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More Evidence Of Semiconductor Recovery (LLTC, INTC, TXN, XLNX, ALTR, MXIM)

Administrator — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 22:36:00 +0000

Semiconductor investors have had to endure a lot of pain and a lot of volatility, but things may be on the mend. Analog chip players were higher throughout the trading day after Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) gave guidance that offered far more hope than what investors had been expecting just a few weeks ago when Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) warned about a large revenue shortfall. Linear shares rose 11.5% to $33.32 on Wednesday. Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) rose 8.5% to $33.72 on the news and guidance from Linear Tech today.

Now we have further news coming from Xilinx, Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) that is adding to gains. After shares were already up almost 6% at $35.30 on Wednesday, the stock is up almost 7% in the after-hours session at $37.85 and that will mark a new 52-week high if it holds up. The company noted that while revenues fell 10% to $511.1 million on earnings of $0.47, the consensus target was only $498.3 million and $0.37 EPS. Xilinx is offering guidance of 2% to 6% revenue growth.

There are some other secondary plays out there on this. When investors trade up in Xilinx, they often trade up Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR). When investors trade up in Linear Tech, they often trade up in Maxim Integrated Products, Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) as well. All are higher in the after-hours session and Altera was up almost 10% at $40.72 and Maxim rose by 6.1% today to $27.56.

Get ready for Intel to report earnings on Thursday after the close (estimates are $0.61 EPS on $13.72 billion in sales). If it reverses or lightens up on the severity of its revenue guidance offered in December, then going from $25.39 to above $25.92 would not hard to fathom. Anything above that would mark a 52-week high and analysts have a consensus price target objective of $26.58.

It is important to keep in mind that in many cases these “higher guidance” calls are barely higher and it is off of declining sales. Still, in the end investors want improvements and growth and sometimes mediocrity wins the day. If these all hit new 52-week highs, the cheer will be simple enough: “Chips Ahoy!”

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Consumer Electronics, Earnings, PC Companies, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: ALTR, INTC, LLTC, MXIM, TXN, XLNX

Major Earnings Previews For The Week Ahead (C, WFC, EBAY, GS, XLNX, AXP, BAC, GOOG, INTC, IBM, ISRG, MSFT, UNH, GE, SLB)

Administrator — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 15:27:19 +0000

This shortened week is the first week full of many major companies reporting earnings season. We will have a clear direction for the financial leaders and many of the technology leaders after this week is over.

We have many key earnings, including some DJIA components, as follows: Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C); Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC); eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY); Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS); Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX); American Express Co. (NYSE: AXP); Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC); Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG); Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); International Business Machines Corporation (NYSE: IBM); Intuitive Surgical Inc. (NASDAQ: ISRG); Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ: MSFT); UnitedHealth Group Inc. (NYSE: UNH); General Electric Co. (NYSE: GE); and Schlumberger Ltd. (NYSE: SLB).

We have added in Thomson Reuters consensus data, as well as other bits of data and color if applicable.

Tuesday, January 17

Citigroup, Inc. (NYSE: C) and Wells Fargo & Co. (NYSE: WFC) both lead Tuesday morning off with earnings, and each are important. Wells Fargo is the healthier of the two and it does not trade at a discount to book value like its peers because it is deemed the least penalized of the money center banks in the new lower-trading and less risk environment. Both pulled back after J.P. Morgan earnings, but both were up handily so far this year.

Citi has estimates of $0.49 EPS and $18.54 billion in sales.

Wells Fargo has estimates of $0.72 EPS on $28.08 billion in sales.

Wednesday, January 18

eBay Inc. (NASDAQ: EBAY) has a bit of a neutral bias going into Wednesday’s earnings after the close as it is still mostly a domestic story for auctions, with PayPal being the biggest boost. Earnings estimates are $0.57 EPS and $3.32 billion in revenues.

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. (NYSE: GS) is due on Wednesday morning and the earnings estimates have been cratering ahead of the report. The current target is $1.24 EPS on $6.54 billion in sales, but the earnings targets were above $2.00 EPS recently and the street expected almost $3.00 just about 90 days ago.

