Sigma Designs
Sigma always seems to be on the cusp of breaking loose from the pack thanks to a leading position in several really hot markets. Its chips go into high-powered set-top boxes, Blu-ray players, and home automation systems. In other words, if you need a high-octane digital video solution, Sigma probably has a chip for you. The company is in the right place at the right time, with all the right products.
But somehow, that pop never comes. Sigma did advance to $70 a share for a brief moment in 2007 to cap a year of nearly triple shareholder returns. But that wasn't the start of something great -- instead, Sigma far underperformed the market ever since, despite the S&P 500 tanking hard in 2008.
And the latest earnings report doesn't change that sad picture. Sigma reported GAAP earnings of $0.18 per diluted share, down from $0.35 per share a year ago.
Management noted that sales in the IPTV segment, which is Sigma's largest source of revenues, jumped 25% this quarter due to the timing of large orders. Customers in this segment include heavyweights like Motorola
CEO Thinh Tran said that AT&T is starting a hard marketing push for its U-Verse IPTV service, and that the company hopes to ride that wave to stronger results in the fall. "Our target markets should experience growth and we remain dominant in the IPTV market," he said. But somehow, I'm not convinced that this growing market will translate into growth for Sigma Designs.
Maybe we should be looking at rivals like Broadcom