Tuesday October 24 8:00 PM ET
LSI Logic, Fairchild Semi Post Strong Earnings
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Chipmaker LSI Logic Corp. on Tuesday posted third-quarter profits that more than doubled -- topping expectations by one cent per share -- as sales rose 35 percent, and the company said fourth-quarter revenues will rise about 10 percent from third-quarter levels.
Milpitas, Calif.-based LSI Logic (NYSE:LSI - news) said net income before amortization of goodwill and other special items was $114 million or 33 cents a share, compared to $55 million or 17 cents a year ago. The third-quarter diluted share figures have been adjusted to reflect last February's two-for-one common stock split.
Sales rose to $728 million from $540 million. The consensus earnings forecast for LSI Logic was 32 cents a share, according to First Call/Thomson Financial.
LSI Logic's earnings came one day after National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE:NSM - news) said that sales in its second and third quarters would likely come in below expectations amid an inventory correction by mobile phone makers and a slower than expected pick-up in demand by PC makers for its chips.
``Overall, demand looks pretty good for us,'' said Wilfred Corrigan, LSI Logic's chairman, president and chief executive officer, on a conference call.
Demand is also looking good for other chipmakers, who either matched or topped consensus forecasts in reporting quarterly earnings on Tuesday, particularly those with limited exposure to the mobile phone and PC markets.
Diversified chipmaker Fairchild Semiconductor International Inc. posted third-quarter profits that breezed past Wall Street profit forecasts as sales shot up 42 percent from a year ago.
The Portland, Maine-based chipmaker said net income before one-time charges rose to $84.0 million, or 82 cents a share, compared with $25.9 million, or 28 cents a year ago, assuming the company's initial public offering had taken place at the beginning of 1999.
On that basis, the results topped the consensus earnings forecast of 72 cents, according to First Call/Thomson Financial. Estimates ranged from 71 cents to 73 cents.
``I love it when the analysts say I had a blowout quarter,'' said Kirk Pond, chairman, chief executive and president of Fairchild in an interview.
Given the jitters among investors the last couple of weeks in the chip industry, Pond said: ``We're quite pleased to be able to tell people that our multimarket model is working well.''
In a conference call with investors, LSI Logic executives said they were comfortable with the full-year 2000 earnings per share estimate of $1.78 and added they expect to post per-share earnings of 36 cents in the fourth quarter.
Analog chipmaker Maxim Integrated Products Inc. also on Tuesday posted strong earnings for its fiscal first quarter, meeting expectations, as sales rose to a record.
Sunnyvale, Calif.-based Maxim said net income rose 61 percent to $93.3 million, or 29 cents a share, from $58 million, or 19 cents, a year ago. Sales rose to $285 million from $180 million.
Maxim stock fell 7/16 to $77-7/16 on Tuesday on Nasdaq. Fairchild Semiconductor shares fell $1-5/8 to $18-1/4 on the New York Stock Exchange (news - web sites).
LSI Logic shares fell $3-9/16, or 11 percent, to $28-1/2 on the New York Stock Exchange amid a rout in semiconductor stocks. The stock is well of its year-high of $90-1/4 but up slightly from a year low of $22-7/16. |
