Today's Tech Winners and Losers
Shares of
Lam Research
(LRCX)
were among technology's winners Thursday, rising 6% after the semiconductor equipment maker posted better-than-expected third-quarter results and offered a guidance that topped forecasts.
For the quarter ended March 26, the company earned $86.3 million, or 60 cents a share, on revenue of $437.4 million. Excluding items, Lam earned $93.7 million, or 65 cents a share. Analysts polled by Thomson First Call expected earnings of 62 cents a share, before items, and revenue of $424.3 million. During the year-earlier quarter, the company earned $59.5 million, or 41 cents a share, on revenue of $349.3 million.
Looking ahead, Lam Research sees fourth-quarter earnings of 80 cents to 85 cents a share, with revenue of $490 million to $510 million. Analysts project earnings of 72 cents a share on revenue of $468.3 million. Shares were trading up $2.75 to $47.46.
Compuware
(CPWR)
shares fell 3% after the company issued mixed projections for its recently ended fourth quarter. The software maker sees earnings of about 13 cents to 15 cents a share for the March quarter, with revenue of about $308 million. Compuware said the earnings were helped by a lower-than-expected tax rate, which added about 2 cents to its bottom line. Analysts project earnings of 13 cents a share on higher sales of $317.6 million. The company sees full-year earnings of about 35 cents to 37 cents a share, in line with analysts' expectations of 35 cents a share. The company plans to issue fourth-quarter results on May 16. Shares were down 25 cents to $7.51.
Shares of
Phazar
(ANTP)
tumbled 26% after the antenna maker posted a big drop in third-quarter earnings and sales. The company earned $41,185, or 2 cents a share, down from $239,792, or 10 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue fell to $1.4 million from $2.2 million. In its quarterly report filed with the
Securities and Exchange Commission
, the company said "sales and income decreased in the third quarter when United States government orders for antennas and towers were not received as projected." Shares were down $3.47 to $9.85.
Spansion
(SPSN)
rose 3% after the flash-memory company posted a narrower-than-expected first-quarter loss and said second-quarter sales would be above expectations. The company reported a loss of $51.9 million, or 40 cents a share, on revenue of $561.9 million. Analysts expected a loss of 44 cents a share and revenue of $578.4 million. Last year, the company posted a first-quarter loss of $108.8 million, or $1.50 a share, on revenue of $433.2 million.
For the second quarter, Spansion expects revenue of $590 million to $620 million. Analysts project revenue of $569.4 million. The company also said that it is well positioned to reach profitability during the second half of 2006. Shares recently had advanced 44 cents to $16.66.
Shares of
SanDisk
(SNDK)
rose 4% after Standard & Poor's said it plans to add the flash-memory company to its
index after the close of trading on April 19. SanDisk will replace
Chiron
(CHIR)
, which is being acquired by
Novartis
(NVS)
. Shares of SanDisk were higher by $2.57 to $62.04.
Other technology movers included
Intel
(INTC)
, up 39 cents to $19.51;
Sirius Satellite Radio
(SIRI)
, up 13 cents to $5.33;
Sun Microsystems
(SUNW)
, up 1 cent to $4.98;
Advanced Micro Devices
(AMD)
, down $2.62 to $32.80;
Nortel Networks
(NT)
, up 6 cents to $2.87;
Lucent Technologies
(LU)
, up 4 cents to $3.01;
JDSU
(JDSU)
, up 9 cents to $3.71;
Apple Computer
(AAPL)
, down 14 cents to $66.57;
Cisco Systems
(CSCO)
, up 32 cents to $21.34;
Applied Materials
(AMAT)
, up 81 cents to $18.23;
Oracle
(ORCL)
, down 5 cents to $13.73; and
Microsoft
(MSFT)
, down 6 cents to $27.14.
