A Big Upgrade for RF Micro Devices

Every day, the sun rises on Wall Street, and a plethora of professional analysts wake to issue new opinions on stocks. Here at the Fool, we use our "This Just In" column to examine some of these picks -- and the track records of the companies behind them -- so individuals can make better investing decisions.

In addition to following professional banks, anyone can use Motley Fool CAPS to monitor the collective opinions of the 140,000 members, many of whom demonstrate better investing insight than published analysts do.

In the case of RF Micro Devices (Nasdaq: RFMD  ) , enough top-performing CAPS members have turned bullish on the company recently to upgrade it from the four-star rank it has held for months to a more formidable five stars. So far, 551 members have given their opinion on RF Micro Devices, with many of them offering analysis and commentary explaining the recent optimism.

RF Micro's shares have seen huge gains so far this year, along with those of competitors Skyworks Solutions (Nasdaq: SWKS  ) , TriQuint Semiconductor (Nasdaq: TQNT  ) , and ANADIGICS (Nasdaq: ANAD  ) . RF Micro is coming off a long restructuring coupled with a glut in cell-phone inventory, but operations are now coming back strong. Recent earnings topped analysts' expectations while total revenue grew by 23% from the previous quarter. Free cash flow increased sequentially by 36% to reach $34.5 million.

Both of the company's divisions -- its cellular products group and its multimarket products group -- saw strong growth in its fiscal first quarter, as they released new products at a rapid pace. RF Micro's main revenue driver has been the cell-phone microchips it supplies to original equipment manufacturers such as Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) , Samsung, and Motorola (NYSE: MOT  ) . In this area, it grew its 3G business in the quarter and won new component qualifications on reference designs from Qualcomm (Nasdaq: QCOM  ) and Infineon.

But RF Micro is aiming higher; it aims to leverage the U.S. government's interest in broadband connectivity as well as grow in other industries like smart grid applications and solar efficiency.

Do you think RF Micro Devices deserves its five-star status? Add your thoughts in the comments box below, or head over to CAPS to rate it yourself. While you're at it, see what the very best CAPS analysts are saying now about the company.