11:25 AM EDT, 04/29/2024 (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 keep our 12-month target at $85, on a P/E of 16.9x our 2025 EPS view, near the five-year historical forward average. We reduce our 2024 EPS view to $4.14 from $4.73 and 2025's to $5.04 from $5.46. ON posted Q1 EPS of $1.08 vs. $1.19, beating the $1.04 consensus. Sales fell 5%, near expectations, as growth in automotive (+3%) was more than offset by declines in industrial (-14%) and other (-12%) markets. Gross margin compressed to 45.9% from 46.8%, hurt by lower utilization. Despite uncertainty, we think ON remains poised to outgrow the industry by 3x, given it is aligned to auto/industrial content secular trends as well as silicon carbide (SiC) opportunities (35%-40% share; growing 2x peers). We note that Q2 guidance was below consensus, likely due to auto softness, but we see gross margin expansion to 53% as SiC ramps and via better cost profile from manufacturing efficiencies. Customer inventory digestion plus new product launches support our view of 2H stabilization, with growth to accelerate in '25.