Top 5 Semiconductor Companies To Own For 2015

Despite some pull back in the market recently, chip stock Advanced Micro Devices, Inc (NYSE: AMD) has largely held up as have Intel Corporation (NASDAQ: INTC) and NVIDIA Corporation (NASDAQ: NVDA). I should�mention that we recently had�an open position in Advanced Micro Devices in�our SmallCap Network Elite Opportunity (SCN EO) portfolio from last summer up until�late January when we locked in a small loss.�We decided to�get out�in part because it�� a trading portfolio and also because�AMD�� shares sank�once�more�after�the company�had issued an�earnings report���a repeat of what happened after three�previous earnings reports. Nevertheless and if you are an investor with a long term time horizon, you might want to consider the following news:

What Tech Sell Off? In a recent CNBC segment, it was noted that despite the recent selloff in the broader tech space, semiconductor companies specializing in chips that power devices like smartphones and tablets have held up well. Some of the big winners since early March include Intel, Advanced Micro Devices, Taiwan Semiconductor and Freescale Semiconductors, which are up better than 7% as�these companies are benefiting from a shift in the tech sector and the stabilization of the PC market (according to Chad Morganlander with Stifel Nicolaus). World�� Fastest Graphics Card Launched. On Tuesday, Advanced Micro Devices announced the�launch of the world's fastest and most powerful graphics card - the�AMD Radeon��R9 295X2. Forbes already has a detailed review, which concluded by saying:

What I know for certain is that AMD�� Radeon 295X2 is a compelling product, and that it justifies its asking price in performance, thermals, and aesthetics. And I hope it signals a bold new direction for AMD in terms of design language and branding. Quite simply, if you��e not married to Nvidia�� robust ecosystem and want a 4K-capable card that stays cool and quiet, you can�� go wrong with the Radeon R9 295X2.

Top 5 Low Price Companies To Own For 2016: Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc (ASX)

Advanced Semiconductor Engineering, Inc. is principally engaged in the manufacture, assembly, processing, testing and distribution of integrated circuits (ICs). The Company provides semiconductor packaging and testing services, including plastic leaded chip carriers (PLCCs), quad flat packages (QFPs) and flip chip packaging technology, among others, which are applied in the manufacture of household electrical appliances, communication devices, automobile components, personal computers, set top boxes, servers, memory integrated circuits (ICs), mobile phones, digital cameras, game consoles, projectors, high definition (HD) televisions, wireless communication network products and power management ICs, among others. The Company operates its businesses primarily in Taiwan, Europe and the Americas. In August 2010, the Company acquired a 100% interest in EEMS Test Singapore.

The Company is focused on packaging and testing logic semiconductors. The Company offers its customers turnkey services, which consist of packaging, testing and direct shipment of semiconductors to end users designated by its customers. The Company�� global base of over 200 customers includes semiconductor companies across a range of end use applications, including Altera Corporation, ATI Technologies, Inc., Broadcom Corporation, Cambridge Silicon Radio Limited and Microsoft Corporation. During the year ended December 31, 2008, the Company�� packaging revenues accounted for 77.7% of its net revenues and its testing revenues accounted for 20.1% of its net revenues.

Packaging Services

The Company offers a range of package types to meet the requirements of its customers, with a focus on packaging solutions. Within its portfolio of package types, the Company focuses on the packaging of semiconductors. These include advanced leadframe-based package types, such as quad flat package, thin quad flat package, bump chip carrier and quad flat no-lead package, and package types based on substrates, such a! s flip-chip ball grid array (BGA) and other BGA types, as well as other packages, such as wafer-bumping products. Leadframe-based packages are packaged by connecting the die, using wire bonders, to the leadframe with gold wire. The Company�� leadframe-based packages include quad flat package (QFP)/ thin quad flat package (TQFP), quad flat no-lead package (QFN)/microchip carrier (MCC), advanced quad flat no-lead package (AQFN), bump chip carrier (BCC), small outline plastic package (SOP)/thin small outline plastic package (TSOP), small outline plastic j-bend package (SOJ), plastic leaded chip carrier (PLCC) and plastic dual in-line package (PDIP). Substrate-based packages employ the BGA design, which utilizes a substrate rather than a leadframe. It also assembles system-in-a-package products, which involve the integration of more than one chip into the same package. The Company�� substrate-based packages include Plastic BGA, Cavity Down BGA, Stacked-Die BGA, Flip-Chip BGA and land grid array (LGA).

