QLogic soars after record earnings
COSTA MESA, Calif., May 7 (Reuters) - Shares in QLogic Corp., a
supplier of storage area networks, surged more than 25 percent on Friday
after the company surprised analysts with record 1999 earnings that almost
doubled 1998 earnings.
Net income in the year ending March 28 grew 91 percent to $25.7 million,
or $1.38 per share, from $13.4 million, or $0.83 per share, a year ago. The group reported revenues of $117.2 million
up from $81.4 million in 1998.
Shares stood more than $18 higher at $94 in late morning trade against a falling Nasdaq composite.
The group, which had announced two stock splits in the past six months, saw revenue balloon 44 percent to $117.2
million from $81.4 million, largely helped by robust growth in its fibre channel line where sales jumped 750 percent.
''Those numbers led to a nice upside surprise, but they also announced that they're getting a new stream of revenue
from IDE technology royalty payments,'' said Robert Montague, an analyst with Morgan Keegan & Co. IDE is one
of the technology standards in data storage.
QLogic said it expected to log record royalty revenues of $3 million related to the use of IDE designs by one of its
customers in the first quarter of the fiscal year 2000, boosting the profit outlook for the year ahead.
''It should trade at a healthy premium ahead, driven by the new royalty stream,'' said Ashok Kumar, a technology
analyst at Piper Jaffray.
Kumar had predicted earnings per share in 1999 at $1.39. He expected earnings per share to grow to $2.05 in the year
2000 and $2.50 in 2001. |
