Semiconductor Market is Rocking (LXK, HPQ, INTC, UMC, SMH)
Monica Gerson
Posted on 12/14/09 at 8:38am by Monica Gerson
Analysts at Goldman Sachs said that shipments of notebook units in Asia are marginally more than the seasonal level for 4Q09 and 1Q10. According to the analysts, concerns regarding weakness in the desktop category seem to be overdone, considering that their shipments in Q4 are marginally above normal. Meanwhile, handset shipments also seem to be in-line with the estimates, with weakness in 4Q09 mitigated by the strength in 1Q10.
Shipments of HDD products also seem to be above expectations and there is a possibility of shipments getting spilled over to 1Q10, according to Goldman Sachs. Even products like printers are seeing healthy sales. However, inkjet sales at Lexmark (NYSE: LXK)(FREE stock trend analysis) have been weak this holiday season, as it has lost market share to Hewlett-Packard (NYSE: HPQ)(FREE stock trend analysis) and Canon.
Goldman Sachs expresses its optimism regarding the fundamentals of the semiconductor industry until 2Q10 due to “inventories being extremely tight across the tech supply chain.” The analysts elaborate that memory capacity continues to be tight, with wafer start growth being minimal in 2010. With companies such as Intel (NASDAQ: INTC)(FREE stock trend analysis), TSMC, United Microelectronics Corporation (NYSE: UMC)(FREE stock trend analysis), Toshiba and Samsung placing orders, SPE orders for 4Q09 and 1Q10 have been robust. Goldman Sachs expects NAND to post sequential order growth in Q1, against consensus expectations of a decline.
Semiconductor HOLDRs (AMEX: SMH)(FREE stock trend analysis) is currently trading at $26.75 and is very close to achieving its 52-week high of $27.40
benzinga.com |
