The U.S. stock market has been off to a rocky start in 2022. Rising inflation, expected interest rate hikes, supply-chain disruptions, global tensions, and forecasts of a global economic slowdown continue to weigh on the market. With the U.S. Federal Reserve recently reiterating its stance on tightening monetary policy, growth stocks have again come under significant pressure.
However, such a crisis can also prove to be an attractive opportunity for retail investors to pick up high-quality stocks, such as Skyworks Solutions (SWKS 3.41%) and Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (TSM 0.14%) at reasonable prices.
Here's why the long-term prospects of these two growth stocks seem bright right now.
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1. Skyworks Solutions
Shares of chipmaker Skyworks Solutions are currently down by about 20% so far this year. Besides the broader tech sell-off of 2022, the company's over-reliance on Apple (AAPL 2.48%) has also not helped its cause. With 59% of its revenue stemming from Apple in fiscal 2021 (ended Oct. 1), Skyworks is exposed to significant customer-concentration risk.
Investors were also unimpressed with the company's fiscal 2022 first-quarter results (for the period ended Dec. 31, 2021), with revenue of $1.5 billion and adjusted earnings per share (EPS) of $3.14. While Skyworks managed to surpass consensus estimates, investors were disappointed with the flat top-line performance and decline in adjusted EPS on a year-over-year basis in the first quarter.
Despite these challenges, Skyworks' underlying business is nevertheless strong. The disappointing first-quarter performance can be attributed to supply-chain headwinds and difficult prior-year comparisons (since the first quarter of the prior fiscal year included the sales impact of what was then the recently launched Apple iPhone 12).
The company has now guided for robust top-line and bottom-line performance for the second quarter: revenue of $1.3 billion to $1.36 billion, implying year-over-year growth of 13.5% at the midpoint, and non-GAAP diluted EPS of $2.62, implying year-over-year growth of 11%.
IDC expects 5G penetration of the global smartphone volume to increase from 40% in 2021 to 69% in 2025. Skyworks is well-positioned to capitalize on the rising adoption of 5G smartphones, thanks to its close relationships with most of the major 5G mobile players in this market.
With 5G cellular subscriptions expected to grow from 700 million in 2022 to over 4.4 billion in 2027, demand for the company's cutting-edge Sky5 platform (a flexible and customizable chip optimized for 5G applications) will continue to be high. In the first quarter, the company shipped Sky5 platforms to major smartphone original-equipment manufacturers (OEMs), such as Samsung, Oppo, Vivo, and Xiaomi. According to Counterpoint Research, these OEMs together with Apple accounted for 78% of the global smartphone market share in the fourth quarter of 2021.
Bank of America analyst Wamsi Mohan expects the global 5G rollout to boost Apple's iPhone sales in 2022. With 5G smartphone leader Apple being the most important Skyworks client, this can prove to be a major tailwind for the company. Coupled with robust traction seen for Skyworks chips in areas such as automotive applications, the Internet of Things (IoT), and wireless connectivity in the first quarter, shares of this company seem poised for a robust rebound in the coming months.
2. Taiwan Semiconductor
As the largest semiconductor foundry in the world, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing (or TSMC) stands to benefit tremendously from the rising long-term demand for chips, driven by multi-year secular megatrends such as 5G, artificial intelligence, high-performance computing, automotive, and IoT.
The stock is currently down 16% so far this year on the back of macroeconomic challenges and geopolitical tensions. Yet, there remain several positives that support a bullish hypothesis for this company.
TSMC accounted for a 56% share of the global foundry market at the end of 2021. The company boasts an impressive client list including Apple, Advanced Micro Devices, Nvidia, Qualcomm, and Broadcom. The company has been at the forefront of advanced process technology and has been aggressively investing in capacity expansion for manufacturing chips smaller than 7nm. In addition to fabless players, leading integrated device manufacturer Intel has also started relying on TSMC for the production of advanced nodes (smaller than 7nm).
Thanks to the broad-based and growing semiconductor demand and ongoing supply-chain issues, TSMC is enjoying significant bargaining power. In fiscal 2021, the company's revenue soared by 18.5% year over year to $56.8 billion, while adjusted EPS was up 15% to $4.12. The company has guided for top-line growth in the mid to high 20 percent range in dollar terms for fiscal 2022, ahead of the projected foundry industry growth of 20%. TSMC also expects its long-term gross margins to be 53%, driven by advanced technology, higher pricing, cost optimization, increased utilization, and improved product mix.
Hence, despite the geopolitical risk, TSMC is an attractive pick thanks to its leading position and diversified customer base in the rapidly growing semiconductor foundry market.
