PMC-Sierra Shares Jump After Narrower 1Q Loss

PHILADELPHIA (AP) — Shares of PMC-Sierra Inc. jumped on Friday after an analyst raised his earnings estimates on the chipmaker after it posted a narrower first-quarter loss that beat Wall Street's expectations.

Thomas Weisel analyst Kevin Cassidy said the company's China 3G deployment shipments rose 20 percent quarter-over-quarter, leading to higher-than-expected revenue, gross margin and earnings in the March period.

He also noted that management said revenue should increase quarterly through 2009 while operating expenses would remain flat.

Cassidy raised his 2009 earnings forecast for PMC-Sierra to 33 cents per share from 13 cents per share, with adjustments every quarter for the rest of the year. His 2010 profit estimate also went up, to 36 cents per share from 28 cents.

The analyst increased his 12-month price target to $7 from $6.

After the market's close on Thursday, the Santa Clara, Calif.-based company said it posted a quarterly loss of $3.9 million, or 2 cents per share, compared with a loss of $20.9 million, or 10 cents, in the same period a year earlier.