"This story is neither an accusation nor a confession, and least of all an adventure, for the market is not an adventure to those who stand face to face with it. It will try simply to tell of a semiconductor sector that, even though it may have escaped its shells, was destroyed by short-term investors."
- A slight adaptation of All Quiet on the Western Front
OK, "destroyed" is a bit harsh, but semiconductor stocks have certainly seen some unfair treatment lately.
After a series of not-particularly-clarifying market updates from the likes of Analog Devices (NYSE:ADI) and National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM), industry giant Texas Instruments (NYSE:TXN) just contributed its own incremental information. The verdict: nothing new. Move along, nothing to see. And the stock price fell 3%.
The company simply narrowed its revenue and earnings forecasts slightly, on both the top and bottom ends. Spokesperson Ron Slaymaker said that customer inventory levels are going back to their customary levels after a six-month slump, just like he said in the latest full quarterly report.
Slaymaker had few surprises in store, aside from the company's newly expanded relationship with Motorola (NYSE:MOT). TI has traditionally supplied Motorola with mostly low-end chips for its cellular handsets, but it now sells WiMax and 3G products through that channel. Elsewhere, the company's customer orders are picking up, and revenue growth should resume in the second or third quarter, if current trends continue.
You might call the news bland or unexciting, but the market certainly reacted differently, sending the stock price down. But we live in the trenches out there. We invest. We try not to get killed, but sometimes we catch a stray bullet. That's all. And this is yet another show of day traders moving stock prices on basically no news at all.
Further Foolishness:
- Slow Times at National Semi: Fool by Numbers
- Finding True Value: Dividend Discount
- Finding True Value: Relative Valuation
Read up on semiconductor stocks in our Motley Fool CAPS community. Your fellow investors combined surely have a handle on where the market is moving. And it's both fun and 100% free.
Fool contributor Anders Bylund holds no position in any of the companies discussed here. You can check out Anders' holdings if you like, and Foolish disclosure is always worth a read.
