PARIS/FRANKFURT (dpa-AFX) - A strong sales forecast from STMicroelectronics, according to analysts, has created a good mood in the semiconductor industry on Thursday. On the Euronext stock exchange in Paris, shares in the chipmaker rose 9 percent to their highest level in just over a year. In its wake, Infineon rose 4.5 percent. The shares of chip industry suppliers such as ASML and Aixtron also rose.

STMicroelectronics expects sales of $16.8 billion to $17.8 billion this year. The midpoint of that range of $17.3 billion beats the consensus estimate by more than six percent, analyst Sandeep Deshpande of bank JPMorgan wrote in an initial reaction to numbers and outlook. For year-end earnings, this represents a 25 percent increase in the consensus estimate compared to current market expectations, he added.

"The outlook is very strong and should go down well with investors," the expert said. He added that the company was apparently already able to make a good assessment of future developments at the beginning of the year. However, he added, it is still important to be cautious, because in a difficult economic environment, the order situation can change quickly, even though this has clearly not been the case so far.

Analyst Jürgen Wagner of investment house Stifel praised STMicroelectronics' targets for profitability in the current first quarter. Thus, the target for the gross margin of 48 percent is above the market expectation of 45.4 percent. The company thus stands out positively from the recent, rather cautious forecasts of the U.S. chip giant Texas Instruments.

The German industry giant Infineon will publish its quarterly report on Thursday of next week. Here, investors have recently become somewhat more confident again: From the lows around 28 euros at the end of December, they recovered by almost 15 percent at the closing price on the previous day. With today's premiums, it then went to a high for eleven months./bek/ag/mis