Xilinx Beats Street Despite Earnings Drop

Chipmaker Xilinx(XLNX Quote) posted slightly better-than-expected earnings for its fiscal first quarter, having already tamped down its sales guidance earlier in the month.

In afterhours trading, investors bid down the stock 2% from its regular session close of $20.66.

The San Jose, Calif., company, which makes semiconductors for data networking, said it earned $38 million, or 14 cents a share, Excluding restructuring charges of 7 cents a share, those earnings would have come to 21 cents a share. Analysts were expecting EPS of 19 cents.

Still, the company's business has contracted substantially from a year ago. Xilinx's bottom line was 44% lower than the nearly $70 million it posted in the first period of 2008.

Revenue meanwhile fell to $376 million from $488.2 million a year ago.