AST Reports Strong Profit Despite Price War : Revenue: Computer-maker shipped in large volume to register 2nd-quarter earnings of $14.6 million.

Despite computer prices that keep dropping, AST Research Inc. posted healthy profit and revenue for its latest fiscal quarter by shipping ever larger volumes of personal computers, the company said Wednesday.

AST reported earnings of $14.6 million, or 46 cents a share, for its second quarter, which ended Jan. 2. That compared to income of $16.7 million, or 52 cents a share, for the same period a year earlier. Revenue increased 45% to $346.3 million from $239.1 million a year earlier.

“The pricing war continues to be aggressive, but it’s something that AST has learned to live with,” said James Reynolds, an analyst at Wedbush Morgan Securities, a regional brokerage in Los Angeles. “Profits are down some, but they’re doing better than competitors.”

Safi U. Qureshey, AST’s chief executive, said the company shipped more than 194,000 computers during the latest quarter, up 60% from the same period a year earlier.

“We see an upbeat quarter ahead in which we will add people,” Qureshey said.

That has led the company to start a third shift at its plant in Fountain Valley, and that, in turn, will mean hiring several hundred workers in the next month, he said. AST now has 1,537 employees in Orange County and 4,128 worldwide.

AST will also take over manufacturing space near its Fountain Valley plant and consider subcontracting work to other manufacturers in the area, Qureshey said.

Shipments for the latest quarter included more than 97,000 486-based desktop computers--those aimed at the high end of the corporate market--as well as 35,000 notebook computers, small machines that can fit inside a briefcase.

The surge in new-product sales kept AST growing despite the poor economy and a continuing war among large PC manufacturers that drove prices down 45% during 1992.

For the six months ended Jan. 2, the company reported a profit of $22.2 million, or 70 cents a share, compared to earnings of $33.1 million, or $1.04 a share, for the same period a year earlier. Six-month sales were up 45% to $632.7 million from $436.2 million.

Qureshey said the company’s machines for the consumer, which are sold through warehouse-style retailers, accounted for $50 million in sales for the latest quarter, compared to only $4.8 million a year earlier.

AST will continue its strategy of launching new generations of products every six months to ensure its continued growth.

Qureshey said the company will add a low-cost notebook computer in the summer; a new high-end Premium brand line based on Intel Corp.’s Pentium microprocessor, which is several times faster than current microprocessors, during the coming year; a new line of value-oriented Bravo computers in the next three to four months; and, in the fall, a line of computers known as sub-notebooks, which weigh less than 5 pounds.