A Crucial Part of Tech Rallied the Moment FANG Started Cratering
(Bloomberg) -- Semiconductor stocks continue to be a bright spot in an earnings season that has taken its toll on technology investors.
KLA-Tencor Corp. led the group higher Tuesday, climbing as much as 15 percent for the biggest gain in almost three years, after its fourth-quarter results topped the highest expectations. The report echoed a theme of strong demand just days after heavyweights like Advanced Micro Devices Inc. and Xilinx Inc. crushed expectations.
The strength in chip stocks has been magnified as tech investors slammed the sell button for tech darlings in the FANG bloc. The megacap group has stumbled through a rocky earnings season that pushed the FANG Index down 9.3 percent over a three-day slump following Facebook Inc.'s record meltdown. The Philadelphia Semiconductor Index jumped 1.9 percent Thursday, defying the Facebook-led rout, and added another 1.3 percent on Tuesday.
KLA-Tencor's strength comes after months of underperformance from semiconductor equipment stocks, a group that has been mostly excluded from optimism about the broader chip sector.
“The semi equipment sector has been volatile since beginning of 2018 due to memory capex volatility concerns,” Berenberg analyst Tammy Qiu wrote in a note to clients. “The key question in the sector is about whether we will see a recovery in the December quarter, which would alleviate the street's fears about a potential semi cycle collapse.”
The broader semiconductor sector has displayed “excellent relative strength” over the past month while Intel Corp., the largest U.S. chipmaker, is showing evidence of “textbook downside exhaustion,” Evercore ISI technical analyst Rich Ross wrote in a research note on Tuesday. He advised clients to buy both.
The next catalyst for chip stocks will be Apple Inc.'s third-quarter results after the close of trading. Analysts are looking for 41.6 million iPhone units in the quarter, along with an average selling price of $699, according to estimates compiled by Bloomberg News. Apple's outlook will be viewed as an indicator of future growth for suppliers including Qorvo Inc., Cirrus Logic Inc. and Broadcom Inc.
--With assistance from Ian King.
To contact the reporter on this story: Bailey Lipschultz in New York at blipschultz@bloomberg.net
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Catherine Larkin at clarkin4@bloomberg.net, Steven Fromm
©2018 Bloomberg L.P.
-
A New Samvat Wishlist: Inclusive Prosperity And Human Development
India has strengthened its economic foundations through infrastructure, digital access and enterprise. Its next growth chapter must deepen productivity, create better livelihoods and widen participation in prosperity.
-
Love, Sex Aur Dhokha: The Audacious Plot To Spy On Jensen Huang
A Taipei dinner, a Singapore chip buyer and a suspected Chinese asset: inside the alleged spy operation that got close to NVIDIA's Jensen Huang.
-
Ten Things I Learnt This Samvat
Patience can be a trap. Cheap stocks can stay cheap. Leverage can wipe you out. What did Samvat 2082 teach us? Niraj Shah writes on 10 lessons from the year gone by.
-
Talking Points This Week: Tech Nerves, FII Buying, And A Faraway Banking Shock
The global markets are not shining this Diwali. The exception in the large markets is, India.
-
Midterm Rally Lasted A Day. The Hard Reality Of A Divided US May Last Two Years | Opinion
Between a contested AI boom, a debt ceiling that arrives in 2027 and a president with every incentive to act alone, the next two years may prove more volatile than the first day's rally suggests.
-
Blue Wave Will Derail the AI Trade but Won't Dismantle the AI Era | Unhedged Position
The Democrats' sweep of the US Congress will see politics collide with economic forces both over the long and short term.
-
It's Time To Take The GST Council's Bet On Trust Global
Payment records can prove India's services exports, and clear, proportionate rules can bring foreign digital sellers into the tax net.
-
Opinion | India at 38: From Innovation Overperformer to Innovation Powerhouse
India now has 453 VC-backed deep science startups, 18 of them late-stage, after 117 percent growth since 2020. Laurus Labs, at USD 9.3 billion, is the most valuable deep science company in any middle-income economy outside China.
-
Navigating Energy Crossroads: S Jaishankar's Call For Diversified Supply Chains At G20 Ministerial Meeting
As geopolitical fault lines continue to test maritime trade routes and commodity flows, Jaishankar's message remains pertinent: true economic resilience requires open markets, protected transit lines, and a genuine commitment to multilateral cooperation rather than coercion.
