AMD Reports a Surge in Profit for 1992

Advanced Micro Devices said Friday that its earnings for the final three months of 1992 dropped 34.8% from a year earlier, when a sale of assets created a one-time surge in net income.

The computer hardware manufacturer’s operating income for the most recent quarter was $73.19 million, up from $63.2 million in the 1991 quarter.

AMD said net income was $69.56 million, or 73 cents a share, in the quarter ended Dec. 27. That compared to $106.74 million, or $1.17 a share, for the final quarter of 1991. Sales rose to $400.22 million from $366.17 million.

The last quarter of 1991 included a net gain equivalent to 52 cents a share from the sale of 3.5 million shares of software maker Xilinx Inc. and other assets.

Profit for the year jumped to $245.01 million, a 68.6% increase over $145.28 million in 1991. Per-share net income for the year was $2.57, up from $1.53 in 1991. Sales rose to $1.51 billion from $1.23 billion.

“AMD had an excellent quarter, capping off an excellent year,” according to W. J. Sanders III, the company’s chairman and chief executive.

Sanders said the company shipped a record 3 million units of its Am386 chip last year. He said AMD hopes to sustain sales at current levels despite a previously announced delay in the introduction of its Am486 chip. He said he expects growth to resume in the second half of the year.

AMD’s stock closed down 75 cents at $19.25 a share on the New York Stock Exchange.