Tandon Reports $965,000 Profit in 3rd Quarter

Tandon earned a modest $965,000, or 2 cents a share, in the third quarter ended Sept. 30 even though sales soared 72% to $96.7 million, the company’s highest quarterly sales figure in three years.

The Chatsworth company, which makes personal computers and disk drive data storage devices, said its profit was affected by price cutting for disk drives, lower profit margins for its IBM XT-compatible personal computers, higher freight costs and start-up costs for new products.

In the year-earlier period, Tandon lost $45.3 million, or 88 cents a share, on sales of $56.4 million. Those results included $16 million in inventory writedowns and $12 million in charges that included lease terminations.

For the nine months, Tandon’s earned $11.7 million, or 21 cents a share, compared to a loss of $63.6 million, or $1.24 a share, a year earlier. Sales increased 56% to $258.9 million.