By Nate Wolf

Shares of SiTime spiked Thursday after the maker of timing solutions nearly doubled revenue from last year, reflecting strong demand from artificial-intelligence data centers.

After the closing bell Wednesday, SiTime reported adjusted earnings of $1.44 a share for the first quarter, up from 26 cents a year ago and well above analysts' consensus estimates of $1.16. Revenue totaled $113.6 million, an 88% jump from last year and about $10 million above Wall Street's forecast.

The company introduced a full-year revenue growth forecast of at least 80%.

SiTime stock surged 32% to $820 in premarket trading. Shares have jumped 76% this year and 231% over the last 12 months.

The company's communications and enterprise segment, which includes sales of precision timing instruments for data centers, headlined the strong quarter. Revenue from the segment totaled $75.7 million, up from just $29.3 million a year ago.

The transition from training AI models to AI inference -- using those models to make decisions and complete tasks -- is a boon for SiTime, the company argued. Inference systems require more timing content than training systems, driving demand for the SiTime's higher-margin products.

"SITM appears to be gaining new customers, expanding content at existing customers, and benefiting from both volume growth and higher [average selling prices]," Needham analyst N. Quinn Bolton in a research note Thursday.

Needham reiterated a Buy rating on the stock and lifted its price target to $850 from $450.

Analysts at UBS agreed. The investment bank lifted its earnings per share estimates for 2026 through 2028 and boosted its price target for SiTime stock to $775 from $675. It maintained a Buy rating. That new price target -- now below shares -- came before the stock's massive jump Thursday morning.

SiTime has emerged as a supplier for Nvidia and Apple, but its first-quarter print indicated a broadening customer base, UBS said. The company should expand its uses within the data-center ecosystem later this year, when it closes a $2.9 billion acquisition of Renesas Electronics' timing portfolio.

Investors have caught on: SiTime came into the earnings report trading at 110 times projected 12-month earnings, up from an 81-times multiple at the start of the year. But analysts' new and improved estimates should bring that valuation down a bit.

"As the company scales, the valuation looks increasingly reasonable to us and in fact one of the least expensive in the group compared to its growth rate," said UBS analyst Timothy Arcuri.

Write to Nate Wolf at nate.wolf@barrons.com

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May 07, 2026 09:07 ET (13:07 GMT)

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