ARM reaches for 27% increase in revenues but spooks investors

ARM, the ‘old faithful’ of the tech world, has started off the day with a little market stumble, despite reporting a 36% rise in pre-tax profit to £92.6m and a 27% rise in revenues to £184m, shares took a tumble earlier today.
 
The chip designer’s third quarter results were greeted with a 4% drop in share price in the first few hours of trading, they have since recovered slightly to -0.10%. Commentators are putting the blip down to lower than expected royalty revenues – while ARM’s were up 14%, industry royalty revenues were down 2% year-on-year.
 
The overall picture is hardly gloomy though. Overall, stock in ARM has risen 69% over the past year – with the firm’s chips used in a whopping 95% of smartphones and tablet computers and with the rise of the Internet of Things (the trend of ordinary objects being connected to the internet) – its fortunes are unlikely to change any time soon.
 
‘As the products we use every day become more connected, and as new categories of smart devices are introduced, there are increasing opportunities for ARM's high-performance low-power technology, which drive both license and long-term royalty revenues,’ said chief executive Simon Segars.
 
The Cambridge-based company saw a strong demand for its processor technology and added 48 new licenses across 24 companies. The fourth quarter looks set to be a bumper one as well.
 
‘We expect group dollar revenues for the fourth quarter to be in line with current market expectations of approximately $290 million,’ ARM said.
 
Sounds good to us.