Programmable chipmaker Altera Corp. (ALTR) said Tuesday after the markets closed that its fourth quarter profit rose 24% from last year, as sales increased 16% due to better end demand across all of its markets. The company's quarterly earnings per share also came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly sales.
The San Jose, California-based company reported net income for the fourth quarter of $103.0 million, $0.34 per share, compared to $83.0 million, $0.28 per share, for the year-ago quarter.
On average, 22 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.29 per share for the fourth quarter.
Gross margin for the fourth quarter fell to 68.4% from 69.3% in the prior year quarter.
Net sales for the fourth quarter increased 16% to $365.00 million from $314.54 million in the prior year quarter. Eighteen analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $334.88 million for the fourth quarter.
Altera said new product sales for the quarter grew 30% from the previous quarter and rose 49% from a year earlier.
For the fourth quarter, the company's North America sales grew 4% year-over-year, while Asia Pacific sales rose 28% and Europe sales increased 6%. Japan sales surged 21%.
"The fourth quarter produced extraordinary growth driven by customer program ramps and better end demand across all of our markets," said John Daane, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board. "Our new products were the growth leaders in a quarter that saw sequential improvements across all product and market segment categories.
For the full year 2009, the company reported net income of $251.1 million, $0.84 per share, compared to $359.7 million, $1.18 per share, for the full year 2008.
Net sales for the full year 2009 fell 13% to $1.20 billion from $1.37 billion the prior year.
Analysts expected the company to earn $0.79 per share on revenue of $1.16 billion for the full year 2009.
Altera declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.05 per share, payable on March 1 to shareholders of record on February 10.
Looking forward, the company said first quarter sales to grow between 5% to 10% sequentially, implying first quarter sales of $383.25 million to $401.50 million. Analysts currently expect the company to post revenue of $338.54 million for the first quarter.
First quarter gross margin is expected to be 67.5% to 68.5%.
Last week, another programmable chip maker Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) reported third quarter profit that fell 10% from last year, when results were boosted by a hefty gain from the early extinguishment of convertible debentures. However, the company's quarterly earnings per share came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly revenue.
Lattice Semiconductor Corp. (LSCC) last month raised its revenue outlook for the fourth quarter on stronger than expected turns business across most of its products. The company also reiterated that it expects to return to profitability for the fourth quarter.
Altera shares, which have traded in a range of $13.92 to $23.26 over the past year, closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $21.19, down 14 cents. The stock is currently gaining 81 cents or 3.82% in after hours trading.
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