BMW adds Mobileye to The Ultimate (Self) Driving Machine

Shares of Mobileye (NSDQ: MBLY) have been climbing following the announcement that it will be joining with Intel (NSDQ: INTC) and BMW to produce self-driving vehicles. Mobileye will be providing chips, sensors and software for the vehicles, including its EyeQ5 system and its Road Experience Management system, which provide precise localization. Intel will be providing a broad set of computing technology, including machine learning and artificial intelligence.

The group says that it plans to have self-driving cars in production by 2021 and analysts are hailing Mobileye’s selection by a major luxury car maker as a clear validation of its technologies.

Buy Mobileye under $42.

Though Himax Technologies (NSDQ: HIMX) won’t officially announce its second quarter earnings until early August, its shares have jumped nearly 7% after it preannounced unaudited earnings this morning.

Initial numbers show revenue rose 18.8% year-over-year to $201.1 million, largely thanks to strong sales of small- and medium-sized drivers. Gross margin also showed strong annual improvement, rising 230 basis points to 26.1%. GAAP earnings are also expected to come in at $0.115 per share, over the top end of the company’s $0.105 guidance, a 125.5% jump compared to the same period last year.

The gain comes after the stock took a sharp drop last week following the announcement that its long-time Chief Technology Officer, Chih-Chung Tasi, would be retiring at the end of June. Tasi’s successor has yet to be named, but the company says his departure should not have a material impact on the business. In fact, the company said to expect a similarly strong performance in the second half of this year.

Continue buying Himax Technologies under $15.

Parker Hannifin (PH) also announced today that it has acquired Jäger Automobil-Technik GmbH and Jäger Automotive Polska from Germany-based Jäger Holding GmbH. The Jäger group is known for making rubber to plastic direct bonded sealing systems primarily for automotive markets and a key developer of two-component direct inject molding technology. Those systems are primarily used to seal and protect automotive components.

While the terms of the deal were not announced, the two acquiring businesses have combined annual sales of about $45 million. Considering that Parker-Hannifin has revenue of more than $3 billion in the first quarter, it’s clearly less interested in acquiring the businesses customer bases than it is in the technology itself.

Parker-Hannifin remains a buy under $123.

Stock Talk

BMOFI48

BMOFI48

Regarding Himax and the departure of Chih-Chung Tasi, may I assume you meant to say “…his departure should have NO material impact on the business”, rather than “…a material impact on the business”?
Bruce

Jim Pearce

Jim Pearce

Sorry about that Bruce, I’ll make the correction. Thanks for letting us know about the error.

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