LOS ANGELES (AP) – Semiconductor maker Entropic Communications Inc. shares rose Monday after an analyst noted the company is expanding its home networking business to other major video signal providers besides Verizon Communications Inc.
Shares rose 23 cents, or 5.2 percent, at $4.64 in afternoon trading. Earlier shares set a 52-week high of $4.84.
Barclays Capital analyst Tim Luke upgraded the shares to "Overweight" from "Equal Weight" and set a new $7 price target, up from $4.50.
Luke said Entropic was succeeding in having more TV signal providers adopt its MoCA product for in-home networking of entertainment devices.
"With recent checks suggesting DirecTV is on track to roll out MoCA (18-million user installed base), we believe this to be a key milestone for an emerging standard," Luke wrote. He said the company sees opportunities as well at Comcast, Time Warner Cable and Cox.
Entropic's products include home networking chipsets, high-speed broadband access chipsets, integrated circuits for digital broadcast satellite services and silicon TV tuner integrated circuits.
Luke's estimates remained unchanged. He foresees revenue growing 46 percent in fiscal 2010 to $170 million, with 30 cents in earnings per share. Revenue is seen rising another 34 percent to $227 million in fiscal 2011, with earnings of 54 cents per share.
Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters forecast on average revenue of $163.5 million and profit of 28 cents per share this year and $202.8 million in revenue and earnings per share of 41 cents in 2011.
