Neutral (Downgrade Alert) Tech stocks have been on a tear with the sector besting the SPX by over 40% since 2015. While such a breakneck pace is unsustainable, what is missing from this outperformance is relative forward earnings…
In terms of end usage, except smartphones, the top five end uses for semiconductors are personal computers (PCs) (12%), servers (11%), diverse consumer products (12%), automotive (10%), and industrial electronics (9%).…
Highlights Portfolio Strategy Lack of profit growth, deficient industry demand, perky valuations and extremely overbought conditions all suggest that the time is ripe for an underweight stance in the S&P semi equipment index. The…
A more speculative and higher octane vehicle to explore the trade war-related mispricing from Part I of this Insight is via a long S&P machinery/short S&P semiconductors pair trade. Most of the drivers mentioned in…
Highlights Portfolio Strategy The trade-weighted U.S. dollar’s appreciation along with the still souring manufacturing data are weighing on SPX profit growth, at a time when heightened geopolitical uncertainty and a looming…
Highlights Portfolio Strategy Rising lumber prices, melting interest rates and profit-augmenting industry productivity gains all signal that it no longer pays to be bearish the S&P home improvement retail (HIR) index. Poor…
Global smartphone sales, which drive 29% of global semiconductor revenues, are currently contracting. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), in Q1/2019 global smartphone shipments declined 6.6% year-on-year (…
The odds of a cyclical upturn in global semiconductors over the next three-to-six months are low as global demand remains feeble and is contracting 15%/annum (top panel). Drilling deeper into global demand reveals that the…