I can't be the only one who still thinks of Infineon AG (NYSE: IFX) as a computer memory business. After all, seven Wall Street analysts cover the now-separated memory segment Qimonda (NYSE: QI) today, while only three stick with the larger and more diverse parent company.
Still, Infineon holds about 78% of the shares in Qimonda, which makes it a semi-independent subsidiary for all intents and purposes, and the memory market still has a real effect on Big I and its results. And as we all know, that market ain't a happy place to be these days. Spansion (Nasdaq: SPSN), Qimonda, and SMART Modular Technologies (Nasdaq: SMOD) have all seen their share prices drop by approximately 40% in the last six months, because none of them has any pricing power. Micron (NYSE: MU) gets around the issue a little bit by also selling consumer gadgets, but it has been a steady underperformer nonetheless.
Infineon has done much better thanks to strong sales into its automotive customer base, and it doesn't hurt to have the five largest cell phone makers under contract for signal-processing chips, either. "The major challenge now will be to expand within those customers rather than gaining new customers," says CEO Wolfgang Ziebert.
With quality competition like Texas Instruments (NYSE: TXN) and Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI), you know that won't be easy, but just landing deals with all the biggies to begin with is an impressive feat. Let TI and company fight over what remains of the high-end handset market, while Infineon settles into a low-cost provider role. As Wolfgang said in beautifully Germanized English, some customers had sent in disappointing orders but "we saw the ultra low cost platform ramping as steep as we haven't ever seen before something ramping."
Memory weakness was balanced out by strong communications sales, in other words. The declining dollar cost the company nearly half of the reported 280 million euro ($408 million) net loss. Infineon's share in Qimonda contributed significantly to the other half of the losses, but Wolfgang isn't deterred by one tough quarter: "The very drastic fall of the U.S. dollar against the euro with its negative EBIT impact is outside our control and we have to deal with it."
Yes, indeed. As for the Qimonda drag, it might be smart to further reduce the exposure to its losses, but right now, it doesn't look like the best time ever to unlock value from those shares. Carry on, meine Damen und Herren.
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