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Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF

6/20/2013, 2:44 AM ET

Quote & Headlines Market Currents StockTalk

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Tuesday, June 4, 12:05 PM Chip stocks outperform (SOXX +1.4%) after Microchip raises its June quarter guidance, and STMicroelectronics raises its 2013 guidance. Microchip rivals Texas Instruments (TXN +2.6%), Atmel (ATML +3.4%), and Freescale (FSL +2.1%) are among the winners, as is STMicroelectronics rival NXP (NXPI +3.6%). Also, Altera (ALTR +2.5%) is rallying with the help of an upgrade to Buy from Argus, and Intersil (ISIL +2.4%) is benefiting from a bullish coverage launch from Piper. Some chip ETFs: SMH, XSD, PSI, SOXL, USD, SOXS, SSG. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Monday, June 3, 5:33 PM Microchip (MCHP) +4.5% after raising its FQ1 (ends June 30) guidance. The microcontroller vendor now expects 4%-7% Q/Q sales growth and EPS of $0.52-$0.56; that's better than prior guidance of 2%-6% growth and EPS of $0.50-$0.54, and largely above a consensus of $447.7M and $0.52. Microchip, often seen as a bellwether for chip stocks (SOXX, SMH), says it has "continued to see a very strong bookings and business environment," has "received excellent visibility" from customers, and is returning employees to work faster than expected to keep inventories from falling too low. Microchip's guidance hike comes after the SIA estimated chip sales fell 10% M/M in March, better than a historical drop of 15.3%. Comment! [Tech, On the Move, Earnings]
Friday, May 31, 7:50 PM Look for any piece of news that smacks of an improving economy to send stocks falling next week, warns CNBC's Jim Cramer. Why? Big money investors will interpret any positive economic signs as a signal that the Fed is about to pull back economic stimulus rather than risk runaway inflation. Still, he says, there may be opportunities in the pullback, particularly in the bank, tech and industrial spaces. Just says away from anything with a higher yield, like utilities and MLP's. 37 Comments [U.S. Economy, Quick Ideas]
Thursday, May 30, 4:02 PM Chip stocks close with solid gains (SOXX +1.5%) after Avago beats April quarter estimates and makes encouraging comments about mobile, industrial, and enterprise networking demand. In addition to Avago's rivals and Cirrus Logic (previous), big winners include Fairchild (FCS +3.8%), SanDisk (SNDK +2.7%), Spreadtrum (SPRD +7.2%), and InvenSense (INVN +4.9%), as well as touchscreen controller suppliers Synaptics (SYNA +4.3%), Atmel (ATML +6.3%), and Cypress (CY +2.8%). Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Monday, May 6, 2:05 PM Global chip sales rose 0.9% Y/Y in March, the SIA estimates. That's down slightly from Feb.'s 1.4% Y/Y growth, as PC and (to a lesser extent) IT hardware weakness offset smartphone/tablet strength. Sales were also up 0.9% Y/Y for the whole of Q1. Comment! [Tech]
Thursday, April 25, 8:28 PM Samsung Electronics (SSNLF.PK) says its Q1 profit rose 42% to a record high on strong smartphone sales. Net profit rose to a record KRW7.15T ($6.4B), up from KRW5.05T a year earlier. Operating profit rose 54% to KRW8.8T from KRW5.7T. Sales rose 16.8% to KRW52.9T from KRW45.3T, coming in in line with the company's guidance of KRW51T to KRW53T. The results stand in stark contrast those of Apple (AAPL), which earlier this week reported its first profit drop in a decade and forecast margins to decline in the current quarter ending in June. 95 Comments [Tech, Earnings, Global & FX]
Wednesday, April 24, 12:28 PM Are wireless chip stocks decoupling from Apple? Even with Apple off slightly as bleak June quarter guidance outweighs fresh capital returns, iPhone/iPad combo chip supplier Broadcom (BRCM +6.6%) is surging thanks to a Q1 beat and strong Q2 guidance, and is helping out some peers - QCOM +1.4%, SWKS +2.6%, INVN +1.8%, SNDK +1%. During its earnings call, Broadcom, which also provides combo chips for many Samsung phones, stated mobile chip sales only fell 1.6% Q/Q in seasonally weak Q1, and forecast sequential growth for the business (Apple-dependent Cirrus Logic sure isn't doing the same). Qualcomm reports after the close. 4 Comments [Tech, Earnings, On the Move]
