Global economy takes toll on semiconductors, says equity analyst
The global economic slowdown has begun to take its toll on the semiconductor industry as recent reports have provided a bearish outlook for the industry, reports US equity analyst, Five Star Equities. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index – a price-weighted index tracking 18 US semiconductor companies involved in the design, distribution, manufacture, and sale of semiconductors - has fallen roughly 20 percent since the end of March. "We were seeing signs of a return to growth. But the macro-economic environment is proving very challenging," said analyst Doug Freedman of RBC Dominion Securities. Five Star Equities has examined the outlook for companies in the Semiconductor Industry focusing on Skyworks Solutions and TriQuint Semiconductor. As the company reports, an analyst at Avian Securities, US, Blaine Carroll, recently stated that these semiconductor suppliers may fall short of their quarterly estimates. Carroll also lowered his production estimates of the much anticipated iPhone to between 5 and 20 million from his previous expectations of 25 million iPhones in the second quarter. "Our original iPhone builds of 25M are too aggressive due to macro headwinds from Europe and the lull in front of iPhone 5,” he explained. According to Five Star Equities, Skyworks Solutions shares have fallen more than 9 percent in the last month, but are still up over 50 percent for the year. Meanwhile TriQuint is scheduled to release its second quarter 2012 results on July 25, 2012.
