What: Shares of Sanmina Corporation (SANM -0.74%) opened 13% higher on Tuesday, and were up 11.5% around 1:40 p.m. Tuesday, following Monday night's release of strong third-quarter results. The maker of manufacturing tools for the electronics sector beat analyst targets across the board, and management followed up with raised guidance for the fourth quarter.
So what: Sanmina's sales declined 3.8% year-over-year, landing at $1.54 billion. Adjusted earnings held steady at $0.53 per share. Analysts had their sights set on $1.52 billion and $0.49 per share, respectively. For the next quarter, the lower end of Sanmina's guidance range lines up with current analyst projections, leaving headroom for another solid quarter.
Image source: Sanmina.
Now what: Heading into this report, Sanmina shares had lost about 13% of their value over the previous month. Strong warning signals from the semiconductor market raised red flags over Sanmina's semiconductor tools sales and seemed to be a bad sign for the assembled electronics devices that support 78% of Sanmina's total revenues. If chip makers aren't gearing up to build more of their products, then there's surely a slowdown coming for electronic devices in consumer and industrial markets as well.
But Sanmina delivered solid sales and profits anyhow. CEO Jure Sola pointed to "consistent execution coupled with ongoing diversification" as key drivers for this quarter's unflappable performance.
The rosy outlook for the end of the year is based on a stable market. "We remain confident the second half of the calendar year will continue to improve," Sola said in a press statement.
In other words, don't take this positive report as proof of a quick recovery for the overall electronics markets -- devices and manufacturing partners alike. Sanmina may very well have out-executed its peers and rivals this time.
Other electronics manufacturing specialists might still report the exact type of gloomy results that investors were expecting from Sanmina. Flextronics surged 2% higher on Sanmina's good news while Plexus shares held steady. Both still trade at significantly higher P/E ratios than Sanmina -- and both are set to report results later this week.
For a more complete picture of the raw underpinnings of the electronics market, keep an eye on these earnings releases. We'll know much more in the next two days.
