TQNT ($12) sees 4th-qtr loss, delayed orders
By Duncan Martell
SAN FRANCISCO, Dec 18 (Reuters) - Triquint Semiconductor Inc. (NasdaqNM:TQNT - news) on Tuesday said it would report a loss in the current fourth quarter and the first quarter of next year as analysts said the company saw a downturn in its optical and satellite businesses.
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Hillsboro, Oregon-based Triquint, which makes chips for wireless phones and other communications products, now expects a fourth-quarter loss, before an impairment charge, of 1 cent to 3 cents a share, compared with an estimate of a profit of 4 cents, which Triquint made when it cut its outlook last month.
Sales would be $64 million to $66 million, compared with a previous estimate of about $75 million, and first quarter results would be about the same as in the fourth, it said in a statement.
``Our primary customers continue to hold off orders, which has reduced our backlog and reduced our visibility,'' Chairman, President and Chief Executive Steve Sharp told investors on a conference call.
``The weakness was in optical and satellite, not the wireless business,'' said C.E. Unterberg Towbin analyst Kalpesh Kapadia, noting that he company lost market share in a Nokia phone, model 3360, which Nokia had heavily promoted.
``They actually said they lost some market share in the Nokia 3360 cell phone,'' Kapadia said.
Kapadia said that the Triquint chip in question in the Nokia phone had been replaced by one from RF Micro Devices Inc., adding that Nokia accounts for 13 percent to 15 percent of Triquint's total revenues.
Shares of Triquint dropped to $12.30 in after-hours trade on Instinet from a close of $14.10 on the Nasdaq before the announcement. The stock fell 9 cents in regular trade and is down 68 percent on the year.
Wall Street average forecasts for the fourth quarter had mirrored those of the company, and analysts had seen Triquint reporting first-quarter per-share profits of 3 cents on sales of $71 million, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.
Still, one analyst pointed to the wireless component market as risky for suppliers such as Triquint.
``We have seen indications of a sort of mini bubble in the wireless component side,'' said ABN AMRO analyst Ambrish Srivastava. Triquint also counts mobile phone maker Ericsson as a customer.
Handset makers were holding back on orders as they watched current sales, and they could wait until the last minute, since microchip makers could deliver quickly, in about 4 weeks, he said.
Sharp gave a variety of reasons for the new fourth-quarter forecast, which he had scaled back in November.
``Reduced revenue and earnings per share is the result of delayed shipments of products at the request of certain customers, continued softness in our optical networking business, and a slowdown in satellite and microwave businesses coupled with flat revenue in our wireless phone business,'' he said. |
