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Here's Why You Should Dump Cirrus Logic From Your Portfolio

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If you are still holding on to shares of Cirrus Logic, Inc. (CRUS - Free Report) in your portfolio, it is time you dump those as chances of favorable returns in the near term appear bleak.

Similar to wise buying decisions, offloading certain underperformers at the right time helps maximize portfolio returns. Cirrus Logic has witnessed a significant price decline in the past year, and negative earnings estimate revisions for the current fiscal. Further, the company’s Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) reflects its innate weakness.

Notably, the stock has lost 37.9% of its value in the past year, substantially underperforming the 15.8% rally of its industry it belongs to.



Soft Smartphone Demand: A Major Headwind

Sluggish demand in the overall smartphone market has been hurting the company since quite some time. In fourth-quarter fiscal 2018, the company’s revenues decreased 7.5% on a year-over-year basis to $303.2 million.

Portable audio product revenues (86.7% of the total revenues) declined 9.6% from the year-ago period.

Management is a bit conservative about visibility as the markets to which Cirrus Logic caters to are maturing, thereby recording decelerating growth.

Overdependence on Apple Detrimental

Reportedly, the company generates approximately 82% of its revenues by selling audio chips that are used in Apple’s (AAPL - Free Report) iPhone devices. This is a major negative for Cirrus Logic.

Apple’s iPhone X demand has not been as expected, per various reports. Consequently, according to Nikkei, which was quoted by The Inquirer, Apple slashed its production target from what was projected at the time of iPhone X release. This cut in production target remains an overhang on Cirrus Logic’s financials.

Additionally, Apple’s recent announcement of being self-reliant and forming a closed ecosystem of semiconductor solutions with in-house production is a further threat for Cirrus Logic.

To Conclude

Dampened smartphone demand and increased reliance on Apple do not bode well for the near-term performance of this Zacks Rank #5 (Strong Sell) stock.

This is proven by the top-line guidance provided by the company for first-quarter fiscal 2019. The company expects revenues in the range of $210–$250 million (mid-point $230 million), down around 28% on a year-over-year basis.

Hence, it will be a wise decision on investors’ part to remove this stock from their portfolio for now.

Key Picks

Some top-ranked technology stocks include NVIDIA Corp. (NVDA - Free Report) and Western Digital Corp. (WDC - Free Report) , both sporting a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.

Long-term earnings growth rate for NVIDIA and Western Digital is currently projected to be 10.25% and 19% respectively.

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