Silicon Motion Technology (NASDAQ:SIMO) Shares Gap Up After Earnings Beat

Silicon Motion Technology Co. (NASDAQ:SIMO - Get Free Report)'s share price gapped up prior to trading on Wednesday after the company announced better than expected quarterly earnings. The stock had previously closed at $45.16, but opened at $48.65. Silicon Motion Technology shares last traded at $51.26, with a volume of 224,842 shares trading hands.

The semiconductor producer reported $0.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.44 by $0.16. Silicon Motion Technology had a return on equity of 11.63% and a net margin of 11.29%. The firm had revenue of $166.49 million during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $162.69 million. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.64 EPS. Silicon Motion Technology's quarterly revenue was down 12.1% compared to the same quarter last year.

Silicon Motion Technology announced that its Board of Directors has approved a share buyback program on Wednesday, February 5th that permits the company to buyback $50.00 million in shares. This buyback authorization permits the semiconductor producer to reacquire up to 2.6% of its shares through open market purchases. Shares buyback programs are often an indication that the company's board believes its stock is undervalued.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SIMO. B. Riley lifted their target price on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $70.00 to $75.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Thursday. StockNews.com lowered Silicon Motion Technology from a "buy" rating to a "hold" rating in a report on Thursday, February 13th. Wedbush restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $90.00 price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology in a report on Wednesday, April 30th. Bank of America upgraded shares of Silicon Motion Technology from an "underperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $47.00 price objective for the company in a report on Wednesday, April 23rd. Finally, Needham & Company LLC dropped their price objective on shares of Silicon Motion Technology from $70.00 to $65.00 and set a "buy" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, April 30th. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $75.88.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Silicon Motion Technology

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SIMO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 0.7% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 35,948 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $2,183,000 after purchasing an additional 253 shares during the period. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted its position in Silicon Motion Technology by 21.8% during the 3rd quarter. JPMorgan Chase & Co. now owns 200,016 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $12,149,000 after purchasing an additional 35,741 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 123.2% in the 4th quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 877 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock worth $47,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the last quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. grew its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 5.1% in the 4th quarter. Reinhart Partners LLC. now owns 1,135,738 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $61,387,000 after buying an additional 55,363 shares during the period. Finally, FNY Investment Advisers LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Silicon Motion Technology by 65.1% in the fourth quarter. FNY Investment Advisers LLC now owns 9,000 shares of the semiconductor producer's stock valued at $486,000 after buying an additional 3,550 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 78.02% of the company's stock.

Silicon Motion Technology Price Performance

The firm has a market cap of $1.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.59, a P/E/G ratio of 1.36 and a beta of 0.81. The business's 50-day moving average is $48.31 and its two-hundred day moving average is $52.52.

Silicon Motion Technology Company Profile

Silicon Motion Technology Corporation, together with its subsidiaries, designs, develops, and markets NAND flash controllers for solid-state storage devices. The company offers controllers for computing-grade solid state drives (SSDs), which are used in PCs and other client devices; enterprise-grade SSDs used in data centers; eMMC and UFS mobile embedded storage for use in smartphones and IoT devices; flash memory cards and flash drives for use in expandable storage; and specialized SSDs that are used in industrial, commercial, and automotive applications.