By Martin Coulter
LONDON (Reuters) – European chipmaker STMicroelectronics on Thursday beat fourth-quarter sales expectations, despite challenging economic conditions, benefiting from strong customer demand.
Net revenue rose to $4.42 billon from $4.32 billion the previous quarter. Analysts had on average expected sales of $4.32 billion, IBES data from Refinitiv Eikon showed.
STMicro, whose biggest clients include iPhone maker Apple and electric carmaker Tesla, hit its own revenue target for the year, reaching $16.1 billion.
Its fourth-quarter diluted earnings per share of $1.32 beat analysts’ average estimate of $1.09, IBES data showed.
Rival Texas Instruments forecast first-quarter revenue and profit below Wall Street targets on Wednesday.
STMicro CEO Jean-Marc Chery said strong demand from automotive and industrial customers had bolstered sales.
Citing strong demand and increased manufacturing capacity, Chery said the company expects full-year revenue of $16.8 billion to $17.8 billion.
The company has previously targeted full-year revenue of $20 billion by 2027.
STMicro said it had spent $3.52 billion on capex in 2022, and planned to raise that figure to about $4 billion this year, primarily to increase manufacturing capacity.
Net income rose to $1.25 billion, up 12% from $1.1 billion the previous quarter.
(Reporting by Martin Coulter; editing by Matt Scuffham and Jason Neely)
