ARM price seems to be going through a three month flattish period after a 1 year or so steady rise. Any views on what might happen next?

Arm's latest processors aim to stretch internet's reach

Arm Holdings has unveiled what it describes as the "world's most energy-efficient microprocessor" design.

The firm says that microcontrollers based on the "Flycatcher" architecture will pave the way for the "internet of things" - the spread of the net to a wider range of devices.

BarCap note today:
"We upgrade ARM to 1-Overweight and raise our price target to GBP7.25 as we see smartphone and tablet growth driving upside to expectations and a return to positive estimate momentum. ARM shares performed weakly over the past year as the market digested its prospects in the PC market and earnings momentum slowed. With continued upside being seen in the smartphone and tablet segments, and ARM retaining its strong position in both despite threats from Intel, we see ~10% upside to consensus estimates for 2012/13 and raise our rating to 1-Overweight.
ARM v Intel: limited change in core markets, tablets positive for ARM: Our sector report issued today looks in detail at the ARM vs. Intel battle. Both sides are moving into the others’ market, but we do not see material shifts in smartphone or PC share. We forecast tablets to grow strongly and for ARM to retain the upper hand. On Windows on ARM, Microsoft’s disclosure has resulted in a more modest expectation of adoption of ARM in PCs, contributing minimally to 2012/13 estimates."

RNS Number : 6906A

ARM Holdings PLC

03 April 2012

ARM, Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient announce the creation of a joint venture

CAMBRIDGE, UK - APRIL 03 2012

ARM, Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient today announced the creation of a joint venture dedicated to delivering a trusted, secure environment for advanced services running on smartphones, tablets and other smart connected devices.

Each of the three companies is contributing assets to the new independent company, including patents, software, people, cash and capital equipment. ARM is providing working capital and employees, mainly engineers and market development staff. The cash contributed by ARM is not significant in the context of ARM's balance sheet.

ARM will own 40% of the joint venture, with Gemalto and Giesecke & Devrient owning 30% each.

1st Quarter Results.

Progress on key growth drivers in Q1

· Growth in adoption of ARM® processor technology
o 22 processor licenses signed across all target end markets
o 8 Cortex™-A licenses signed, including licenses for Atlas and Cortex-A15 for use in servers
o 10 Cortex-M class licenses, including a further license for ARM's smallest and lowest power Cortex-M0+ processor for use in next generation Internet of Things devices
· Growth in shipments of chips based on ARM processor technology
o 1.1 billion chips shipped into mobile phones and mobile computers, similar to a year ago
o 0.8 billion chips shipped into consumer and embedded digital devices, up 15% year-on-year
· Growth in outsourcing of new technology
o Physical IP: 3 Processor Optimization Pack licenses signed for Cortex-A family processors, further increasing the royalty opportunity from high-value chips in mobile computers, smartphones and automotive infotainment
o Graphics: 2 licenses signed for Mali™, taking advanced 3D graphics into low-cost smartphones

Barclays reiterates it's Overweight Tp 725p

JP Morgan Cazenove reiterates it's Neutral Tp 540p

Natixis Bleichroeder Upgrade to Buy Tp 625p

It's a good company, possibly one of the few "Global Brands " which started in UK. However, I don't like the PE ration as a stock-buyer . . . but do like their recent JV to create more-secure smartphones, etc. and graphics too.....
+ This is the sort of thing that Dolby did for Audio - - - - no-one* knows what it is, but they are willing to pay a little to have it, just in case.


*I mean the average retail Buyer, in Comet, say.

ARM get a mention here.

Interim figures from ARM Holdings on Wednesday should be worth a look. The shares piled up from a 2009 low of 81p to reach 650p last year, as chips from the Cambridge based designer found their way into Apple iPhones and all manner of other portable devices.

They've floundered a little since then, falling back to 497p today. But there are hints that the company's intellectual property should set it up for a fresh growth phase, as the boom in mobile computing is really still only in its infancy. Okay, the shares are on a prospective P/E of 36 for the year to December, but they've been much more highly rated in the past and still gone on to greater things.

dreamcatcher - I've been watching these again this week - starting to look interesting.

