CYPRESS Semi - Mutter von Sunpower - 500 Beiträge pro Seite

[meinolf67]

CYPRESS Semiconductor ist die Mehrheits- und bestimmende Eignerin (>70% Anteil; >90% Stimmrechte) von Sunpower.

Sunpower ist im Moment mit ca. 3,9 Mrd. Euro bewertet, was auf einen Wert von mindestens 2,7 Mrd. für den CYPRESS-Anteil hindeuten würde.

Aktuelle Market Cap von CY ist ca. 3 Mrd. Euro, EK ca. 1,4 Mrd. Euro.

Die Stimmrechtsbevorteilung wurde gemacht, damit man im Bedarfsfall eine "Sunpower-Stock tax-free distribution" machen kann.

Sollte man im Auge behalten.

Zum Geschäft von CYPRESS selbst weiss ich noch nicht so viel, werde später posten, wenn ich was weiss.

Gruß
Meinolf

[meinolf67]

Cypress hat im Q2 schonmal 7,5 Mio. Sunpower Aktien zu Geld gemacht:

Gewinn daraus war 373 MUSD!

Jetzt hält man noch 44,5 Mio. Aktien.

[meinolf67]

THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 2007
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* At Market Close
A Solar Payoff for Cypress Semi
By TIERNAN RAY

THURMAN JOHN \"T.J.\" RODGERS, the brash, outspoken founder and chief executive of Cypress Semiconductor, may be warming to a breakup of his company. If so, it could be a windfall for Cypress investors.

Cypress, whose chips are the brains behind the \"click-wheel\" in some models of Apple\'s iPod Nano, has seen its stock rise 74% this year, largely on the strength of the shares of SunPower, its solar-energy subsidiary. SunPower shares are up 125% this year.

But Cypress is still undervalued, say investors and analysts. With Cypress\' market cap at $4.44 billion, and its 55% stake in SunPower worth $3.6 billion, the rest of Cypress, its traditional semiconductor business, is being valued at about $5 per share, drastically below its fair value of $11, say some analysts.

A splitting up of Cypress\' chip business and the subsidiary could boost the valuation of the chip unit and endow the company with billions in cash.

Rodgers has resisted breakup calls from hedge funds as recently as last year to restructure. For one thing, he has to pay taxes on SunPower if he does anything before November 2009.

But analysts say a tax-free deal could be engineered quickly. And some say that lately they sense a greater willingness on Rodgers\' part to entertain such possibilities.

That\'s a good bet to take. For, even if Rodgers did wait, investors buying Cypress shares today would get a valuable chip business trading at a mere one times revenue with almost a billion in cash and a demonstrated willingness to buy back shares.

\"Take all the cash Cypress is sitting on, and the bang-up job they\'re doing streamlining the [chip] business, and you\'ve got good upside without any more outperformance from SunPower,\" says Kevin Landis, who runs Firsthand Capital Management, which counts Cypress as the firm\'s single largest holding.

But that\'s not reflected in Cypress\' share price, says Landis, because, \"You\'ve got a sandwich of a turnaround story [at Cypress] and a growth story [at SunPower],\" and it\'s hard for investors to appreciate both stories at once.

A year ago, Barron\'s magazine Senior Editor Bill Alpert astutely predicted that Cypress stock would rise based on strength in the SunPower business, whose results Cypress reports on its income statement. (See \"A Sunny View of Cypress,\" June 5, 2006.)
At a Glance
Cypress Semiconductor
[cy]
Stock Price: $28.73
52-Wk High: $29.65
52-Wk Low: $15.92
Market Cap: $4.44 billion
Est. 2008 EPS: $1.19
2008 P/E: 24.3x
Est. Long-Term EPS Growth*: 12%
Est. (\'08/\'07) EPS Growth: 54%
Revenue (trailing 12 months): $1.3 billion
Dividend Yield: None
President & Chief Executive: T.J. Rodgers
Headquarters: San Jose, Calif.
* Based on analyst estimates looking ahead three to five years.
Sources: Yahoo! Finance, Thomson First Call, Thomson Financial/Baseline.

SunPower, which Rodgers bankrolled early this decade with a check for $750,000, makes the silicon-based photovoltaic cells that convert sunlight to electric power in a solar panel.

And SunPower sales are, well, hot, more than tripling, year over year, in the July quarter, to $174 million, and accounting for 47% of Cypress\' total consolidated sales.

SunPower revenue may rise 53% next year and 39% in 2009, estimated Cowen & Co. analyst Robert Stone in a recent note to clients.

