The fThe strong growth recorded in the third quarter is not enough for Stmicroelectronics which, due to a below-expected guidance, is overwhelmed by sales in Piazza Affari.
At 10.50 the share dropped by 8,1% to 12,43 realizing the worst performance of the Ftse Mib. Shares had already suffered yesterday together with the entire European semiconductor sector in the wake of the disappointing forecasts of the Austrian AMS (whose share on 23 October reached a 20-month low). Making matters worse, US firm Texas Instruments announced below-expected third-quarter results in terms of sales and earnings forecasts, noting that customers may slow down their purchases as the trade war escalates. between the United States and China.
Returning to the numbers of Stm, the company closed the third quarter with revenues up 11,2% on a quarterly basis to 2,52 billion dollars (+18,1% on an annual basis). The result beat the company's expectations, which instead expected an intermediate sequential increase of 10% and a +16,8% trend. boomNet income, which rose by 41,4% in the quarter and by 56,7% year on year to 369 million euros, while theoperating profit rose 82,4% to $157 million.
Il operating income increased 38% over the second quarter and 41,8% for the year to $398 million while the operating margin it rises to 15,8% (from 12,7% in the second quarter and from 13,1% a year ago). Gross margin is 39,8% (down from 40,2% in Q39,6, it was XNUMX% a year ago). “At the divisional level – underlines Equita – the revenues of the AMS segment (+37% yoy) are very good thanks to the new program with Apple and the AGM segment (+16%) thanks to the products for electric/hybrid cars and ADAS, while the part of the microcontrollers, as expected, decelerated”.
“St also had a solid performance last quarter,” he noted Jean-Marc Chery, president and CEO of STMicroelectronics. "Revenues advanced 18,1% year over year on strong growth in imaging, power discrete and automotive products."
And now the sore point that is causing the stock market crash. Regarding the forecast, Chery said, 'For the fourth quarter, we expect revenue growth of approximately 5,7% mid-quarter over the prior quarter, which is more than 8% year-over-year growth. Gross margin should be around 39,8%. Based on our fourth quarter guidance, we expect 2018 revenue growth of approximately 16% year-over-year, in line with our Investor Day announcement in May. This level of revenue growth will also imply a strong improvement in operating margin and net income.
“Guidance is just below consensus expectations”, comment the Equita analysts. The estimate translates into "a turnover of 2,67 billion, which is 1% above our estimate but about 2% below consensus expectations (2,723 billion) and a gross profit of 1,061 billion, again 1 % above our estimate but 3% below consensus expectations (margin 40,1%)”, explains Equita.