Filed under: Calendar, Earnings, The Week Tagged: AXP, BAC, C, EBAY, GE, GOOG, GS, IBM, INTC, ISRG, MSFT, SLB, UNH, WFC, XLNX

Expected Price Gains for Chip Maker Stocks (INTC, AMD, TXN, BRCM, MRVL, XLNX, AMAT, ARMH, NVDA, QCOM)

Paul Ausick — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 19:11:27 +0000

Nearly every forecast for PC sales indicates slower growth in desktop and laptop sales, waning sales of netbooks, and rising, if not booming, sales for mobile devices like smartphones and tablets. If those forecasts are borne out, chip makers for mobile devices could suck a lot of the air out of the PC microprocessor market, but could also invigorate the server market.The issue for mobile chip makers is competition. There are several companies designing and making the chips that run all those smartphones and tablets, and a clear winner has yet to be named. Our look at chip-maker stocks today includes Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC), Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD), Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN), Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM), Marvel Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL), Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX), Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT), ARM Holdings, plc (NASDAQ: ARMH), Nvidia Corp. (NASDAQ: NVDA), and Qualcomm Inc. (NASDAQ: QCOM).All data comes from Yahoo! Finance and MarketWatch, and share prices were gathered shortly after noon today.

1. Intel Corp. (NASDAQ: INTC)
Intel has a median target price of $27.00 from 36 brokers. Shortly after noon today, shares are trading today at $24.56, for an implied gain of $2.44, or 10%. Intel’s forward P/E is 9.6 and the company does pays a dividend yield of 3.4%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $19.16-$24.84, and at today’s price that’s about 28% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 1% below the 52-week high. Intel posted record revenue in the third quarter, but the company still hasn’t made a significant dent in the mobile device market. Its Atom microprocessor sales were down -32% year-over-year as netbook sales continue to slide. The company is gearing up a big push for its low-profile, low-power laptops called Ultrabooks, which are aimed at a market niche now dominated by the MacBook Air from Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL).

Also Read: A New Blow To Housing: More Boomers Will Stay Put

2. Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (NYSE: AMD)
AMD has a median target price of $6.50 from 27 brokers. Shares are trading today at $4.99, for an implied gain of $1.51, or 30%. AMD’s forward P/E is 8.81 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $4.31-$9.58, and at today’s price that’s about 16% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 48% below the 52-week high. AMD posts third-quarter earnings tomorrow, and analysts are expecting EPS of $0.10 on sales of $1.65 billion. That’s $0.05 less per share than the company earned in the year-ago quarter. For the December quarter, analysts currently expect EPS of $0.15, which would beat the year-ago quarter by a penny. The company finally hired a new CEO in August, but even he is unlikely to turn this company around any time soon.

3. Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN)
Texan Instruments has a median target price of $32.00 from 33 brokers. Shares are trading today at $30.89, for an implied gain of $1.11, or 4%. TI’s forward P/E is 12.83 and the company pays a dividend yield of 2.1%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $24.34-$36.71, and at today’s price that’s about 27% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 16% below the 52-week high. TI recently completed its acquisition of National Semiconductor, and that could help it next quarter. It’s earnings in the third quarter were barely newsworthy, but several analysts are bullish on the stock going forward, mainly due to TI’s low cost structure. There’s barely anything in the company’s recent performance to substantiate a positive outlook on this stock, so analysts are looking into a crystal ball and seeing what they were looking for.

4. Broadcom Corp. (NASDAQ: BRCM)
Broadcom has a median target price of $45.00 from 35 brokers. Shares are trading today at $34.86, for an implied gain of $10.14, or 29%. Broadcom’s forward P/E is 11.22 and the company pays a dividend yield of 1%. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $29.05-$47.39, and at today’s price that’s about 20% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 26% below the 52-week high. Broadcom reported weak earnings yesterday and guided fourth quarter earnings lower. The company makes chips for mobile devices from Apple, Samsung, and Nokia Corp. (NYSE: NOK), and its business should be better than it is. The company needs to get bigger orders from these customers or it needs to push its way into a supply deal with a low-cost Chinese mobile phone maker.

Also Read: Sony Goes All In On Smartphone Market

5. Marvel Technology Group Ltd. (NASDAQ: MRVL)
Marvel has a median target price of $18.25 from 30 brokers. Shares are trading today at $13.51, for an implied gain of $4.74, or 35%. Marvel’s forward P/E is 9.01 and the company does not pay a dividend. The stock’s 52-week trading range is $11.23-$22.01, and at today’s price that’s about 20% above its 52-week low, posted earlier this morning, and 39% below the 52-week high. Marvel stock has the highest implied gain of any stock we’ve looked at here. Its price has fallen recently due to flooding in Thailand, where Western Digital Corp. (NYSE: WDC) uses Marvel chips in its disk drive production and where manufacturing is not expected to be back at full capacity until the first quarter of next year.