But even as SunPower has boosted Cypress shares, Cypress\' traditional chip business has remained stubbornly \"mispriced,\" valued at about $800 million -- roughly one times its projected chip sales this year.

That\'s stunningly cheap for a chip business that\'s much less dependent on commodity computer-memory chips than it was just a few years ago. Rodgers has focused the company increasingly on high-margin products, called \"Programmable Systems on Chip,\" like the kind in the Nano.

By keeping capital expenditures about flat, the chip unit\'s free cash flow per share could jump from 20 cents this year to 90 cents in 2008, estimates Doug Freedman with American Technology Research.

\"Cash flows are becoming much more stable and consistent,\" says Freedman. \"They\'re not going through the oversupply situations [Cypress had with memory chips], and they\'re getting paid for the value of their product.\"

Last December Rodgers dismissed calls from Robert Chapman, head of activist hedge fund Chapman Capital, to break up the two businesses.

But some believe Rodgers, who has been called the \"Bad Boy of Silicon Valley,\" is being shrewd, not stubborn, and that he\'ll appease the market\'s desire for restructuring sooner rather than later.

\"I wouldn\'t doubt they\'ll do something to further restructure before 2009,\" says Sandy Harrison, who follows the stock for Signal Hill Capital Group in Baltimore, MD.

\"Knowing T.J.,\" says Harrison, \"he will see what kinds of cards the market deals him and react accordingly as he has done in the past.\"

Rodgers declined to comment for this article, according to a Cypress spokesman.

In fact, Cypress could sell SunPower with minimal taxation today, says Robert Willens, a managing director with Lehman Brothers who analyzes tax implications of spinoffs.

The deal would involve SunPower acquiring a small operating unit of Cypress, taking on debt, using that loan to pay cash to Cypress, and then giving the Cypress shares, perhaps with a special dividend, to Cypress shareholders.

\"There\'s a blueprint for doing this and it works beautifully from a tax perpective,\" says Willens.

\"Historically, [Cypress] hasn\'t had much of an appetite for any of this stuff,\" concedes Willens.

But the presence of hedge fund Third Point ups the ante. In August, Third Point increased its stake in Cypress to 5% of the company.

\"This is a different kettle of fish now with an institution like Third Point,\" says Willens.

\"They\'re more of a brand name\" than Chapman, and can therefore presumably exert more influence.

To be sure, buying Cypress stock means believing that SunPower has, at the very least, no downside to it, and possibly some upside, and swallowing hard at the multiple being paid for SunPower -- 41 times next year\'s projected earnings of $2 per share, says Jefferies & Co. analyst Adam Benjamin.

\"People may not realize the earnings potential of the chip business at Cypress,\" says Benjamin. \"But they also may not be willing to give it its proper multiple because so much of the breakup value of the company is in SunPower.\"

But betting against SunPower hasn\'t proved very profitable, and it\'s likely the solar craze will continue to power Cypress\' results as long as SunPower continues to perform. Be it now or in 2009, the market will warm to all the good things going on in Cypress\' chip business.

Full Disclosure
• Firsthand Capital Management owns 1,147,000 shares of Cypress Semiconductor, according to the firm\'s most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, dated June 2007. The firm sold 583,800 shares at the time. The firm\'s cost-basis in the stock is $13 per share, according to Kevin Landis.

• Robert Stone with Cowen & Co. has an Outperform rating on shares of SunPower, and SunPower has been an investment banking client of Cowen within the 12 months through Sept. 4, 2007, according to documents from Cowen.

• Doug Freedman with American Technology Research has a Buy rating on shares of Cypress Semiconductor, according to documents from American Technology Research.

• Sandy Harrison with Signal Hill Capital Group has a Buy rating on shares of Cypress Semiconductor, according to documents from Signal Hill Capital Group.

• Robert Willens with Lehman Brothers has not contracted with Cypress Semiconductor nor with SunPower within the last 12 months.

• Adam Benjamin with Jefferies & Co. has a Hold rating on shares of Cypress Semiconductor and a $26 price target.

[meinolf67]

October 05, 2007

Cypress Semiconductor Joins MIPI Alliance

By Anuradha Shukla
TMCnet Contributing Editor

Cypress Semiconductor has reportedly joined the Mobile Industry Processor (News - Alert) Interface (MIPI) Alliance, the industry initiative focused on defining and promoting open standards for interfaces to mobile application processors.


