Goldman Sachs Raises Price Target on Atmel (ATML) Despite Lackluster Q4 and Weak Q1 Guidance

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ATML Hot Sheet

Rating Summary:
12 Buy, 4 Hold, 0 Sell

Rating Trend: = Flat

Today's Overall Ratings:
Up: 20 | Down: 11 | New: 38

Goldman Sachs raised its price target on Atmel (NASDAQ: ATML) from $10 to $12 following Q4 results and weak Q1 guidance. The firm maintained a Buy rating.

The firm said they would view any pullback in ATML as a an even stronger entry point.

"We believe that Atmel is seeing a continued customer inventory correction that is essentially in line with peers, plus an additional impact from a pricing reset in the touch control business," the analyst said. "Going forward, we expect a large number of new smartphone and tablet product introductions in 2Q and 3Q to drive a recovery in the touch business, in addition to the start of touch-based Windows 8 notebook PC shipments by 4Q12."

Goldman lowered 2012E EPS to $0.45 from $0.60 on lower sales/margins, 2013E is unchanged at $0.80, and introduce 2014E at $0.90.

For an analyst ratings summary and ratings history on Atmel click here. For more ratings news on Atmel click here.

Shares of Atmel closed at $10.10 yesterday, with a 52 week range of $7.36-$16.80.

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