Quarterly earnings results are a good time to check in on a company’s progress, especially compared to its peers in the same sector. Today we are looking at Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) and the best and worst performers in the semiconductors industry.

The semiconductor industry is driven by cyclical demand for advanced electronic products like smartphones, PCs, servers, and data storage. While analog chips serve as the building blocks of most electronic goods and equipment, processors (CPUs) and graphics chips serve as their brains. The growth of data and technologies like artificial intelligence, 5G, Internet of Things, and smart cars are creating the next wave of secular growth for the industry.

The 41 semiconductors stocks we track reported a mixed Q4; on average, revenues beat analyst consensus estimates by 1.5%. while next quarter's revenue guidance was 3.9% below consensus. Stocks, especially growth stocks where cash flows further in the future are more important to the story, had a good end of 2023. The beginning of 2024 saw mixed inflation data, however, leading to more volatile stock performance, and semiconductors stocks have held roughly steady amidst all this, with share prices up 3.5% on average since the previous earnings results.

Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU)

Founded in the basement of a Boise, Idaho dental office in 1978, Micron (NYSE:MU) is a leading provider of memory chips used in thousands of devices across mobile, data centers, industrial, consumer, and automotive markets.

Micron Technology reported revenues of $5.82 billion, up 57.7% year on year, topping analyst expectations by 8.8%. It was a stunning quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in its gross margin and an impressive beat of analysts' EPS estimates.

The stock is up 26.9% since the results and currently trades at $122.14.

Is now the time to buy Micron Technology? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Best Q4: Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Founded in 1993 by Jensen Huang and two former Sun Microsystems engineers, Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) is a leading fabless designer of chips used in gaming, PCs, data centers, automotive, and a variety of end markets.

Nvidia reported revenues of $22.1 billion, up 265% year on year, outperforming analyst expectations by 7.6%. It was a stunning quarter for the company, with a meaningful revenue beat, strong gross margin improvement, and EPS outperformance vs. Wall Street's estimates. Guidance for the next quarter was also good, with revenue, gross margin, and implied operating profit coming in ahead of expectations.

Nvidia pulled off the fastest revenue growth among its peers. The stock is up 29.1% since the results and currently trades at $871.44.

Is now the time to buy Nvidia? Access our full analysis of the earnings results here, it's free.

Weakest Q4: Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN)

Headquartered in Dallas, Texas since the 1950s, Texas Instruments (NASDAQ:TXN) is the world’s largest producer of analog semiconductors.

Texas Instruments reported revenues of $4.08 billion, down 12.7% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 1.4%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with underwhelming revenue guidance for the next quarter and a miss of analysts' revenue estimates.

The stock is down 2.9% since the results and currently trades at $169.26.

Read our full analysis of Texas Instruments's results here.

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB)

Sporting a global footprint of facilities, Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) is a manufacturer of photomasks, templates used to transfer patterns onto semiconductor wafers.

Photronics reported revenues of $216.3 million, up 2.5% year on year, falling short of analyst expectations by 1.7%. It was a weak quarter for the company, with a miss of analysts' revenue and EPS estimates.

The stock is down 10.4% since the results and currently trades at $28.

Read our full, actionable report on Photronics here, it's free.

Himax (NASDAQ:HIMX)

Taiwan-based Himax Technologies (NASDAQ:HIMX) is a leading manufacturer of display driver chips and timing controllers used in TVs, laptops, and mobile phones.

Himax reported revenues of $227.7 million, down 13.2% year on year, in line with analyst expectations. It was a very strong quarter for the company, with a significant improvement in its inventory levels.

The stock is down 4.3% since the results and currently trades at $5.4.

Read our full, actionable report on Himax here, it's free.

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