ISSI says recession catches up with its business, lowering Q1 sales
Company claims cash position strong, holds $190 million in stock from Taiwan IPO
Semiconductor Business News
(03/13/01 07:50 a.m. PST)
SANTA CLARA, Calif. -- Integrated Silicon Solution Inc. today (March 13) estimated that its revenues in the first quarter would drop 18% sequentially from sales in fourth quarter of 2000. ISSI said it expects Q1 revenues to be in the $52-to-$54 million range.
The downgraded revenue estimate would mean that ISSI is also expecting a sequential drop in earnings form $0.44 per share in Q4. Prior to today's warning, Wall Street's consensus for ISSI earnings in the first quarter was $0.54 per share, based on a survey of analyst by First Call/Thomson Financial.
ISSI managers said the recession simply caught up with its chip business. "We were able to avoid the impact of the general slowdown in the December quarter and had revenue growth of 30%, our fourth consecutive quarter of growth in the 28-to-30% range," said Jimmy Lee chairman and CEO of ISSI. "However, like many other companies in our industry, we have recently received order cancellations and order reschedules that have impacted revenue."
ISSI's chief financial officer, Gary Fischer, said the company remains in a strong position in terms of cash and liquidity position. "We ended December with $139 million in cash, and in January, our former subsidiary completed their initial public offering in Taiwan," the CFO said. "Our 31% ownership has a market value today of approximately $190 million." |
