Atmel sees strong demand from wireless telecoms mkt
SAN JOSE, Calif., July 28 (Reuters) - Semiconductor maker Atmel Corp. (Nasdaq:ATML - news) said on Friday its business prospects remain strong and that recent statements adjusting expectations in the wireless telecommunications end market had been anticipated.
The company said demand is strong from the wireless telecommunications end market, whose memory needs grow in tandem with new product and capabilities development including test messaging and Internet browsing features along with fingerprint identification and digital cameras.
``As anticipated, there have been recent announcements regarding adjustments to expectations in the wireless telecommunications end market,'' said George Perlegos, chief executive, in a prepared statement.
``All of this has been anticipated in the guidance that Atmel has already provided to the investors following our recent quarterly earnings announcement,'' he said.
Calif.-based Atmel posted second-quarter profits of 26 cents per share last week, up from earnings of 8 cents a year ago. For the full year, Wall Street expects the company to report earnings of $1.04 per share, according to research firm First Call/Thomson Financial.
Perlegos said Atmel is confident that its flash memory operations, which account for 28 percent of its business, will continue strongly. Flash memory is used in mobile telecommunications.
``There have been many negative comments made concerning the health of the flash market,'' he said. ``Atmel believes these comments are without serious analytical reflection and do not take into account the dynamics of this healthy and robust market.''
``We remain very confident that the 28 percent of our business that comes from Flash will continue strongly, driven by increasing unit demand, transition to higher densities, and the rapidly growing numbers of applications that use Flash technology,'' he said.
Atmel shares closed Thursday at 28-3/4 on Nasdaq, off a year high of 61-3/8 but up from a low of 13-7/8. The company announced a two-for-one stock split last Friday, boosting the number of shares outstanding to 449.2 million from 224.6 million.
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