Technology

Analysts Chasing Microchip Tech Price Targets Significantly Higher

Jon C. Ogg

Published: August 9, 2016 3:40 pm

Last Updated: January 13, 2020 4:46 am

Microchip Technology Inc. (NASDAQ: MCHP) was surging on Tuesday after beating earnings expectations. Oddly enough, the chipmaker had a loss of $113.4 million, or -$0.53 in earnings per share. Where the report shined was on adjusted earnings from operations. On this basis, Microchip Tech had earnings of $0.84 per share — handily above the Thomson Reuters estimate of $0.74 EPS.

What investors were given on top of an earnings beat was a forecast of $0.83 to $0.91 EPS versus the Thomson Reuters consensus estimate of $0.80 EPS.

24/7 Wall St. could not ignore how many analysts raised their targets here. Some of these price targets were substantial, even from the companies without Buy or Outperform ratings. It turns out that the stock hit an all-time highs. Late Tuesday’s trading was up 7% at $60.63 and shares hit a new high of $61.97.

Credit Suisse has an outperform rating, and the firm raised its target price to $67 from $52. The firm said:

While organic growth rate and valuation continue to be areas of concern for many investors, we continue to highlight the company’s impressive track record of buying sub-par assets and driving significant accretion: approximately 15 acquisitions in the last 7 years, the most recent being Atmel, for which Microchip increased its FY17 accretion expectations $0.40 from $0.25.

Jefferies has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $68 from $56. Its report said:

Microchip Tech’s core business performed well in the quarter and better than expectations. The September sales outlook beat consensus by 260 basis points due to better than expected contribution from Atmel, and for the Fiscal Year Microchip upped its accretion expectation by $0.15 to $0.40. We continue to recommend Microchip Tech with a Buy rating due to our forecast for its free cash flow per share growth potential and accretive M&A.

Citigroup has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $64 from $54.

CLSA has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $70 from $58.

J.P. Morgan has an Overweight rating and raised its target price to $68 from $60.

Morgan Stanley has an Overweight rating and raised its price target to $59 from $54.

Needham & Co. has a Buy rating and raised its price target to $70 from $60.

Stifel has a Buy rating and the firm raised its price target to $64 from $60.

Not everyone is so excited here. Goldman Sachs actually had a sell rating here, but they did manage to raise their price target up to $49 from $43.

If you want to know just how much this move has helped the consensus price targets, Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of $55.35 just a month ago. Now that target is $62.15.