The Company�� wafer-level packaging products include wafer level chip scale package (aCSP) and advanced wafer level package (aWLP). The Company offers module assembly services, which combine one or more packaged semiconductors with other components in an integrated module to enable functionality, typically using surface mount technology (SMT) machines and other machinery and equipment for system-level assembly. End use applications for modules include cellular phones, personal digital assistant (PDAs), wireless local area network (LAN) applications, bluetooth applications, camera modules, automotive applications and toys.

The Company provides module assembly services primarily at its facilities in Korea for radio frequency and power amplifier modules used in wireless communications and automotive applications. Interconnect materials connect the input/output on the semiconductor dies to the printed circuit board. Interconnect materials include substrate, which is a multi-layer m! iniature ! printed circuit board. The Company produces substrates for use in its packaging operations.

Testing Services

The Company provides a range of semiconductor testing services, including front-end engineering testing, wafer probing, final testing of logic/mixed-signal/radio frequency (RF) and memory semiconductors and other test-related services. The Company provides front-end engineering testing services, including customized software development, electrical design validation, and reliability and failure analysis. The Company provides final testing services for a variety of memory products, such as static random access memory (SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), single-bit erasable programmable read-only memory semiconductors and flash memory semiconductors.

The Company provides a range of additional test-related services, including burn-in testing, module sip testing, dry pack, tape and reel, and electric interface board and mechanical test tool design. The Company offers drop shipment services for shipment of semiconductors directly to end users designated by its customers.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Jeff Reeves]

  Next Page

  Best Stocks to Buy for Around $5: Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (ASX)

  Advanced Semiconductor Engineering�(ASX) builds and distributes integrated circuits and other electronics. While that�� not as sexy as other chipmakers that play to mobile, it�� still a good business, considering the general demand for microchips in everything from cars to computers to TVs.

• [By David Dittman]

  Crown Resorts is a buy all the way up to USD16.50 on the Australian Securities Exchange (ASX) using the symbol CWN and on the US over-the-counter (OTC) market using the symbol CWLDF.

• [By Seth Jayson]

  Advanced Semiconductor Engineering (NYSE: ASX  ) is expected to report Q2 earnings around July 7. Here's what Wall Street wants to see:

• [By Adam Haigh]

  ASX Ltd. (ASX) posted the biggest weekly loss in 3 1/2 years, falling 6.1 percent to A$33.15, amid a A$553 million ($530 million) capital raising at the operator of Australia�� main stock exchange to ensure its clearing business complies with new regulations.

Top 5 Semiconductor Companies To Own For 2015: Aixtron SE (AIXG)

AIXTRON SE (AIXTRON), formerly AIXTRON AG, incorporated in 1983, is a provider of deposition equipment equipment to the semiconductor and compound-semiconductor industry. The Company's technology solutions are used by a diverse range of customers worldwide to build advanced components for electronic and opto-electronic applications based on compound, silicon, or organic semiconductor materials. Such components are used in fiber optic communication systems, wireless and mobile telephony applications, optical and electronic storage devices, computing, signaling and lighting, displays, as well as a range of other technologies. AIXTRON's business activities include developing, producing and installing equipment for coating semiconductor materials, process engineering, consulting and training, including ongoing customer support. AIXTRON supplies to customers both full production-scale complex material deposition systems and small scale systems for research and development (R&D) use and small-scale production use.

