Rumors Abound: Semi Stocks Go Nuts Amid Consolidation Speculation

Semiconductor stocks largely moved higher Wednesday following news that Broadcom Corporation BRCM would be acquired by Avago Technologies Ltd AVGO, according to The Wall Street Journal.

Broadcom Corporation closed at $57.25, soaring 22.02 percent amid the news while Avago Technologies Ltd closed up 8.55 percent at $142.52.

The Market Vectors Semiconductor ETF SMH also moved higher Wednesday and closed at $59.47, up 3.73 percent.

The WSJ report noted that semiconductor sector had been “consolidating at a fast clip this year” and cited how NXP Semiconductors NV NXPI agreed to buy Freescale Semiconductor Ltd FSL in an $11.8 billion deal while Intel Corporation INTC was preparing to acquire Altera Corporation ALTR.

Intel Corporation appeared to also benefit from the consolidation speculation and closed at $33.76, up 1.98 percent.

Mellanox Technologies, Ltd. MLNX was an outlier with a decline on the day, closing at $49.98, down 0.70 percent.

Xilinx, Inc. XLNX closed at $47.68, up 2.43 percent, while Lattice Semiconductor LSCC traded at $6.26, a gain of 3.47 percent.

Atmel Corporation ATML also rose, closing at $8.85, up 2.07 percent and Maxim Integrated Products Inc. MXIM closed at $34.50, up 1.58 percent.

Analog Devices, Inc. ADI closed at $68.40, up 2.93 percent while Intersil Corp ISIL was another big winner for the day, closing at $13.48, a gain of 5.02 percent.

Semtech Corporation SMTC and Cirrus Logic, Inc. CRUS both closed more than 5 percent higher while Linear Technology Corporation LLTC traded at $47.81, up 2.59 percent.