Fourth-quarter earnings season for semiconductor stocks continues to be a mixed bag. On Tuesday, Rambus stock fell after the company posted its December-quarter results, while Skyworks stock rose.
Rambus, Skyworks Solutions, Power Integrations, Diodes and Alpha and Omega Semiconductor reported their calendar fourth-quarter results late Monday.
Rambus Stock Drops On Earnings News
On the stock market today, Rambus stock fell 1.5% to 42.49. The San Jose, Calif.-based company delivered in-line results and gave in-line guidance.
Rambus earned an adjusted 47 cents a share on adjusted sales of $155.3 million in the fourth quarter. On a year-over-year basis, earnings rose 21% while sales climbed 24%. Strong sales of memory interface chips for data centers fueled its growth.
Rosenblatt Securities analyst Kevin Cassidy reiterated his buy rating on Rambus stock with a 12-month price target of 60. On Feb. 3, Rambus stock hit a 17-year high of 45.10.
"The data center market is preparing for the first DRAM upgrade in nearly eight years," Cassidy said in a note to clients. "We see Rambus as poised to gain market share during this multiyear transition."
Skyworks Stock Heads Skyward
Elsewhere among semiconductor stocks, Skyworks stock popped after its earnings report even though it missed views with its outlook.
Irvine, Calif.-based Skyworks earned an adjusted $2.59 a share on sales of $1.33 billion in its fiscal first quarter ended Dec. 30. On a year-over-year basis, Skyworks earnings fell 18% while sales dropped 12%. Earnings were in line with analyst estimates while sales were modestly above views.
For the current quarter, Skyworks predicted earnings of an adjusted $2.02 a share on sales of $1.15 billion, based on the midpoint of its outlook. Analysts were looking for earnings of $2.20 a share on sales of $1.19 billion in the March quarter. Skyworks' outlook would translate to year-over-year declines of 23% in earnings and 14% in sales.
Skyworks' sales have been impacted by a slowdown of chip sales for Android smartphones. Apple accounted for 68% of its sales last quarter.
Still, Skyworks stock jumped 12.5% to 122.97 on Tuesday.
The Philadelphia semiconductor index, known as SOX, rose 3.1% on Tuesday. The SOX includes the 30 largest semiconductor stocks traded in the U.S.
Semiconductor Stocks On The Move
Other semiconductor stocks moving on earnings news included Alpha and Omega, Diodes and Power Integrations.
Alpha and Omega shares tumbled 12.8% to 31.46 on Tuesday after the company missed its December-quarter goals amid an industrywide inventory correction and reduction of customer demand for power-management chips. It also forecast sales well below estimates for the March quarter.
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Power Integrations stock fell 2.1% to 86.15 on Tuesday. It also missed estimates for the December quarter and guided lower for the March quarter.
However, Diodes stock rose 4.1% to 95.43 after it beat estimates for the fourth-quarter and gave in-line guidance.
Rambus stock ranks 10th out of 34 stocks in IBD's fabless semiconductor industry group, according to IBD Stock Checkup. It has an IBD Composite Rating of 81 out of 99.
Skyworks stock ranks No. 13 in the fabless semiconductor stock group. Power Integrations ranks eighth in the group and Alpha and Omega is No. 16.
Meanwhile, Diodes stock ranks fourth out of 31 stocks in IBD's semiconductor manufacturing industry group.
Follow Patrick Seitz on Twitter at @IBD_PSeitz for more stories on consumer technology, software and semiconductor stocks.
