The outlook is getting uglier for chip makers that serve the auto industry.
Shares of Mobileye Global, a supplier of autonomous-driving systems and related equipment, fell by more than 25% on Thursday after company said it expects first-quarter revenue to decline by 50% versus the prior year, while Wall Street had expected an increase. The company blamed a buildup of inventories of its EyeQ computer chips at some customers.
Mobileye’s forecast echoes downbeat news from ON Semiconductor and Lattice Semiconductor, which provided soft outlooks in late October. Both companies cited deteriorating demand in the auto and industrial markets.
Wall Street analysts have been growing increasingly concerned about semiconductor companies with exposure to the auto industry.
Earlier Thursday, before the news from Mobileye, Bernstein analyst Stacy Rasgon lowered his rating for Analog Devices stock to Market-Perform from Outperform. He reaffirmed his target of $200 for the price target for the shares, a call that implied a modest gain from Wednesday’s closing price of $188.96.
“The industrial and automotive semiconductor markets are unfortunately closer to the beginning of their corrections than the end,” Rasgon wrote.
Also before the Mobileye warning, Piper analyst Harsh Kumar lowered his rating on Microchip Technology shares to Neutral from Overweight, reiterating his $80 price target for the stock. Shares closed Wednesday at $84.57.
The company’s “auto and industrial exposure is the primary concern,” he wrote. The “end markets could get worse before revenues and EPS bounce back.”
In another move, Kumar raised his rating for Micron Technology stock to Overweight from Neutral, predicting memory-chip prices could rise this year following production cuts. He increased his share-price target to $95 from $70.
In early trading Thursday, Analog Devices shares were down 1.4% to $186.25, while Microchip stock fell 1.1% to $83.66. Micron Technology was up 1.3% at $83.29.
Last year, when ON and Lattice reported weakness in the auto sector, they said business would probably remain soft for several quarters. The latest round of news shows investors shouldn’t expect otherwise.
Write to Tae Kim at tae.kim@barrons.com