Highlights
Arm Holdings' shares dropped 6% in premarket trading after a disappointing quarterly forecast.
The company’s revenue forecast for the third quarter was in line with analyst expectations, but it failed to meet investor optimism.
Despite the recent drop, Arm’s stock has surged 92.5% year-to-date, outperforming industry peers like AMD and Qualcomm.
Shares of Arm Holdings, (NASDAQ:ARM) the chip design firm headquartered in Cambridge, England, declined by 6% in premarket trading following the release of its quarterly forecast. The dip came as a result of weaker-than-expected guidance, despite strong investor enthusiasm driven by the AI boom.
Arm, whose chip designs are integral to nearly every smartphone globally, has seen its stock price more than double since its initial public offering (IPO) in September 2023. This surge was largely fueled by growing market optimism surrounding the company's potential to capitalize on the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. As AI applications continue to gain traction, investors have been betting that companies like Arm would benefit significantly from the surge in demand for chips designed to handle AI workloads.
The company’s revenue forecast for the current fiscal third quarter is between $920 million and $970 million, with the midpoint aligning with analyst estimates. However, this forecast did not match the heightened expectations from the market, which had anticipated stronger growth given the broader AI-driven chip market rally.
Arm's business model centers on licensing its chip designs and collecting royalties on each chip sold that uses its technology. Despite the third-quarter forecast disappointment, Arm delivered a solid performance in its second quarter, reporting a 5% increase in revenue, which rose to $844 million, surpassing analyst expectations.
Year-to-date, Arm’s stock has risen by 92.5%, outpacing its peers, including Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), which has seen a slight decline, and Qualcomm, which posted a modest increase. However, Arm’s forward price-to-earnings ratio of 75.4 remains significantly higher than that of AMD and Qualcomm, indicating that market sentiment continues to reflect strong growth expectations for the company in the long term.