ARM Holdings (ARMH) this morning posted Q1 revenue of $143.3 million, up 19% from a year ago, and ahead of the Street at $136.7 million. Profits per share - in pence, on a normalized basis - were 2.04 a share, up 49% from 1.38 pence a year ago. (The company is based in Cambridge, in the U.K., and seems to report in both dollars and pounds.) The microprocessor technology licensing company said shipments of ARM-based chips in the quarter were up about 50% year over year.
The company also said that expects revenue for the full year to be in line with current Street expectations.
Meanwhile, rumors that the company might be taken over by Apple (AAPL) seem to have faded. Last week, the Guardian quoted CEO Warren East as downplaying the rumors. “Exciting though it is to have the share price pushed up by these rumors, common sense tells us that our standard business model is an excellent way for technology companies to gain access to our technology. Nobody has to buy the company,” he told the Guardian.
Also, iSuppli issued a research note yesterday that raised questions about the logic of such a combination.
“Just because ARM’s IP plays an important role in mobile devices, that doesn’t necessarily mean ARM is of strategic value to Apple,” iSuppli analyst William Kidd said in a statement.”iSuppli thinks ARM would represent a costly acquisition with little in the way of true strategic benefits. The acquisition would not give Apple’s products a competitive edge/differentiating value. iSuppli also doesn’t buy into prevailing speculation that there could be significant value in denying other competitors access to ARM’s IP, since the majority of the impact would be felt by companies like Broadcom, Samsung and Texas Instruments, which are not exactly Apple’s biggest rivals. In any case, there would be no visible end-market impact seen for two years at a minimum.” |