Filed under: Analyst Calls, Consumer Electronics, Hardware, Industry, Semiconductor, Semiconductors, Technology Tagged: AMAT, AMD, ARMH, BRCM, INTC, MRVL, NVDA, QCOM, TXN, XLNX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (ALTR, NLY, ADM, GLW, MCD, P, PTEN, PEP, RMBS, TKC, UA, VFC, VIP, XLNX, YOKU)

Administrator — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 12:21:25 +0000

These are some of this Friday’s top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen having an impact from Wall Street research calls.

Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Annaly Capital Management, Inc. (NYSE: NLY) Started as Neutral at UBS.
Archer Daniels Midland Company (NYSE: ADM) Started as Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Corning, Inc. (NYSE: GLW) named Bear of the Day at Zacks.
McDonald’s Corporation (NYSE: MCD) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research.
Pandora Media, Inc. (NYSE: P) Raised to Overweight at Morgan Stanley.
Patterson-UTI Energy Inc. (NASDAQ: PTEN) named value stock of the day at Zacks.
Pepsico, Inc. (NYSE: PEP) Cut to Hold at Stifel Nicolaus.
Rambus Inc. (NASDAQ: RMBS) Started as Overweight at JPMorgan.
Turkcell Iletisim Hizmetleri AS (NYSE: TKC) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.
Under Armour, Inc. (NYSE: UA) Started as Buy at Argus.
V.F. Corporation (NYSE: VFC) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
VimpelCom Ltd. (NYSE: VIP) Started as Sell at Goldman Sachs.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Started as Outperform at William Blair.
Youku.com Inc (NYSE: YOKU) Raised to Positive at Susquehanna.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: ADM, ALTR, GLW, MCD, NLY, P, PEP, PTEN, RMBS, TKC, UA, VFC, VIP, XLNX, YOKU

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AMR, BAC, STD, CREE, DELL, EMC, EPB, INTC, NRGY, IRDM, MAS, NTAP, QCOM, RVBD, SEM, TOL, X, VCLK, VECO, WLP, XLNX)

Administrator — Thu, 21 Jul 2011 12:11:30 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Thursday morning.

AMR Corporation (NYSE: AMR) Cut to Sell at Ticonderoga.
Bank of America Corporation (NYSE: BAC) Removed from U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Banco Santander (NYSE: STD) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Cree Inc. (NASDAQ: CREE) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
Dell Inc. (NASDAQ: DELL) Reiterated Buy with $22 target at Argus.
EMC Corporation (NYSE: EMC) Reiterated Buy with $32 target at Argus.
El Paso Pipeline Partners, L.P. (NYSE: EPB) added to U.S. Focus List at Credit Suisse.
Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) Cut to Reduce at Nomura; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $29 at Gleacher.
Inergy, L.P. (NYSE: NRGY) Cut to Sell at Citigroup.
Iridium Communications Inc. (NASDAQ: IRDM) Started as Outperform at Morgan Keegan.
Masco Corporation (NYSE: MAS) Maintained Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
NetApp Inc. (NASDAQ: NTAP) Raised to Strong Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday).
QUALCOMM Incorporated (NASDAQ: QCOM) Reiterated Outperform at CRedit Suisse.
Riverbed Technology, Inc. (NASDAQ: RVBD) Raised to Buy at Wunderlich.
Select Medical Holdings Corporation (NYSE: SEM) Reiterated Buy as Value at Zacks.
Toll Brothers Inc. (NYSE: TOL) Cut to Hold at Citigroup.
United States Steel Corp. (NYSE: X) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday).
ValueClick, Inc. (NASDAQ: VCLK) Cut to Hold at S&P Equity Research (late Wednesday).
Veeco Instruments Inc. (NASDAQ: VECO) Started as Neutral at Credit Suisse.
WellPoint (NYSE: WLP) Raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Reiterated Buy and Raised target to $41 at Gleacher & Co.