AIXTRON's product range includes customized production and research scale compound semiconductor systems capable of depositing material films on up to 95 * two-inch diameter wafers per single production run, or smaller multiples of larger diameter wafers, employing MOCVD or Hydride Vapor Phase Epitaxy (HVPE) or organic thin film deposition on up to Gen. 3.5 substrates, including Polymer Vapor Phase Deposition (PVPD) or Organic Vapor Phase Deposition (OVPD) or large area deposition for Organic Light Emitting Diodes (OLED) applications or Plasma Enhanced Chemical Vapor Phase Deposition (PECVD) for depositing complex Carbon Nanostructures (Carbon Nanotubes, Nanowires or Graphene). AIXTRON also manufactures full production and research scale deposition systems for silicon semiconductor applications capable of depositing material films on wafers of up to 300 millimeters diameter, employing technologies, such as Chemical Vapor Deposition (CVD), Atomic Vapor Deposition (AVD) and Atomic Layer! Deposition (ALD).

AIXTRON also offers a range of peripheral equipment and services, including products capable of monitoring the concentration of gases in the air and for cleaning the exhaust gas from metal organic chemical vapor deposition processes. The Company also assists its customers in designing the production layouts for the gas supply to thin film deposition systems. Additionally, the Company offers its customers training, consulting and support services.

The Company competes with Veeco Instruments Inc. (USA), Taiyo Nippon Sanso (Japan), Ulvac, Inc. (Japan), Tokki Corporation (Japan), Sumitomo (Japan), Applied Materials, Inc. (USA), Doosan DND Co., Ltd. (South Korea), Sunic System (South Korea), Tokyo Electron Ltd. (Japan), ASM International N.V. (Netherlands), IPS Technology (South Korea), Jusung Engineering Co. Ltd. (South Korea), and Hitachi Kokusai Electric Co. Inc. (Japan).

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Rich Smith]

  This series, brought to you by Yahoo! Finance, looks at which upgrades and downgrades make sense and which ones investors should act on. Today, our headlines include upgrades for both industrialist Aixtron (NASDAQ: AIXG  ) and fashionista bebe stores (NASDAQ: BEBE  ) . But the news isn't all good, so let's start off with a few words on...

• [By Jon C. Ogg]

  Aixtron SE (NASDAQ: AIXG) was downgraded to Sell from Hold at Canaccord Genuity.

  Buffalo Wild Wings Inc. (NASDAQ: BWLD) was downgraded to Outperform from Strong Buy at Raymond James.

Top 5 Semiconductor Companies To Own For 2015: Micropac Industries Inc (MPAD)

Micropac Industries, Inc. (Micropac), incorporated on March 3, 1969, manufactures and distributes various types of hybrid microelectronic circuits, solid state relays, power operational amplifiers, and optoelectronic components and assemblies. Micropac�� products are used as components in a range of military, space and industrial systems, including aircraft instrumentation and navigation systems, power supplies, electronic controls, computers, medical devices, and high-temperature (200o degree Celsius) products. The Company�� products are either custom (being application-specific circuits designed and manufactured to meet the particular requirements of a single customer) or standard components. During the fiscal year ended December 31, 2011 (fiscal 2011), its custom-designed components accounted for approximately 34% of its revenue and standard components accounted for approximately 66% of its revenue.

Micropac occupies approximately 36,000 square feet of manufacturing, engineering and office space in Garland, Texas. The Company owns 31,200 square feet of that space and leases an additional 4,800 square feet. It also sub-contracts some manufacturing to Inmobiliaria San Jose De Ciuddad Juarez S.A. DE C.V, a maquila contract manufacturer in Juarez, Mexico.