The company is addressing rapidly evolving interface standards with its West Bridge architecture for dedicated peripheral controllers that not only serve as functional bridges but also provide high-performance, optimized data paths for embedded applications. Cypress's broad portfolio of handset solutions also includes its PSoC CapSense capacitive sensing interface, dual-processor interconnects, high-speed USB controllers and more.

Alakesh Chetia, managing director of the West Bridge Business Unit at Cypress said in a statement that as a member of the MIPI Alliance, their company will be able to closely track the definition of next-generation specifications and interfaces for handsets.

According to Chetia, handset designers are actively seeking efficient, flexible solutions which enable use of MIPI standards in their systems. He added that Cypress is committed to quickly addressing these emerging interfaces with their West Bridge family of peripheral controllers.

The West Bridge family devices function as a companion chip to an embedded central processing unit (CPU) to free it from data-intensive operations. Cypress explains that the North Bridge and South Bridge were also introduced in the PC architecture in the same way enabling the main CPU to evolve independently from quickly changing memory and peripheral interfaces., embedded systems are evolving towards a similar architecture, where a West Bridge device manages the interfaces and offloads from the main CPU specific peripheral-to-peripheral traffic.

[Hoerschwelle]

Cypress Semiconductor net income nearly triples
By Steve Gelsi
Last Update: 8:32 AM ET Oct 18, 2007
Print Subscribe to RSS Disable Live Quotes
NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Cypress Semiconductor (CY:30.91, -0.45, -1.4%) on Thursday said third-quarter net income nearly tripled to $29.8 million, or 18 cents a share, from $10.7 million, or 6 cents a share in the year-ago period. Adjusted earnings rose to 26 cents a share from 16 cents a share. Revenue climbed to $449.5 million from $290.2 million in the year-ago period. Analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast earnings of 21 cents a share and revenue of $412 million, on average.

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/cypress-semiconductor-…

[meinolf67]

Antwort auf Beitrag Nr.: 32.065.545 von Hoerschwelle am 18.10.07 15:01:59

japp;

scheint, man kann mit den PSoC auch Geld verdienen.

Halte SPWR unverändert für operativ bärenstark und insoweit würde ich den Quartalsgewinn nicht überbewerten.

Aber die Bewertung/Verwässerung!!! Die macht Kopfschmerzen

Mal sehen, ob Sie was zu Produktionszahlen sagen.

[Hoerschwelle]

Cypress Semi Powered by Solar Stake


By Alexei Oreskovic
TheStreet.com Senior Writer
11/6/2007 6:41 PM EST

SAN FRANCISCO -- Cypress Semiconductor (CY - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) shares soared to their highest level in seven years Tuesday.

But the rally had less to do with Cypress' chip business than with investor appetite for solar energy.

Cypress owns 59% of SunPower (SPWR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr), a maker of solar panels which held its annual briefing with analysts on Tuesday.

SunPower management's comments, along with a new deal announcement by First Solar (FSLR - Cramer's Take - Stockpickr) -- another solar energy company -- energized solar stocks Tuesday.

Shares of SunPower jumped $20.3, or 15.7%, to $149.50, while First Solar surged $20.9, or 14.1%, to $169.

Cypress shares meanwhile added $3.61, or 10%, to $39.75 -- the highest since November 2000.

American Technology Research analyst Doug Freedman, who rates Cypress a buy, says the Street is actually discounting the move in SunPower's share price.

Cypress' stock should have been up twice as much, he contends. Based on Cypress' stake in SunPower, Cypress should rise 29 cents for every dollar that SunPower increases, by Freedman's calculations -- something he says hasn't occurred over the past month.

Last month, Cypress reported a 55% year-over-year increase in revenue to $449.5 million, thanks to strong growth from the SunPower subsidiary as well as better-than-expected seasonal revenue in Cypress' chip business.

"Assuming we do not encounter any major macroeconomic disruptions, we are well positioned to sustain substantial revenue gains into 2008," Cypress CEO T.J. Rodgers said in a statement announcing the earnings.

http://www.thestreet.com/s/cypress-semi-powered-by-solar-sta…


Wer nochmal ein Schnäppchen in PV Aktien machen will, sollte meiner MEinung CY kaufen

[Hoerschwelle]

Cypress Semiconductor "buy," target price raised

Wednesday, November 07, 2007 10:25:01 AM ET
American Technology Research

NEW YORK, November 7 (newratings.com) - Analysts at American Technology Research reiterate their "buy" rating on Cypress Semiconductor (CYP.ETR). The target price has been raised from $31 to $50.

