Greensboro chip firm Qorvo stock drops on $10B deal talk, Street forecast

GREENSBORO – A streak of good news that drove seminconductor firm Qorvo’s stock to a 52-week high – and more than a 100 percent increase from its 2019 low – apparently is over.

News that Qorvo – a $3 billion a year company – is reportedly mulling a $10 billion acquisition and an expected decline in earnings led to an 8 percent drop in the stock, including a 4 % decline in pre-mrket trading Monday.

So what’s going on?

Last week, Bloomberg news reported that Qorvo (Nasdaq: QRVO) was mulling a bid for the wireless chip business of Broadcom, which The Wall Street Journal has reported the tech giant is looking to sell.

Rick Smith, WRAL TechWire’s editor and a cofounder and author of The Skinny blog.

Bloomberg said a deal “could fetch about $10 billion.”

Why so much? One reason apparently is Apple.

“Broadcom on Thursday disclosed new agreements to provide components for Apple Inc. devices for several years,” Bloomberg reported.

“The disclosure lets potential acquirers of the radio frequency unit know that they’re buying into a substantial business relationship with Cupertino, California-based Apple.”

Skyworks Solutions also is interested in the Broadcom business, according to sources “familiar with the matter,” Bloomberg said.

The companies declined comment.

While all that talk has bubbled, Zacks Equity Research is saying Wall Street is forecasting a near 10 percent drop in earnings when Qorvo releases its latest financials on Jan. 29. While revenues are expected to be up, Zacks says earnings of $1.67 per share are expected.

On the plus side, Zacks says “revenues are expected to be $850.66 million, up 2.2% from the year-ago quarter.”

Other news lately has been good for Qorvo, including the partial resolution of the trade war with China which had hurt its export sales.

The company also recently raised $350 million, launched a $1 billion buyback and acquired Cavendish Kinetics, Inc., a provider of high performance antenna tuning technology, in October.

Its stock rose to a 52-week high of $118.78 but fell to $113.39 on Friday and was as low as $109 before markets opened Monday.

Stil, Qorvo shares are a long way from the 52-week low of $58.52.