Micropac provides microelectronic and optoelectronic components and assemblies along with contract electronic manufacturing services, and offers a range of products sold to the industrial, medical, military, aerospace and space markets. The Microcircuits product line includes custom microcircuits, solid state relays, power operational amplifiers, and regulators. During fiscal 2011, microcircuits product line accounted for 51% of its revenue and the optoelectronics product line accounted for 62% of its business respectively. The Company�� core technology is the packaging and interconnects of miniature electronic components, utilizing thick film and thin film substrates, forming microelectronics circuits. Other technologi! es include light emitting and light sensitive materials and products, including light emitting diodes and silicon phototransistors used in its optoelectronic components, and assemblies.

The Company�� basic products and technologies include custom design hybrid microelectronic circuits, solid state relays and power controllers, custom optoelectronic assemblies and components, optocouplers, light-emitting diodes, Hall-Effect devices, displays, power operational amplifiers, fiber optic components and assemblies, and high temperature (200o degree Celsius) products. Micropac�� products are primarily sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEM��) who serve major markets, which includes military/aerospace, such as aircraft instrumentation, guidance and navigations systems, control circuitry, power supplies and laser positioning; space, which include control circuitry, power monitoring and sensing, and industrial, which includes power control equipment and robotics.

The Company�� products are marketed throughout the United States and in Western Europe. During fiscal 2011, approximately 21% of the Company�� revenue was from international customers. The Company�� major customers include contractors to the United States Government. During fiscal 2010, sales to these customers for the Department of Defense (DOD) and National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) contracts accounted for approximately 62% of its revenues. The Company�� customers are Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Boeing, Rockwell Int��, and NASA.

The Company compete with Teledyne Industries, Inc., MS Kennedy, Honeywell, Avago and International Rectifier.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Geoff Gannon] % of NCAV, has similar (slightly better) z- and f-scores, a FCF margin of 6%, but has ROA of 28%.
  
  ADDvantage (AEY) sells at 95% of NCAV, has similar (in the ballpark) scores and FCF and ROA of 23%.

  The slightly better businesses are currently more expensive in terms of price/NCAV. They have less asset-based downside protection, but they are better businesses.

  How do you quantify and qualify what is cheap enough? To me, there's a big difference in relative cheapness in a company selling at 74% of NCAV versus one selling at 95%. I'm wondering if I'm putting too much weight on this cheapness measurement instead of acknowledging that any decent business selling at less than NCAV is cheap enough. Yet, one has to have some quantifiable idea of when something is not cheap enough anymore.

  Can you help me put this into a unified framework?

  Dan

  There�� a great post over at Oddball Stocks called: �� Stock is a Business�� Read it. Then go over to Richard Beddard�� Interactive Investor Blog. Bookmark that blog. Read it religiously. He looks at Ben Graham type stocks in the U.K. And he looks at them not just as stocks but as pieces of a business.

  Here�� what Richard said in a post called ��iving Up on Mastery of the Universe��

  I need to know:

  1. Whether the managers have made good decisions in the past, and whether their incentives work in the interests of the owners, because those kind of managers often add value to a company.

  2. The products a company sells will still be in demand for years to come, because if they��e not then the past, which we know, does not tell us anything about the future, which we don��.

  3. A company is financially strong enough to withstand the kinds of shocks companies typically experience bearing in mind some are more sensitive to events than others.

  4. How to judge whether the share price undervalues the company, bearing in mind the preceding three factors.

• [By Geoff Gannon] strong>ADDvantage Technologies (AEY)

  路 Solitron Devices (SODI)

  路 OPT-Sciences (OPST)

  Micropac

  Micropac is 76% owned by Heinz-Werner Hempel. He�� a German businessman. You can see the German company he founded here. He�� had control of Micropac for a long-time. I don�� have an exact number in front of me. But I would guess it�� been something like 25 years.

  ADDvantage

  ADDvantage Technologies is controlled by the Chymiak brothers. See the company�� April 4 press release explaining their decision to turn over the CEO position to an outsider. Regardless, the Chymiaks still control 47% of the company. Ken Chymiak is now chairman. And David Chymiak is still a director and now the company�� chief technology officer. Clearly, it�� still their company.

