David Einhorn
, head of hedge fund Greenlight Capital, made another large
purchase of Marvel Technology Group (
MRVL
), according to
GuruFocus Real Time Picks
. This time he upped his stake by more than 61%, buying
11,222,932 shares on July 16. The purchase brought his stake to a
total of 18,372,247 shares.
Marvell is a semiconductor manufacturer focused on Ethernet,
cable and DSL-related communications devices. The company's stock
price has declined 26% over the last year and about 18% year to
date.
Global semiconductor sales in May reached $24.4 billion, a 1.4
percent increase from $24.1 billion in the previous month.
Overall sales for the quarter ended May 31 were up 6.4% over the
previous quarter ended February 28, the highest rate since June
2010. May was also the third consecutive month of increased
sales, the longest period of increased monthly sales since
September 2010. Year over year, however, May sales were down 3.4%
and 2012 year to date sales were lower across all regions than
the same period in 2011, according to the Semiconductor Industry
Association.
"The upward trend of global semiconductor sales is encouraging,"
said Brian Toohey, president and CEO, Semiconductor Industry
Association. "Recent sales totals are in line with industry
projections of modest growth for the remainder of 2012, but a
sluggish global economy continues to provide substantial
headwinds, limiting more robust growth."
In May, Marvell posted better-than-expected quarterly results.
Its GAAP net income was $95 million, or $0.16 per share
(diluted), and $147 million, or $0.22 per share (diluted), for
the first quarter of fiscal 2012. Revenue increased 7 percent
sequentially and was down slightly year over year.
The results were driven by better-than-anticipated growth in its
TD smartphone products and increased deployment of its 500
gigabyte per platter mobile storage solutions to all disk drive
manufacturers.
Einhorn commented on Marvell in his
second-quarter letter
: "Marvell Technology Group (
MRVL
) was the other significant loser, as its shares fell from $15.73
to $11.28 during the quarter. MRVL gave tepid guidance and Wall
Street has modestly reduced its estimates of earnings per share
from $1.25 to $1.15 this year and from $1.45 to $1.40 for next
year. MRVL has about $4 per share in cash and now trades at
roughly 5x next year's earnings net of the cash on the balance
sheet. Most of the cash is excess, and the company has commenced
what we hope will be an aggressive share repurchase program. We
have used the reduced stock price as an opportunity to increase
our stake in the company."
In addition to the stock repurchase program, Marvell in the
second quarter commenced paying a quarterly dividend on $0.06 per
share.
GuruFocus Real Time Picks alerts you for the stock purchases and
sales that Gurus have made within the last two days. Follow your
favorite Gurus closely with GuruFocus' Premium Membership! If you
are not a Premium Member, we invite you for a 7-Day Free
Trial.About GuruFocus: GuruFocus.com tracks the stocks picks and
portfolio holdings of the world's best investors. This value
investing site offers stock screeners and valuation tools. And
publishes daily articles tracking the latest moves of the world's
best investors. GuruFocus also provides promising stock ideas in
3 monthly newsletters sent to
Premium Members
.