Recasts the headline and intro of previous story to correct earnings comparisons
Chipmaker Broadcom Corp. (BRCM) reported Wednesday a profit for its fourth quarter compared to a loss in the year-ago period, which was weighed by higher one-item charges. The turnaround was also helped by a year-over-year increase in revenues, helped by higher demand for its products.
Net income of Irvine, California-based Broadcom was $59.20 million or $0.11 per share, compared to a loss of $159.22 million or $0.32 per share in the same quarter a year ago.
In the third quarter, the company recorded a net income of $84.6 million or $0.16 per share.
The recent quarter's results included a settlement charge of 31 cents per share related to a securities class action litigation and a gain of 12 cents per share received from its directors' and officers' insurance carriers.
Meanwhile, the year-ago period included an impairment charge amounting to $169.44 million and in-process R&D expenses of $31.50 million.
On average, 26 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of $0.44 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimate typically excludes one-time items.
Broadcom's net revenue rose 19.2% to $1.34 billion from $1.13 billion in the prior-year quarter, beating Street estimates of $1.32 billion for the quarter. Sequentially, the increase was 7.1% from $1.25 billion recorded in the third quarter.
Another player, Texas Instruments Inc. (TXN) said its fourth-quarter profit surged significantly over last year, helped by strong demand across end markets without the usual holiday slowdown, with higher gross profit margins and benefit associated with higher utilization of manufacturing assets. Net income was $655 million and revenue was $3.01 billion.
Amongst others in the industry, cellphone chip maker Qualcomm Inc. (QCOM), in its first quarter, reported a substantial jump, driven by healthy demand for chip sets, strong shipments of 3G devices by licensees and lower operating expenses. Net income was $841 million or $0.50 per share and revenues were $2.67 billion.
For the quarter under review, product revenues of Broadcom increased to $1.28 billion from $1.08 billion, while licensing revenue dropped to $7.64 million from $50.32 million. Income from Qualcomm agreement was $51.67 million.
Total operating costs and expenses were $1.28 billion, down from $1.29 billion in the same quarter last year. Income from operations was $58.82 million, compared to a loss of $164.95 million in the year-earlier quarter.
Total gross margin was 53.1%, compared to 50.5% recorded in the corresponding quarter a year ago.
In another development, the board of directors of the company said it has adopted a dividend policy pursuant to which the company intends to pay quarterly cash dividends of $0.08 per share payable to holders of the company's Class A and Class B common stock of record at the close of business on February 19, 2010, payable on March 8, 2010.
For full-year 2009, net income plunged to $65.26 million or $0.13 per share from $214.79 million or $0.41 per share a year ago. Net revenue dropped 3.6% to $4.49 billion from $4.66 billion in the year-ago quarter. The Street expected earnings of $1.16 per share on revenue of $4.46 billion for the year.
Looking ahead to the first quarter ending March 31, 2010, the company said it expects revenue to be up 0% to 5% from that recorded in the fourth quarter.
The company also said it expects gross margin to be down by 100 basis points from the fourth quarter.
On November 20, 2009, brokerage BMO Capital Markets initiated an 'Outperform' rating on Broadcom Shares, with a mean target of $33.27.
BRCM closed Wednesday's regular trading at $27.89, down $0.14 or 0.50%, on a volume of 9.44 million shares. In after-hours trading, the stock dropped $0.14 or 0.50%, to trade at $27.89. In the last 52-week period, the stock traded in a range of $15.31 to $32.49, with a three-month average volume of 7.72 million shares.
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June 12, 2026 17:14 ET Major central bank action was the focus this week in economic news. The European Central Bank became the first major central bank to move in response to the rising inflationary pressures in the backdrop of the conflict in the Middle East. In North America, the U.S. inflation and trade data as well as Canada’s central bank decision gained attention. The Chinese trade data was the main news in Asia.