Xilinx (Nasdaq: XLNX), a leading designer of programmable logic circuits, is swooning in the market today after an impressive but still less-than-stellar earnings report.
Second-quarter sales jumped by 49% year-over-year to $620 million, and earnings nearly tripled to $0.65 per diluted share. That's nothing to sneeze at, but Xilinx still appears to have lost market share to chief rival Altera (Nasdaq: ALTR) during the quarter.
What's worse, at least at first glance, is that operating cash flows got a brutal haircut, which makes Xilinx potentially less attractive to the value hounds out there.
Dig a little deeper, though, and the cash flow problem seems to evaporate. It's a purportedly temporary situation caused by a generous deal to assist the liquidity of biggest distribution partner Avnet (NYSE: AVT), causing accounts receivable to go up and cash flows down until the deal expires toward the middle of 2011. After that, Xilinx claims to see operating cash flows at a $600 million annual run rate.
Xilinx participates in some very attractive end markets, including controllers for 3-D TV sets (which are selling rather well even if nobody really wants them) and both the LTE and HDSPA flavors of high-speed wireless networking systems. Share losses to Altera are somewhat troubling, and you never know when smaller rivals Actel (Nasdaq: ACTL) or Lattice Semiconductor (Nasdaq: LSCC) might make inroads on the areas of Xilinx strength, but we're looking at a well-run business with strong growth and wide margins -- and those markets seem big enough to support several strong competitors.
I'm stopping short of calling Xilinx an obvious buy today, but I'm happy to add the stock to my watchlist for further study. It only takes a click if you want to do the same.
