The Best-Performing Semiconductor Stocks

This week, Cabot Small-Cap Confidential Editor Thomas Garrity alerted to me a list of the 10 best-performing semiconductor stocks year-to-date.

Tom was so excited about the list because it includes three of his newsletter’s picks: EZ-Chip (EZCH), up 105% this year; QuickLogic (QUIK), up 103%; and , up 97%. These gains are nothing to sneeze at. And they demonstrate the power of small-cap stocks.

You’ve probably never heard of any of these stocks, unless you’re a Cabot Small-Cap Confidential subscriber, but these gains show they are worth a look. Keep in mind that Tom recommends stocks for the long term.

All three of these companies are part of the fabless semiconductor industry. This highly profitable sector includes companies that research and design semiconductors but license out the actual manufacturing to others.

I’ll start with EZ-Chip, Cabot Small-Cap Confidential’s first recommendation three years ago. The company (formerly LanOptics) was started in 1989 and is headquartered in Israel. EZ-Chip is in the business of developing Ethernet network processors for networking equipment. As consumers use more and more data from the Internet, EZ-Chip works to find ways to deliver it better and faster. EZ-Chip released record second quarter results in July, with revenues increasing 123% over last year to nearly $15 million.

Cabot Small-Cap Confidential first recommended QuickLogic, founded in 1988 and headquartered in California, in late 2009. The company is the leading provider of customizable semiconductor platforms for mobile devices. And as more people buy smart phones, QuickLogic is sure to benefit. In August, the company announced fiscal results of the second quarter, with revenues up 123% year-over-year to $6.5 million.

Ramtron, recommended in early 2008, was founded in 1984 and is headquartered in Colorado. Ramtron combines the best attributes of volatile and non-volatile memory to create superior semiconductor memory called Ferroelectric Random Access Memory, or F-RAM. And the company has strong patents to protect its products. Ramtron announced second quarter revenue that was up 66% over last year to $18.3 million.

Now remember that small-cap stocks can be volatile, so don’t just go out and buy these. Do some more research, or better yet, subscribe to Cabot Small-Cap Confidential, where you’ll find complete write-ups on all of these stocks (and more).

In honor of this great performance, we’re extending our Limited Time Anniversary Price Rollback for Cabot Small-Cap Confidential until October 4. But hurry, this offer will end on Monday!