Wednesday, April 17, 12:26 PM Chip stocks have a rough day (SOXX -2.8%) following Cirrus Logic's warning, light guidance from Linear Technology (LLTC -4.6%) to go with a Q1 beat - Linear sees 1%-4% Q/Q revenue growth for calendar Q2, below a 4.7% consensus - and ho-hum Q1 results/Q2 guidance from Intel. Apple suppliers Broadcom (BRCM -4%), Avago (AVGO -5.5%), STMicroelectronics (STM -6.7%), NXP (NXPI -7%), RF Micro (RFMD -2.8%), and OmniVision (OVTI -3.3%) are among the casualties, but they're far from alone. ANAD -6.2%. STM -5.7%. FSL -5%. ADI -4.5%. TXN -4.4%. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Thursday, April 11, 5:48 PM "The move to digital audio/video and the rise of powerful smartphones/tablets is shrinking the overall [semiconductor addressable market]," writes Barclays' Blayne Curtis in a gloomy note about chip stocks influenced by ugly Q1 PC data. "The growth profile in semis is much slower than many expect (low single digits vs. the 7-8% 20yr trend line)." Curtis has cut Broadcom (BRCM) by two notches to Underweight on a belief its combo chip business could be hurt by integrated platforms (ed: Broadcom seems to have a tech edge for now), but has left his other ratings intact. Comment! [Tech]
Wednesday, April 3, 8:00 AM Something for the technicians to have a look at is this chart from ukarlewitz noting small-caps (IWM) have joined the industrials (XLI) and semiconductors (SMH) in slipping below their long-term uptrend line. Oversold in an uptrend tends to get bought, he says. It's a key time. 3 Comments
Monday, April 1, 11:42 AM Chip stocks underperform (SOXX -1.5%) after the SIA reports industry sales fell 8.9% M/M and 3.8% Y/Y in February. Bernstein points out the M/M drop is much worse than a 3.4% historical average. Microprocessor sales are estimated to have fallen 14% M/M, but the fact Intel (INTC -2%) and AMD (AMD -1.2%) no longer provide data to the SIA affects the reliability of that number. Memory sales (inc. DRAM and NAND) grew thanks to both higher bit shipments and prices. 1 Comment [Tech]
Thursday, March 28, 8:40 PM Just 3 chip manufacturers - Intel (INTC), Samsung (SSNLF.PK), and TSMC (TSM) - will account for 57% of 2013 chip industry capex, estimates IC insights. That figure, up from 2012's 54%, drives home the extent chip equipment maker fortunes now hinge on the spending plans of a handful of firms, and also the big lead the industry giants have opened up in economies of scale relative to smaller rivals. IC Insights expects total industry capex to grow 2% this year to $59.8B, after falling 11% last year. 1 Comment [Tech]
Friday, February 22, 2:03 PM Chip stocks are outperforming (SOXX +2%) in the wake of Marvell's FQ4 beat and solid guidance, and Texas Instruments' dividend/buyback hike. Also norteworthy: 1) SEMI estimates the book-to-bill for North American chip equipment makers rose to 1.14 in January; that's up from 0.92 in December, and the first reading above 1 since May '12. 2) Taiwanese analog chipmakers posted strong January sales thanks to demand from LED and smartphone clients; the results could be a positive leading indicator. Comment! [Tech, On the Move]
Friday, February 1, 1:34 PM Telecom chipmakers Cavium (CAVM +7.5%) and PMC-Sierra (PMCS +13.7%) soar after delivering Q4 beats (I, II), and contribute to a decent rally in chip stocks (SOXX +1.9%). Cavium guided on its Q4 call for Q1 revenue of $68.5M-$70.5M and EPS of $0.17-$0.19 vs. a consensus of $69.1M and $0.17. PMC guided on its call for Q1 revenue of $123M-$132M, largely above a $124.7M consensus. The numbers come amidst growing optimism (I, II) about 2013 telecom capex. Peers Broadcom (BRCM +2%), Marvell (MRVL +3.1%), and LSI (LSI +4.7%) are all doing well. Comment! [Tech, Earnings, On the Move]
Thursday, January 24, 9:59 AM Leading IT hardware/component distributor Avnet (AVT +4.9%), often seen as a tech bellwether, is moving higher after easily beating FQ2 estimates. FQ3 guidance is for revenue of $5.95B-$6.55B and EPS of $0.81-$0.91, mostly above a consensus of $5.95B and $0.78. On a pro forma basis, chip sales fell 2.2% Y/Y and hardware sales 9.6%. Asia delivered positive growth for both segments, while the opposite held for the Americas and EMEA. Arrow (ARW +3.1%) is up in sympathy. CC at 2PM ET (webcast). (PR) (CFO review) Comment! [Tech]
Thursday, January 17, 1:19 PM TSMC (TSM +2.5%) has hit levels last seen during the Dot.com bubble after delivering an in-line Q4 report (revenue was already known thanks to monthly reports) and guiding for a smaller Q/Q sales drop for seasonally weak Q1 than was expected. The world's top chip foundry claims 22% of Q4 wafer sales involved its cutting-edge 28nm process - TSMC struggled with 28nm yield issues earlier in 2012. Chip stocks are getting a lift from the report (SOXX +1.4%), and from ASML's guidance. Comment! [Tech, Earnings, On the Move]

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