** Shares of chip equipment maker ICHR.O up as much as
6.4% at $22.76 in early trade
** Brokerage Stifel raises rating to "buy" from "hold"; says
following some supply chain challenges related to the COVID-19
pandemic, Ichor is now seeing a recovery in overall demand trend
** Stifel expects ICHR to benefit from a pickup in wafer fab
equipment (WFE) spending, driving a demand from its OEM
customers
** Current avg. estimate of 7 analysts on stock is "buy" and
median PT is $39- Refinitiv data
** Up to Friday's close, stock had fallen ~36% so far this
year
(Reporting by Tiyashi Datta in Bengaluru)
((tiyashi.datta@thomsonreuters.com))