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STMicroelectronics' Smart Sensors to Boost Fitness Apps

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STMicroelectronics N.V. (STM - Free Report) has launched three smart motion sensors that are capable of improving the efficiency of always-on tracking applications that are popularly used by social fitness freaks.

The sensors can not only record the progress data more accurately but also enable the applications to run for longer periods of time. They do so by performing various calculations related to motion on-chip rather than utilizing the computing power of the system processor.

STMICROELECTRON Price and Consensus

What Does this Mean for STMicroelectronics?

As per an IDC report, worldwide fitness wearables shipments are estimated to reach a whopping 213.6 million units in 2020 at a CAGR of 20.3%. Notably, watches and wristbands are projected to comprise the lion’s share of wearables shipments with watches alone having a 52.1% market share followed by wristbands, eyewear, clothing and others. 

Given the enormous growth potential the wearables sector has to offer, sensor manufacturers such as STMicroelectronics look poised for steady growth ahead. 

We note that STMicroelectronics’ smart motion sensors are being widely used in smartphones to run social fitness programs such as WeRun within the WeChat messaging app, which has witnessed huge adoption in China.

We expect to witness greater adoption of STMicroelectronics’ smart motion sensors by large fitness wearables manufacturers such as Apple (AAPL - Free Report) , Fitbit , Garmin and Samsung, going ahead.

Stock Performance Overview

Shares of STMicroelectronics have outperformed the broader S&P 500 index over the last 12 months. While the index generated a positive return of 11.2%, the stock returned a decent 72.2%.

The outperformance of the stock could be attributed to strong performance from the STM32 line of microcontrollers. Moreover, continuing design wins for high end smartphones as well as autos could have boosted the stock price.

Zacks Rank & Key Pick

At present, STMicroelectronics carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).

A better-ranked stock in the broader technology space is NVIDIA Corporation (NVDA - Free Report) , sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Notably, the consensus estimate for NVIDIA’s current year has improved to $2.43 from $1.86 over the last 30 days.

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