You are invited to join our free daily email distribution list to hear more about analyst upgrades and downgrades, top day trader and active trader alerts, dividend trends, news on Buffett and other investment gurus, IPOs, secondary offerings, private equity, and more.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AMR, BAC, CREE, DELL, EMC, EPB, INTC, IRDM, MAS, NRGY, NTAP, QCOM, RVBD, SEM, STD, TOL, VCLK, VECO, WLP, X, XLNX

Despite Chip Warnings, Value Lurks in Chip Stocks Ahead of Earnings Season (ADI, AMAT, AMD, CRUS, INTC, SNDK, TXN, XLNX, MCHP, NVLS, SMH)

Administrator — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 12:16:04 +0000

Disappointing earnings and poor guidance from the likes of Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) and Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) this week have cast a very dark shadow on semiconductor companies going into earnings season. Despite those two companies dragging down the segment as a whole, there are actually some cheap valuations ahead in the sector. We have laid out the numbers for shares of the following: Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI); Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT); Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD); Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS); Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC); SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK); Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN); Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX).

This is a much different list from our true tech-value stocks for the rest of this year. We have identified how much these shares have dropped from their highs, but we have also looked at basic data concerning a forward P/E ratio for next year’s earnings and broken out the return on equity from Finviz. When you look at the consensus analyst price target, the companies look even cheaper in most cases. There is one caveat that has to be considered and that is that analysts will have to lower estimates through next week for the year ahead and that will of course change the valuations. We are not looking for any immediate gains solely based on value. The idea is to identify those situations where the drop has been enough and where the bad news may be close to priced in ahead of time.

Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) recently closed at $36.56, down 15% from its 52-week high; about 10% of that loss has been in recent days. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 12 and a 27% return on equity (ROE). Analysts still have a consensus target north of $45.00 versus a 52-week high of $43.28.

Applied Materials Inc. (NASDAQ: AMAT) recently closed at $12.64, down 26% from its 52-week high. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 9.2 and a 20.5% return on equity (ROE). Analysts have a consensus target of about $15.75. As the big daddy of chip cap-ex, the Novellus news hit here as well. The forward estimates are almost always low for Applied, so there is no reason to jump the gun thinking that large earnings multiple expansion is heading this way. In fact, value is often a value trap here in Applied Materials and in many cap-ex stocks in the sector.

Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) recently closed at $6.34, down 32% from its 52-week high. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 8.4 and a 61% return on equity (ROE). The big problem with AMD remains relevance. This is the turnaround that just never seems to really turn around. The math has looked “cheap for a while” and the value trap argument seems to prevail.

Cirrus Logic Inc. (NASDAQ: CRUS) recently closed at $16.30, down well over 30% from its 52-week high and almost $10 shy of its $26.00 consensus analyst target. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 10 and a return on equity (ROE) of 62%. With a $1.1 billion market cap, our biggest concern is that it is in the class of companies which could have “big hits and bad misses” when it comes to living up to earnings expectations.

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) recently closed at $22.48, down just over 5% from its 52-week high. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 9.4 and a return on equity of 27%. Intel has recently embarked on new initiative from tablets to security and to embedded systems. Unfortunately, Intel falls into the same “tech utility” category and its nature is now entirely different from in the past.

SanDisk Corp. (NASDAQ: SNDK) recently closed at $41.18, down 23% from its 52-week high. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 8.4 and a 25% return on equity. The reason SanDisk trades with a cheap multiple is because the company’s leadership in flash memory is subject to great swings throughout the business cycle. Another issue is that when SanDisk is in the middle of its 52-week range like this it offers a technical no-man’s land. This is one that may not be dirt cheap value nor a value trap.

Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) recently closed at $31.00, down over 15% from its 52-week high. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 11.2 and a 31% return on equity. With a large acquisition in the hopper, all we can do is consider the “value” on a standalone basis with serious caveats.

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) recently closed at $33.92 versus a 52-week high of $35.42, still well under 10% from highs. The company has a forward price to earnings multiple of 14 and a 28% return on equity. Unfortunately, this one just does not jump out in the screens other than its return on equity.

So, here are the comparable issues to consider. Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) is now down about 20% from its 52-week highs, while Novellus Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: NVLS) was down more than 20% from its 52-week highs. As you can see, some chip stocks named here are down a similar amount but others still have a way to go. It is very possible that “value” in semiconductors may still be more of a value trap until things normalize.

The ETF that rules in chipland is the Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH). With a price of $32.88, its 52-week trading range is $24.14 to $39.99. An 11% discount from the 52-week high may entice some buyers, but there is still room to argue that this highly unbalanced ETF may not be close enough to “cheap” as of yet as Intel and Texas Instruments both have more than 20% of the weighting here.

