Silicon Motion Technology slides as MS cuts to "underweight"

Silicon Motion Technology

23/04/2019 15:34

** Shares of Silicon Motion Technology Corp  SIMO.O  slid as
much as 6% early Tues after Morgan Stanley downgrade to
"underweight" from "equal-weight"
    ** Shares last down 4.4% at $40.24, the biggest percentage
loser on the Philadelphia SE Semiconductor Index  .SOX 
    ** Lead analyst Charlie Chan says SIMO's loss in market
share offsets expected growth in the solid-state drive (SSD)
controller integrated circuit (IC) processor space
    ** At 24.7x 2019 EPS, Chan believes stock is too expensive
    ** On March 7, Dialog Semiconductor  DLGS.DE  said it would
buy SIMO's mobile communications business for $45 mln cash
 urn:newsml:reuters.com:*:nL5N20U1FY
    ** On May 2, SIMO is expected to post Q1 adj EPS of 35
cents; co has beaten or met consensus estimates in all 8 most
recent qtrs, according to Refinitiv IBES
    ** Of the 12 analysts covering SIMO, 8 rate the stock "buy"
or stronger, 2 recommend "hold" and 2 "sell"
    ** So far this year, SIMO shares have gained ~15%,
substantially underperforming the SOX's ~36% YTD advance

 (Reporting by Stephen Culp)
 ((stephen.culp@thomsonreuters.com; 646-223-6076;))