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RF Micro Sees Demand Surge




Tech Stocks : Alexei Oreskovic
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RF Micro Sees Demand Surge

By Alexei Oreskovic
TheStreet.com Staff Reporter
12/1/2005 12:41 PM EST
Click here for more stories by Alexei Oreskovic

Investors bid up RF Micro Devices (RFMD:Nasdaq - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) Thursday after a top exec pointed to strong demand for cell phones and solid relationships with key customers.

In a presentation at the Credit Suisse First Boston annual technology conference in Phoenix, finance chief Dean Priddy Jr. outlined a bullish outlook for the next several quarters. Shares of RF Micro rose 5% to $5.96.

"If there's any difference between this year and last year, it's the confidence that we have going into the March quarter," said Priddy. While there is typically a seasonal downturn in handset sales in the March quarter, Priddy said that a couple of RF Micro's customers have already commented that they're expecting a less marked seasonal downturn during the period. "The March quarter is going to be a very strong quarter, not only for the industry but for RF Micro," Priddy said.

One of RF Micro's main drivers of growth will be its Polaris chip, which provides high-speed data transfer functionality to cell phones. According to Priddy, every Polaris chip that ships represents $5 to $7 of content per phone, compared to roughly $1.50 per phone with the standard power amplifier chips the company ships.

"It takes a few million units [of Polaris chip shipments] to make a very substantial difference in our revenue growth for the quarter," said Priddy. In RF Micro's most recently completed quarter, the Polaris chip accounted for 10% of revenue.

And while there were reports that quality issues with earlier versions of the Polaris chip had jeopardized ties between Motorola (MOT:NYSE - commentary - research - Cramer's Take) and RF Micro, Priddy used the occasion to try putting those questions to rest. RF Micro will be providing chips in several versions of Motorola's popular Razr phone, he said. "This is a long term relationship," he said. "The relationship is very strong."

LONDON (AFX) -- Nokia cut the operating margin target for its network division by one percentage point, but left other goals in place ahead of a New York City investor presentation.

Nokia for "the next one to two years" now sees infrastructure operating margin of 13 pct, against the 14 pct seen last year.

It kept its overall operating margin target at 17 pct, and still sees R&D expenditures to sales at 9 pct to 10 pct by the end of 2006.

For the industry, Nokia expects mobile device industry volumes to grow more than 10 pct from the 780 mln unit estimates in 2005, and expects the number of mobile subscriptions to pass 3 bln in 2008 rather than in 2010.

NOKIA divulgou á momentos que o mercado de telemóveis vai crescer 10% em 2006. Essa informação foi feita numa conferência de analistas em New York.

AC

RFMD Named ''Best Supplier'' by Leading Handset Manufacturer
Thursday December 1, 8:00 am ET

GREENSBORO, N.C.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 1, 2005--RF Micro Devices, Inc. (NASDAQ: RFMD - News), a leading provider of proprietary radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs) for wireless communications applications, today announced that the Company received the "Best Supplier Award" from Lenovo Mobile, the leading China-based handset manufacturer. This award signifies a long-standing relationship between RFMD and Lenovo Mobile that is expected to strengthen as both organizations continue to grow.
"This award recognizes the value of RFMD's innovative technologies and its commitment to supporting Lenovo Mobile, the world's fastest-growing handset brand," said Zhijun Liu, vice president Lenovo and general manager Lenovo Mobile. "This award is a testament to RFMD's customer-centric focus and its ability to supply best-in-class technologies on time and in very high volumes. We look forward to continued growth in our relationship with RFMD."

According to the latest SINO report, Lenovo Mobile, the handset division of China's Lenovo Group Ltd, is the biggest local mobile handset brand sold in China and the fourth largest overall mobile handset brand in China. RFMD is the major supplier of power amplifiers (PAs) for Lenovo handsets. In addition to its leading provider status in PAs, RFMD is currently pursuing additional opportunities to supply Lenovo Mobile with complementary RF technologies, including its POLARIS(TM) TOTAL RADIO(TM) solutions, Bluetooth® and GPS.

"RFMD enjoys an exceptional relationship with Lenovo Mobile, which is quickly emerging as a major force in China's mobile handset market," said Bob Bruggeworth, president and CEO of RF Micro Devices. "RFMD is committed to expanding our operations in China in order to support valued, high-growth customers such as Lenovo Mobile."

Confirma a situação Bull e já vai atrás da 1ª resistência nos 5.76.

AC

uma subida em contraciclo e com um volume consistente ao longo da sessão. Passou a sinal Bull.

Blog - Hoje com análises á Motorola e Nortel

AC

Excelente Blog e excelentes analises

Abraço

o breakout de ontem e dá novos sinais de compra.

O Meu Blog hoje tem uma análise ao fecho do Nasdaq assim como á RFMD.

Bons Negócios.

AC

=DJ RF Micro Execs Upbeat On Polaris Product Growth Prospects

11/23/2005
Dow Jones News Services
(Copyright © 2005 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.)


By Mary Ellen Lloyd
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES


GREENSBORO, N.C. (Dow Jones)--Wall Street may be slow to credit RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) for its growing cellular transceiver business, but company executives say they are upbeat about the prospects.