http://www.newratings.com/analyst_news/article_1646102.html

[Hoerschwelle]

12.11.2007 08:43
Cypress Semiconductor Corp.: buy (Kaufman Bros., LP)


Rating-Update:

New York (aktiencheck.de AG) - Die Analysten von Kaufman Brothers stufen die Aktie von Cypress Semiconductor (ISIN US2328061096 (Nachrichten)/ WKN 871117) unverändert mit "buy" ein. Das Kursziel werde von 41 auf 44 USD angehoben. (12.11.2007/ac/a/u) Analyse-Datum: 12.11.2007

http://www.finanznachrichten.de/nachrichten-2007-11/artikel-…

[meinolf67]

T.J. Rodgers' Startup Strategy
The Cypress Semiconductor CEO's approach to new markets—funding outside companies, not internal groups—has made it No. 4 on our Tech Hot Growth list

by Catherine Holahan
SPECIAL REPORT
Tech Hot Growth 75

T.J. Rodgers knows people often don't like what he has to say. The outspoken chief executive of Cypress Semiconductor (CY) has made enemies calling Social Security "a terrible scam" and describing government business subsidies as "corporate welfare." And he didn't win many friends by publicly arguing with a Catholic nun against diversifying Cypress' board with female and minority directors.

When he wants something, Rodgers doesn't stop talking until he gets it. In 2001 he wanted Cypress to invest in solar energy, though few people, least of all his board of directors, understood why.

At the time, the semiconductor industry was reeling from the collapse of the dot-com bubble. Rodgers, the man dubbed "The Bad Boy of Silicon Valley" in a 1991 BusinessWeek cover story, was presiding over red ink and layoffs. Yet he was demanding the board spend cash to buy a grad-school buddy's struggling solar energy company. "We were getting our ass kicked," recalls Rodgers. "And, oh, by the way, I want to invest in solar energy."
Fighting for Solar Power

Even if Cypress hadn't been losing money, the board's reticence would have been understandable. After all, Cypress was a semiconductor company. What did its employees know about alternative energy? More important, what did Rodgers know about it? In some respects, the solar energy business is exactly the sort he loathes: It is heavily subsidized by government funds, both in the U.S. and abroad, and it is a darling of the Green Party.

As a libertarian from Wisconsin, Rodgers' green leanings were in a very different direction: the Green Bay Packers and alma mater Dartmouth, "The Big Green." And he felt certain that solar technology developed by friend Richard Swanson's SunPower could make Cypress more green. But when Rodgers says "green," he's not referring to the environment; he's thinking of the currency made from smashing trees into pulp.

"If somebody says, 'I'll give you $100 dollars for the change in your left pocket,' you don't need to do a calculation," says Rodgers, who gave $750,000 of his own money to keep SunPower afloat while he was trying to convince the Cypress board to buy it. After 15 months of arguing, Rodgers had convinced the board of directors to invest $9 million in the struggling company, which makes solar panels that produce more power than rival products.

A few months later, Cypress bought majority control of SunPower and invested in additional plants and equipment for the business, bringing its total investment to $168 million. In November, 2005, SunPower (SPWR) held an initial public offering of stock at $18 per share. These days it trades at nearly $125, for a market value of $10.4 billion. Cypress owns more than 53% of the shares, a stake worth $5.54 billion—more than Cypress' own market capitalization of $5.3 billion, suggesting some investors consider SunPower's shares overvalued.
Demand for Alternative Energy Is on the Rise

SunPower is a major reason Rodgers' 25-year-old company, largely a niche player in the mature semiconductor industry, ranks fourth in BusinessWeek.com's ranking of the top 75 high-growth tech companies (BusinessWeek.com, 12/3/07). SunPower accounted for about half of the $450 million in total revenue Cypress pulled in during the third quarter of 2007.

SunPower's success is driven by soaring demand for alternative energy, with tensions in the Middle East boosting oil prices and raising doubts about reliable crude supplies. The U.S. market for solar power, which totaled about $500 million in 2005, is expected to reach $1.3 billion by 2010, according to Jennifer Mapes, an industry analyst at Freedonia, an Ohio-based research firm. The solar energy market is so hot even Google (GOOG) may want in. On Nov. 28 the king of Web search and advertising announced the creation of a research group dedicated to developing cheaper alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power. Google says it may spend hundreds of millions of dollars on the project.

