Equities Focus

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) recently announced expected Q1 revenue to be $1.8B. The semiconductor company’s stock saw recent surges despite broader index volatility concerns. At their analyst event, the leadership shared their future product strategy focussed on high performance computing; which included plans for consumer focussed GPUs for PCs and the next generation of gaming consoles.

DXC Technology’s divestiture of its Public Sector Services for $5B received positive market feedback which saw stocks rise 14%. Growth in large digital contracts and planned divestment of two other assets can produce better returns for investors. Problems from difficult market conditions in the EU and USA can be offset by investing further into their digital products and their recent Luxoft acquisition to grow sales.

Not to be confused with Zoom Technologies; Zoom Video Communications has seen increased operational and share price momentum. 88% growth in 2019 and full year operating profit of $12M fed into Zoom’s popularity. Recent gains are likely to be linked to coronavirus increasing the number of home workers, thus share increases would be short term.

Fourth quarter results that exceeded expectations have labelled Cloudera, a software company in data and analytics, as a market outperformer. JMP securities believe PT will be $17, Morgan Stanley has PT at $10; currently stands at $8.18. Whilst the coronavirus presents a real risk to all software companies, EPS for the year is thought to be 25-29 cents.

The gaming headset company, Turtlebeach, stocks’ recovered following its Q4 report; Q4 revenue was $101M, gross margins of 35% and adjusted EBITDA $16.6M. 2020 will see a slight dip in annual revenue to $225M, down from 2019 revenues of $235M. Analysts believe 2021 will be a good year for Turtlebeach, following 2020s brand building plans and growth into the PC market initiatives.