Quarterly earnings results are a good time to check in on a company’s progress, especially compared to other peers in the same sector. Today we are looking at Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC), and the best and worst performers in the semiconductor manufacturing group.
The semiconductor industry is driven by demand for advanced electronic products like smartphones, PCs, servers and data storage. The growth of data and technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G networks and smart cars are also creating a next wave of growth for the industry. To keep up with ever changing customer needs requires new tools that can design, fabricate and test at ever smaller sizes and more complex architectures, and that is driving the demand for semiconductor capital manufacturing equipment.
The 14 semiconductor manufacturing stocks we track reported a slower Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 2.62%, while on average next quarter revenue guidance was 3.47% above consensus. Increasing interest rates hurt growth companies as investors search for near-term cash flows and while some of the semiconductor manufacturing stocks have fared somewhat better that others, they have not been spared, with share prices declining 7.93% since the previous earnings results, on average.
Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC)
Operating for more than 60 years, Semtech (NASDAQ:SMTC) is a provider of analog and mixed-signal semiconductors used for Internet of Things systems and Cloud connectivity.
Semtech reported revenues of $152.5 million, down 20% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weaker quarter for the company, with declining operating margin and revenue.
“Despite a challenging macroeconomic environment Semtech delivered Q4 results that exceeded the midpoint of our Q4 guidance," said Mohan Maheswaran, Semtech’s President and Chief Executive Officer.
The stock is down 31.2% since the results and currently trades at $22.1.
Read our full report on Semtech here, it's free.
Best Q4: Nova (NASDAQ:NVMI)
Headquartered in Israel, Nova (NASDAQ: NVMI) is a provider of quality control systems used in semiconductor manufacturing.
Nova reported revenues of $151.2 million, up 24.5% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.31%. It was a strong quarter for the company, with very optimistic guidance for the next quarter and a significant improvement in inventory levels.
The stock is up 4.82% since the results and currently trades at $95.61.
Is now the time to buy Nova ? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.
Weakest Q4: Marvell Technology (NASDAQ:MRVL)
Moving away from a low margin storage device management chips in one of the biggest semiconductor business model pivots of the past decade, Marvell Technology (NASDAQ: MRVL) is a fabless designer of special purpose data processing and networking chips used by data centers, communications carriers, enterprises, and autos.
Marvell Technology reported revenues of $1.42 billion, up 5.62% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a decline in operating margin.
The stock is down 12.9% since the results and currently trades at $40.2.
Read our full analysis of Marvell Technology's results here.
Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB)
Sporting a global footprint of facilities, Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) is a manufacturer of photomasks, templates used to transfer patterns onto semiconductor wafers.
Photronics reported revenues of $211.1 million, up 11.2% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 5.02%. It was a solid quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in gross margin.
The stock is down 14.2% since the results and currently trades at $15.47.
Read our full, actionable report on Photronics here, it's free.
Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER)
With most major chip manufacturers as customers, Teradyne (NASDAQ:TER) is a US-based supplier of automated test equipment for semiconductors as well as other technology and devices.
Teradyne reported revenues of $731.8 million, down 17.3% year on year, beating analyst expectations by 2.81%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with declining revenue and underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter.
The stock is down 2.03% since the results and currently trades at $101.38.
Read our full, actionable report on Teradyne here, it's free.
The author has no position in any of the stocks mentioned