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Strategies & Market Trends : Zeev's Turnips - No Politics -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: t2 who wrote (75363)	6/6/2002 1:40:40 PM
From: Sully-	Respond to of 99280

Reuters Technology Report National Semiconductor Posts Surprise Profit SANTA CLARA, Calif. (Reuters) - Diversified semiconductor manufacturer National Semiconductor Corp. on Thursday reported an unexpected fiscal fourth-quarter profit, helped by sales of chips used in cellular phones and flat-panel displays. The surprise profit helped shares of National Semiconductor pare losses suffered earlier amid concern about overall PC demand and valuations of semiconductor stocks. In early afternoon trading the stock was down only 6 cents, at $30.60 on the New York Stock Exchange. When trading was halted before the earnings announcement, the stock was down $1.53. For the quarter ended May 26, National Semiconductor (NYSE:NSM - News) reported a profit excluding a tax refund, of $5.6 million, or 3 cents a share, compared with year-ago break-even results that excluded certain charges. Revenue edged up to $419.5 million from $401.2 million. Analysts had expected the company to report a loss of 8 cents a share, within a range of a loss of 2 cents to a loss of 14 cents a share, on revenue of $415.3 million, according to Thomson First Call. Looking forward to the first quarter of fiscal 2003, National Semiconductor said it expects revenue to rise 6 percent to 8 percent sequentially from the fourth quarter. On May 20 the company had raised revenue guidance for the just-completed quarter, "Going forward, our bookings strength and stronger opening backlog position us well for continued improvement," said Brian Halla, chairman and chief executive of National Semiconductor. National Semiconductor said bookings in the fourth quarter rose 19 percent from the third quarter and 71 percent from the year-ago quarter. Bookings for analog chips used in cell phones and other devices rose 20 percent from the third quarter, led by audio products, amplifiers and power management chips. Bookings for chips used in wireless applications rose at about the same rate as bookings for the overall company over the third quarter, and more than doubled orders in the year-ago quarter, National Semiconductor said. Bookings in the Asia Pacific region, which is expected to become the largest geographical region for chip sales in the world over the next four years, rose almost 30 percent from the third quarter and represented almost half of total company bookings in the fourth quarter. Bookings, or orders, exceeded billings, or shipments, in all geographic regions for the second quarter in a row, National Semiconductor said. Including the tax refund, National Semiconductor posted net income of $17.1 million, or 9 cents a share, compared with a year ago net loss of $44.4 million, or 26 cents a share. biz.yahoo.com