  By the way, the name ADDvantage Technologies has nothing to do with the Chymiaks. Today�� AEY really traces its roots to a private company called Tulsat. The Chymiak brothers acquired that company about 27 years ago. So, effectively, when you buy shares of AEY you are buying into a 27-year-old family-controlled company.

  That�� pretty typical in the world of net-nets.

  Solitron

  Solitron Devices is 29% owned by Shevach Saraf. He has been the CEO for 20 years. The post-bankruptcy Solitron has never known another CEO. Before the bankruptcy, Solitron was a much bigger, much different company. So even though we are not talking about the founder here ��and even though 70% of the company�� shares are not held by the CEO ��we��e still talking about a company where one person has a lot of control. Solitron only has three directors. Saraf is the chairman, CEO, president, CFO and treasurer. Neither of the other two directors joined the board within the last 15 years. So, we aren�� talking about a lot of tumult at the top.

  In fact, profitable net-nets seem to be especially common candidates for abandoning the responsibilities of a public comp

Top 5 Semiconductor Companies To Own For 2015: GigOptix Inc (GIG)

GigOptix, Inc. (GigOptix), incorporated on March 2008, is a supplier of semiconductor and electro-optical component products that enables high-speed end to end data streaming over optical fiber and wireless telecommunications and data-communications networks globally. The Company's products convert signals between electrical and optical formats for transmitting and receiving data over fiber optic networks and between electrical and high speed radio frequencies to enable the transmission and receipt of data over wireless networks. The Company is creating both optical telecommunications and data-communications applications for fast growing markets in 10 giga bytes per second (Gbps), 40Gbps and 100Gbps drivers, receiver integrated circuits (IC), electro-optic modulator components and multi-chip-modules (MCM), as well as E-band wireless data-communications applications for high speed mobile backhaul and other high capacity wireless data transport applications. During the year ended December 31, 2011, the Company shipped over 150 products to over 200 customers.

The Company offers a portfolio of 10Gbps and 40Gbps electro-optical products and is developing market for 100Gbps products. The Company provides bundled solutions that consist of a few of its products, such as modulator and driver. The Company also offers a comprehensive portfolio of Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit (MMIC) and application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) products to support E-band wireless communication and defense markets. The Company has also developed 10Gbps vertical cavity surface-emitting laser (VCSEL) drivers and receivers for aerospace as well as outdoor, non-temperature controlled environments that enables higher capacity in its customers' next generation flight and data center systems.

The Company has a portfolio of products for telecommunications , data-communications, defenses and industrial applications designed for optical speeds from 3Gbps to over 100Gbps and for wireless frequencies! from zero giga hertz (GHz) to 86GHz. The Company's products support a range of data rates, protocols, transmission distances and industry standards.

The Company's portfolio consists of the product ranges, such as laser and modulator drivers for 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps applications; receiver amplifiers or Trans-impedance Amplifiers (TIAs) for 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps applications; VCSEL driver and receiver chipsets for 14 and 12 channel parallel optics applications from 3Gbps to 10Gbps; Electro-optic modulators based on the Company's TFPS technology suitable for various 40Gbps and 100Gbps modulation schemes, such as differential phase shift keying (DPSK), differential quadrature phase shift keying (DQPSK), RZ-DQPSK and DP-QPSK; wideband monolithic microwave integrated circuit (MMIC) amplifiers with flat gain response; high frequency MMIC Power Amplifiers with high gain and output power; high frequency passive attenuators and filters in small form factors, and standard cell, and structured ASIC and hybrid ASIC designs and manufacturing service for multiple markets offering information technology acquisition review (ITAR) compliance for defense applications. The Company designs and market products that amplifies electrical signals during both the transmission (amplifiers and optical drivers) and reception (TIAs) of optical signals as well as modulate optical signals in the transmission of data.

