What to expect from Lam Research’s Q2 earnings report

Semiconductor companies will start their quarterly reporting starting from January 23. Lam Research (LRCX) will be one of them in this group that will be reporting its December quarter financial results on Wednesday, January 23 after the bell. Wall Street analysts estimate Lam Research to post earnings of $3.67 per share on revenue of $2.50 billion for its second quarter of 2019.

For the second quarter of 2019, the company had guided revenue to touch $2.5 billion (plus or minus $150 million) and earnings per share to be $3.65 (plus or minus 20 cents).

For the first quarter of 2019, Lam exceeded Street’s predictions. However, earnings dropped 3% to $3.36 per share and revenue declined 6% to $2.33 billion year-over-year.

According to SEMI, the global sales of new semiconductor manufacturing equipment are projected to increase by 9.7% to $62 billion in 2018, exceeding the historic high of $56.6 billion set in 2017. The equipment market is expected to contract 4% in 2019 but grow 20.7% to reach $71.9 billion, an all-time high.

Apart from Lam Research, other chipmakers that will be reporting their quarterly results on January 23 include Texas Instruments (TXN) and Xilinx (XLNX). These three companies’ quarterly results and their outlook, as well as their discussion on the China impact, will throw some light on other semiconductor stocks’ recently ended quarterly performance and their future.

With the chipmakers facing extreme pressure in 2018 forcing most of the chip stocks to bottom out, market experts hope that the recent rallies would hold momentum in the future. However, Apple (AAPL) cutting its forecast citing the Chinese economy considered to be a headwind for the semiconductor industry.

Shares of the Fremont, California-based chipmaker hit a 52-week low ($122.64) on December 26, 2018. Lam Research stock, which lost about 28% in the last 52-weeks period, rose about 5% during Friday’s mid-day trading session.

Lam Research stock rises on Q1 earnings beat

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