JR -
* Linear Tech just lowered forward guidance (press release at 9:00 PM...give me a break)
People making silly, anonymous slurs should attempt to get their facts right.
biz.yahoo.com
"Tuesday April 17, 6:30 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Linear Technology Corporation
Linear Technology Reports Record Quarterly Sales and Profits; Increases Its Cash Dividend to $0.04 Per Share; But, Raises Caution on Subsequent Quarter's Results
MILPITAS, Calif., April 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Linear Technology Corporation (Nasdaq: LLTC - news), a leading, independent manufacturer of high performance linear integrated circuits, today announced that net sales for its third quarter ended April 1, 2001, were $282,021,000, an increase of 52% over net sales of $185,075,000 for the similar quarter of the previous year. The Company also reported net income for the quarter of $125,703,000 or $0.38 diluted earnings per share, an increase of 66% over $75,867,000 or $0.23 diluted earnings per share reported for the same quarter of last year.
The Company is increasing its quarterly dividend from $0.03 to $0.04 per share. The payment will be on May 16, 2001 to stockholders of record on April 27, 2001. During the quarter the Company generated approximately $84 million in additional cash and short-term investments, net of spending approximately $11 million to purchase 275,000 shares of its common stock.
According to Robert H. Swanson, Chairman of the Board and CEO, ``This was a difficult quarter as business turned dramatically downward. Aided by a strong beginning backlog we were able to meet our sales and profit goals of 9% and 10% sequential growth over the December quarter. However, as the quarter progressed, cancellations increased and bookings decreased significantly across all business areas. North American business activity was the weakest, particularly in the networking communications area. Business now continues to be weak as customers have been reacting to larger inventories in several channels, shorter supplier lead times and diminished end-user demand. Consequently, we believe our business going forward will be negatively impacted and next quarter could be 20 - 30% lower in sales and profits than the quarter just ended.
Looking out, our design-in activity at customers is very active, so we believe we will be well positioned when business conditions improve. Historically, the Company has maintained a very high rate of profitability even in declining quarters and we believe we can continue to do so in this depressed environment.``..."
Regards, Don |
