Why TriQuint Semiconductor (TQNT)’s Shares Took Off

TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT)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 TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT) have risen nearly 11% today, in spite of a middling first-quarter earnings report. The Street seems to be more hopeful now about TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT)’s ability to get back into the black during the latter half of its 2013 fiscal year.

So what: TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT)’s first quarter report showed revenue of $184.2 million, and a loss of $0.17 per share. Both results missed the consensus estimate, which was looking for $185.7 million on the top line, and a loss of $0.13 per share. Revenue also showed a rather unpleasant decline of 15% year over year. For the second quarter, TriQuint Semiconductor (NASDAQ:TQNT) now expects a loss of between $0.12 and $0.10 per share, reaching the low end of Wall Street’s $0.10 loss per share estimate, and the company’s second-quarter revenue projections of $185 million to $190 million also came in below the $192.4 million consensus.

Now what: Make no mistake, this is a pretty ugly report. So why is the stock up? Well, company executives held firm on their projection that they would reach profitability in the back half of 2012. According to Bill Dazzlem of Titan Capital, who commented during the earnings call, this will require between $0.28 and $0.30 in combined adjusted earnings per share between the third and fourth quarters.

That’s a more positive bit of guidance than what we’ve got now, and Raymond James analyst Tavis McCourt agrees — he upgraded the stock to “Hold” from “Underperform” today as a result of that estimate. At the moment, shares are slightly below tangible book value, but this hasn’t exactly convinced any analysts to jump on the bandwagon. They’ve simply backed away from the ledge.

The article Why TriQuint’s Shares Took Off 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 insight into markets, history, and technology.The Motley Fool owns shares of TriQuint Semiconductor.

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