Report
Valens Research

LRCX - Embedded Expectations Analysis - 2021 02 12

Lam Research Corporation (LRCX:USA) currently trades below corporate averages relative to UAFRS-based (Uniform) earnings, with a 17.5x Uniform P/E, implying bearish expectations for the firm. Although management appears concerned about WFE growth, semiconductor demand, and NAND customer spend, market expectations are overly bearish, suggesting longer-term upside remains warranted

Specifically, management may lack confidence in their ability to maintain record financial performance, increase systems revenue, and manage maintenance costs. Furthermore, they may lack confidence in their ability to increase customer spend on NAND and wafer additions, improve the competitive advantages and capabilities of their 3D NAND product, and gain market share in their foundry and logic segment. Moreover, management may have concerns about the sustainability of semiconductor demand and the potential of their investments in new, cost-efficient, high productivity platforms. They may also be overstating their ability to capitalize on technological opportunities and sustain substantial wafer fab equipment (WFE) growth, particularly among their installed base

Although management's concerns about WFE growth, semiconductor demand, and NAND customer spend suggest the potential for near-term headwinds, market expectations remain far too bearish given the firm's long-term industry tailwinds and strong corporate performance, suggesting longer-term outperformance remains warranted for LRCX
Underlying
Lam Research Corporation

Lam Research is a supplier of wafer fabrication equipment and services to the semiconductor industry. The company designs, manufactures, markets, refurbishes, and services semiconductor processing equipment used in the fabrication of integrated circuits. The company's customer base includes semiconductor memory, foundry, and integrated device manufacturers that make products such as non-volatile memory, dynamic random-access memory, and logic devices. The company's services include customer service, spares, improvement, and refurbishment of its deposition, etch, and clean products. The company sells its products and services to companies in the United States, China, Europe, Japan, Korea, Southeast Asia, and Taiwan.

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Valens Research
Valens Research

In 2009, just as the dust was settling from the last major equity and credit market crises, we launched a boutique research firm with the intention of breaking Wall Street’s biases and broken incentives:

  • GAAP and IFRS have failed to provide rules for reliable financial statement reporting
  • Stock analyst recommendations are not grounded in disciplined financial analysis
  • Credit agencies have been set up to grossly fail in their responsibilities to investors and the public markets
  • Utter lack of willingness of major research firms to employ the the most advanced forensic analysis available

We sought to provide investors and company analysts with a source of information that changed all that.
Many years later, our business model remains because little has changed on Wall Street.

  • Corporate credit ratings remain years behind the fundamental underpinnings of company performance
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  • Research firms have failed to break down the walls between credit, equity, and macroeconomic research
  • The governing accounting bodies have created more leeway for mis-estimates and mis-classifications as financials have become unwieldy and overwhelming

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Valens Research

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