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The Zacks Analyst Blog Highlights: Cirrus Logic, ACM Research, Diodes, Lattice Semiconductor and NeoPhotonics

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For Immediate Release

Chicago, IL – August 28, 2019 – Zacks.com announces the list of stocks featured in the Analyst Blog. Every day the Zacks Equity Research analysts discuss the latest news and events impacting stocks and the financial markets. Stocks recently featured in the blog include: Cirrus Logic Inc. (CRUS - Free Report) , ACM Research, Inc. (ACMR - Free Report) , Diodes Inc. (DIOD - Free Report) , Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (LSCC - Free Report) and NeoPhotonics Corp. .

Here are highlights from Tuesday’s Analyst Blog:

5 Great Chip Stocks to Buy on Fresh Trade Deal Hopes

The Dow advanced more than 250 points on Aug 26 following encouraging comments on trade from President Trump. The U.S. President revealed that China was willing to recommence trade talks following telephonic discussions on Aug 24. The news provided a much-needed respite to the embattled American investor, following the heavy losses suffered on Aug 23.

As a result of Trump’s announcement, semiconductor stocks surged, staging a strong rebound after Friday’s reverses. This is one of the sectors on which the trade war has weighed heavily since it derives a large chunk of its business from China. But fresh trade deal hopes have reminded investors that the sector has a bright future. Investing in select semiconductor stocks makes for a smart choice at this point.

Trump Says China Ready to Return to Negotiations

On Monday, Trump said China was willing to restart trade talks, citing two “very good calls” from Beijing. The U.S. President was speaking to reports on the sidelines of the G-7 meeting in Biarritz, France. Trump indicated that serious negotiations between the two trade rivals would likely begin in earnest very soon.

According to Trump, China held an important telephonic call with U.S negotiators and said “let’s get back to the table.” The U.S. President thinks that the world’s second-largest economy has been hurt very badly but they understand this is the right thing to do.” Trump said that he respected China’s decision, describing it as “a very positive development for the world.”

Chip Stocks Surge on Deal Hopes

Semiconductor stocks surged following Trump’s comments with Micron and AMD ending the day 1.1% and 2.5% higher, respectively. Meanwhile, Apple led gains for the Dow, advancing by 1.9%. This was in sharp contrast to events on Friday when chip stocks plunged after China announced the imposition of retaliatory tariffs on U.S. goods.

This is because the semiconductor space has a heavy exposure to the Chinese economy. For instance, AMD derives nearly 26% of its total revenues from China, per data from Goldman Sachs released in March 2018. Similarly, Qualcomm generates 69% of its revenues from China while NVIDIA derives 56%. This is why fresh trade deal hopes have boosted the sector’s fortunes.

Our Choices

After facing heavy reverses last Friday following the imposition of retaliatory tariffs by China, renewed trade deal hopes revived the fortunes of the semiconductor space. Trump will likely push for a near-term trade deal ahead of the presidential polls since fresh tariffs are hurting large sections of loyal voters.

This is why it makes sense to invest in semiconductor stocks at this time. We have narrowed our search to the following stocks based on a good Zacks Rank and other relevant metrics.

Cirrus Logic Inc. is a fabless semiconductor supplier, which develops, manufactures and markets analog, mixed-signal, and audio DSP integrated circuits (ICs).

Cirrus Logic has a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). The company has expected earnings growth of 2.9% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has moved 34.3% north over the past 30 days.

ACM Research, Inc.develops, manufactures and sells single-wafer wet cleaning equipment, which semiconductor manufacturers can use in numerous manufacturing steps to remove particles, contaminants and other random defects.

ACM Research’s expected earnings growth for the current year is 30.9%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved 25.5% over the past 30 days. The stock sports a Zacks Rank #1. You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Diodes Inc.is a leading manufacturer and supplier of high-quality discrete and analog semiconductor products, primarily to the communications, computing, industrial, consumer electronics and automotive markets.

Diodes Inc. has a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). The company’s expected earnings growth for the current year is 19.8%. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has moved north by 1.8% over the past 30 days.

Lattice Semiconductor Corp.designs, develops and markets high performance programmable logic devices and related development system software.

Lattice Semiconductor has a Zacks Rank #2. The company has expected earnings growth of 72% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has improved by 19.5% over the past 30 days.

NeoPhotonics Corp.is engaged in the design and manufacture of photonic integrated circuits, or PICs, based modules and subsystems for bandwidth-intensive, high-speed communications networks.

NeoPhotonics has a Zacks Rank #2. The company has expected earnings growth of 66.3% for the current year. The Zacks Consensus Estimate for current-year earnings has moved 46.3% north over the past 30 days.

More Stock News: This Is Bigger than the iPhone!                  

It could become the mother of all technological revolutions. Apple sold a mere 1 billion iPhones in 10 years but a new breakthrough is expected to generate more than 27 billion devices in just 3 years, creating a $1.7 trillion market.

Zacks has just released a Special Report that spotlights this fast-emerging phenomenon and 6 tickers for taking advantage of it. If you don't buy now, you may kick yourself in 2020. 

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Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Inherent in any investment is the potential for loss. This material is being provided for informational purposes only and nothing herein constitutes investment, legal, accounting or tax advice, or a recommendation to buy, sell or hold a security. No recommendation or advice is being given as to whether any investment is suitable for a particular investor. It should not be assumed that any investments in securities, companies, sectors or markets identified and described were or will be profitable. All information is current as of the date of herein and is subject to change without notice. Any views or opinions expressed may not reflect those of the firm as a whole. Zacks Investment Research does not engage in investment banking, market making or asset management activities of any securities. These returns are from hypothetical portfolios consisting of stocks with Zacks Rank = 1 that were rebalanced monthly with zero transaction costs. These are not the returns of actual portfolios of stocks. The S&P 500 is an unmanaged index. Visit http://www.zacks.com/performance for information about the performance numbers displayed in this press release.

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