Questions about the growth of the smartphone market had investors in ARM Holdings spooked after a downgrade of the stock by analysts at Bernstein.
In a note to clients, Bernstein cut its recommendation on ARM from “market perform”, the equivalent of a “hold”, to “underperform” as they slashed their target on the shares from £10 to 800p, warning of potential disappointments for investors.
“We see a genuine risk of the smartphone slowdown observed in 1Q [the first quarter] 2015 being the first of a series, more than an inventory correction,” Bernstein said.
For a company that has ridden the smartphone boom, with its chips used in everything from Apple iPhones to Android devices, the comments provided a wake-up call to the market to reassess the