Investment grade.

• Author: Edgerton, Bobby
• Position: NC trend

Company: RF Micro Devices Inc.

Ticker: RFMD

Headquarters: Greensboro

Price March 11: $7.23

Trending (previous 30 days): 24%

WHY BUY The market likes RF Micro's planned $1.6 billion merger with competitor TriQuint Semiconductor Inc., and so do I. RF Micro designs and manufactures components for wireless devices, and its largest customer is Samsung Electronics Co., which captured 32% of the smartphone market last year. Hillsboro, Ore.-based TriQuint also makes wireless components and is a big supplier to Apple Inc., second in market share at 15.5%. They also are players in the defense and aerospace industries and managed well. RF Micro's cash exceeds debt by $200 million; TriQuint is debt-free with $140 million in cash. The combined company should generate $150 million in savings. I estimate a market cap of around $3 billion and, after planned divestitures...