03:00 AM EDT, 04/01/2024 (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 up our 12-month target to $32 from $25 on P/E of 21x our CY 25 EPS view, below historical given higher debt load. We adjust our FY 25 (Jan.) EPS view to $0.65 from $0.99 but keep FY 26 at $1.52. SMTC posts Jan-Q loss per share of $0.06 vs. $0.47 EPS, wider than the $0.04 consensus loss view. Sales fell 4% from Oct-Q, slightly better than consensus, on lower consumer (-15%) and infrastructure (-8.6%) revenue partly offset by growth within industrials (+1%). Gross margin compressed to 48.9% from 51.3% (62.3% a year ago), hurt by lower volume and unfavorable mix, but we see improvement starting in the Apr-Q. We think revenue bottomed in the Jan-Q (Apr-Q guide implies seq. growth of 3.7%), as SMTC rightsizes channel inventory, while data center prospects look promising amid rising demand for AI workloads, supporting an improving pipeline. We see a more aggressive rebound in revenue by the 2H, as industrial orders rebound (still seen down in Apr-Q) and the consumer segment benefits from seasonal factors.