Shares of Cirrus Logic Inc plunged 30% on heavy volume following the company’s disappointing fiscal foruth quarter figures (CI No 2,158): Cirrus reported earnings of 10 cents a share, and the mean estimate of seven analysts surveyed by First Call had put fourth-quarter earnings at 31 cents a share; Cirrus said it experienced a decline in profitability because of demand fluctuations in the disk-drive industry, where inventories are high; analysts said its earnings won’t improve until the September quarter; disk guru Jim Porter, president of Disk/Trend, said some of Cirrus’ earnings shortfall is likely coming from Conner Peripherals Inc, which also recently disappointed Wall Street with its own results, because the rest of the disk drive industry is still healthy; analysts also told Reuter that Cirrus is facing tougher competition in disk controllers from Adaptec Inc, Milpitas, California.
