Chipmaker National Semiconductor Corp. (NSM) is scheduled to report third-quarter results after the market closes Thursday.
The Santa Clara, California-based semiconductor company is focused on analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and sub-systems, particularly in the area of power management. The company has a diversified product portfolio, including power management circuits, audio and operational amplifiers, communication interface products and data conversion solutions. For the fiscal year ended May 31, 2009, the company generated about 91% of its revenue from Analog segment products.
The global recession resulted in a decline in demand for chips last year. However, with the economy showing signs of recovery, demand has increased faster than chip makers had anticipated. Credit Suisse said Tuesday that its analog end market analysis suggests that industrials analog revenues recovered fastest to prior peak and seasonal strength should support industrials through the first half. Companies are finding it hard to meet orders due the fast pace of the reemergence of demand.
For the second quarter, National Semiconductor's net income rose to $47.0 million or $0.20 per share from $36.3 million or $0.16 per share in the year-ago quarter, helped by lower expenses. In the prior year, results included a pre-tax $28.1 million restructuring charge. Net sales for the second quarter fell 18% to $344.6 million from $421.6 million in the same quarter last year.
While releasing the second-quarter results, the chip maker said it expects third-quarter sales to be roughly flat sequentially, although the typical seasonal pattern is for third-quarter sales to decline from the prior quarter.
On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the company to have earned $0.18 per share in the third quarter ended February 2010, with estimates ranging between $0.16 and $0.21 per share. Revenues for the quarter are estimated to be $348.58 million. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.
FBR Capital Markets said last month that it expects National Semi's calendar first-quarter results to beat the Street estimates. ''We believe consensus estimates for National remain too low given its bigger peak-to-current revenue decline versus peers, and we expect some of this delta to be made up with this quarter's results," the brokerage noted.
FBR believes that revenues for the quarter are tracking above the company's guidance of flat sequential revenues, as orders are likely to have improved relative to guidance. The firm also expects the chip maker to guide calendar second-quarter revenues to grow +2% to +6% sequentially. "National should benefit from 1Q distributor inventory replenishment efforts following the Chinese New Year," it said.
In the year-ago third quarter, the company's net income was $21.1 million or $0.09 per share on sales of $292.4 million.
Among others in the industry, Analog Devices Inc. (ADI) last month reported a surge in first-quarter profit to $120.46 million or $0.39 per share from last year's $24.95 million or $0.09 per share. Revenues for the quarter increased 26.5% to $602.98 million from $476.57 million in the prior-year quarter. The company also issued its earnings outlook for the second quarter, ahead of the Street consensus.
Integrated circuits maker Maxim Integrated Products Inc. (MXIM) recently reported second-quarter net income of $58.63 million or $0.19 per share, compared to a loss of $38.78 million or $0.12 per share in the previous year. Net revenue for the second quarter rose to $473.51 million from $410.67 million in the previous-year quarter.
Reflecting the uptick in demand, Monday, Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN), the world's second biggest maker of mobile phone chips, tightened its first-quarter earnings outlook to $0.48-$0.52 per share from the previous guidance of $0.44-$0.52 per share. The company now expects first-quarter revenue to be in the range of $3.07 billion-$3.19 billion, compared to its the prior guidance of $2.95 billion-$3.19 billion. The company's first quarter ends on March 31.
NSM closed Wednesday's regular trade at $14.83, up $0.20 or 1.37%, on 9.17 million shares. For the past year, the stock traded in the range of $9.30-$16.20.
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