Broadcom reported better-than-expected results on Thursday.
Remus Rigo/Dreamstime.com
Powered by its chip business, Broadcom disclosed higher revenue than expected and issued a bullish forecast when it reported its quarterly results late Thursday.
As the chip shortage continues to plague supply chains around the world, investors have high expectations for semiconductor businesses when they report earnings. A company is expected to outperform its own guidance and issue an upbeat forecast, and even checking both boxes doesn’t always translate to upside for a stock.
That appeared to be the case with Broadcom on Thursdays. Its shares were flat at $464.78 in extended trading. The stock had fallen $1.9% to $464.80 in regular trading.
Broadcom reported fiscal second-quarter net income of $1.49 billion, which amounts to $3.30 a share, compared with $563 million, or $1.17 a share, in the year-earlier period. Adjusted for stock compensation, among other things, earnings amounted to $6.62 a share. Revenue rose 15% from a year earlier to $6.61 billion.
Analysts had expected adjusted earnings of $6.44 a share from sales of $6.51 billion. Broadcom had previously said it expected revenue of $6.5 billion.
“Due to the strength in demand for semiconductors across our multiple end markets, we delivered 20% year-over-year increase in semiconductor revenue,” said Chief Executive Hock Tan said. “Our third-quarter outlook projects this year-over-year growth to sustain, as we continue to see strong demand from service providers and hypercloud.”
Better-than-expected revenue from its chip business appeared to drive Broadcom’s overall top-line results. The company reported semiconductor revenue rose 20% to $4.82 billion, from a year ago, and infrastructure software revenue ticked up 4% to $1.79 billion. Analysts had predicted chip revenue of $4.68 billion and infrastructure software revenue of $1.8 billion.
Broadcom said it expected fiscal third-quarter revenue of $6.75 billion, but didn’t provide a per-share earnings forecast. Analysts had expected earnings of $2.90 a share on revenue of $6.57 billion. The company said it expected strong demand for its chips to continue through the third fiscal quarter.
As Barron’s pointed out earlier this week, Broadcom reports a sizable amount of stock compensation compared with its chip maker rivals. For the fiscal second quarter, Broadcom paid out $425 million in share-based compensation, compared with $517 million a year ago.
Shares of Broadcom have had a choppy year, rising 6.2%, as the PHLX Semiconductor index, or Sox, rose 12%.
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