Is Amkor the Next Apple Winner?

In a new research report on Tuesday, Amkor was reiterated as Outperform and its price target is $6.00 per share. If that comes to fruition, Amkor still has close to 50% upside. Only three firms follow this chip company, but the consensus target price is also $6.00 from Thomson Reuters.

Credit Suisse said that Amkor’s high-end packaging growth overshadows its 2.5D risk by saying, “Amkor noted 48% of sales from Wafer Level CSP and Flip Chip, areas growing at double-digit rates on tablets/smartphone demand. At the same time, the company sees 3D starting a niche and high-end, and not reaching the mainstream smartphones/tablets until 2016.” As far as how the Apple play comes in: “From Amkor, the shift to high-end packaging including a potential Apple opportunity far overshadows the risk from foundry on 2.5D/3D packaging.”

Amkor trades at $4.11 and has traded in a 52-week range of $3.65 to $6.78. Its market cap is only about $630 million. For 2013, Thomson Reuters consensus estimates (again from only three analysts) are $0.72 EPS and $2.87 billion in revenue.

JON C. OGG