Why ChipMOS Shares Plunged

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 ChipMOS Technologies (NAS: IMOS) have plunged today by as much as 12% after the company reported third-quarter earnings and predicted a soft fourth quarter.

So what: Revenue came in at $175.5 million, a sequential increase of 6.4% over the second quarter and a jump of 15.2% from a year ago. That was mostly in-line with the company's prior guidance for sequential growth between 4% and 8%. Gross margin should be 18.5%, higher than previously expected.

Now what: Next quarter will be challenging, with revenue predicted to be either flat or down 5% sequentially. The company's LCD driver and flash memory businesses are growing, but that merely offsets difficulties in its commoditized DRAM assembly business tied to the broader memory market. Gross margin next quarter should be between 14% and 19%.

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The article Why ChipMOS Shares Plunged originally appeared on Fool.com.

Evan Niu, CFA, has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. The Motley Fool has no positions in the stocks mentioned above. Try any of our Foolish newsletter services free for 30 days. We Fools may not all hold the same opinions, but we all believe that considering a diverse range of insights makes us better investors. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.

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