When I went to college, there was this furniture store on the corner of Monroe and Tharpe streets in Tallahassee, Fla., that had a going-out-of-business sale. You know the type: "Awesome discounts! One week only! Act now!" ... and it took almost two years before the store actually went out of business. That was one lengthy "act now" opportunity.
I'm reminded of that sale whenever I look at a stock chart for Cirrus Logic (Nasdaq: CRUS ) these days. Shares have crashed more than 40% from yearly highs set in February and have stayed at least 30% down since April (save for the occasional temporary blip). Every time prices appear to be on a sustainable rising track, something comes along to clip Cirrus' wings.
We're there again today. The successful launch of Apple's (Nasdaq: AAPL ) iPhone 4S gave Cirrus investors hope, and its chips have been confirmed to provide audio functions for Apple once again. Along comes the second-quarter report, and Cirrus falls as much as 19% overnight. And we're back in the deep-discount bin.
What did Cirrus do to deserve this beating in a public square? The company delivered earnings above Street estimates on sales well within management's own guidance. The Apple business is still going strong -- Cirrus characterized it as "outstanding," and Apple now makes up 59% of Cirrus' revenues:
Beyond the Appletunity, Cirrus is also busy rolling out new types of audio chips as well as power controllers for LED lighting applications. Management isn't ready to share specific customer names in the LED business yet, but already counts major lighting player Philips (NYSE: PHG ) as a customer. That market will take some time to mature, as any Cree (Nasdaq: CREE ) investor will tell you. But in the long run, LED power looks like a significant catalyst for Cirrus.
Going back to Monroe and Tharpe again, the mother of all buy-in windows on Cirrus has been open all summer long -- and just opened up even further. Fellow Fool Eric Bleeker called Cirrus a no-brainer and purchased shares last November. Personally, I find it as tempting as the speculation-prone, widely misunderstood camera-chip expert OmniVision Technologies (Nasdaq: OVTI ) -- another very committed Apple partner and a screaming buy at today's prices.
I liked OmniVision so much that I opened a real-money position. Once our Foolish trading guidelines permit me to act on Cirrus, I just might do the same for the audio guru. Stay tuned for more on that. For now, that stock is still kicking butt and taking names as an "outperform" pick in my All-Star CAPS portfolio right next to Cirrus. Click here to stake your own CAPS position on Cirrus, and here to add the stock to your watchlist for further news and Foolish analysis.
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