MXIM ( $53 down $51) Reports Higher Earnings , see's 15-20% 4th qtr lower
PALO ALTO, Calif. (Reuters) - Chip maker Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (NasdaqNM:MXIM - news) on Tuesday reported a third quarter profit and higher sales, but said orders had fallen at a surprising rate that would drive fourth-quarter sales and earnings down.
The company said it earned $103.9 million or 33 cents per share in the quarter, compared with a profit of $74.7 million or 23 cents per share in the year-ago quarter. The latest earnings for the Sunnyvale, Calif. company were exactly in line with the consensus estimate of analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial/First call.
Maxim said its revenues rose to $306.8 million from $226.5 million the year before, but it warned that its fourth quarter revenues would be down about 15 to 20 percent from the third quarter, largely because of the slow order rate.
Maxim said its bookings at the end of the third quarter were $205 million, down sharply from second quarter bookings of $332 million, and it said that the decline was felt in all major geographic areas.
``The steepness of the order rate fall-off was certainly not expected,'' Maxim Chief Executive Jack Gifford said in a statement.
He said the turns rate, reflecting orders that were both recorded and filled during the same quarter, showed more signs of stabilizing. Turns orders in the third quarter were $51 million, compared with $58 million in the prior quarter.
Maxim also said that Dallas Semiconductor Corp, which it acquired in April, earned $5.9 million during the third quarter on revenues of $91.9 million. Maxim will include Dallas Semiconductor results in its own earnings, beginning in the fourth quarter. |
