Silicon Labs Is a Silent Killer

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Tom Gardner recommended this stock to Stock Advisor subscribers three times, but it would have looked right at home in our Motley Fool Hidden Gems portfolio, too. Silicon Labs (Nasdaq: SLAB) keeps going from strength to strength without Mr. Market (or anyone else) really noticing.

This week, the analog-to-digital converter chip specialist reported fourth-quarter earnings of $0.14 per share on $99 million in sales. That's down from $0.38 per share on a cool $100 million last year. That's no reason to panic, though -- the entire semiconductor industry has practically ground to a halt at the moment, so I'm actually impressed to see Silicon Labs hold this much of its ground.

CEO Necip Sayiner explained that his company is outperforming its peers and grabbing market share thanks to a very diverse product portfolio. It's easy to sell chips when they're the best product for the job, and Silicon Labs isn't aiming for commodity markets. "We intend to contain costs and preserve cash flow while continuing to invest in key programs to build upon these hard-earned market share gains."

Those are strong words from a company that has to beat Brobdingnagians like Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN), Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI), and National Semiconductor (NYSE: NSM) for every contract signed. But Silicon can walk the talk, and it landed "100 new audio design wins" in this quarter alone. And you probably have a few Silicon Labs chips at home without knowing it -- just look inside your Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) Zune, Garmin (Nasdaq: GRMN) GPS gadgets, cellular handset from Samsung, or digital cable box from Motorola (NYSE: MOT).

Like a silent assassin, Silicon Labs is crawling into our homes, our cars, even our pockets. One design win at a time, this company will make you rich.

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