Why GlobalFoundries Sank Today

Key Points

• GlobalFoundries beat expectations but issued soft guidance.

• The consumer electronics market remains depressed, even as smaller segments are showing green shoots.

• Shares are beginning to look attractive at all-time lows here.

• 10 stocks we like better than GlobalFoundries ›

Shares of specialty semiconductor manufacturer GlobalFoundries (NASDAQ: GFS) sank on Tuesday, down 10.3% as of 3:20 p.m. ET.

The company reported earnings this morning that beat expectations by a decent margin; however, demand may have been "pulled in" to the second quarter, as third-quarter guidance came in well below analysts' expectations.

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Mixed performance across different specialty chip end markets

GlobalFoundries is a U.S.-based fab for "specialty" semiconductor manufacturing nodes. These are chips that aren't on the "leading-edge" but are important to several end markets across consumer electronics, autos, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and a small segment in the periphery of data centers.

In the second quarter, GlobalFoundries posted revenue growth of 3.4% to $1.69 billion, with non-GAAP (adjusted) earnings per share (EPS) of $0.42, up 11% on the year. Both figures beat analyst expectations.

Yet while the overall quarter was good, there were a lot of mixed results underneath the surface. GlobalFoundries saw strong growth in autos and data center, along with decent growth in IoT devices; however, the company's largest segment in consumer electronics continues to struggle, and was down 10%.

And it doesn't appear the consumer segment is improving in the near term, as GlobalFoundries issued highly disappointing guidance for Q3 revenue at $1.68 billion and adjusted EPS of $0.42. That guidance marks a small quarterly decline on both metrics, and was well below analyst consensus.

CEO Tim Breen noted, "As we await a return to meaningful growth across the consumer-driven end markets, I am pleased with the steps GF is taking to broaden the long term value proposition to our customers."

Image source: Getty Images.

GlobalFoundries isn't the most exciting chip stock, but it's getting cheap

As a U.S.-based fabrication company for specialty nodes, GlobalFoundries is more of a "geopolitical risk" play than a real strong AI semiconductor play. So, its biggest value is sort of as a hedge against potential war or disruption in the East Asia supply chain.

That being said, the stock is also getting fairly cheap as it sits at all-time lows. Shares now trade around 20 times this year's earnings expectations and just 14.5 times 2026 EPS expectations.

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Billy Duberstein and/or his clients have no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has no position in any of the stocks mentioned. The Motley Fool has a disclosure policy.