further management commentary or order update that could test whether the current valuation is already pricing in the recovery in full.
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