The following is a report on the KLAC earnings release tonight.
cbs.marketwatch.com;
<<KLA-Tencor tops Q2 profit, sales goals
By Chris Kraeuter, CBS.MarketWatch.com
Last Update: 6:22 PM ET Jan. 22, 2004
SAN FRANCISCO (CBS.MW) -- KLA-Tencor beat its financial targets for the fiscal second quarter and predicted strong growth for the third quarter, saying demand has increased for its semiconductor test and measurement equipment.
Shares (KLAC: news, chart, profile) of the San Jose, Calif.-based company traded nominally lower to $60.76 in late trading after ending the regular session down 1.1 percent at $60.81.
"Rising chip demand fueled by an improving global economy, coupled with high capacity-utilization rates due to years of industry under-investment, is driving a strong upswing in capacity-related tool orders," said CEO Ken Schroeder.
Korea, China, Japan and Singapore exhibited the strongest growth.
For the quarter ended in December, KLA-Tencor reported net income of $45 million, or 22 cents a share, on sales of $339 million. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $29.3 million, or 15 cents a share, and revenue of $334.9 million.
Analysts expected earnings of 19 cents a share and revenue of $325.8 million, on average, according to Reuters Research.
The company in October had predicted it would earn 14 cents a share on sales of $330 million.
Orders tallied $508 million and the company's backlog grew to $678 million. Gross margins expanded sequentially by three percentage points to 54 percent due to improvements in capacity absorption and manufacturing efficiencies.
For the third quarter, KLA-Tencor predicted order growth of at least 15 percent, earnings between 27 and 29 cents a share, and sales between $370 million to $380 million.
Prior to Thursday, analysts predicted earnings of 25 cents a share and sales of $353 million.>> |
