POET Technologies Inc.

Didn't recall reading/discussing Skyharbour & Apple significant relationship here before. Looks like they'd perhaps like to play in the same sandbox as us (PTK) which, may or maynot be possible.

Time will tell.....

Chipmaker Skyworks Primed To Get Another Bite From Apple

By Investor's Business Daily, July 21, 2015, 04:34:00 PM EDT
A A A

F or Skyworks Solutions, the Apple iPhone may well be the gift that keeps on giving. After getting a nice piece of theApple (

) iPhone 6 business, the analog chipmaker is poised to tap into more gains from Apple, which is expected to refresh the current-generation iPhone 6 sometime this fall.

Oppenheimer & Co. analyst Richard Schafer believesSkyworks (

Skyworks Solutions Inc. SWKS
95.67 -2.89 (-3.02%)
) has about $5 worth of content -- connectivity components and subsystems -- in every new smartphone in the current generation of the iPhone.

He estimates that Skyworks' content in the upcoming iPhone refresh will rise more than 10% vs. the prior generation.


Concerns about slowing iPhone sales, however, dragged down Skyworks in late trading Tuesday after Apple reported earnings.

Skyworks develops and manufactures high-performance analog and mixed-signal semiconductors linking people, places and things across a rapidly expanding number of new applications. Its portfolio includes amplifiers, attenuators, battery chargers, circulators, DC/DC converters, demodulators, detectors, diodes, directional couplers and infrastructure RF (radio frequency) subsystems.

Industries: Autos To Wireless

Its semiconductors enable wireless connectivity in smartphones, tablets and other devices.

Leveraging its core technologies, Skyworks supports automotive, broadband, wireless infrastructure, energy management, GPS, industrial, medical, military, wireless networking, smartphone and tablet applications.

In addition to the more traditional analog segments, it's also targeting products for the so-called Internet of Things -- the vast array of Internet-connected devices that includes the connected home, smart lighting and other areas.

Executives weren't available to comment for this story. But analysts say that Skyworks also supplies content for smartphones made by Samsung Electronics and Chinese smartphone vendors, among others.

"They've had a lot of success increasing their content with Apple," Schafer told IBD.

Schafer believes that Apple is Skyworks' No. 1 customer, accounting for 35% to 40% of the company's annual revenue.

"We also believe they've had very good success at Samsung, with China's smartphone OEMs, and across the board on the handset side," he adds.

He estimates that Skyworks' content has risen well in excess of 10% in recent smartphone refreshes from Apple, Samsung and Chinese smartphone OEMs like Xiaomi.

Skyworks has also had "good success" in connectivity outside the handset, he adds. He cites the fact it's done a "good job" increasing its content in devices like set-top boxes and devices enabling connectivity in the home.

Selling To Apple And Samsung

While Skyworks sells to nearly all of the smartphone vendors, Samsung and Apple appear "disproportionately large" relative to other customers because they're the two largest sellers of smartphones, says Northland Capital Markets analyst Tom Sepenzis.

Skyworks is the market leader in the radio frequency component segment, says Sepenzis. Its main competitors there are chip suppliersAvago Technologies (

Avago Technologies Ltd. AVGO
125.14 +0.66 (0.53%)
),Qorvo (
Qorvo Inc QRVO
57.95 -0.43 (-0.74%)
) and Murata Manufacturing.

Skyworks has been a "big beneficiary" of the increase in radio frequency content in smartphones made by vendors in China, says Schafer. That increase is being driven by the move from 3G to 4G smartphones, he adds.

On the financial front, Skyworks has been a long-running strong performer. It's logged nine straight quarters of double-digit earnings growth. In the latest quarter, earnings soared 85% to $1.15 a share. Sales surged 58% to $762 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect earnings to jump 55% to $1.29 a share when Skyworks reports third quarter results on July 23 after the stock market close.

Sepenzis says he's not expecting any "major" surprises in the third-quarter results, but believes Skyworks will continue to outperform the mobile group.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters see full-year fiscal 2015 earnings surging 58% to $5.13 a share. They forecast a 16% gain in 2016.

Investors have taken notice. Skyworks stock has jumped 42% since the start of the year.

"Skyworks is one of the best organic growth stories in semiconductors," said Schafer. "Not only does the company have standout organic growth, it's also showing steady margin expansion -- a rare combination and potent driver of chip stock outperformance."

Skyworks is benefiting from some industry trends that play into its business model.

The major trend driving Skyworks involves the increase in the number of radio frequency components in ever-more-complex smartphones as new generations of the phones emerge, says Sepenzis.

The number of frequencies supported in smartphones "is exploding," he said.

For example, as the generation of mobile technology moved from the 3G (third generation) standard to the 4G (fourth generation) standard, the number of radio frequencies supported in the phone rose from a range of four to eight to between 20 and 30, says Sepenzis.

Dialing-In More Frequencies

For each additional radio frequency, he adds, there's a need for an array of components such as filters, power amplifiers and switches.

He says Skyworks can supply all the required components.

Through its "systems level" approach, Skyworks has been a "beneficiary" of the trend toward increasingly complex smartphones, adds Schafer. He says Skyworks' growth strategy has centered on being a "one-stop-shop" for customers.

By offering a more "integrated solution," vs. focusing on individual "discrete" components, Skyworks can manage rapidly-increasing handset complexity, he adds.

Where will Skyworks' growth come from going forward?

Sepenzis says it will be coming from emerging markets, as well as from emerging handset vendors, particularly the Chinese.

He says smartphone penetration in the U.S. and Europe is already well above 50%.

Calling China, India, Internet

With those markets slowing down, the growth will come from China, which has more than 1 billion wireless subscribers, less than 200 million of which have 4G phones, Sepenzis says.

He says India is another market primed for smartphone subscriber growth. He estimates that between China and India there are about 2 billion potential 4G subscribers.

Sepenzis sees a major growth opportunity for Skyworks in products targeted to the Internet of Things.

"The Internet of Things could be even bigger than mobile," he said.

It's estimated that there will be anywhere between 50 billion to 200 billion Internet-connected devices by 2020, he says. Potentially between 20% and 25% of the total devices, he adds, could be wireless.

Skyworks said last month that it's opening a design center and research lab in San Diego to focus on the development of technologies targeting 4G and 5G protocols and the Internet of Things.

"With the addition of Skyworks' new design center in San Diego, we are well-positioned to extend our market leadership and further empower ubiquitous connectivity," CEO David Aldrich said in the design-center announcement.

Skyworks is a part of IBD's Electronic-Semiconductor Manufacturing industry group, where it ranks No. 2 by Composite Rating, with a 93 out of a possible 99, after top-rated Qorvo, which has a Composite Rating of 95. The largest company in the group by market cap isIntel (

). Skyworks is fifth in size.

Some key Skyworks customers includeGoogle (GOOGL),Honeywell (HON),General Electric (GE) andNokia (NOK).


The views and opinions expressed herein are the views and opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect those of The NASDAQ OMX Group, Inc



Read more: http://www.nasdaq.com/article/chipmaker-skyworks-primed-to-get-another-bite-from-apple-cm499116#ixzz3hoRTwu5J


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