What's happening: Shares of programmable semiconductors builder Cypress Semiconductor (CY) jumped as much as 11.6% higher in Thursday's trading action. The stock retreated somewhat in later trading, but remained roughly 9% above Wednesday's closing prices at 2:45 p.m.
Following this positive move, Cypress shares have still lost 15% of their value year to date, far behind the broader market.
Why it's happening: Cypress presented a solid second-quarter earnings report in the pre-market hours. The company delivered adjusted earnings of $0.15 per share on $485 million in sales, beating Wall Street's earnings consensus but falling short on the top line. Analysts were looking for earnings of $0.13 per share on revenues in the $487 million range.
In prepared press remarks, Cypress CEO T.J. Rodgers said that the integration with fellow mixed-signal chip maker Spansion is coming along largely as planned.
"We have exited 19 of the 27 sites planned for closure, reduced our combined headcount by 833 people and achieved $51.6 million in annualized synergies in the second quarter -- ahead of our plan to achieve $160 million in synergies," Rodgers said. "Our sales force is actively cross-selling products from our expanded product portfolio. As a result, we have begun to see an increase in new opportunities at top-tier customers, particularly in the automotive market."
For example, one unnamed but prominent auto maker selected a Cypress chip to power the infotainment units in its next-generation models, alongside a selection of former Spansion products for power management and other functions. This design win was notable, in Rodgers' opinion, because Spansion's existing relationship with that automotive giant opened the door for a big Cypress-branded cross-sale.
"This is a dynamic we expect will repeat itself as customers become more familiar with the synergies of our new product portfolio," Rodgers said.
That dynamic bears keeping an eye on. The Cypress-Spansion merger has led to more investor pain than business wins so far, but only time will tell how the long-term value of this merger plays out.
