EDA and Semi IP Stocks in 2013: MENT, ARMH, CDN, SNPS, ANSS, CEVA, IMG.L

2013 was an up year for the stock markets as both the DJIA and the tech-heavy NASDAQ showed significant growth, so how did EDA and Semi IP companies do in the past 12 months? A quick stock plot from Yahoo Finance shows us that only two of the seven companies beat the NASDAQ: ARMH, MENT.

Here’s a table for quick reference showing the stock performance over the past 12 months, ending on December 19th:

[TABLE] style=”width: 500px”
|-
| Stock
| % Increase
| Ending Price
| Industry
|-
| ARMH
| 39.18
| 52.49
| Semi IP
|-
| MENT
| 38.85
| 23.41
| EDA
|-
| ^IXIC
| 33.30
| 4,058.13
| NASDAQ Composite
|-
| ANSS
| 25.17
| 85.84
| Engineering simulation, EDA
|-
| SNPS
| 22.31
| 39.14
| EDA, Semi IP
|-
| CDNS
| 1.35
| 13.54
| EDA, Semi IP
|-
| CEVA
| -5.75
| 15.25
| Semi IP
|-
| IMG.L
| -60.89
| 162.30
| Semi IP
|-

We blog about all of these companies on SemiWiki in some detail, so I’ve included links to each company wiki page below:

ARM holdings has been doing well as their processor cores are designed into most of the popular Android and Apple phones and tablets, the two biggest drivers in consumer electronics these days. Their IP is also distributed by the foundries, creating a nice, steady royalty stream.

Mentor Graphics also outpaced the NASDAQ this year, with a strong focus on independent divisions and some scare from Carl Icahn two years back to get financially fit. In January of this year I predicted that Oasys would be acquired, and so it happened just 11 months later by Mentor.

ANSYS is mostly engineering simulation and a minority portion of EDA with the Apache division. It appears that Apache is still pretty much run separately, which is always a good thing for the acquired company.

Number one in EDA revenues is Synopsys, however their stock price under-performed the NASDAQ this year. Let’s see if they continue to grow their business through acquisitions of key IP vendors.

Cadence stock took a roller coaster ride in 2013, barely eeking out a small gain for the year. They are also busy acquiring IP vendors, second only to Synopsys.

CEVA stock peaked this year in mid-July at 20.95 and then cratered in the second half. Maybe it’s time for a new strategy, or merger with another IP company to bulk up a bit and create some synergy.

Finally, the worst performing company in the list was Imagination Technologies which hit a high of 552 in March, then has slid down to end at 162.30.

My financial disclaimer: I do not own stock in any of these fine companies.

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