NXP drops as Piper Sandler downgrades, lowers PT, cites concerns over growth
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NXP Semiconductor (NASDAQ:NXPI) shares are dropping in early Thursday trading after Piper Sandler downgraded the stock and cut its price target on concerns over the broader automotive sector, which could result in slowing growth for the Dutch semiconductor manufacturer.

Analyst Harsh Kumar lowered his rating to neutral from overweight and cut his price target to $210, citing the possibility for a slowing pace of orders and strong pricing as supply starts to normalize in the second half of the year.
"Once supply and demand hit parity, it will likely result in a slower pace of orders compared to the pace seen over the last few years," Kumar wrote in a note to investors. "With roughly half of its revenue tied to the automotive market, we feel NXP is most at risk in our coverage universe. Therefore, we are downgrading the stock to Neutral."
NXP (NXPI) shares are down almost 1.5% to $208 in pre-market trading.
Like most semiconductor companies, NXP has benefited from roughly a year and a half of "strong trends," Kumar explains, due in part to supply constraints and a resurgence in growth. However, it's likely that these trends start to reverse themselves in the second half of the year, particularly as the supply shortage, which has hampered companies around the globe, starts to abate.
"Fundamentally, we expect NXPI to report solid trends in the near term given the continued supply constraints," Kumar added. "However, we ultimately expect supply to catch up, causing orders to start to retract."
Last month, Cowen listed NXP Semiconductor (NXPI) among its favorite semiconductor stocks for 2022, noting "accelerating content growth" for electric vehicles.