"The company is growing and it's making more money, but that doesn't seem to be playing real well," Chief Executive Bob Bruggeworth said in a recent interview.

RF Micro is taking market share in its core power-amplifier business even as its newer products gain traction with the big handset manufacturers, Bruggeworth and Chief Financial Officer Dean Priddy said. Indeed, growth in RF Micro's Polaris family of products should be a major factor in increased revenue and profit in the December quarter compared with the September period, said Bruggeworth and Priddy.

Polaris product strength is expected to offset for RF Micro some of the order weakness that handset suppliers typically experience in the March quarter following holiday-related surges, the executives said.

"We're comfortable in looking out in the next couple of quarters that we're going to continue growth," Priddy said. "We're gaining a large amount of market share in transceivers very quickly."

Shares of RF Micro are down more than 20% this year to $5.50, while the Nasdaq Composite Index is up nearly 4%. Company executives blame lingering concerns on Wall Street regarding how quickly the newest Polaris products are growing, even though management asserts production problems that caused a special charge earlier this year are well behind it.

Analysts also express concern that newer products will pressure RF Micro's gross margins, Priddy said. Looking only at the margin overlooks the fact that company gross profit dollars are growing "very rapidly," and more quickly than expenses, he said.

"We're dropping dollars down to the bottom line at a rapid rate," Priddy said. "In fact, we'll more than double operating income this quarter compared to last quarter."

RF Micro is among the top three suppliers of radio-frequency integrated circuits to the biggest names in handsets, including Nokia Corp. (NOK), Motorola Inc. (MOT), Samsung Electronics Co. (005930.SE), LG Electronics Inc. (066570.SE) and Sony Ericsson. RF Micro's components are in nearly half of the 800 million handsets expected to be produced this year, Bruggeworth said.

"I don't think a lot of people appreciate the relationships we have," he said. "There's probably not a phone being designed on the planet that we don't know about."

The Greensboro, N.C., company continues to integrate more chips onto ever-smaller footprints, which allows manufacturers to eliminate steps in their engineering and production while adding more features and services to phones. That is helping RF Micro leverage existing relationships to sell more to those customers and to outpace handset growth, Priddy and Bruggeworth said.

RF Micro said during its second-quarter earnings release in October that December-quarter revenue is expected to range from $205 million to $212 million. Per-share earnings should range from 5 cents to 6 cents a share, assuming no impact from variable accounting tied to its recent option-exchange program, based on the company's outlook.

"We're definitely comfortable with the range of guidance we've given," Priddy said last week. "If we were comfortable then, we're much more comfortable now."

RF Micro executives will be taking their assertions directly to investors in coming weeks as they present at conferences hosted by Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman Brothers. And they have tried to draw attention to new contracts when they can, such as announcing Friday that RF Micro's Polaris 2 chipset will be used in Motorola's V360 EDGE handset.

But Nokia, which accounts for roughly 35% of RF Micro's annual sales, prohibits the supplier from talking about business with it, leaving a sizable hole in information RF Micro can provide to investors, executives said.

Nevertheless, Priddy said RF Micro has "growth engines kicking in today and we've got growth engines that will be kicking in two years from now."

"What we're going to do is put together several quarters of good financial performance," he said. "I think the market will react accordingly when we give a more consistent performance."

Corporate web site: http://www.rfmd.com

-By Mary Ellen Lloyd, Dow Jones Newswires; 704-371-4033; maryellen.lloyd@dowjones.com



(END) Dow Jones Newswires

Olá, fiel defensor da RFMD!

Eu só espero que ela atinja o meu ponto de compra - na zona dos 5,60-5,70 - para a trocar por uma das 12 acções que vou agora negociar para o longo prazo. Todas elas, aliás, talvez com uma única excepção, ilustres desconhecidas mas que podem vir a dar que falar... assim o espero!

Mas o Best trader - pouco modesto! - também previu há dias esta recuperação, segundo as ondas de Elliot, quer-me parecer. Veremos então que target no curto prazo a RFMD poderá alcançar, pois, como disse, se a vir acima dos 5,80 devo vendê-la logo sem hesitar! Pelo menos, metade da posição, ficando a outra a aguardar uma eventual quebra dos 6$ veremos...

Rui leprechaun

PS: Já agora, também segues a SWKS que pertence ao mesmo sector? Parece que tem fundamentais bastante superiores. E na RFMD os insiders continuam a vender grandes quantidades de acções, praticamente todas as semanas! Confesso que me sinto desconfortável sabendo isto...

O certo é que ambas desceram imenso este ano, a RFMD perdeu mais de 1/4 do valor e a SWKS quase metade!!! Será que tudo o que cai volta a subir?! May be... may be...

podes contar com elas, mas infelizmente o tempo não me permite fazer mais.

Já agora desculpem o erro " podei " cria dizer " podem ".

Um abraço,

AC

Cada vez acompanho as tuas análises com mais interesse, AC.

Esta que indicaste agora está a passar por um bom momento técnico, sim senhor! Ainda está a depender de uma boa confirmação, mas não está nada mal.

Esta é uma excelente noticia para os Bulls, haver vamos se amanhã se confirma.

No meu blog, hoje podei encontrar análises ao fecho da CSCO e JDSU.

Um abraço,