12:25 AM EDT, 05/07/2024 (MT Newswires) -- CFRA, an independent research provider, has provided MT Newswires with the following research alert. Analysts at CFRA have summarized their opinion as follows:

We raise our 12-month target to $90 from $80 based on a 20x P/E our CY 25 EPS view, above historical but below peers to reflect more leveraged balance sheet/ bottoming fundamentals. We lower our FY 25 (Mar.) EPS to $2.86 from $3.58 and FY 26 to $4.51 from $4.60. MCHP posts Mar-Q EPS of $0.57 vs. $1.64, matching the consensus. Sales fell 41% (-25% from Dec-Q) as customers continued to sharply reduce inventory. Gross margin compressed to 60.3% from 68.3%, hurt by sharply lower volume and utilization. We expect MCHP's revenue to once again under-ship true end demand in the Jun-Q, but do think it will represent the cyclical trough for revenue/margin at extremely depressed levels (visibility of a rebound very low). We remain wary of competitive pressures given the rising capacity for trailing edge components in China, while MCHP's unattractive balance sheet (net debt of $5.7B; net debt/EBITDA at 1.57x) is another deterrent. MCHP's dividend is 18% higher Y/Y as it looks to return all excess FCF back to shareholders.