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 Skyworks Solutions (SWKS 1.81%) have plunged today by as much as 14% after mobile chip heavyweight Qualcomm (QCOM -0.20%) announced a new rival product.
So what: Qualcomm announced a new RF360 front-end module that can improve radio frequency performance and includes the industry's first envelope power tracker for 3G and 4G LTE devices. It also features a integrated power-amplifier. Skyworks also sells power amplifier modules to OEMs.
Now what: With such a big player stepping into the ring, Skyworks and numerous other RF specialists such as RF Micro Devices and Avago Technologies are selling off also. Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt downgraded his rating on all three companies, referring to the Qualcomm announcement as a "bombshell." Since Qualcomm dominates other areas of smartphone components, such as baseband processors and applications processors, the company can potentially cross-sell its offerings with success, which is bad news for Skyworks.
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