Wednesday, May 8, 6:12 PM
Tech guidance roundup: 1) Millennial Media (MM - earnings) expects Q2 revenue of $58M-$60M, below a consensus of $60.8M. Expects 2013 revenue of $270M-$280M vs. a $275.3M consensus. 2) Spreadtrum (SPRD - earnings) expects Q2 revenue of $220M-$228M, above a $205M consensus. 3) sTec (STEC - earnings) expects Q2 revenue of $23M-$26M and EPS of -$0.41 to -$0.43 vs. a consensus of $25.2M and -$0.39. MM -2.7% AH. SPRD +2.7%. STEC unchanged. (Millennial PR) (Spreadtrum PR) (sTec PR)
Comment![Tech, Earnings, On the Move]
Wednesday, May 8, 4:23 PMSpreadtrum Communications (SPRD): Q1 EPS of $0.50 beats by $0.09. Revenue of $189M (+17.3% Y/Y) beats by $4.58M. Shares +5.5% AH. (PR)
Comment![Earnings, Breaking News, Tech, On the Move]
Friday, May 3, 11:55 AM
Spreadtrum (SPRD -5.1%) has a rough day ahead of its May 9 Q1 report thanks to a two-notch downgrade to Underperform from Japan's Daiwa Capital. The firm expects strong Q1 results and Q2 guidance, but sees a 2H pickup in dual-core TD-SCDMA 3G processor shipments (from MediaTek and Qualcomm?) translating into tougher competition. Shares are still up 17% YTD; they trade at 8.9x 2013E EPS. (CTO firing) (price cut report)
Comment![Tech, On the Move]
Saturday, April 27, 11:42 AM
More on Qualcomm: Digitimes reports Qualcomm and Spreadtrum (SPRD) have cut prices for Chinese quad-core chips due to competition from MediaTek; Qualcomm has reportedly cut prices below $10 (low by its standards). The report is noteworthy given Qualcomm's growing Chinese presence, and the fact its chip margins (along with chip/royalty mix) had much to do with its disappointing FQ3/FY13 EPS guidance. Thanks to heavy R&D spend and a mix shift to emerging markets, the chip unit's op. margin fell to 17% in FQ2 from the year-ago period's 20%, and is expected to stay at 17% in FQ3; aided by FQ1's 26% margin, FY13 guidance is still for 18.5%-20.5%.
2 Comments[Tech]
Thursday, April 25, 6:28 PM
Spreadtrum (SPRD) -3.2% AH after announcing it has fired CTO Qiuzhen (Joe) Zhou, and stating it doesn't intend to field a replacement. No explanation is given for the firing, which comes ahead of the Chinese mobile baseband chipmaker's May 9 Q1 report. (PR)
1 Comment[Tech, On the Move]
Wednesday, April 3, 6:52 PM
Qualcomm's (QCOM) reference designs could be doing wonders for its Chinese chip share: an exec says 40+ OEMs have commercialized 170+ devices (typically low-end smartphones) based on Qualcomm reference designs, and that over 90% of the OEMs are from China. Spreadtrum (SPRD) and MediaTek, who have their own reference design programs, are Qualcomm's main rivals here. Also: Susquehanna believes Galaxy S IV units sporting Snapdragon 600 processors (such as the U.S. version) will deliver 2x as much chip revenue to Qualcomm as iPhone units, to go with higher royalties. (previous)
7 Comments[Tech]
Friday, March 22, 12:12 PM
MediaTek is reportedly getting more aggressive about competing against Qualcomm (QCOM), Spreadtrum (SPRD), and Marvell (MRVL) on price: a Taiwanese paper reports MediaTek will cut prices for its mobile processors on April. The price of MediaTek's MT6589 quad-core 3G baseband/app processor, set to be used by 20 OEMs, will fall by $2 to $18. That arguably makes it competitive with Qualcomm's Snapdragon line in the battle for mid-range smartphone designs aimed at markets (such as China) where 4G support isn't needed. (previous)
1 Comment[Tech]
Friday, March 22, 9:56 AM
Bank of America upgrades Spreadtrum Communications (SPRD +2%) to Buy and raises price target to $30 from $18. The company declared a $0.10/share dividend earlier in the week. Previously: Another upgrade for Spreadtrum.
Comment![Tech]
Wednesday, March 20, 10:00 AM
Another day, another upgrade for Spreadtrum (SPRD +4.5%). Jefferies' Ken Hui, who is lifting shares to Buy, observes China Mobile's (CHL) strong TD-SCDMA 3G sub growth is increasing the market for Spreadtrum's baseband chips, and that prices have stabilized thanks to supply constraints. The firm now sees China Mobile posting 2013 TD-SCDMA net adds of 74.4M and phone shipments of 139M (+88%). Such growth is also a positive for Marvell (MRVL) and Qualcomm (QCOM). (Chardan Capital upgrade)
1 Comment[Tech, On the Move, Quick Ideas]
Wednesday, March 20, 9:07 AMSpreadtrum Communications, Inc (ADR) (SPRD) declares $0.10/share quarterly dividend. Forward yield 2.19%. For shareholders of record Apr. 10. Payable Apr. 25. Ex-div date Apr. 08. Shares +4% premarket. (PR)
Comment![Dividends, On the Move]
Tuesday, March 19, 9:49 AM
An upgrade to Buy from Chardan Capital sends Spreadtrum (SPRD +3.5%) higher. The upgrade comes shortly after chairman/CEO Leo Li told the EE Times Spreadtrum is a major beneficiary of China's low-end smartphone boom. Li touts the appeal of Spreadtrum's low-cost 1GHz., single-core, 2G and 3G baseband/app processors, and notes the company's efforts to develop 3G WCDMA and 4G TD-LTE processors. However, the site observes Spreadtrum is increasingly butting heads with MediaTek, which has a stronger mid-range smartphone position.
Comment![Tech, On the Move]
Tuesday, February 26, 9:49 AM
More on Spreadtrum: Q1 guidance is for revenue of $180M-$186M, above a $171.6M consensus. Q4 gross margin was 37.2%, -20 bps Q/Q and -370 bps Y/Y. Opex +11% Y/Y, higher than revenue growth. Over half of Q4 revenue came from smartphone chip shipments. Dual-core 3G TD-SCDMA baseband/app processor (needed to compete against MediaTek and Qualcomm) expected to begin shipping in phones "in very near future." Company plans to roll out 3G W-CDMA and 4G LTE baseband chips (larger markets, but more competition) this year. SPRD +2.5%. (PR)
Comment![Tech, Earnings, On the Move]