Weak Outlook Whacks Altera
Third-quarter profit and revenue fell at programmable-chip maker
Altera
(ALTR) - Get Report
, because of weak sales to communications and industrial markets.
The company's outlook for the current quarter was no brighter.
Net income for the third quarter ended Sept. 28 fell to $69 million, or 20 cents a share, from $87.4 million, or 24 cents a share, a year ago. Analysts polled by Thomson Financial were expecting earnings of 19 cents a share.
The company reported sales of $315.8 million, down 7% from the third quarter 2006 and down 1% from the previous quarter. It was also lower than analysts' expectations of $325.15 million.
Shares of Altera were off more than 9% to $21.18 in recent afer-hours trading.
New products grew 13% sequentially during the quarter and are now 35% of the company's overall sales.
For the fourth quarter, Altera expects to see flat to down 4% sales growth from the previous quarter, suggesting revenue in the range of $303.2 million to $315.8 million. Analysts were expecting revenue of $336.4 million and earnings of 22 cents a share.