Why Freescale's Shares Flew

Although we don't believe in timing the market or panicking over market movements, we do like to keep an eye on big changes -- just in case they're material to our investing thesis.

What: Shares of Freescale Semiconductor (NYS: FSL) saw some love from Wall Street this morning after Goldman Sachs analysts upgraded the stock from neutral to buy. Freescale was up over 11% immediately following the upgrade, but has given up a sliver of those gains in subsequent trading.

So what: This jump comes only a few weeks after Freescale plunged for far more substantial reasons -- lousy guidance. Goldman upgraded a basket of chip makers in addition to Freescale, with Applied Materials (NAS: AMAT) and LSI (NYS: LSI) both gaining about 5% today on Goldman upgrades. Freescale's extra-large pop relative to these peers is a bit odd, considering that it's the only unprofitable one of the trio, and pales in comparison to Applied Materials' much better metrics (including a nice dividend yield, to boot).

Now what: Goldman now projects significant upside in the stocks it's upgraded, but Freescale's got a long way to go to be considered attractively valued relative to its profitable peers. It's been some time since Freescale posted a net profit, but it's inched ever so close in recent quarters. Goldman might be right, but since Freescale's latest guidance actually calls for a decrease in gross margins, that prediction may take a few quarters to pan out.

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The article Why Freescale's Shares Flew originally appeared on Fool.com.

Fool contributor Alex Planes holds no financial position in any company mentioned here. Add him on Google+ or follow him on Twitter @TMFBiggles for more news and insights.Motley Fool newsletter services have recommended buying shares of Goldman Sachs. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days.

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