Also on Nov. 28, SunPower announced a deal that may help the U.S. market expand even faster: SunPower secured $190 million in financing from Morgan Stanley (MS) to install solar panels on corporate and public buildings and then sell the resulting electricity to the building owners. The initiative's aim is to accelerate adoption of solar power by enabling building owners to purchase solar energy without an up-front investment in equipment.

Subsidies' Benefits Disputed

Such investments are a far cry from the forces that have driven the solar industry since its inception. The main source of funding has been government subsidies to partially or entirely offset the cost of solar panels in hopes of reducing pollution and easing the strain on local power grids. "The availability of [private] funds makes a big difference," says Mapes. But, she adds, "a lot of it [still] comes from government incentives."

How does that funding model square with Rodgers' vehement dislike of government subsidies? Although subsidies would appear to benefit Cypress, he argues they've hurt the solar industry. Without subsidies, he says, solar companies would have been forced to develop cheaper equipment sooner. But so long as the government is doling out subsidies, Rodgers won't hurt his company or shareholders by refusing them. "Certainly the subsidies have made it viable earlier," says Rodgers. "At the same time, I wish neither my company nor any other had them."

His determination to reduce expenses for the design, production, and installation of solar panels is evident on SunPower's Web site, where the company confidently promises to compete with retail electric rates by 2012, a move that would require it to reduce equipment costs by 50%.
New Markets Get the VC Treatment

But Cypress' successes include more than a winning solar bet. Rodgers' risk-taking spirit has produced other lucrative opportunities. "Love him or hate him, he is a very dynamic individual," says Chris Crotty, a former Cypress employee who is now a market analyst at research firm iSuppli.

Rodgers lauds Silicon Valley's venture capital model as the best entrepreneurial system in the world, and Cypress' approach to new markets is based on that model: Rather than create a new internal division, Cypress funds an existing startup or a brand-new company with outside staff. Each such venture has its own board of directors, which always includes Rodgers. Once a company is generating $10 million in quarterly sales, with profit margins of 25%, Cypress decides whether to keep it as a subsidiary or "turn it loose" by selling it or taking it public, says Rodgers.

Since founding Cypress, Rodgers has funded SunPower and six other startups with varying success. He prefers to run just one at a time. "They are crying babies," explains Rodgers, adding that startups often don't have the organizational systems in place to manage seemingly simple matters such as hiring and compensation changes. "You've got to get up every night at 3 in the morning." Of its six other startups, Cypress has sold one, microprocessor maker Ross Technology, to Toshiba for $23 million in 1993.
Reliable Chips and Ventures

The startup strategy has yielded another big win: Cypress' PSoC (for Programmable System-on-Chip), which Apple (AAPL) used in designing the iPod click wheel. The PSoC translates analog data, such as finger touches on the wheel, into commands a device can respond to, as in "turn up the volume."

Cypress recently shipped its 250 millionth PSoC. The PSoC unit has grown from a $16 million business in 2003 to $96 million in 2006. New PSoC designs have started to win Cypress contracts with other devicemakers, including Hewlett-Packard (HP), Lenovo, Nintendo (NTDOY), and Pentax.

Rodgers' latest venture is Cypress Systems, which he recruited Honeywell International (HON) executive Harry Sim to head in 2006. The company, which builds custom computer systems that rely on Cypress chips, is generating sales already. Without Cypress' infrastructure, Sim estimates it would have taken twice as long to bring in revenue. "It's the best of many, if not all, worlds," says Sim. "When you are a little startup, you struggle just to get your payroll and office set up. You have no brand. When you try to get loans, creditors won't sell to you. Now that we are part of Cypress, we are up and running right away."

With the PSoC and SunPower successes under his belt, Rodgers finds himself facing a different problem than he had in 2001, when he was trying to persuade the Cypress board to invest in SunPower. Today, Cypress' board of directors wants Rodgers to find, and fund, more startups. "I get the question, 'What's next?'" says Rodgers. The board wants to know "what the next miracle is."

[meinolf67]

Stocks of the Year, Cypress for Free, Lonely Leucadia: Timshel

Commentary by David Wilson

Enlarge Image/Details

Dec. 28 (Bloomberg) -- Looking back at this year's best- performing stocks worldwide provides greater insight into the themes favored by investors than the broadest industry-group indexes ever could.

Solar-power equipment makers, which aren't treated as a stand-alone industry by MSCI Inc. or FTSE Group, were market leaders on both sides of the Atlantic as alternative energy became more of a household word.

....


Psst! Want to buy a computer-chip maker for practically nothing? There's one available: Cypress Semiconductor Inc., a San Jose, California-based provider of programmable chips for cars, computers and mobile phones.

