Cirrus Logic a Logical Buy

Cirrus Logic, Inc. (CRUS - Snapshot Report) is a fabless OEM of analog, mixed-signal and digital processing integrated circuits. Seasonality will impact future results as consumer audio products grow faster than the company average. The company is in a transitional phase where mature products (analog products have a life cycle in years rather than the months for digital products) are being replaced by new products. The company reported revenue of $44.8 million was close to our $50 million estimate and pro-forma earnings of $0.06 a share were the same as our estimate (although we had a few compensating errors).

Revenue for both audio products and industrial products increased year-over-year and sequentially quarter-over-quarter. Some softness in the consumer products area was apparent late in the fourth quarter. As anticipated, gross margins declined as new products, with lower margins, were a larger proportion of revenue than in the prior quarters. We expect this trend to continue. Operating expenses were up slightly year-over-year but declined sequentially.

The company’s guidance for the fourth quarter was for revenue to be in the range of $42 to $45 million, gross margin of 55% to 57% and GAAP operating expenses in the range of $22 to $25 million, which includes $2 million on non-cash charges. We estimate that taxes will be accrued at the rate of 35% and pro-forma adjustment would be $3.4 million.

The portable audio business (MP3 players) will be a larger part of the revenue stream. This will impart more seasonality to revenue and earnings since consumer electronics sales are biased to the December quarter. Future growth in the industrial products sector will be aimed at the oil exploration business.

Our recommendation remains a Buy. Based on the current PEG ratio of 1.4, our estimate of the growth in EPS of 20% and our $0.30 estimate of 2009 earnings our price target is $8.

Read the full analyst report on CRUS.

Read the full analyst report on CRUS