How do you analyze a company's sales trends? One idea is to look at their growth in inventory over time, compared to revenue. If revenue is growing faster than inventory, it could be a good sign.
We ran a screen on the semiconductor industry for stocks with positive trends in inventory: growth in quarterly revenue outpacing growth in quarterly inventory year-over-year. We also screened for companies with quarterly inventory decreasing as a percent of current assets.
To understand why these trends are positive, think of why the opposite trends would be negative. If revenue were growing slower than inventory, it may indicate that the company is having trouble selling its inventory - although this may just indicate inventory building or a change in sales policies.
?
Interactive Chart: Press Play to compare changes in analyst ratings over the last two years for the top six stocks mentioned below. Analyst ratings sourced from Zacks Investment Research.?
Your browser does not support iframes.
We also created a price-weighted index of the stocks mentioned below, and monitored the performance of the list relative to the S&P 500 index over the last month. To access a complete analysis of this list's recent performance, click here.
Do you think these companies are selling well? Use this list as a starting point for your own analysis.
List sorted by difference between growth in revenue and inventory.
1. Microsemi Corp. (MSCC): Engages in the design, manufacture, and marketing of analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and semiconductors primarily in the United States, as well as in Europe and Asia. Market cap of $1.62B. MRQ revenue has increased 50.32% ($227.29M vs. $151.2M y/y) while MRQ inventory has increased 11.64% ($140.83M vs. $126.15M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 29.19% to 24.37%, comparing 13 weeks ending 2011-10-02 to 13 weeks ending 2010-10-03. The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 6.89% over the last week.
2. LSI Corporation (LSI): Designs, develops, and markets storage and networking semiconductors and storage systems worldwide. Market cap of $3.88B. MRQ revenue has increased 20.76% ($546.91M vs. $452.88M y/y) while MRQ inventory has decreased 4.40% ($210.43M vs. $220.12M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 17.78% to 14.72%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-10-02 to 3 months ending 2010-10-03. The stock has had a good month, gaining 20.49%.
3. ASML Holding NV (ASML): Engages in designing, manufacturing, marketing, and servicing semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. Market cap of $18.0B. MRQ revenue has increased 24.02% ($1,458.5M vs. $1,176M y/y) while MRQ inventory has increased 0.41% ($1,455.8M vs. $1,449.8M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 33.34% to 25.99%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-09-25 to 3 months ending 2010-09-26. Might be undervalued at current levels, with a PEG ratio at 0.89, and P/FCF ratio at 7.86. The stock has gained 12.84% over the last year.
4. NetLogic Microsystems Inc. (NETL): Engages in the design, development, and sale of processors and integrated circuits. Market cap of $3.46B. MRQ revenue has increased 6.76% ($106.81M vs. $100.05M y/y) while MRQ inventory has decreased 11.56% ($38.33M vs. $43.34M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 13.47% to 11.29%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-09-30 to 3 months ending 2010-09-30. The stock has gained 37.26% over the last year.
5. Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD): Operates as a semiconductor company in the United States, Japan, China, and Europe. Market cap of $4.06B. MRQ revenue has increased 4.45% ($1,690M vs. $1,618M y/y) while MRQ inventory has decreased 13.18% ($540M vs. $622M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 19.36% to 15.83%, comparing 13 weeks ending 2011-10-01 to 13 weeks ending 2010-09-25. This is a risky stock that is significantly more volatile than the overall market (beta = 2.18). The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 12.4% (equivalent to 5.42 days of average volume). The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 6.59% over the last week.
6. Broadcom Corp. (BRCM): Designs and develops semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Market cap of $17.60B. MRQ revenue has increased 8.36% ($1,957M vs. $1,806M y/y) while MRQ inventory has decreased 8.20% ($491M vs. $534.86M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 13.95% to 10.93%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-09-30 to 3 months ending 2010-09-30. The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 10.9% over the last week.
7. RDA Microelectronics, Inc. (RDA): Designs, develops, and markets radio-frequency and mixed-signal semiconductors for cellular, broadcast, and connectivity applications. Market cap of $453.77M. MRQ revenue has increased 45.99% ($83.93M vs. $57.49M y/y) while MRQ inventory has increased 31.13% ($37.28M vs. $28.43M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 34.52% to 15.97%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-09-30 to 3 months ending 2010-09-30. The stock has lost 25.64% over the last year.
8. MEMC Electronic Materials Inc. (WFR): Engages in the development, manufacture, and sale of silicon wafers for the semiconductor industry worldwide. Market cap of $1.13B. MRQ revenue has increased 2.60% ($516.2M vs. $503.1M y/y) while MRQ inventory has decreased 11.96% ($375.4M vs. $426.4M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 27.49% to 17.13%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-09-30 to 3 months ending 2010-09-30. The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 19.76% over the last week.
9. Yingli Green Energy Holding Co. Ltd. (YGE): Engages in the design, development, manufacture, marketing, sale, and installation of photovoltaic products in the People's Republic of China and internationally. Market cap of $787.79M. MRQ revenue has increased 29.67% ($4,258.58M vs. $3,284.24M y/y) while MRQ inventory has increased 17.68% ($2,641.49M vs. $2,244.66M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 22.11% to 19.08%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-09-30 to 3 months ending 2010-09-30. The stock is a short squeeze candidate, with a short float at 15.77% (equivalent to 5.15 days of average volume).The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 26.08% over the last week.
10. IXYS Corp. (IXYS): Engages in the development, manufacture, and marketing of power semiconductors, advanced mixed signal integrated circuits (ICS), application specific integrated circuits, and systems and radio frequency semiconductors. Market cap of $363.87M. MRQ revenue has increased 10.11% ($99M vs. $89.91M y/y) while MRQ inventory has increased 2.51% ($79.6M vs. $77.65M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 36.71% to 32.99%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-09-30 to 3 months ending 2010-09-30. The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 5.04% over the last week.
11. Avago Technologies Limited (AVGO): Engages in the design, development, and supply of analog semiconductor devices worldwide. Market cap of $7.74B. MRQ revenue has increased 8.92% ($623M vs. $572M y/y) while MRQ inventory has increased 2.65% ($194M vs. $189M y/y). Inventory/current assets has decreased from 17.39% to 13.93%, comparing 3 months ending 2011-10-30 to 3 months ending 2010-10-31. The stock has had a couple of great days, gaining 11.2% over the last week.
*Accounting data sourced from Google Finance, all other data sourced from Finviz.
Disclosure: I have no positions in any stocks mentioned, and no plans to initiate any positions within the next 72 hours.
No comments:
Post a Comment