Semiconductor stocks rallied for a second day Friday as the broader market rebounded from Thursday's selloff after a sharp drop in oil prices.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor Sector index rose 6.03, or 1.7 percent, to 365.68 in early afternoon trading.
U.S.-traded shares of Taiwan-based Silicon Motion Technology Corp. rose 22 cents, or 3 percent, to $7.52. However, the stock is still down nearly 58 percent since the start of the year.
Cowen and Co. analyst Daniel Berenbaum kept an "Outperform" rating on the company Thursday, saying he recognized that "the stock is likely to remain in the penalty box with many investors, but with net cash now 37 percent of market cap, we see limited downside and reasonable appeal to those able to look past near-term weakness."
In late July, Silicon Motion posted a sharply lower second-quarter profit, widely missing Wall Street's expectations. Berenbaum said in Thursday's note he "clearly underestimated" the effect of too much NAND card inventory on the quarter's results and the forecast for the current quarter. But, he added, "at these levels there is more than enough to keep us interested."
NAND chips are found in music players, digital cameras and other portable devices.
Rudolph Technologies Inc., which makes equipment for chip manufacturers, was among the sector's top gainers. Its shares rose 51 cents, or 5.8 percent, to $9.27, although the company did not release any major news. The stock is up more than 7 percent since the start of the week. On Monday, Rudolph posted a narrower adjusted second-quarter loss than analysts had expected.
Elsewhere, shares of Intel Corp., the world's largest chip maker, rose 47 cents, or 2 percent, to $24.14, adding to Thursday's gains. The stock is up about 7.4 percent since the start of the week.
Advanced Micro Devices Inc. rose 5 cents to $5.08. AMD's shares are up nearly 19 percent since the beginning of this week.
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