Banc of America Securities analyst Rick Whittington pinpointed the
continuing debate over the possibility of waning demand, when he
lowered his price target and/or cut his rating on 25 chip companies
Wednesday.
The news comes a day after Whittington lowered his rating on Texas
Instruments (TXN: news, msgs). See Ratings Game.
"Following two years of superior performance, semiconductor shares
have corrected in recent months in anticipation of waning demand and
oncoming supply which have historically led to difficult financial
comparisons, often for prolonged periods," the analyst wrote in a research
note to clients.
Whittington also cited unseasonably weak demand
for PCs and cell phones, a slowdown in telecom
infrastructure spending, along with the cloudy
financial visibility as component supply and demand
balance out.
The Banc of America analyst lowered his price
target on such companies as Advanced Micro
Devices (AMD), Altera, Analog
Devices (ADI), National
Semiconductor (NSM) and others. He
decreased his price target along with his rating on
Atmel (ATML), Cypress
Semiconductor (CY), LSI Logic,
Micron Technology (MU) and many
others.
"It can be argued that much has already been built
into present markedly reduced share price . . . that
value has been created and it's time for investors to
step up," Whittington wrote. "We would welcome
such a positive conclusion and trust that upcoming
events will see it dignified. In the meantime, we will
sit this one out."
cbsmarketwatch.com
FWIW, GO J!
Jim |
