Irvine-based Broadcom Corp.’s cell phone chip revenue remains on track, according to one Wall Street analyst, who named the chipmaker a “top pick” for 2010.
Jefferies & Company Inc. analyst Adam Benjamin said Broadcom “is well positioned for revenue growth in 2010” and said the company is his “top large-cap pick.”
Several new tear-downs, in which new cell phones are dismantled to identify the makers of parts inside, revealed that Broadcom is in a slew of new phones by Nokia Corp. and Samsung Group.
“Broadcom is well-positioned for strong growth at Nokia,” Benjamin said in a research note.
He also pointed to Samsung’s shift to 3G technology as a growth area for Broadcom.
Benjamin estimates Broadcom should see about $100 million in revenue from selling what’s called baseband chips, the processors that do essential functions in a phone.
Broadcom also was found to have several chips in Apple Inc.’s newest fourth-generation iPhone, which has sold nearly 2 million units since it debuted last week.
For the iPhone, Broadcom makes a wireless chip that handles Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connections on the device. It also supplies a chip to receive signals from global positioning system satellites used in navigation applications, replacing one that previously had been supplied by Germany’s Infineon Technologies AG.
Broadcom’s shares are up a modest 7% since the start of the year on a recent market value of $17 billion.
It’s beating the Philadelphia Semiconductor Index, a group of about 18 chip stocks, which is off about 4% for the same period.
