Tessera Technologies Shares Climb On Patent Ruling

NEW YORK (AP) — Shares of Tessera Technologies Inc. soared Thursday, a day after a patent dispute ruling that could give a substantial boost to the company's earnings.

Tessera, which provides miniaturization technology for electronics makers, won a ruling from the International Trade Commission over small-format semiconductor packaging products against rivals Motorola Inc., Qualcomm Inc., Freescale Semiconductor Inc. and Spansion Inc.

Tessera said Wednesday the ITC barred the companies from selling products in their inventories that violate Tessera's patents.

Shares of the company climbed $2.94, or 17.7 percent, to $19.55 in heavy afternoon trading Thursday. The stock has ranged from $8.33 to $24.84 over the past year.

Barclays Capital analyst C.J. Muse raised his share price target to $31 from $18.50, telling clients in a note that the ruling could add 72 cents per share to his earnings forecast for 2010. Muse has an "Overweight" rating on the shares.

"The ITC win was critical for Tessera," Raymond James analyst Hans Mosesmann said in a note to investors, but added, "the devil is in the details."

Mosesmann said Qualcomm has indicated it will license its packaging products from rival Amkor Technology Inc., based in Chandler, Ariz., rather than Tessera.

He added that Schaumburg, Ill.-based Motorola has only a "modest" share of the global market for the disputed products and Spansion, based in Sunnyvale, Calif. "may not be in the business in the near term."