With Intel Q3 earnings on tap, semiconductors end week sharply higher
sankai

In conjunction with the broader markets, semiconductor stocks ended the trading week higher ahead of a key industry report, while New Street Research made a notable upgrade on two key chip equipment companies.
Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) shares gained more than 3.4% on Friday, while competitors Nvidia (NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) also saw gains of at least 1.5%. Santa Clara, California-based Intel (INTC) is slated to report third-quarter results on October 27 after the close of trading.
Analysts expect Intel (INTC), which is set to undergo a round of layoffs, according to a leaked message from Chief Executive Pat Gelsinger, is expected to earn 14 cents per share on $15.37B in revenue.
Broadcom (AVGO), Micron Technology (MU), Microchip Power Systems (MCHP) and ON Semiconductor (ON) were among the biggest gainers at mid-day, with the aforementioned companies gaining 4% or more, including a 6.7% gain for ON Semiconductor.
Other semiconductors also seeing healthy gains included NXP Semiconductor (NXPI), Texas Instruments (TXN) and Qualcomm (QCOM), all of which rose 3.3% or more.
On Friday, New Street Research upgraded Applied Materials (NASDAQ:AMAT) and ASML Holding (NASDAQ:ASML), noting that the pain in the broader semiconductor industry should end soon and capital equipment makers would likely see outsized benefits.
Analyst Pierre Ferragu raised his rating on both Applied Materials (AMAT) and ASML Holding (ASML) to outperform, stating that wafer fab equipment spending should "trough" in the low $60B range, following comments made by Lam Research (LRCX) earlier this week that it would be below $70B.
"This means we expect only one more leg of revisions, likely triggered by further capex cuts in Logic, with the associated news flow likely to play out between now and mid-February," Ferragu wrote in a note to clients. "Based on the last cycle (2018-2019), this means now is a good time to start building positions in the sector."
Competitors KLA Corp. (KLAC) and Lam Research (LRCX) also rose in mid-Friday trading following the upgrade.
Even Taiwan Semiconductor (TSM) which saw fractional losses earlier, finished the trading session higher. Competitor GlobalFoundries (GFS) tacked on nearly 4%.
On Wednesday, the semiconductor sector was buoyed by ASML Holding's (ASML) forecast for the fourth-quarter, as it expects sales to be between â¬6.1B and â¬6.6B, compared to â¬4.98B in the year-ago quarter.