Altera Fourth-Quarter Profit Rises

San Jose, Calif. -- Altera (ALTR Quote), which makes programmable chips, said it posted a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit but warned of slowing sales growth in a tough economy.

Earnings rose 27% to $83 million, or 28 cents per share, from $65.5 million, or 20 cents per share, last year.

Revenue slipped 3% to $314.5 million from $323.2 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected earnings of 27 cents and sales of $318.7 million.

"Net income growth substantially outpaced sales growth as a result of our sustained focus on improving efficiencies across the company," said John Daane, president and chief executive.

For the year, earnings rose to $359.7 million, or $1.18 per share, from $290 million, or 82 cents per share, last year. Sales increased to $1.37 billion from $1.26 billion.

Looking ahead, the company forecast its sales would decline sequentially between 15% and 25% in the first quarter. That implies quarterly sales between $235.9 million and $267.4 million, well below the Street's target of $293.8 million in sales.

Altera's board declared a quarterly cash dividend of 5 cents per share payable on March 2 to shareholders of record on Feb. 10.

Shares slipped 32 cents to finish Wednesday at $16.33.