What happened
Shares of STMicroelectronics (STM +0.18%) slid this morning after the company said that it will postpone its $12 billion annual sales target by an additional year.
The tech stock fell by as much as 13.5% today and was down by 13.3% as of 12:12 p.m. EST.
So what
Speaking at the company's Capital Markets Day, CEO Jean-Marc Chery said today that his company will reach its $12 billion annual sales goal in 2023, a year later than it had initially estimated.
Image source: Getty Images.
Chery said, "We need to take into account the U.S.-China trade war implications, with a de facto embargo so far preventing us from selling our custom design solutions to an important customer."
The important customer Chery referenced is Huawei. STMicroelectronics hasn't been able to sell its products to the company after the U.S. government banned the sale of technology to the China-based company earlier this year, on fears that Huawei could be a threat to national security.
The company has indicated for months that the ban will hurt sales, and Chery said during STMicroelectronics' third-quarter earnings call in October that, "After 30 quarters of consecutive revenue growth with Huawei, ST revenue in Q4 from Huawei will be zero."
The stock plunged on the news that the trade war continues to impact the company's business. Even with today's share price drop, the stock is still up 34.8% year to date.
Now what
Investors may want to keep a close eye on how President-elect Joe Biden will handle the U.S.-China trade war. Any changes in his administration's stance on technology sales to China-based companies could affect STMicroelectronics' business.
