Tag Archives: avgo

Apple Suppliers Broadcom, Qualcomm Could Battle For Xilinx: Analyst

Apple ( AAPL ) suppliers Broadcom ( AVGO ) and Qualcomm ( QCOM ) were pitted Tuesday in a theoretical battle to acquire Xilinx ( XLNX ) which, late Wednesday, is expected to report flat fiscal fourth-quarter sales along with down earnings. Xilinx stock was up 1.3% to 46.38 on the stock market today . It split the difference between gains by fellow takeover candidates Cavium ( CAVM ) and Marvell Technology Group ( MRVL ), up 3.4% and 0.75%, respectively. MKM analyst Ian Ing lists the trio among small- and medium-size fabless firms subject to acquisition as semiconductor companies scramble to serve the top 20 customers: Apple, Samsung, Cisco Systems ( CSCO ), Nokia ( NOK ), Ericsson ( ERIC ) and China’s Huawei, among others. “Customers prefer the fewest suppliers while preserving multi-sourcing choice,” Ing wrote in a research report. “Fabless companies can improve their operating models with more scale in manufacturing and operations.” Field-programmable gate array (FPGA) makers are proving attractive targets. In December, Intel ( INTC ) completed its acquisition of Altera, an FPGA-maker. For Broadcom, the technology would round out its networking and communications equipment needs. Qualcomm needs to diversify from its core mobile business which is threatened by chipsets and disagreements with licensees in China, Ing wrote. Ing expects Xilinx to tack on $3 earnings per share to 2017 run rates, “should a large acquirer apply scale benefits.” He rates Xilinx stock a neutral and has a 46 price target, noting it’s coming off a 2015 data center and communications trough. For Q4, which ended in December, Xilinx is expected to report flat sales of $566.2 million and adjusted earnings per share of 52 cents, down 10% year over year. For fiscal 2016, the consensus of 21 analysts models $2.2 billion and $2.03, down a respective 7% and 16.5%.

HTC Vive Gutted: Micron Chips Stomp Facebook’s Oculus Rift

HTC Vive pummels Facebook ( FB )-owned Oculus Rift in terms of memory, but both tapped Apple ( AAPL ) supplier Texas Instruments ( TXN ) to lead their virtual reality headsets, teardowns from iFixit show . On Tuesday, iFixit unveiled its “Vive-section,” gutting HTC’s VR device to discover four Texas Instruments chips, including a variant on the 16-channel LED driver discovered inside the Rift. But the devices diverge largely on memory. Micron Technology ( MU ) supplies four Vive chips accounting for 72 megabits of flash memory vs. a single Winbond 64-MB chip supplying memory for the Rift. Vive and Rift both employ STMicroelectronics ( STM ) for an ARM-based microcontroller, and the former added in an STM transceiver for speed data transmission. Both also use a Toshiba converter. C-Media supplied an audio controller for the Vive, whereas Oculus tapped Apple supplier Cirrus Logic ( CRUS ) for the Rift audio codec. HTC chose  InvenSense ( INVN ) for its two gyroscope/accelerometer combos, vs. a Bosch Sensortec inertial sensor inside the Rift. HTC also added three NXP Semiconductors ( NXPI ) microcontrollers and a Broadcom ( AVGO ) Bluetooth smart system-on-a-chip. Nordic Semiconductor provided Bluetooth for the Rift. After broadly falling 1.3% Monday on Wall Street, IBD’s 41-company Electronic-Semiconductor Fabless industry group was up nearly 2% in afternoon trading on the stock market today . Micron stock was up more than 9.5%, after rival SK Hynix reported Q1 sales and earnings that fell sequentially and year over year in a tough DRAM (dynamic random-access memory) PC environment. NXP stock was up 4.5% after topping Q1 earnings views late Tuesday and ahead of Apple’s fiscal Q2 report late Tuesday. On Monday, NXP stock fell 1.2% on after an iFixit teardown showed Apple included Intel ( INTC ) and Broadcom inside its Retina MacBook 2016, but not NXP. Shares of fellow Apple suppliers InvenSense, Cirrus Logic and Broadcom were up a respective 4.5%, 2% and 1.5%. STMicroelectronics stock was up nearly 3%, and Texas Instruments stock was up a fraction.

Apple Supplier NXP Semiconductors Earnings Top Ahead Of Apple Report

Apple ( AAPL ) supplier NXP Semiconductors ( NXPI ) late Monday reported first-quarter earnings that fell a little less than estimates, a day before Apple itself is expected to report declining profit and a sharp drop in iPhone sales. NXP Semi gave guidance that was in line to slightly above forecasts. Earnings per share fell nearly 16% to $1.14 a share excluding various items vs. $1.35 a year earlier. Revenue, fueled by acquisitions, climbed about 52% to $2.224 billion from $1.467 billion a year earlier. Economists had expected EPS of $1.09 and sales of $2.21 billion. Comparable revenue fell 11% vs. a year earlier, NXP said, citing “semiconductor industry weakness that accelerated throughout the second half of 2015.” For Q2, NXP Semiconductors sees revenue of $2.295 billion to $2.395 billion, with the midpoint at $2.345 billion. It expects EPS of $1.30-$1.40, with the midpoint at $1.35. Analysts expected EPS of $1.32 and revenue of $2.34 billion. NXP Semiconductors is a leading chip supplier for the Apple iPhone and Samsung smartphones. But it’s also a major supplier of chips for the auto industry, especially after its recent acquisition of Freescale Semiconductor. Auto-related chip sales hit $805 million, up 167% vs. a year earlier on a reported basis, or just 1% with Freescale’s year-earlier results included. But auto-related sales should rise in the “mid- to high-single digit” percentages in Q2, NXP said in its Tuesday morning conference call. NXP is aiming for a long-term gross profit margin of 51%-55 and an operating margin above 30%. In Q1, NXP’s gross profit was 26.8% on a GAAP basis and 50% non-GAAP. Operating profit was -21.2%, or 23.3% non-GAAP. NXP shares jumped 5.3% to 87.75 in morning trade on the stock market today  after rising as high as 89.79. Shares closed down 1.2% to 83.34 on Monday, closing just above the 200-day line, where NXP has been finding support lately. Apple fell 0.5% to 104.51 intraday, after falling below its 50-day line intraday. The stock retreated 0.6% to 105.08 on Monday. Analysts expect Apple earnings to fall 14% to $2 a share and sales 10% to $51.97 billion, with iPhone unit sales down 21%. On Monday, NXP investors reacted to news that its chips are not in the latest Apple Retina MacBook, according to an iFixit teardown , after having several chips in the 2015 model.   Broadcom ( AVGO ) and Texas Instruments ( TXN ) remain big chip suppliers. Texas Instruments reports earnings on Wednesday. Texas Instruments rose 0.5% Tuesday morning while Broadcom climbed 1.4%.