I thought this was going to be a typically slow quarter for them. Anyway, with the whole world going wireless and RFMD being one of the cogs in the wheel that will make it all happen, I hope she survives and prospers. If she does, I would hope the gains from current level will be rather nice...hopefully, that is <g>.....Lots of people do not like RFMD. A couple of the reasons I stay with it are, as I said above, they hopefully will be a big part of the future wireless world....I bought originally very low, sold some for a nice profit and now hold basically free shares...heck, I am debating whether to buy more...I want to, just dont know if it has already bottomed or if shares will be available for $2 - $5........Lastly, I reside fairly close to RFMD's headquarters. Of course I have never received any kind of inside info from any employee, but I have spoken to many of rfmd's employee's the last 2 to 4 years or so, and their excitement, even after the mauling of the bear, has not let down. They are excited about what the company is doing, where it is going and seem very upbeat about future prospects...not that that means anything, as I am sure the folks at wcom, enron and etc, thought everything was great also....I guess the differance here is folks at wcom and enron, really didnt have a clue what was going on due to the type of biz......with RFMD, the people I talk to are engineers and sales people, who, again, although no insider info has ever changed hands, they at least have a grip on the pulse of the company as they are directly related to developing and selling their products. Like I said, most are very happy and excited about the future for rfmd.....now that I put the big black cloud over her, I guess I can look forward to buying more for about $2 a share or less <g>
<<RF Micro Devices CFO: On Track For 1Q Rev Growth 3%-5%
DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
June 2, 2004 12:19 p.m.
By Mary Ellen Lloyd
Of DOW JONES NEWSWIRES
CHARLOTTE -- RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) is "still very much on track" with its guidance for 3% to 5% revenue growth in the June-ending fiscal first quarter, Chief Financial Officer Dean Priddy said Wednesday.
The Greensboro, N.C., wireless communications equipment company has also made "considerable" progress in improving its yield in manufacturing, which will help gross margins, Priddy said during the Smith Barney Semiconductor Conference, broadcast on the Internet.
"We're very optimistic we'll see margin expansion this quarter," as well as for the year, Priddy said.
RF Micro Devices also reiterated its first-quarter earnings outlook of 3 cents a share or 4 cents a share, excluding any charges related to its acquisition last month of Silicon Wave Inc., which makes Bluetooth radio processors and other products. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call forecast earnings of 4 cents a share on 30% revenue growth for the June quarter.
CFO Priddy originally told conference attendees that the company was on track to meet its first-quarter guidance of 2 to 3 cents a share, but a company spokesman said later that Priddy misspoke and intended to cite the guidance of 3 to 4 cents a share, excluding items, given in April.
RF Micro Devices is currently the world's leading manufacturer of power amplifiers for cellular phone handsets with about 50% market share, CFO Priddy said. But the company expects to gain "significant" market share in the transceiver market, especially in the back half of this year as its Polaris cellular transceivers enter the market, he said.
RF Micro Devices is working with major cell-phone manufacturers to bring handsets to market that use its Polaris products, he said. If handsets designed using Polaris 2 transceivers go to market as scheduled, RF Micro Devices will build its production to "significant volume," or multiple millions of units, in the December quarter, Priddy said.
RF Micro Devices expects to benefit as wireless handset makers adopt a technology called Enhanced Data for GSM Evolution, or EDGE, which supports data transmission rates up to 384 Kbps. RF Micro Devices estimates about 55 million handsets using EDGE will be shipped this year and 153 million will be shipped next year, Priddy said. Those estimates "are quite a bit higher than what some of the analysts are currently projecting," but are based on what customers are telling RF Micro Devices, he said.
The company makes power amplifiers and transceivers using EDGE technology.
"It appears Nokia has an early lead on the development of EDGE and EDGE handsets, but others are catching up," he said.
Nokia Corp. (NOK) is RF Micro's largest customer, generating about 35% of sales last year.
-By Mary Ellen Lloyd, Dow Jones Newswires; 704-371-4033; maryellen.lloyd@dowjones.com >> |