Earnings season is upon us.

Jon Ogg & Jim Berdou

Filed under: Semiconductor, Technology Companies, Value Investing Tagged: ADI, AMAT, AMD, CRUS, INTC, MCHP, NVLS, SMH, SNDK, TXN, XLNX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AAPL, ATML, CTXS, CMI, ENZN, HD, HBC, PFCB, PLD, RSH, RS, RIMM, SCCO, S, TXN, XLNX)

Administrator — Tue, 07 Jun 2011 12:17:09 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Tuesday morning.

Apple Inc. (NASDAQ: AAPL) Reiterated Buy with $415 target at Argus; Reiterated Buy and raised target to $485 at Canaccord Genuity.
Atmel Corporation (NASDAQ: ATML) Reiterated Buy with $17 target at Gleacher & Co.
Citrix Systems, Inc. (NASDAQ: CTXS) Cut to Underweight at JPMorgan after being raised to Outperform as Bull of the Day on Monday by Zacks.
Cummins Inc. (NYSE: CMI) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks.
Enzon Pharmaceuticals Inc. (NASDAQ: ENZN) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks.
The Home Depot, Inc. (NYSE: HD) Started as Overweight at Barclays.
HSBC Holdings (NYSE: HBC) Cut to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
P.F. Chang’s China Bistro (NASDAQ: PFCB) Raised to Neutral at Credit Suisse.
ProLogis (NYSE: PLD) Raised to Buy at BofA/ML.
RadioShack Corp. (NYSE: RSH) Started as Underweight at Barclays.
Reliance Steel & Aluminum Company (NYSE: RS) Maintained Strong Buy as Value at Zacks.
Research In Motion Limited (NASDAQ: RIMM) Cut to Market Perform at Morgan Keegan.
Southern Copper Corp. (NYSE: SCCO) Cut to Hold at Citi.
Sprint Nextel Corp. (NYSE: S) Cut to Sell at Stifel Nicolaus.
Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) Reiterated Buy with $43 target at Gleacher & Co.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Raised to Neutral at Goldman Sachs.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AAPL, ATML, CMI, CTXS, ENZN, HBC, HD, PFCB, PLD, RIMM, RS, RSH, S, SCCO, TXN, XLNX

Giant Chip Mergers Underway (TXN, NSM, ADI, SMH, ALTR, XLNX, MU, FCS, LLTC)

Administrator — Mon, 04 Apr 2011 20:38:39 +0000

If you have wondered why there have been so few legacy chip companies announcing mergers, you have to wonder no more. After the close of trading came word that Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) is acquiring National Semiconductor Corporation (NYSE: NSM).

The all-cash merger comes to about $6.5 billion. For National Semiconductor holders that will translate to a buyout price of $25.00 per share. Both companies have approved the deal at the Board of Directors level and if this deal was reflected in National Semiconductor stock then we’d ask about why National Semi was down on the day. National Semi shares closed down 1.1% at $14.07 in regular trading and its 52-week trading range is $11.84 to $16.00. Some may wonder if Texas Instruments is having to overpay for this one or not. The last time National Semi shares were at $25.00 was back in 2007.

This deal is likely to eliminate the cloud that has hung over semiconductor shares. We showed some technical analysis just on Friday showing how the Semiconductor HOLDRs (NYSE: SMH) ETF was acting extremely poor ahead of earnings season. The secondary beneficiary here is perhaps Analog Devices Inc. (NYSE: ADI) with its $11.5 billion market cap as its shares closed down 1.7% at $38.50 in regular trading and rose above $40.50 in the after-hours market.

One rumor or guess which has been in the market for about as long as memory serves is a Altera-Xilinx merger. Altera Corporation had a $13.6 billion market cap at the close and its shares are up 2.8% at $43.72 in the after-hours session. Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) had a $8.3 billion market cap at the close and its shares are indicated up more than 1% at $32.35 in the after-hours session.

Micron Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MU) is up by 2% at $11.42 in the after-hours session versus a 52-week trading range of $6.36 to $11.95. Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. (NYSE: FCS) is up 5% at $18.60 in the after-hours and its closing market cap was $2.23 billion. Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ: LLTC) is up 3.7% at $34.30 in the after-hours session and its closing market cap was about $7.5 billion.

