This market has been so chaotic, unpredictable and in many respects, irrational.
Case in point (on the irrationality side): Xilinx .
In December the company lowered guidance for the quarter that was reported Wednesday from revenues of around $570 million and 46 cents a share to a level that caused analysts to reduce expectations to $497 million and around 39 cents. At the time its stock was $31.
Then came results for the quarter: Revenues of $511 million and earnings of 47 cents (aided by some one-time gains.)
The Street’s translation: A beat!
But reality: It was merely a beat of lowered guidance — and even then, on the earnings per share side, it really wasn’t a beat.
And guidance is for revenues to gain a meek in a “you can drive a truck through it” range of 2 percent to 6 percent sequentially — lower even than the 3 percent to 8 percent range the company had guided to last quarter, after reducing it from a range of 9 percent to 12 percent.
The stock, meanwhile, is roughly 13 percent higher than it was before the December guide-down.
My take: The beat goes on.
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