ASE Test Has First-Quarter Loss on Slow Chip Demand (Update3)
By Alan Patterson
quote.bloomberg.com
Taipei, April 23 (Bloomberg) -- ASE Test Ltd., the world's biggest semiconductor tester, had a first-quarter loss after communications-chip makers, its main customers, cut orders amid the chip industry's worst slump ever last year.
Nasdaq-listed ASE Test had a loss of $13.9 million, or 14 cents a share, compared with net income of $7.1 million, or 7 cents, a year earlier. The loss was lower than the average estimate of 18 cents a share of six analysts surveyed by IBES International Inc.
While demand for ASE Test's services waned after Motorola Inc. and other large customers turned to losses last year, analysts said they should rebound as some companies shut their in- house testing facilities. The company also said its use of production capacity improved in the first quarter and that sales in the second quarter will increase 10 percent from the first.
``They could increase revenue by as much as 12 percent in the second quarter,'' said Medhi Hosseini, an analyst with Soundview Technology Group Inc. ``The driver behind the growth is more outsourcing by customers who can't afford the investment in test equipment.''
First-quarter sales fell 33 percent to $69 million from $103.2 million, the company said in a statement. Gross margin in the second quarter will be in the mid-single digits, ASE Test said. |