Cypress owns a 53 percent stake in SunPower Corp., the largest U.S. supplier of solar panels, and controls 90 percent of the voting rights at the Sunnyvale, California-based company. SunPower's shares, benefiting from the boom in solar-equipment stocks, have soared 264 percent this year.

The holding was valued at $6.02 billion as of yesterday's close, exceeding the total market capitalization of Cypress by $70 million. This wasn't some kind of a fluke. Throughout the past month, SunPower's stock has been more valuable than Cypress itself, Bloomberg's data shows.

Cypress owns 44.5 million shares of the solar unit after selling 7.5 million in May. The company is studying ``ways in which to allow its stockholders to fully realize the value of its investment,'' according to its latest quarterly report.

[meinolf67]

• Record annual revenue of $1.60 billion, up 46.2% year-on-year.
• Q4 revenue of $431.2 million, 0.5% below median guidance but up 50.3% year-on-year.
• Fiscal year, fully diluted GAAP EPS increased $2.07 (or 828.0%) year-on-year; non-GAAP1 EPS grew $0.31 (or 60.8%) year-on-year.
• PSoC® customer base expanded to 6,301, up from 3,371 customers year-on-year.

SAN JOSE, Calif., January 24, 2008 - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: CY) today announced that revenue for the 2007 fourth quarter was $431.2 million, down 4.1% from $449.5 million for the prior quarter, and up 50.3% from $287.0 million for the year-ago period.

Cypress recorded GAAP net income of $8.0 million in the 2007 fourth quarter, or diluted earnings per share of $0.04. That compares with last quarter's diluted earnings per share of $0.18. GAAP diluted earnings per share in the year-ago fourth quarter was $0.09.

Non-GAAP1 net income for the 2007 fourth quarter-earnings that exclude stock-based compensation, acquisition-related charges and other special charges and credits-totaled $46.2 million, or diluted earnings per share of $0.24. That compares with non-GAAP1 diluted earnings per share of $0.26 for the prior quarter and $0.15 for the year-ago fourth quarter.

For the fiscal year 2007, Cypress posted total revenue of $1.60 billion, an increase of 46.2% from fiscal year 2006 revenue of $1.09 billion. On a GAAP basis, Cypress's fiscal year 2007 diluted earnings per share was $2.32, compared with diluted earnings per share of $0.25 in 2006. On a non-GAAP1 basis, Cypress's fiscal year 2007 diluted earnings per share was $0.82, compared with diluted earnings per share of $0.51 in 2006-an increase of 60.8%.

Cypress President and CEO T.J. Rodgers commented, "The GAAP 2007 earnings figure overstates our true operating earnings by a factor of three due to one-time events. Nonetheless, we are very happy with genuine progress reflected in our non-GAAP1 earnings of $0.82, up 60.8% for the year. Continued strong progress with strategic initiatives, such as our effort to refocus on programmable products and our flexible manufacturing initiative, combined with exceptional results from SunPower, resulted in record annual revenue of $1.60 billion and a solid 104.4% increase in non-GAAP1 operating income, compared to 2006. Our stock price increased 118.1% in fiscal 2007, exceeding all major indexes by a wide margin for the third consecutive year.

"Cypress remained nicely profitable in a softening semiconductor market in the fourth quarter with non-GAAP1 semiconductor gross margin reaching 48.8%. For the year, we claimed a record 4,755 major design wins, driven in large part by our high-margin programmable solutions and the strongest semiconductor product portfolio in our history. Our balance sheet contains not only $1.56 billion in cash and equivalents, but a 90% controlling voting stake in SunPower. It will provide many opportunities for us to drive shareholder value in 2008 and beyond.

"An industrywide consumer-segment slowdown late in the fourth quarter caused us to report an EPS of $0.24, just short of our EPS guidance range of $0.26 to $0.28. We expect normal seasonal, first-quarter softness in our core semiconductor business to be exacerbated by continued macroeconomic uncertainty. Nevertheless, we expect to achieve record consolidated revenue again in 2008.

"Our financial goals are simple: To grow semiconductor revenue faster than the overall market, and to increase profit at a rate far greater than sales."


BUSINESS REVIEW

+ On a GAAP basis, fourth-quarter consolidated gross margin was 35.1%. Semiconductor2 gross margin for the fourth quarter was 47.3%, up 1.9 percentage points from the previous quarter.

