Tuesday, Supertex, Inc. (SUPX), a mixed signal semiconductor maker, reported a decline in third-quarter profit compared to last year, attributed primarily to lower sales as a result of weak economy.
For the third quarter, net income for the quarter was $2.61 million or $0.20 per share, compared to $3.68 million or $0.26 per share in the year-ago quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding pre-tax employee stock-based compensation, earnings for the quarter were $0.25 per share, compared to $0.30 per share in the same quarter last year.
On average, four analysts polled by First Call/Thomson Financial expected the company to report earnings of $0.17 per share. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
Net sales for the quarter declined 13% to $17.60 million from $20.15 million a year earlier. Analysts expected revenues of $17.84 million for the quarter.
Commenting on the results, Henry Pao, Chief Executive Officer said, "The weak global economy negatively affected nearly all of our target markets beginning in the latter half of our third fiscal quarter. The only area we are currently seeing strength in is LED driver ICs for backlighting LCD TVs, which grew 23% from the prior quarter."
For the first nine months of the year, net income was $11.60 million or $0.90 per share, compared to $12.65 million or $0.91 per share in the comparable period last year. Earnings on a non-GAAP basis were $1.05 per share, compared to $1.02 per share a year ago.
Net sales for the nine-month period were $63.80 million, compared to $62.94 million last year.
Looking ahead, Pao said, "At this juncture, we expect sales for our fourth fiscal quarter may be down 10-15% sequentially, primarily because of continued global end market softness. We remain confident, however, that our recent design wins at our medical electronics customers and the many design wins of our LED drivers going to production for backlighting LCD TVs, as seen at the recent CES show in Las Vegas, along with our portfolio of existing products in our other target markets, will drive our sales growth when the economy recovers, hopefully in the second half of 2009."
SUPX closed Tuesday's regular trading on Nasdaq at $21.33, down $0.79 or 3.57%.
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