Mobileye tries to rebound as Wall Street defends after China, Tesla woes
Jan Hetfleisch
Mobileye (NASDAQ:MBLY) shares tried to rebound in pre-market trading on Friday as a number of Wall Street analysts came to the defense of the autonomous driving semiconductor company after problems linked to China and Tesla (NASDAQ:TSLA) crashed its stock.
Mizuho Securities analyst Vijay Rakesh said investors should buy "significant" pullbacks in the stock, even as he lowered estimates and his price-target after the company guided down significantly for the rest of the year, citing woes in the Chinese electric vehicle market.
Rakesh added that March EyeQ shipments were strong and the company maintained its 2024 outlook for SuperVision, amid its short-term woes.
"We see MBLY leading vision [advanced driver-assistance systems ] with ~70% share, and a ~34% top-line CAGR, though the recent April 24 IPO lockup expiration may be an overhang," Rakesh wrote in an investor note.
Mobileye (MBLY) is majority owned by Intel (INTC), which spun off part of the company to investors last year. Intel said on Thursday it generated $458M in sales from the Israeli-based Mobileye.
Wolfe Research analyst Shreyas Patil upgraded Mobileye (MBLY) to outperform from peer perform, noting that although there is some uncertainty in the near-term, the outlook for 2024 and beyond is still strong. 
"The combination of structural competitive advantages, increased priority being placed on advanced automation systems (by global OEMs), strong margins, and very high (~100%) FCF conversion makes this an attractive entry point for the shares," Patil wrote in an investor note.
Citi analyst Itay Michaeli said Mobileye's (MBLY) story is "intact," despite the stock spill.
"In fact, new business commentary points to significant [second-half] new business catalyst potential," Michaeli wrote in an investor note.
Analysts are mixed on Mobileye (MBLY). It has a HOLD rating from Seeking Alpha authors, while Wall Street analysts rate it a BUY. Conversely, Seeking Alpha's quant system, which consistently beats the market, has no rating on MBLY.
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