Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) Not Cirrus' (NASDAQ:CRUS) Top Catalyst

While there is no doubt the opportunity for Cirrus Logic (NASDAQ:CRUS) with Apple (Nasdaq:AAPL) is a good one in the short term, Needham doesn't see it as the main catalyst going forward.

Needham said, "While investors are appropriately focused on the Apple opportunity for Cirrus near-term, we believe the true driver to return CRUS shares to the high-teens to $20 range will be a recovery in the other audio (consumer) and energy (industrial) revenue in MarQ4. Apple has been a major success for CRUS, however it brings along the high risk/high reward trade-off in the form of customer concentration vs. growth. It also overshadows other product developments and the strong fiscal execution of the company over the last three years. Longer-term, we are gaining conviction that the LED lighting and PFC call options on long-term revenue growth, virtually free to the investor, should be viewed as a tangible asset in summing up CRUS’ product lines."

Cirrus Logic closed on Wednesday at $15.41, up $0.14, or 0.92 percent. Needham has a price target of $19 on them.

Volume for Cirrus was far below the 3-month daily average.