Goldman Sachs Maintains Neutral on Atmel

Goldman Sachs is out with its report today on Amtel

, maintaining Neutral. In a note to clients, Goldman Sachs writes, "Atmel has gained significant share in the MCU market, and we believe it can continue to expand its share – albeit at a more incremental rate – going forward. Management is delivering on its margin expansion plans, and we believe the company is on track to achieve its near-term gross margin target of 51-52% exiting 2011. However, we remain Neutral on the stock, given Atmel's premium valuation, with the stock trading at 17X our normalized EPS estimate vs. Broadcom

at 14X – despite Broadcom's much stronger exposure to smartphones and tablets (Broadcom at 40% vs. Atmel at 20%)." Shares of ATML closed Monday at $14.15, down 1.01% from Friday's close.