The Company's optical drivers amplify the input digital data stream that is used to modulate laser light either by direct modulation of the laser or by use of an external modulator that acts as a precise shutter to switch on and off light to create the optical data stream. The Company supplies an optimized component for each type of laser, modulator and photo-diode depending upon the speed, reach and required cost. The Company's microwave and millimeter wave amplifiers amplify small signal radio signals into more signals that can be transmitted over long distances to establish high t! hroughput! data connections or enable radar based applications. The Company's ASIC solutions are used in a number of applications such as defense and test and measurement applications to enable the high speed processing of complex signals.

The Company's product portfolio is designed to cover the range of solutions needed in these different modules. The Company's product portfolio consists of five product lines: GX Series, which includes serial drivers and TIA ICs devices for telecom and data-com markets; HX Series, which includes multi-channel driver and TIA ICs for short reach data-com and optical interconnect applications; LX Series, which includes TFPS modulators for high speed telecom and defense applications; EX Series, which includes amplifiers, filters and attenuators for microwave applications in defense and instrumentation, and CX Series, which includes family of ASIC solutions for custom integrated circuit design.

GX Series

The GigOptix GX Series of products services both the telecom and data-com markets with a broad portfolio of drivers and transimpedence amplifiers that address 10Gbps, 40Gbps and 100Gbps speeds over distances that range from 100 meters to 10,000 kilometers. The GX Series devices are used in FiberChannel, Ethernet, synchronous optical networking (SONET)/ synchronous digital hierarchy (SDH) components and those based upon the optical internetworking forum (OIF) standards.

HX Series

The GigOptix HX Series of products service the high performance computing (HPC), data-com and consumer markets with a portfolio of parallel VCSEL drivers and TIAs that address 3Gbps, 5Gbps,10Gbps, 14Gbps, 16Gbps and 25Gbps channel speeds over 100-300 meters distances in four and 12 channel configurations. The HX Series devices are used in HPC formats, Infiniband, Ethernet and optical high definition multimedia interface (HDMI) components.

LX Series

The GigOptix LX Series of products service the 40Gbps and above telecom! market f! or Mach-Zehnder modulators. The LX Series devices are based on the Company's TFPS EO material technology.

EX Series

The GigOptix EX Series of products leverages the high performance products acquired in the Endwave acquisition. In addition, it also includes the die and design techniques developed for the GX Series telecom and data-com drivers for related defense and instrumentation applications.

CX Series

The GigOptix CX Series of products offers a portfolio of distinct paths to digital and analog mixed signal ASICs with the capability of supporting designs of up to 10M gates in technologies ranging from 0.6 through 65nm. The CX Series uses the Company's technology in Structured and Hybrid ASICs to enable a generic ASIC solution that can be customized for a customer using only a few metal mask layers. The CX Series also offers ASIC services, including Analog and Mixed Signal IP into designs and taking customers designs from RTL or gate-level net list definitions to volume production with third party foundries.

The Company competes with TriQuint, Rohm, InPhi, Centellax, Semtech, Vitesse, M/A-Com, Avago, Emcore, Tyco Electronics, IPtronics. Avago, Emcore, Tyco Electronics, JDSU, Oclaro, Sumitomo, Fujitsu, Emcore, Oclaro, Hittite, Sumitomo, Hittite, RFMD, Northrop Grumman, On -Semiconductor, eSilicon, Open Silicon, Faraday, Toshiba and eASIC.

Advisors' Opinion:

• [By Bryan Murphy]

  It's admittedly overbought and due for a slight dip thanks to today's surge. But when you take a step back and look at GigOptix Inc. (NYSEMKT:GIG), there's actually a lot to be excited about if you've been mulling a trading in GIG. The trick will be getting the timing right.

• [By maarnio]

  Lightwave Logic�� main competitor is GigOptix (GIG). GigOptix has designed and patented potentially commercially feasible electro-optic polymers and holds an exclusive license to all electro-optic polymeric technology developed at the University of Washington.