Jefferies cuts TI, others on growth concerns
* Cuts Texas Instruments, Atheros, Mellanox to "hold"
* Downgrades Xilinx to "underperform" from "buy"
Jan 13 (Reuters) - Jefferies & Co downgraded chip bellwether Texas Instruments Inc TXN.N and several peers, saying the U.S. semiconductor industry is likely to face a slower growth environment in 2011.
The brokerage cut Texas Instruments, Atheros Communications Inc ATHR.O and Mellanox Technologies Ltd (MLNX.O) to "hold" from "buy," and cut Xilinx Inc (XLNX.O) two notches to "underperform" from "buy."
The brokerage expects the ongoing inventory rationalization in the semiconductor industry to continue into the first quarter and have a dampening effect.
Jefferies, however, said the industry was now shipping at a rate roughly equal to end-demand, as order trends for March appeared consistent to a little-better-than-normal seasonality.
The Philadelphia Semiconductor index .SOX has gained about 44 percent since touching a 52-week low on Aug. 31 last.
The brokerage also raised its price target on several stocks:
COMPANY NAME PRICE TARGET
NEW OLD
Cirrus Logic (CRUS.O) $25 $20
Broadcom (BRCM.O) $60 $48
Cypress (CY.O) $25 $18
Microsemi (MSCC.O) $23 $20
Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) $68 $55
Silicon Lab (SLAB.O) $56 $43
For all price target changes and related alerts: [ID:nWNAB4325]
(Reporting by Krishnakali Sengupta in Bangalore; Editing by Unnikrishnan Nair)
((krishnakali.sengupta@thomsonreuters.com; within U.S. +1 646 223 8780; outside U.S. +91 80 4135 5800; Reuters Messaging:krishnakali.sengupta.reuters.com@reuters.)) Keywords: SEMICONDUCTORSECTOR/RESEARCH JEFFERIES
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