(Updated with details, stock price and analyst comment)
Jan 25 (Reuters) – STMicroelectronics said on Thursday its first-quarter revenue would fall more than 15% year-on-year, due to slowing automotive demand and a further decline in orders from the industrial sector.
The chipmaker, which counts Tesla and Apple among its clients, forecasts revenue of $3.6 billion (3.3 billion euros) for the first quarter, compared to $4.25 billion a year earlier .
This forecast is 11% lower than the analyst consensus compiled by LSEG.
At 09:43 GMT, STMicroelectronics shares fell 2.05% on the Paris Stock Exchange, while the SBF 120 fell 0.09% at the same time.
In the fourth quarter, net sales amounted to $4.28 billion, below analysts’ expectations of $4.30 billion, according to LSEG.
Quarterly operating profit fell 20.5% to $1.02 billion.
“In the fourth quarter, our customer order intake decreased compared to the third quarter. We continued to see stable end demand in automotive, a lack of significant increase in personal electronics and further deterioration in industry”, summarized the group’s CEO, Jean-Marc Chery, in a press release.
Until now, auto industry orders had helped chipmakers offset the impact of U.S.-China trade tensions and weak demand for consumer electronics, but that momentum threatens to fade.
On Tuesday, American rival Texas Instruments said it forecast revenue and earnings per share below expectations for the first quarter.
In 2024, STMicro expects approximately $2.5 billion in net capital expenditures, and targets annual revenue of between $15.9 billion and $16.9 billion.
In a note, Jefferies analysts point out that the annual turnover forecast implies a significant recovery in the second half of the year and believe that there is a risk of deterioration. “We remain cautious,” they add, maintaining their “keep” recommendation. (Reporting by Michal Aleksandrowicz in Gdansk; French version Corentin Chappron and Augustin Turpin, edited by Zhifan Liu and Blandine Hénault)
©2024 Thomson Reuters, all rights reserved. Reuters content is the intellectual property of Thomson Reuters or its third party content providers. Any copying, republication or redistribution of Reuters content, including by framing or similar means, is expressly prohibited without the prior written consent of Thomson Reuters. Thomson Reuters shall not be liable for any errors or delays in content, or for any actions taken in reliance thereon. “Reuters” and the Reuters Logo are trademarks of Thomson Reuters and its affiliated companies.