Shares of Atmel
How it got here
The touchscreen microcontroller specialist enjoyed some time in the sun for a while in 2010 and 2011 as it scored handfuls of design wins powering the touchscreens of many a Google
Investors justifiably thought that dominance would carry over to the Android tablet market, which it has in terms of market share. The problem is that the Android tablet market itself simply hasn't lived up to those hopes.
This is the theme that's been holding back Atmel's earnings lately, including its fourth-quarter figures in February and its first-quarter release last week. Interestingly, Atmel's impressive list of design wins has never included Apple, which uses chips from rivals like Cypress Semiconductor
CEO Steve Laub expects last quarter to be the bottom, but next quarter's guidance wasn't all that hot either.
How it stacks up
Let's see how Atmel stacks up against some of its microcontroller peers.
Let's add in some fundamental metrics for more insight.
Company |
P/E (TTM) |
Sales growth (MRQ) |
Net margin (TTM) |
ROE (TTM) |
---|---|---|---|---|
Atmel | 13.2 | (22.5%) | 15.4% | 24.7% |
Cypress | 26 | (20.6%) | 10.5% | NM |
Synaptics | 17.4 | (7.5%) | 10.1% | 14.9% |
Texas Instruments | 19.7 | (8%) | 13.6% | 16.7% |
Source: Reuters. TTM = trailing 12 months. MRQ = most recent quarter. NM = not meaningful.
The broader sector is plagued by falling sales, but Atmel is taking it worse than others. It spun off its lower-margin Smart Card business in 2010, but this is far enough in the rearview mirror that the missing revenue from that segment is already effectively factored out of growth comparisons.
What's next?
I think the worst is behind Atmel. There are some potentially significant growth catalysts in the near future, most notably a possible win in Amazon.com's
Beyond that, Microsoft Windows 8 will also give Atmel more tablet exposure later this year. It's been a rough year for Atmel, but I think we're seeing the bottom.
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