Loss Narrows as Broadcom Beats Estimates

First-quarter revenue falls from the year-ago period, but rises sequentially.

Author:: Diane Hess
Publish date:: Apr 17, 2002 5:29 PM EDT

Communications chipmaker

Broadcom

(BRCM)

narrowed its first-quarter loss from the same period a year ago, even as sales of its components remained weak.

Broadcom reported a loss, excluding items, of $21.9 million, or 8 cents a share. In the same quarter last year, the company lost $28.8 million, or 11 cents a share, before items. Analysts were expecting a loss of 10 cents a share, according to Thomson Financial/First Call.

Using generally accepted accounting principles, Broadcom lost $166.1 million, or 63 cents a share, versus a loss of $329.6 million, or $1.27 a share, a year ago.

"Broadcom has continued to deliver strong quarterly results, with revenue, gross margin and operating margin all improving for the third straight quarter," Broadcom CEO Henry Nicholas said in a statement. "We experienced particularly strong performance from our networking and ServerWorks units."

Nevertheless, this was the company's fourth-straight quarterly loss. Revenue rose 5.3% sequentially to $238.8 million, but dropped 23% from the year-ago first quarter.

Ahead of its earnings release, Broadcom closed up 40 cents, or 1%, to $38.76. After the close, the stock lost 1.2% in trading on the Instinet platform.