UPDATED 22:02 EDT / JUNE 12 2017

EMERGING TECH

Synaptics’ shares rise after two acquisitions, strong earnings

Human interface technology provider Synaptics Inc. announced a couple of strategic acquisitions today, buoying its shares in after-hours trading.

The maker of display controllers, touchpads and fingerprint sensors said it agreed to buy both Conexant Systems LLC and the Multimedia Solutions Business of Marvell Technology Group. The company will pay about $300 million in cash and 726,666 shares of Synaptics’ stock to acquire Conexant and $95 million in an all-cash transaction for Marvell’s multimedia business.

On the face of it, the two acquisitions look as if they’ll pair nicely with Synaptics. Conexant Systems is a supplier of voice and audio processing solutions for smart homes, while Marvell’s Multimedia Solutions Business sells advanced processing technology for video and audio applications. Synaptics’ human interface solutions include things such as touchscreens and biometric sensors, so the new technologies it acquired should be a good fit as it looks to expand into the consumer Internet of Things market.

The deals should also have an immediate business impact, as Synaptics says it expects gross margins to be accretive immediately. In addition, the company said the deals increase its total addressable market opportunity by 38 percent, or $2.8 billion, to $10.3 billion by 2020.

Conexant’s voice processing solutions have been featured in more than 60 different smart home products. The company also sells USB-C CODEC solutions for next-generation “hearables” and wearables, which is another fit for Synaptics.

As for Marvell’s multimedia products, these include a variety of video and audio processing solutions used in set top boxes, video streaming devices and also things such as digital personal assistants.

“These acquisitions provide Synaptics the industry’s broadest portfolio of human interface solutions and rapidly accelerates the execution of our consumer IoT strategy, driving our next major phase of growth,” said Synaptics Chief Executive Rick Bergman. “The acquisitions are expected to add significant revenue, strong margins, new tier-one customers, an increasingly diverse customer base, impressive global talent and a deep portfolio of intellectual property.”

Synaptics also issued updated revenue guidance for the fourth quarter of its fiscal 2017. It said it now expects to see revenues of $420 million to $430 million, slightly below the midpoint of its previous guidance range of $410 million to $450 million. The company also reported third-quarter earnings per share of $1.27 on revenue of $442 million, well ahead of Wall Street’s projected earnings of $1.20 per share on $430 million in revenue.

Investors waffled in after-hours trading, initially selling off a bit, but by evening shares were up 2.5 percent. They fell almost 1.5 percent in regular trading, to $58.79.

Image: Synaptics

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