National Semiconductor Corp posted stronger-than-expected earnings for its fiscal second quarter ended November 28, with net earnings excluding one-time items of $70.4m, or $0.37 per share, easily beating the First Call consensus estimate of $0.27 and whisper numbers of $0.30. Revenue for the quarter was $513.9m, up from $510.1m in the year-ago period.
Including net one-time gains of $21.6m from the sale of the Cyrix business, the Santa Clara, California based chipmaker reported actual net income for the quarter of $92m, or $0.49 per share. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported a pro forma net loss, excluding one-time items, of $48.6m, or $0.29 per share, and an actual net loss of $94.4m. Excluding the Cyrix business overall revenue grew 11% from the first quarter.
The company said worldwide bookings in the quarter rose 43% over last year’s second quarter and 18% over the prior quarter, with all-important analog orders up 60% year-over-year. The information appliance segment saw orders up nearly 50% year-over- year and close to 40% sequentially. Based on the strong bookings, the company feels it is well positioned to overcome traditional weakness during the holiday period and see a sequential revenue increase in the third quarter.
Gross margins for the quarter were 45.2%, up sharply from 18.2% in the year-ago quarter. Analysts at Merrill Lynch point out that the margin improvements have come as utilization rates picked up in the analog fabs. The bank also reckons that Nat Semi should hit an annual run rate of $2.00 per share in earnings by May of next year, making it a good buy for investors at its current stock price of $51. For the six-month period, net income was $139.1m, or $0.74 per share, on revenue up 1.6% at $995.7m, compared to a loss of $199.2m last year.
