AST Earnings Rise Closes a Turbulent Year : Computers: Despite the resignation of a co-founder, Irvine company appears to have overtaken Western Digitial.

For AST Research Inc., it was a watershed year. And for Orange County’s computer industry, it marked a changing of the guard in more ways than one.

Despite a weak U.S. economy and computer industry woes, AST reported Monday that revenue rose 37% to $944.1 million for its latest fiscal year, which ended June 30, and that earnings rose 6% to $68.5 million. The computer maker also announced deep price cuts.

The revenue figure, which compared to $688.5 million for the previous 12 months, means that AST has likely overtaken Irvine-based Western Digital Corp., a computer products maker that is expected to announce today annual revenue of no more than $930 million.

“Revenue milestones are useful, but just as important is maintaining a level of profitability,” said Mike Morand, AST’s vice president of marketing.

Reversing an earlier stand that it would refrain from engaging in the latest PC price war, AST also said that it will slash prices on its line of personal computers by as much as 47% to stay competitive with such industry giants as Compaq Computer Corp.

Morand said the pricing strategy is consistent with the company’s past emphasis on “value pricing.” He noted that Compaq and other competitors have often responded to AST price cuts, not the other way around.

He said the price cuts will affect the company’s profit margins but not the discounts offered to computer dealers. He would not be more specific about the financial effects except to say cost controls will help offset the pressure that reduced prices will put on profit.

The price cuts range from a few percent on older desktop models to 47% on one of the company’s most popular portable computers, which sell for $1,395 to $3,295. Morand said the company will introduce a new generation of products during 1992.

AST, which employs 3,600 people, saw a dramatic change in its leadership at the end of the fiscal year. Ironically, it was the same year in which the company reached the Fortune 500.

Co-founder Thomas C.K. Yuen resigned on June 29 after an apparent internal dispute, leaving the company in the hands of President Safi U. Qureshey, the last of three co-founders, and Carmelo J. Santoro, the new chairman. Yuen resigned from the board of directors last week.

For its fourth fiscal quarter, AST reported a profit of $18.6 million, or 59 cents a share, compared to $20.4 million, or 64 cents a share, a year earlier. Revenue rose 26% to $266.3 million.

The fourth-quarter results “were slightly below my expectations, but that does not disappoint me,” said Steve DeLuca, an analyst at investment bank Cruttenden & Co. in Irvine. “If you consider all the things happening in the economy, you would consider this a commendable performance.”

AST released its report after the stock markets closed Monday. Its shares ended the day unchanged at $13.13 apiece in trading on the NASDAQ market.

During the year, the company shipped more than 475,000 computers, up 50% from the previous 12 months. Notebook computers, which fit inside a briefcase, accounted for 24% of the latest year’s revenue.

There were some milestones, however, that the company did not reach. A year ago, the top executives said they planned to open a manufacturing plant in Europe within the year. Turmoil on that continent pushed those plans back.

Morand said the company has not abandoned the project but does not yet have a new timetable.