+ Non-GAAP1 consolidated gross margin for the fourth quarter was 36.6%, up 3.4 percentage points from the previous quarter, due mainly to product mix and higher gross margin from SunPower.

+ Non-GAAP1 semiconductor2 margin for the fourth quarter was 48.8%, up 1.6 percentage points from 47.2% in the previous quarter. Semiconductor2 gross margin improved in Q4 due to product mix and factory efficiencies.

+ Consolidated GAAP diluted EPS of $0.04 for the fourth quarter decreased 55.6% year-on-year. Consolidated non-GAAP1 diluted EPS of $0.24 increased 60.0% year-on-year.

+ Semiconductor2 book-to-bill ratio ended the fourth quarter at 0.88, compared with 1.01 in the 2007 third quarter. We were 76% booked at the beginning of the first quarter of 2008.


FOURTH-QUARTER 2007 HIGHLIGHTS

+ Interesting PSoC® design wins for the quarter included two models of the "Baby" line of Gaggia S.p.A. coffee machines, Pioneer Electronics' X-Z7 and X-Z9 Super home audio CD receiver and speaker systems, and Therma Blade Inc.'s hockey skate blades, which are heated using a PSoC-based control circuit. Heating reduces friction between the skate blade and the ice. These products also use the PSoC-based CapSense™ capacitive sensing solution as a replacement for mechanical buttons and sliders.

+ Cypress is the leader in capacitive sensing for mobile handsets with a market share of more than 70 percent, according to a new report by IMS Research. Cypress has shipped more than 40 million CapSense devices into the handset market in less than two years. Durable and stylish, capacitive sensing interfaces have also become a solution of choice in many cars, PCs, white goods and industrial products.

+ EDN magazine named Cypress's EZ-Color™ high-brightness LED controller one of its "Hot 100 Products of 2007." The PSoC Express™ visual embedded design tool used with the controllers enables designers to select LED colors with an easy-to-use drag-and-drop interface - without having to write software code. The software also automatically compensates for differences in LED performance characteristics, enabling lighting manufacturers to avoid paying a premium for high-end LED products.

+ Cypress introduced West Bridge™ Astoria™, a programmable peripheral controller offering the industry's fastest USB transfer rates. Astoria expands the West Bridge family beyond mobile handsets to embedded applications such as portable media players, portable navigation devices and digital cameras. Handsets using the West Bridge solution transfer multimedia files, such as audio and motion pictures, 2.7 times as fast as the second-best solution, according to a recent test by Semiconductor Insights, a leading industry analyst firm. The test results were featured in an article in EE Times, a leading electronics magazine.

+ Cypress announced that it will close its 0.35-micron semiconductor manufacturing facility in Round Rock, Texas, by the end of 2008. The company is considering options to monetize the equipment, building and land that has become prime real estate since it was purchased 21 years ago.

+ Cypress launched a business unit in Shanghai to centralize the company's Asia-Pacific design, manufacturing, and sales and marketing operations. Executive Vice President of Manufacturing and China Operations Shahin Sharifzadeh has relocated to manage the business. Cypress's sales in China are expected to triple over the next five years, led by demand for PSoC mixed-signal arrays in electric bicycles, consumer electronics, white goods and handsets.

+ SunPower announced plans to build five large-scale power plants in Spain totaling 47 megawatts. The company also completed a 14-megawatt system at Nellis Air Force Base-the largest photovoltaic installation in North America. SunPower's commercial installations included a 699-kilowatt solar-electric system at Shiseido America Inc. Projects announced during the quarter included new installations with HP and Toyota totaling more than three megawatts.

+ SunPower's Korean joint venture, Woongjin Energy Corp., dedicated a 500,000-square-foot solar silicon ingot pulling factory, boosting SunPower's long-term silicon supply pipeline. SunPower also reached a five-year supply agreement with Jiawei SolarChina Co. that will produce more than 900 megawatts of solar cells. Jiawei is a leading manufacturer of solar-LED wireless lighting in China.

+ SunPower signed agreements with Morgan Stanley and GE Energy Financial Services to provide financing that allows customers to install solar-electric systems with no upfront capital costs. Major customers participating in the program include WalMart, Macy's, HP, Agilent, and Toyota Motor Sales.

+ SunPower signed a definitive agreement to acquire Solar Solutions, an Italian solar systems integrator and distributor. The acquisition is expected to close during the first quarter.

[meinolf67]

Hatte mir gestern ein paar besorgt...