The TI-National Semi merger aims to combine two of the industry giants in analog semiconductors for the world of electronic systems. TI has larger scale and a larger portfolio, National Semi is likely to be much more profitable inside TI than on its own.

TI and National Semi are both halted after the close, but this merger here will either drive other mergers or it will at least drive traders to speculating on which other mergers could be seen. We’d like to congratulate both companies on keeping this one secret. Most chips had been weak and remained weak even today ahead of the merger, and we did not even see any unusual options trading in National Semiconductor throughout the trading day.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Mergers and Buy Outs, Semiconductor Tagged: ADI, ALTR, FCS, LLTC, MU, NSM, SMH, TXN, XLNX

Daily Dividend: Xilinx Highlights High Yield Tech Dividends (XLNX, ALTR, INTC, MXIM, ISIL, MCHP, DLR)

Administrator — Mon, 14 Mar 2011 15:01:58 +0000

Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) had a business update this morning that at least showed a reaffirmed guidance. Many analysts will be focusing on the highlights for the semiconductor segment, but we are focusing on the dividend hike that was seen this morning. More importantly, this signals how the only real safe dividends out there for technology investors are limited mostly to chip stocks.

Xilinx took its $0.16 per share per quarter dividend up to $0.19 per share per quarter this morning. The annualized payout comes to $0.76 and with a share price of $32.10 it generates a dividend yield for investors of about 2.35%. That might not sound like much on the surface but it is a high-yield for a technology stock. This may actually put the heat on Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) as the company’s closest similar company due to its paltry 0.6% dividend yield. What is interesting is that Altera is up considerably more than Xilinx over the last one-year and six-months, but not over the last quarter.

Some other chip stocks with relatively high dividends are as follows:

Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) actually has a 3.5% dividend yield.

Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NASDAQ: MXIM) pays a 3.3% dividend yield

Intersil Corporation (NASDAQ: ISIL) pays a 4.1% dividend yield

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) pays a 3.9% dividend yield.

The biggest dividend and perhaps safest dividend of all in technology is one that many have sort of overlooked as it is technically ‘technology’s landlord’ in the form of a REIT. Digital Realty Trust, Inc. (NYSE: DLR) currently pays a 4.8% dividend yield.

Most investors think that they cannot find high dividend yields in technology. That is still mostly true, but not in semiconductor-related businesses.

JON C. OGG

Filed under: Dividend, Semiconductor, Technology Companies Tagged: ALTR, DLR, INTC, ISIL, MCHP, MXIM, XLNX

Top Analyst Upgrades & Downgrades (AZN, CNP, CEDC, FDO, GOOG, MAR, MGM, OPTR, CRM, SONS, UFPI, WFMI, XLNX, YHOO)

Administrator — Wed, 02 Mar 2011 13:17:07 +0000

These are some of the top analyst upgrades, downgrades, and initiations seen from Wall Street research calls this Wednesday morning.

AstraZeneca plc (NYSE: AZN) Cut to Neutral at UBS.
CenterPoint Energy, Inc. (NYSE: CNP) Cut to Hold at Deutsche Bank.
Central European Distribution Corporation (NASDAQ: CEDC) Started as Buy at Nomura.
Family Dollar Stores Inc. (NYSE: FDO) Cut to Neutral at JPMorgan.
Google Inc. (NASDAQ: GOOG) Started as Buy at B. Riley.
Marriott International Inc. (NYSE: MAR) Reiterated Buy and $46 target at Argus.
MGM Resorts International (NYSE: MGM) Maintained Hold at Argus.
Optimer Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (NASDAQ: OPTR) Started as Neutral at BofA/ML.
Salesforce.com (NYSE: CRM) Raised to Buy at Canaccord Genuity.
Sonus Networks, Inc. (NASDAQ: SONS) Raised to Buy at S&P Equity Research (late-Tuesday call).
Universal Forest Products Inc. (NASDAQ: UFPI) Cut to Underperform as Bear of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Whole Foods Market, Inc. (NASDAQ: WFMI) Maintained Outperform as Bull of the Day at Zacks Investment Research.
Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) Raised to Overweight at JPMorgan.
Yahoo! Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) Started as Buy at B. Riley.

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JON C. OGG

Filed under: Analyst Calls Tagged: AZN, CEDC, CNP, CRM, FDO, GOOG, MAR, MGM, OPTR, SONS, UFPI, WFMI, XLNX, YHOO