Qualcomm Earnings Up 47% for Quarter
Qualcomm Inc., which developed wireless-phone technology used by 57 million people, said Wednesday its fiscal third-quarter earnings jumped 47%, in line with expectations, on higher royalty revenue.
San Diego-based Qualcomm posted earnings of $352 million, or 27 cents a share, for the period ended June 26, up from $239 million, or 22 cents, for the period ended June 25, a year ago.
Revenue was up 11% to $714 million on a pro forma basis. Based on Qualcomm’s sale of two businesses, revenue fell 29% to $713.5 million.
Qualcomm shares, which surged 27-fold last year, have dropped 64% this year on concern about sales in South Korea, its biggest market, since the government banned phone discounts as of June 1.
The country’s three biggest mobile-phone service providers this month chose a rival system for new phones that have speedier Internet access.
“The big question is not really this quarter, but what’s going to happen in [the fourth quarter],” said Edward Jones analyst David Powers, who rated Qualcomm a “buy,” before the company disclosed results.
Shares of Qualcomm fell $2.13 to $63 on the Nasdaq Stock Market before earnings were released. The stock is the fifth-worst performer in the Standard & Poor’s 500 index this year.
Qualcomm sold its wireless-network equipment business in the year-earlier quarter and its phone-making division in February. Excluding those businesses, the company had revenue of $644.7 million in the quarter ended June 1999.
The company’s latest results exclude acquisition costs and payroll taxes. Including those items, net income more than doubled to $154.7 million, or 19 cents a share, from $58.9 million, or 9 cents, a year earlier.
At a Glance
Other technology-related earnings, excluding one-time gains or charges unless noted, include:
* Advanced Micro Devices Inc. reported a second-quarter profit of $207.1 million, or $1.21 a share, beyond expectations of $1.14, as demand for personal-computer chips and flash memory soared. In the year-ago period, AMD lost $162 million, or $1.10 a share. Sales almost doubled to $1.17 billion from $595.1 million. AMD also set its first stock split since 1983.
* Check Point Software Technologies Ltd., maker of corporate software for blocking hacker attacks, said second-quarter net income doubled to $43.7 million, or 50 cents a share, well beyond forecasts of 42 cents, as revenue gained 81% to $90.7 million.
* Conexant Systems Inc., the Newport Beach computer chip maker, said its earnings per share rose 83% in the third quarter, matching Wall Street forecasts. Conexant, which was spun off by Rockwell International Corp. in 1998, said its net income doubled to $51.5 million, or 22 cents a share, from $25.7 million, or 12 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 39% to $530.5 million.
* Excite@Home Corp., the No. 1 U.S. provider of fast Internet service, said its second-quarter loss widened to $45.3 million, or 11 cents a share, from $5 million, or 1 cent, as expenses almost doubled. Sales rose 57% to $157.6 million. Excite, which is 56% controlled by AT&T; Corp., was forecast to lose 12 cents.
* HomeStore.com Inc. said its second-quarter loss narrowed to $2.8 million, or 3 cents a share, as revenue more than tripled to $50.2 million from $14.2 million. The Thousand Oaks-based company, which provides real estate listings and related content for renters and buyers, also said it expects to become profitable by the fourth quarter.
* IBM Corp. said second-quarter profit rose 15% to $1.94 billion, or $1.06 a share, beating the average estimate of $1 a share. Revenue slipped 1% to $21.65 billion. The world’s biggest computer maker said revenue growth in the services business slowed as companies put off buying mainframes and signing contracts as they waited for fallout from the 2000 date change to clear.
* Next Level Communications Inc. said its second-quarter loss narrowed to $14.63 million, or 18 cents a share, from $19.94 million, or 26 cents, a year ago, as sales quadrupled to $40.2 million from $9.41 million. Analysts were expecting a loss of 20 cents at Next Level, whose equipment delivers high-speed Internet connections and video programming over ordinary phone lines.
* QLogic Corp., the Aliso Viejo-based designer of chips and circuit boards that link computers and data-storage systems, said fiscal first-quarter profit rose 83% to $21.1 million, or 27 cents a share, on sales of the fast-growing technology’s gear.
* Qwest Communications International Inc. said second-quarter earnings more than doubled to $39.7 million, or 5 cents a share, from $18.5 million, or 2 cents, a year ago, on surging sales of Internet and data-transmission services. Analysts expected 3 cents from Qwest. Revenue rose 47% to $1.28 billion.
* Symantec Corp., a maker of computer security software, said fiscal first-quarter profit jumped 43% to $191.4 million, or 67 cents a share, excluding one-time items and the results of operations from the company’s divestiture of the Visual Cafe and ACT product lines, with faster growth in sales to businesses than to consumers.
* Tellabs Inc., the biggest maker of equipment to manage traffic on phone networks, said its second-quarter profit rose 33% to $162.7 million, or 39 cents a share, 2 cents better than forecasts, as sales jumped 48% to $800.7 million.
* Tyco International Ltd., the world’s biggest maker of electronic connectors used in everything from cellular phones to circuit boards, said fiscal third-quarter profit rose 42% to $992.1 million, or 58 cents a share, when adjusted for the purchase of AMP Inc. Sales rose 27% to $7.42 billion from $5.82 billion. Results come a week after U.S. regulators ended their investigation of Tyco’s acquisition accounting, which resulted in only minor changes. Tyco’s strategy of buying companies and cutting costs paid off at its electronics and telecommunications unit, as sales rose 66% and operating profit more than doubled.
