Gottfried, The following is a report on KLAC's earnings report last week that I don't think was posted on this thread. In a couple of places it addresses their outlook for 2H06 and the future.
<<By Scott Hillis
SAN FRANCISCO, April 27 (Reuters) - KLA-Tencor Corp. (KLAC,Trade), the No. 2 U.S. supplier of tools for making microchips, on Thursday posted a lower quarterly profit but beat expectations and forecast that sales and income to rise further.
KLA-Tencor said it was benefiting from the chip industry's shift to the latest, most-efficient manufacturing techniques, as well as solid demand for memory chips found in an increasing number of consumer devices such as digital music players.
Chief executive Richard Wallace said that he expected KLA to earn between 68 and 71 cents per share in its current, fourth quarter.
He did not clarify whether that figure included stock-based compensation costs, which chief financial officer Jeffrey Hall estimated would amount to 12 cents per share.
Regardless, the expected profit tops the average Wall Street forecast of 51 cents per share before special items and 49 cents including them, according to Reuters Estimates.
Wallace said that revenue would be between $560 million and $575 million, ahead of the average forecast of $552 million an increase of at least 14 percent from a year earlier.
"The outlook for 2006 is bright and continues to improve," Wallace said.
KLA, which makes equipment for manufacturing and testing microprocessors and memory chips, has seen several quarters of year-on-year declines in revenue as chip makers take a cautious stance on expanding.
KLA stock initially rose about 1 percent in after-ho=urs trading, but quickly pared back to trade narrowly around its Nasdaq closing price of $49.16.
Major competitors include Applied Materials Inc. (AMAT,Trade), Lam Research Corp. (LRCX,Trade), and Tokyo Electron Ltd. ((8035.T)) and Hitachi High-Technologies Corp. ((8036.T)) of Japan.
KLA's third-quarter net profit was $98 million, or 48 cents per share, compared with a net profit of $123.2 million, or 61 cents per share, a year earlier.
It was expected to earn $85.4 million, or 42 cents per share, after special items, according to the average analyst forecast on Reuters Estimates.
Excluding $31 million in stock-based compensation, KLA said it would have earned $129 million, or 63 cents per share.
Revenue was $518.3 million, down 4 percent from $541.6 million a year earlier but ahead of the average forecast of $509.8 million.
KLA said it ended the quarter with about 9 months of product-related shipment and revenue backlog, while inventory was $438 million, up $27 million from the prior quarter as it geared up to meet increased demand.>> |
