Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.
What: Shares of Lattice Semiconductor Corporation (LSCC +6.06%) fell by as much as 18% Friday, then recovered to close down just 4% after the company released solid second-quarter results and disappointing guidance.
So what: Quarterly revenue rose 17.2% year over year, to $99.3 million, which translated to net income that more than doubled to $11.8 million, or $0.10 per diluted share. Analysts, on average, were modeling earnings of $0.09 per share on sales of $98.6 million.
However -- and this explains the sharp early-morning drop -- Lattice Semiconductor also expects current-quarter revenue to fall 8% to 12% sequentially, or to a range of $87.4 million to $91.4 million. By comparison, analysts were looking for significantly higher third-quarter revenue of $98.5 million.
Now what: But to appease investors and explain the guidance shortfall, Lattice CEO Darin Billerbeck pointed to "softness in our communication business in Q3 as the few of our larger OEMs work through what we believe is inventory correction." With this in mind, the company does expect to see customer volume increase in the fourth quarter, thanks both to new model launches by those large OEMs, as well as new business from Lattice's China customers.
In the end, and considering next quarter's expected results should only be a temporary hiccup, I think patient, long-term investors could do well to consider using today's drop to add to or open a small position.
