UPDATE: Goldman Sachs Upgrades Atmel to Buy

Goldman Sachs has published a research report on Atmel Corporation

and has upgraded the company from Neutral to Buy. In the report, Goldman Sachs writes, "We are upgrading Atmel to Buy from Neutral. We expect both the stock and fundamentals to outperform in 2012 driven by: (1) Continued market share gains in Atmel's core microcontroller (MCU) business, which we believe are sustainable, (2) higher normalized earnings power over time, with Atmel's gross margins to expand in the near term from a cyclical recovery and over the longer term from richer product mix, and (3) solid growth in touch controllers despite intensifying competition. We see valuation as particularly compelling at this stage with the stock trading at 12X 2012E EPS vs. Microchip at 20X despite stronger growth for Atmel." Goldman Sachs has raised the price target from $9.50 to $10 on Atmel, which is currently trading up $0.42 from Friday's $8.10 closing price.