STOCKS NEWS EUROPE-Infineon shares drop on cautious outlook

Shares in Germany's Infineon Technologies (LSE: 0KED.L - news) fall 4.7 percent to become the biggest decliners on a flat blue chip DAX index after the chip maker flags a revenue drop at all its units in the current fiscal quarter.

Infineon (Xetra: 623100 - news) says it expects revenues of between 960 million euros ($1.3 billion) and 1 billion in the fiscal first quarter, down from 1.053 billion euros in the fourth quarter.

"The outlook for the current quarter is quite cautious as well as the full-year outlook," says Harald Schnitzer, an analyst at DZ Bank.

Revenue is seen rising by 7-11 percent to 4.11-4.27 billion euros in the 2013/14 fiscal year, compared with an average expectation of 4.22 billion euros in a Reuters poll.

Analysts at Jefferies agree that the outlook is conservative but say the company is building for growth.

"Although trading may be marginally weak today, we are encouraged by signs that things are being managed reasonably well," they say.

Infineon shares have gained 13 percent so far this year, hitting a 16-month high in September. By comparison, European peer ST Microelectronics (Milan: STM.MI - news) has only gained 5.3 percent so far this year.

($1 = 0.7459 euros)

Reuters messaging rm://jonathan.gould.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net