They do skinny, my funds are all locked up at the moment.

Results for the Second Quarter and Half Year

Chip designer ARM Holdings (LSE: ARM.L - news) was making gains today after Barclays (LSE: BARC.L - news) said that it is in a decent position to benefit from the increased demand of high-tech smart devices.

Looking at £6 after a decent run from a fiver.

Downgrade yesterday - Deutsche Bank Sell TP reduced from 465p to 400p

Today - Citigroup retains it's Buy TP 605p

Looking strong today and getting close to the busy £6 area.

iPhone 5 A6 chip running A15 cores beats Samsung

Date: September 13th, 2012

The Apple iPhone 5 was officially announced yesterday and we’ve been bringing readers all the details. One of the first things covered in Apple’s keynote speech was the introduction of the new A6 chip, a step up from the A5 used in the current iPhone 4S and Apple claims this new processor will offer speeds up to two times quicker than the older A5. Now we have learned that the iPhone 5 A6 chip is running A15 cores, beating Samsung in bringing them to the market.

Motorola's first Intel-powered handset launches in UK

Google's Motorola unit has released its first Intel-powered smartphone.

The Razr i is based on a mid-range model sold in the US that features an ARM-based Snapdragon processor.

Motorola said the change of chip meant improved camera performance. However, it has also meant Google's Chrome browser is not installed on the device.

Intel recently cut its sales forecasts citing weaker demand. Although it dominates PC chip sales it is a niche player in the smart device sector.


The handset is Motorola's first to feature an Intel processor
Its existing smartphone partners - ZTE, Lenovo, Lava, and Gigabyte - are all relatively minor smartphone forces in Western markets.

So, Intel's tie-up with Google - which also makes the Android system - is widely seen as its most significant effort to crack the market to date.

ARM Holdings will release a Q3 update on Tuesday. ARM has gone through a classic growth phase, and its share price has powered up from 80p at the start of 2009 to a peak of 650p in early 2011, sporting a very high P/E along the way. Since then, the price has flattened, and is even down a little from that peak to 593p today -- the price appears to be taking a break while earnings catch up.

How's the valuation looking today? The company is still priced as a growth share, with forecasts putting it on a forward P/E of over 40 with only a tiny dividend of less than 1%. We're still some way from the transition between growth and dividends, and there is a fair bit of growth still in the price, but is there a new growth spurt to come? There could be.

Third Quarter Results

Progress on key growth drivers in Q3

· Growth in adoption of ARM® processor technology

o 29 processor licenses signed for a broad range of applications, including deeply embedded products such as chips for hearing aids and automotive braking systems, and consumer electronics such as smartphones, TVs and tablets

o Momentum in high-end computing and networking applications continued, with the signing of one ARMv8 architecture license, one ARMv8 processor license and one Cortex-A15 processor license

· Growth in shipments of chips based on ARM processor technology

o 2.2 billion chips shipped, split equally between mobile and non-mobile segments

o Processor royalty revenue grew 27% year-on-year, driven by strong growth in Cortex-A and Mali-based chips

· Growth in outsourcing of new technology

o 5 Mali™ graphics processor licenses signed, including three with new customers for Mali technology

o 4 physical IP Processor Optimisation Packs licensed, enhancing ARM's royalty opportunity per chip

Chip designer ARM Holdings put on 90p (16%) to end October on 665p. Until then, the shares were just at break-even point for the year, having gone through a 20% dip during the summer.

The big news was a 22% jump in third-quarter pre-tax profit to £68m, announced on 23 October. That came from an 18% rise in quarterly sales to £228m, after ARM's customers manufactured 2.2 billion ARM-based microprocessors during the three-month period.

The shares have eight-bagged since 2009, and are now on a forward price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio of 40 for the full year, so there's plenty of future growth already in the price. But we're really still in the early days of mobile computing, so that could well be justified.