As chip stocks have sold off, dividend yields for many companies in the group have risen considerably.
Excluding data center REITs that are required to pay out at least 90% of their taxable income via dividends, chip stocks now appear to account for a majority of the tech companies sporting dividend yields north of 2%. And while some of the other tech names that fit the description face major top-line challenges -- for example, Seagate (STX) , which carries a 5.4% yield but whose core hard drive business is getting hurt by solid-state drive (SSD) cannibalization -- many of the chip names that pay large dividends look well-positioned to deliver moderate growth over the next few years.
Here are a few chip names for yield-chasing investors to consider.
1. Broadcom
Dividend Yield: 2.8%
Valuation: Broadcom (AVGO) trades for 11 times a fiscal 2019 (Oct. 2019) EPS consensus of $21.76.
What's to Like: Broadcom, now a well-diversified chip and hardware giant, has committed to returning 50% of the prior year's free cash flow (FCF) via dividends, and has forecast "another substantial increase in [its] quarterly dividend for calendar 2019." Though some of the company's end-markets (for example, set-top boxes and enterprise data center hardware) are likely to see limited long-term growth, others, such as cloud data center hardware and smartphone RF subsystems, should see healthier growth.
In addition, strong financial execution should allow Broadcom's earnings growth to keep exceeding its revenue growth. It also offers a reason to be cautiously optimistic that Broadcom will manage to make its surprising $18.9 billion deal to buy enterprise software firm CA Technologies pay off.
2. Cypress Semiconductor
Dividend Yield: 3.1%
Valuation: Cypress Semiconductor (CY) trades for 9.7 times a 2019 EPS consensus of $1.47.
What's to Like: While there's some risk that softer memory prices and inventory corrections could weigh on Cypress in the near-term, its large microcontroller (MCU) business should continue benefiting over the long run from its strong exposure to growing auto and industrial chip markets. The company also has a booming Wi-Fi/Bluetooth connectivity chip business that has market-leading positions in both the automotive and IoT Wi-Fi markets.
And considering how many other MCU firms have been bought out over the last few years, it wouldn't exactly be shocking if Cypress became a buyout target as well.
3. KLA-Tencor
Dividend Yield: 3%
Valuation: KLA-Tencor (KLAC) trades for 11.4 times a fiscal 2019 (ends in June 2019) EPS consensus of $8.88.
What's to Like: Judging by the results and guidance it delivered in July, KLA-Tencor is holding up better than many chip equipment peers during a recent dip in orders from memory makers and chip contract manufacturers (foundries).
There's still a chance that near-term estimates will come down a bit as some large memory makers cut back on their spending, but the capital-intensity of newer memory and logic manufacturing processes, along with their considerable need for the types of metrology and chip wafer inspection tools that KLA provides, will work in the company's favor in the coming years. So should (provide trade tensions don't get in the way) KLA's exposure to Chinese wafer fab buildouts.
(Editor's Pick. Originally ran Oct. 4.)
