SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Intersil Corp., a maker of chips for wireless networking, said on Wednesday it posted a first-quarter net profit as revenues rose from a year earlier and it projected higher second-quarter revenues as sales improve across product lines.
The Milpitas, California-based rival of Texas Instruments Inc. reported net income of $13.7 million, or 10 cents a share, compared with a net profit of $13.8 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenues rose to $164.4 million from $159.5 million a year earlier.
Intersil posted earnings excluding items of $18.3 million, or 13 cents a share, compared with earnings before items of $17.8 million, or 13 cents a share, a year earlier.
Analysts had on average expected the supplier to such big technology manufacturers as Cisco Systems Inc. and International Business Machines Corp. to post earnings excluding items of 13 cents a share and revenues of $162 million, according to Thomson First Call.
Intersil, which also counts mobile-phone giant Nokia and top personal computer maker Dell Computer Corp. as customers, in January said it expected adjusted earnings per share of 13 cents to 14 cents and revenue of $160 million to $165 million.
REVENUES SEEN RISING
Intersil, whose chips are also used for power management in computers and in CD and DVD burners and flat-panel displays, said it expects adjusted earnings per share for the current second-quarter of 15 cents to 16 cents and revenue of $172 million to $176 million with all product groups contributing to growth.
Analysts had on average expected June-quarter earnings before items of 16 cents a share and sales of $170.9 million.
Rich Beyer, Intersil's president and chief executive, noted the company saw growth on an annual basis in its wireless and networking product group and its analog business during the quarter, historically a seasonally slow period for the semiconductor industry.
"Our orders position improved substantially with strong sequential orders growth in each of our product groups," Beyer said, adding that the company generated more than $34 million in cash flow from operations and exited the quarter with cash and liquid investments of more than $633 million.
Intersil said revenues from power management products rose 26 percent to $54.3 million from a year ago and that it expects revenue growth from the products through this year.
The company said its Elantec product sales rose 7 percent to $27.2 million from a year earlier thanks to improving demand for laser diode drivers for new DVD recorders. Additionally, Intersil said it saw rising demand for its DSL products.
Intersil said revenues from its standard analog business slipped 1 percent to $29.8 million from a year earlier, but noted demand in the analog market appears to be strengthening and said it expects its standard analog business will return to sequential revenue growth in the current quarter.
The company said its wireless networking sales rose 4 percent to $51 million from a year earlier, but declined 9 percent from the prior quarter amid seasonal weakness. "Continued strong orders demand for these new solutions should result in a resumption of wireless networking growth in the second quarter," the chipmaker said in a statement.
Analyst Satya Chillara of WR Hambrecht and Co. said Intersil turned in a solid quarter. "The state of their business is basically, I would say, good," Chillara said.
Shares in Intersil rose to $17.90 in after-market trade after closing up 73 cents, or 4.7 percent, at $16.44 on the Nasdaq stock exchange
Source: Reuters.com
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