3 Electronics Stocks to Buy From a Challenging Industry

The Zacks Electronics – Miscellaneous Products industry has been suffering from challenging macroeconomic conditions, high levels of inventories with distributors and steep interest rates. The global economic turmoil is expected to keep the semiconductor capex under check, which does not bode well for industry participants in the near term. However, players like KLA KLAC, Flex FLEX and Daktronics DAKT are benefiting from higher spending on advanced technologies, including augmented reality and virtual reality. Continuing investments in data centers, high-performance computing and 5G end markets are the key catalysts. Fab (foundry) expansion in the United States, South Korea, Taiwan and China, as well as higher spending on memory equipment, is expected to drive growth in 2024 and beyond.

Industry Description

The Zacks Electronics – Miscellaneous Products industry includes a number of original equipment manufacturers of air-conditioning systems, green energy solutions, remote-control systems, GPS navigation, home automation systems, healthcare devices, industry/factory automation, robotics, semiconductor and optical applications, and energy management solutions. The industry is evolving on digital transformation and the growing demand for silicon across multiple markets. The increasing cost of manufacturing bodes well for equipment suppliers, while the growing demand for silicon is a positive for semiconductor companies. Apart from the United States, companies in this industry are based in Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and Switzerland. These companies either have manufacturing operations in China and South-East Asia or generate significant revenues from these regions.

3 Trends Shaping the Future of the Industry

Solid Capital Spending Drives Prospects: Technology transitions are driving product complexities, which are raising the demand for solutions provided by industry participants. Increasing investment in expanding manufacturing capacity by semiconductor companies is a key catalyst in the long run (irrespective of the near-term hiccups due to the challenging macroeconomic conditions). Since semiconductor companies are the major customers of miscellaneous electronics product manufacturers, the trend bodes well for industry participants. In addition, rising spending on advanced nodes — 7 nm, 5 nm and 3 nm processes from logic and foundry customers — favors industry participants. Notably, logic and foundry spending is anticipated to be healthy this year.

Emerging Markets of Wearables, AR & VR Drive Growth: Industry participants are riding on strong demand for wearables and AR and VR-supported display systems in defense, industrial, consumer applications and healthcare end markets. The adoption of AR and VR is increasing due to the growing proliferation of the metaverse.

Challenging Macroeconomic Condition is a Headwind: Industry participants are suffering from a challenging macroeconomic condition globally, with enterprises showing reluctance in committing to multi-year deals. Persistent inflation and unfavorable forex trends do not bode well for industry participants.

Zacks Industry Rank

The Zacks Electronics – Miscellaneous Products industry is housed within the broader Zacks Computer and Technology sector. It carries a Zacks Industry Rank #184, which places it in the bottom 26% of more than 250 Zacks industries.

The group’s Zacks Industry Rank, which is the average of the Zacks Rank of all member stocks, indicates dim near-term prospects. Our research shows that the top 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries outperform the bottom 50% by a factor of more than two to one.

The industry’s positioning in the bottom 50% of the Zacks-ranked industries is a result of the negative earnings outlook for the constituent companies in aggregate. Looking at the aggregate earnings estimate revisions, it appears that analysts are pessimistic about this group’s earnings growth potential. Since Jul 31, 2023, earnings estimates for the industry for the current year have moved south by 25.5%.

Given the bearish prospects, there are only a few stocks worth watching in the industry. But before we present those stocks, let’s take a look at the industry’s recent stock-market performance and valuation picture.

Industry Lags S&P 500, Broader Sector

The Zacks Electronics – Miscellaneous Products industry has underperformed the S&P 500 and the broader Zacks Computer & Technology sector in the past year.

The industry has returned 9.6% during this period compared with the S&P 500 composite’s growth of 19.3% and the broader sector’s return of 27%.

One-Year Price Performance

Industry’s Current Valuation

On the basis of the forward 12-month P/E, which is a commonly used multiple for valuing Electronics-Miscellaneous products companies, we see that the industry is currently trading at 21.32X compared with the S&P 500’s 21.03X and the sector’s forward-12-month P/E of 25.88X.

Over the last five years, the industry has traded as high as 22.16X and as low as 17.89X, with the median being 18.12X, as the charts below show.

Forward 12-Month Price-to-Earnings (P/E) Ratio

Stocks to Buy Right Now

Daktronics: This Brookings, SD-based digital LED display technology and audio systems provider benefits from strong order growth.

This Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy) company is riding on strong demand in Live Events and International business unit orders. Daktronics shares have gained 73.5% year to date.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate DAKT’s fiscal 2025 earnings has increased 34.5% to $1.13 per share over the past 30 days.

Price and Consensus: DAKT

KLA: This Zacks Rank #2 (Buy) company is benefiting from the strong performance of the wafer inspection business, owing to rising demand for advanced wafer inspection applications in leading-edge technology development.

This San Jose, CA-based company is benefiting from growing investments across multiple nodes and rising capital intensity in Foundry & Logic.

The Zacks Consensus Estimate for fiscal 2025 has increased by a couple of cents to $28.19 per share over the past 30 days. KLA shares have jumped 31.3% year to date.

Price and Consensus: KLAC

Flex: This Zacks Rank #2 company is gaining momentum from strong demand for next-generation mobility, including EV onboard electronics and advanced computing platforms for the software-defined vehicle, which is powering the automotive unit. Health Solutions’ business is bolstered by top-tier digital health/ medical device demand. Solid traction in AI-driven cloud spending is a positive factor.

Flex shares have gained 1.6% in the year-to-date period. The consensus mark for FLEX’s fiscal 2025 earnings has been unchanged at $2.36 per share over the past 30 days.