Despite its eroding profits in the first quarter, Amdahl Corp says that it expects that profits for each of the next three quarters and for the year as a whole will be up on the figures reported last year. The company did 30 cents a share in the second and in the third quarter, 38 cents in the fourth and $1.39 in the year, but managed only 27 cents in the first quarter of the current year, down from 42 cents in the year ago period. The company blames price competition, particularly from IBM, for that shortfall, and that while price competition is still very intense, gross margins have reversed their downward trend of the past five quarters, and development of future products remains on schedule. Manufacturing costs are down, the company said, and users are spreading their orders more evenly through the quarter rather than rushing to order in the last month. Orders in particular were unusually strong in April, it says.
