George Soros (Trades, Portfolio), a currency and macro investor who wrote a book called “The Alchemy of Finance,” has dialed up his investment in Sigma Designs Inc. (SIGM, Financial), a smart home company, throughout the month of June and July, most recently adding to the stake on July 11.
Sigma Designs engages in a range of businesses that enable a so-called smart home. Its chips and technologies allow the internet to flow through normal power outlets and phone lines and for remote control of operation of a growing list of products from PC or smartphones, known as the Internet of Things.
Soros bought Sigma Designs stock seven times in June and July, increasing his position at percentages ranging from 0.1% and 9.8%. His latest buy boosted his holding by 44,505 shares, or 0.9%, at a price of roughly $5.61. The buy brought his total to 5,013,831 shares.
Soros has been buying the stock around its 9.8% decline year to date, to $6.10 per share at close Wednesday. The stock tumbled in December when its Internet of Things segment contributed to a 4% decrease in net revenue and revenue expectations miss.
In the first fiscal quarter ended April 29, Sigma Designs posted a net loss of $14.86 million, versus $8.1 million in the previous first quarter. Net revenue also declined 26% to $39.56 million from $53.78 million due to losses in its Connected Smart TV Platforms market, offset by growth in its IoT Devices Market.
Sigma’s gross margins in the first quarter also slipped to 47.6% from 50.6%, and its operating loss was $13.4 million, compared to $7.2 million.
“Fiscal 2018 will be a transition year in our business as we focus our investments in our IoT solutions, which we expect to be the future growth and profit drivers for the company,” Sigma Designs CEO Thinh Tran said in a release.
The price of Sigma designs has declined to a near a two-year low. It also has a price-book ratio of 1.61, near a one-year low. Its price-sales ratio of 1.04 is near a one-year low.
