Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Microchip Technology (MCHP 3.10%), a manufacturer of semiconductor products for embedded control applications, jumped as much as 10% after reporting better-than-expected fourth-quarter results and guiding its first-quarter forecast above the consensus.
So what: For the quarter, Microchip relied heavily on sales of its microcontroller products. Sales of these devices, used in smartphones and tablets, rose 22% for the quarter and accounted for close to two-thirds of Microchip's total revenue. Total profit came in at $0.41 for the quarter, $0.04 ahead of the Street's expectation. Looking ahead, Microchip forecast sales growth of 1%-4%, or an implied $420 million to $433 million in revenue, on $0.45-$0.49 in EPS for the first quarter. Both figures easily trump the $417.8 million and $0.42 that Wall Street projected.
Now what: As long as smartphones and tablets remain popular, Microchip's microcontroller sales will continue to grow in importance to the company. Don't also negate that Microchip pays out a considerable portion of its profits as a dividend to shareholders, signaling confidence from management that cash flow should remain strong for quite some time. I can definitely see why shares are higher today and why long-term investors are excited about this company and would encourage tech-savvy investors to dig a bit deeper into Microchip Technology.
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