Altera Rises on Q3 Report, Forecasts

(Updated to reflect recent stock quotes.)

NEW YORK (TheStreet) - On the same day that tech bellwether Intel(INTC Quote) beat its own profit forecasts, chipmaker Altera(ALTR Quote) posted its own solid third-quarter.

Looking ahead, Altera painted a rosier portrait for the current quarter, saying it expects fourth-quarter sales to grow 6% to 10% sequentially, thereby insinuating revenues between $303.8 million and $315.3 million. That would surpass the $291.50 million forecast offered by several analysts. The company also forecast gross margins between 67% and 68%, compared to reported third-quarter gross margins at 67.3%.

Investors must have liked what they heard. A day after the announcement, Altera shares were rising 2.2%, or 48 cents, at $21.91 on Wednesday morning trading.

After the closing bell on Tuesday, Altera said profit matched the 19-cent per share expectation from analysts in the third-quarter, with net income sliding 40% to $56.7 million. The total also included a $4.8 million pretax charge on restructuring. During the same quarter last year, net income totaled $94.7 million, or 31 cents per share.

Though sales dropped 20% to $286.6 million from last year, just beating the street view, Altera also reported sequential improvement for both its top and bottom lines. New product sales also ticked higher by 5% since last year and 7% sequentially.

"Compared to our initial expectations, business conditions improved steadily during the quarter," CEO John Daane said in a statement. "Sales of 40-nm devices tripled sequentially. Our first-to-market position and technology advantages at 40-nm continue to drive record design-win results."

-- Written by Sung Moss in New York

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