The Fundamentals are Fantastic!
For the fourth quarter, Newport's net income rose 16 percent to $3.0 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, compared with earnings of $2.6 million, or $0.28 per diluted share, a year ago.
Net sales for the quarter climbed 24 percent to $41.5 million from $33.4 million in the fourth quarter of 1998.
Results for the quarter reflect a 91 percent increase in fiber optic communications sales to $11.8 million and a 138 percent increase in semiconductor equipment sales to $4.7 million, partially offset by a 24 percent decline in sales to the computer peripherals market to $2.2 million.
Orders for the final quarter of 1999 totaled $47.0 million, a 35 percent increase over the same quarter a year ago. Fiber optic communications product orders rose 96 percent to $14.3 million, compared with $7.3 million in 1998's fourth quarter. Semiconductor equipment market segment orders totaled $7.5 million, up 244 percent over the $2.2 million received during 1998's fourth quarter.
Robert G. Deuster, president and chief executive officer, said: "The telecommunications industry is seeing an expansion of Internet-related technologies with huge bandwidth requirements that are driving the deployment of new fiber systems and causing the updating or replacement of currently installed systems. "Newport's objective is to provide integrated test, measurement and automation products and services that reduce cost, improve productivity, and increase the yield and reliability for fiber optic component suppliers and systems-level manufacturers that supply this rapidly expanding market. The company's results in the fourth quarter once again clearly demonstrate our growing success as an important supplier to the booming fiber optics communications market and our other business segments." |
