Sirf Tech Swings to a Loss
SAN FRANCISCO --
Sirf Technology
(SIRF)
swung to a loss in the first quarter, capping a tumultuous period in which the struggling chipmaker announced a major reorganization and sacked its CEO.
On Thursday, interim CEO Diosdado Banatao said that the company's finance chief was also headed for the door, with a resignation effective May 8, and warned that sales in the quarters ahead would not follow seasonal patterns.
Sirf said that sales in the current quarter will range between $60 million to $64 million, below the $68.5 million expected by analysts.
And instead of the one-cent-a-share profit expected by analysts, Sirf said it expects to lose between 11 cents and 16 cents in the second quarter.
Shares of Sirf sank 10.4%, or 65 cents, at $5.59 in extended trading Thursday.
Sirf catalogued a slew of problems:
Increasing competition for GPS chips, which communicate with overhead satellites to determine a device's geographic location, was pressuring profit margins, executives said. And the personal navigation devices that use Sirf chips are facing slower sales amid weakening consumer demand.
For the three months ended March 31, Sirf said shipments of its chips fell 44% sequentially.
Sales were down 7.8% year-over-year at $62 million, in line with analyst's dampened expectations, following the company's March preannouncement in which it cut its sales outlook.
Sirf posted a loss of $28.1 million, or 47 cents a share, vs. net income of $2.8 million, or 5 cents a share at this time last year.
The results included roughly $16 million of stock compensation expenses and acquisition-related charges.
The average analyst expectation, which excludes stock compensation expenses, called for a loss of 7 cents.