Shares digital

Tuesday’s (5 February) shock profit warning from semiconductor intellectual property expert ARM Holdings (ARM) drove the Cambridge firm’s shares down by 15% to 100p, their lowest level since 2006, and hammered sentiment on the already downtrodden tech sector.

Chief executive Warren East warned of an uncertain macroeconomic environment when he forecast revenues in this year’s first quarter will come in flat against those in last year’s fourth, when measured in US dollars.

This downbeat view came just a day after Scottish chip designer Wolfson Microelectronics (WLF) issued a forecast for first quarter sales which came in below analyst expectations. New boss Dave Shrigley also blamed uncertain market conditions, despite progress in his plans to reduce the firm’s dependence on portable media products such as the iPod, where market growth has begun to slow appreciably. Shares in rival silicon design firms ARC International (ARK) and CSR (CSR) were caught up in the melee, falling 3% to 27.75p and 5% to 501p respectively.

Shares says:

SELL CSR, Wolfson

HOLD ARM, ARC

by: Russ Mould