Bull Of The Day: Lam Research

Lam Research (LRCX – Free Report) delivered the goods on April 18 that I had been telling you about for two months in articles like “Give Me Sales Growth!” on February 25 and “3 Tech Stocks to Buy on This Pullback” from April 12.

Here’s what I told my TAZR Trader group, where we first bought LRCX under $115 in mid-February, after Lam reported earnings last week…

Another quarter, another round of schooling the recalcitrant bears who want to short semiconductors just because the stocks have run so hard in the past year. According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary…

The origins of lambaste are somewhat uncertain, but the word was most likely formed by combining the verbs lam and baste, both of which mean “to beat severely.” (Incidentally, lambaste can also be spelled lambast, despite the modern spelling of the verb baste.)

The Earnings Trifecta

Lam Research (LRCX – Free Report) delivered the earnings “trifecta” we love: top and bottom line beats and raised guidance!

We don’t really want to harm recalcitrant bears. But we don’t mind severely beating Wall Street estimates.

At last glance around 6pm ET, LRCX shares were up over $6 (+4.75%) on heavy short-covering volume of 450K. Here were the details…

Revenue in the March quarter climbed to $2.154 billion, yielding EPS of $2.80.

Analysts had been modeling $2.125 billion on the top and $2.55 on the bottom, for a 1.35% sales beat and a 10% EPS beat.

For the current quarter, the company sees revenue of $2.2 billion to $2.4 billion, and EPS of $2.88 to $3.12, topping consensus of $2.19 billion and $2.65 per share.

Stifel analyst Patrick Ho, a big LRCX bull who commented positively ahead of earnings, was quick to offer commentary afterwards.

Ho noted that Lam reported 2017 Q3 beats driven by strong shipments to Korea and Taiwan. Since he probably needs time to digest management’s upgraded outlook for the year before he adjusts his earnings model, he would only reiterate his $150 price target tonight.

But we should expect many analysts to raise estimates in the coming days.

(end of April 18 TAZR commentary)