The entire semiconductor sector has been hit hard this year amid the downturn of technology stocks. The shares of many leading semiconductor securities are down 40% or more in 2022 as investors sell off the stocks on fears of ongoing supply-chain problems and as demand weakens globally coming out of the Covid-19 pandemic. But while the downturn is likely to be temporary and the stocks of leading semiconductor companies are sure to rebound, there are some chip makers that are struggling with more fundamental problems. that could hold their share prices back over the long-term. Given this situation, many investors would be best advised to sell these stocks. Here are three semiconductor stocks to sell now.
| INTC | Intel | $31.72 |
| TXN | Texas Instruments | $170 |
| MU | Micron | $57.81 |
Intel (INTC)
California-based Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) is doing everything it can to regain an edge in the fast-moving semiconductor space. That includes spending upwards of $100 billion to build a complex on 1,000-acres outside of Columbus, Ohio that will house eight chip factories and employ thousands of people.
The company is at the forefront of the Biden administration’s efforts to encourage more development of microchips and semiconductors in the U.S. and lessen America’s reliance for chips on competing countries, such as China.
However, Intel’s plan to develop chips within the U.S. and the firm’s massive spending have not helped the company’s fortunes or those of INTC stock. CEO Pat Gelsinger recently said at a conference that Intel is likely to continue losing data center market share and estimated that its share would not begin to recover until 2025 at the earliest.
Gelsinger also said that Intel plans to exit key business lines such as chips used for Optane memory as it seeks to narrow its focus in the coming years. Over the past five years, INTC stock has declined 15%, with some analysts calling it a value trap.
Texas Instruments (TXN)
Speaking of legacy semiconductor companies whose stocks have become value traps, how about Texas Instruments? The Dallas-based company’s stock is down 10% this year and trading at $170 a share.
The stock is 16% below its 52-week high of $202.26 a share. And while Texas Instruments is expected to benefit from the CHIPS Act, the issue with the company is its focus on increasingly outdated analog chips. To put that in perspective, many of Texas Instruments’ semiconductors are still used to power calculators, much as they were in the 1970s and 1980s.
Considering that cutting edge semiconductors being made today are used to power artificial intelligence applications, supercomputers, and the burgeoning metaverse, Texas Instruments’ products are looking quite long in the tooth. The company is not capable of keeping pace with its more advanced peers such as Nvidia (NASDAQ:NVDA) and Advanced Micro Devices (NASDAQ:AMD), among others.
Working in TXN’s favor is a dividend that currently yields 2.69% and a comparably low price-earnings ratio of 18.67. But those advantages don’t compensate for its outdated products and the anemic performance of TXN stock.
Micron Technology (MU)
In many ways, Micron Technology (NASDAQ:MU) never recovered from the dotcom bubble bursting in the early 2000s. Today the Idaho-based company’s shares are changing hands for $57.81 a share, about half the level it was at in 2000 just prior to the tech bubble bursting in spectacular fashion.
This year, MU stock is down 40% amid the stock market’s downturn. But clearly, Micron’s heyday was in the late 1990s before the internet bubble burst and when any stocks related to technology were attracting investors’ capital. Like the aforementioned Intel, Micron is focusing on trying to spend its way out of the doldrums and catch up to its competitors.
Specifically, Micron has announced plans to spend $15 billion to erect a memory chip plant in its hometown of Boise that will create an estimated 17,000 jobs. While encouraging, the memory chip plant isn’t scheduled to be completed until the end of this decade, and its construction and completion are heavily reliant on subsidies that the firm expects to receive from the CHIPS Act.
The company has promised to spend up to $40 billion on semiconductor and microchip manufacturing in the U.S., but that’s again dependent on it receiving support from the government.
In the meantime, Micron continues to focus on developing computer memory storage, primarily USB flash drives, that was cutting edge back in the 1990s.
On the date of publication, Joel Baglole did not have (either directly or indirectly) any positions in the securities mentioned in this article. The opinions expressed in this article are those of the writer, subject to the InvestorPlace.com Publishing Guidelines.
