NXPI - Qualcomm slump leads chips decline as AMD tries to rebound after weak guidance

2023-05-04 12:52:09 ET

Semiconductor stocks were largely lower on Thursday as investors worried about weak guidance from some of the industry's largest companies.

Qualcomm ( NASDAQ: QCOM ) shares fell more than 6% after the San Diego-based chipmaker issued a weak outlook and the company's CEO said the smartphone market was "challenging."

Looking to the third-quarter, Qualcomm ( QCOM ) said it expects adjusted earnings to be between $1.70 and $1.90 a share, on revenue between $8.1B and $8.9B. Wall Street analysts had previously forecast Qualcomm ( QCOM ) to earn $2.13 a share on sales of $9.12B.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ) CEO Cristiano Amon blamed the weakness in part on a "challenging" smartphone market, but that the company was committed to its diversification strategy.

During its fiscal second quarter, Qualcomm ( QCOM ) reported earnings, excluding one-time items, of $2.15 a share, on revenue of $9.27B, including $7.9B from its QCT division. Wall Street analysts had expected the company to earn $2.16 a share, excluding one-time items, on $9.12B in revenue.

Qualcomm ( QCOM ) has said it is working to broaden its customer base, and that it expects to significantly reduce its business with Apple ( AAPL ) through the rest of this year.

AMD ( NASDAQ: AMD ) shares rose around 1% on Thursday, a day after the company's weak forecast led to a near 10% tumble in the stock.

AMD competitor Intel ( INTC ) rose nearly 3% on Thursday, while Nvidia ( NVDA ) slipped around 1% .

Qorvo ( NASDAQ: QRVO ), which is heavily tied to Apple ( AAPL ), gave up most of its early morning gains and rose 0.5% as Wall Street analysts saw positives from the company's fourth-quarter results and guidance.

Bank of America analyst Vivek Arya, who has an underperform rating on Qorvo ( QRVO ), noted the implied second-half revenue guidance was 8% above estimates, perhaps due to "incremental" content win from Apple ( AAPL ) and the continued clearing of channel inventory.

Synaptics ( NASDAQ: SYNA ) plunged more than 17% after the company offered weaker-than-expected guidance for its upcoming fourth quarter.

Looking ahead, Syanptics ( SYNA ) said it expects sales to be between $210M and $240M, well below the $328.32M analysts were expecting.

Infineon ( OTCQX:IFNNY ) shares fell more than 2.5% even as the German semiconductor company raised its full-year guidance, noting strong demand in energy infrastructure and renewable energy.

The company now expects full-year revenue to be 16.2B€, plus or minus 300M€, up from the previous estimate of 15.5B€. Analysts expect 16.1B€ in full-year sales.

Other semiconductor stocks were largely lower in mid-day trading, including Texas Instruments ( TXN ), NXP Semiconductors ( NXPI ) and Micron Technology ( MU ).

More on semiconductors

• AMD plunges on weak guidance, but Baird says $6 EPS possible in two years
• Goldman leans to growth picks in either recession scenario
• 'Weak' IT spending in March may have impacted chips: UBS

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