LOOKS LIKE BAD NEWS EVERYBODY
Thread: NSM cautious about pc market.
biz.yahoo.com
Thursday March 11, 10:23 pm Eastern Time
National Semi posts loss, cautious about PC market
(Adds details, grafs 3, 8, 10-11, byline, PRV SANTA CLARA)
By Therese Poletti
SAN FRANCISCO, Calif., March 11 (Reuters) - National Semiconductor Corp., a maker
of a wide range of computer chips, reported a narrower-than-expected third quarter loss,
but warned it was more cautious about the fourth quarter due to an uncertain market for
personal computers.
The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company reported a net loss of $27.2 million, or 16 cents a share, compared with a profit of
$26.2 million, or 16 cents a share a year ago, excluding a one-time charge for an acquisition in the year-ago period.
The loss in the latest quarter compared with Wall Street expectations of a loss of 20 cents a share, according to First Call,
which tracks earnings estimates.
Revenues fell to $500 million from $650 million.
National said its sales in the third quarter declined slightly from the second quarter, due to a drop in sales of its Cyrix
microprocessors, which compete with microprocessors from Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Improvements in sales of its wireless and analog chips only partially offset the decline in microprocessor sales. Gross margins
improved over the prior quarter, in part to due a bigger contribution from the wireless and analog products.
''We are going into the fourth quarter more cautiously than we would have expected three months ago because of competitive
uncertainties in the personal computer market,'' said Brian Halla, National's chief executive, in a statement.
Recent news from top-tier PC makers such as Compaq Computer Corp., which warned of weaker-than-expected demand
earlier this month, and slowing revenues at industry high flyer Dell Computer Corp., have fueled concern among analysts and
investors that PC industry growth is slowing.
Halla said National sees continued improvement in its other business lines, particularly in the analog and wireless areas. He also
said National should begin to realize revenue from its recent customer wins providing chips for new information appliances
sometime in the second half of the calendar year.
Orders for the latest quarter were down 16 percent from the year-ago third quarter, and off 12 percent in a seasonal decline
from the fiscal second quarter ended in November, National said. Although PC motherboard-related orders declined, orders in
the rest of the business improved from the second quarter, the company said.
National said orders rebounded significantly in February and were nearly even with last year after weak markets over the
holidays resulted in declining bookings in December and January. (Nasdaq:INTC - news), (NYSE:AMD - news)
(NYSE:NSM - news) (NYSE:CPQ - news) (Nasdaq:DELL - news)
Regards, M2
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