[meinolf67]

February 01, 2008 | about stocks: CY / EMC / SPWR / VMW
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Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (CY) and EMC Corporation (EMC) have control over the majority of the outstanding shares of their spin offs as of EOY 2007. Cypress controls 51% of SunPower Corporation’s (SPWR) and EMC holds 86% of VMware,’s Inc. (VMW) outstanding shares. SunPower, which Cypress had purchased when it was a very small PV manufacturer, was spun out November 2005. VMware Inc., which EMC purchased for $625M in 2004, was spun out on April 2007.

The shares of SunPower have appreciated well over 150% since the spin-off in spite of the recent sell off. VMware shares more than doubled by the end of October and has since come down to the price at the time of the IPO. The current market capitalization of $6B and $22B for SunPower and VMware respectively exemplify how favorable these acquisitions have been for the parent companies.

The media has constantly speculated on the advantages of owning Cypress and EMC over their spin-offs SunPower and VMware respectively. The perceived benefits are lesser volatility and cheaper ownership. Below is an analysis that assumes a conservative valuation for the parent companies (at one times the revenue) and calculates the discounts realizable on the spin-offs by buying the parent companies instead of the spin-offs:

Cypress Semiconductor Corporation (CY):
Data Point Formula Value
Enterprise value of CY at one times 2007 revenue A $821.6M*
Enterprise value of CY B $3.07B
Enterprise value of CY attributable to its ownership of SPWR stock C=B-A $2.25B
Enterprise value of SPWR D $5.9B
Percentage of SPWR’s outstanding shares owned by CY E 57
Enterprise value of CY’s ownership of SPWR stock F=D*E $3.36B
Percentage Premium/(Discount)

G=100*C/F-100

(33.06)

*Total 2007 revenue including SPWR was $1.6B.

[meinolf67]

06.02.2008 13:58
Cypress Semiconductor explores acquisition of Simtek
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NEW YORK (Thomson Financial) - Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (News) Wednesday said it had decided to explore a possible acquisition of Simtek Corp., a company of which it currently owns 19.3%.

Cypress said it had contracted Simtek representatives to discuss a transactions but didn't say how much it might offer in a transaction.

The news of the exploration was made in a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Shares of Simtek, a Colorado Springs-based semiconductor designer, closed Tuesday at $1.86.

Shares of Cypress, a San Jose-based developer of silicon-based products, closed Tuesday at $21.13.

[meinolf67]

Heute aus Cypress raus und wieder in Sunpower getauscht.

[meinolf67]

Cypress Semi rises with SunPower, analyst praise
Friday May 30, 12:55 pm ET
Cypress Semi shares climb as SunPower subsidiary rises; analysts applaud Cypress strategy

NEW YORK (AP) -- Shares of Cypress Semiconductor Corp. rose Friday as analysts were encouraged by presentations delivered by two of the chip maker's executives.

Additionally, shares of solar power products maker SunPower Corp., which frequently drive Cypress stock, climbed $5.16, or 6.8 percent, to $81.16 in midday trading, rallying along with the entire solar sector. Cypress has a 52 percent stake in SunPower.

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In a note to clients, Cowen & Co. analyst John Barton said that speaking at Cowen's Annual Technology Conference in New York, Cypress Treasurer Neil Weiss offered a positive outlook.

Barton cited "the adoption of a flexible manufacturing strategy through (Cypress Semiconductor's) foundry partnerships to minimize volatility in high volume products."

He also noted the San Jose, Calif., company's core growth strategy centers on its Programmable System-on-Chip business. Cypress Semi's PSoC products are used in a wide range of devices including computers, consumer electronics and communications equipment.

Barton said these and other initiatives have enabled Cypress to reduce costs and improve its core semiconductor gross margins above its target of 50 percent. "We would not be surprised to see Cypress increase its gross margin target by at least several hundred basis points as a result of the ongoing transformation of the company," he wrote in a note to clients.

He also noted that shares of Cypress have been "extremely choppy" owing to the company's stake in SunPower. However, fundamentals in Cypress' core chip business remain relatively stable, he said.

Barton rates Cypress "Neutral."

Separately, Lehman Brothers analyst Tim Luke modestly raised his earnings estimates for the second quarter and 2008 after Cypress Chief Financial Officer Brad Buss spoke at a Lehman conference.

Luke cited "encouraging" order trends across several Cypress product areas including PSoC and communications. He maintained an "Overweight" rating.

Shares of Cypress climbed $1.45, or 5.5 percent, to $28.01. The stock has ranged from $18.42 to $42.79 over the past year.