From the midday market report
Actel Corp. (NASDAQ:ACTL - news) lost $6.38, or 33%, to $12.75, after the company announced earnings for the first quarter of 1999 at $0.19 per share, a penny shy of the consensus analyst estimate and two cents above the year-ago number. Revenue came in at $40.8 million, a 6% gain from the first quarter 1998, but about 5% shy of analysts estimates. The company makes programmable gate arrays and associated system software and programming hardware. Tim Mahon, a Volpe Brown Whelan analyst, says the pullback in price is 'a little overblown' and a great buying opportunity. He has a 'strong buy' recommendation and a $25 price target for Actel. The shortfall in the quarter, Mahon says, was due to the company terminating a distributor contract and having to take back inventory, negatively impacting revenue. The company has reduced expectations going forward, says Ashok Kumar of Piper Jaffray, because of the weakness in Asia, but also because it has lower expectations for a product now dealing with government regulation being shipped outside the U.S.
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