SYNA Up 9% after Mizuho analyst issued a buy rating and raised target to $55 from 42. LCD sales to Apple are expected to rise sharply.
Shares of Synaptics Inc. (SYNA) are up 2.3% in premarket trading Wednesday after Mizuho analyst Vijay Rakesh upgraded the stock to buy. He said the second half of the 2018 calendar year could be stronger than expected for the LCD Apple Inc. (AAPL) iPhone market, which is a potential source of upside. "While LCD was supposed become obsolete with OLED, high OLED panel prices (4-5x LCD panel prices), and low yields at other Korean and China OEMs outside of Samsung ...we believe 2H 2018 could see LCD iPhones at 60% of the mix versus 30-50% of new iPhones in 2H17, creating a tailwind for Synaptics," he wrote. Rakesh also said that the second half of the year is typically better for sales of voice assistants. He raised his price target to $55 from $42. Synaptics shares are down 15% over the past 12 months, while the S&P 500 has gained 13%.