Vitesse Earnings Fall

Vitesse Semiconductor Inc. said earnings fell 62% to $18.8 million, or 10 cents a share, in its fiscal second quarter, citing a “dramatic” slowdown in sales of chips for communications and data storage. Revenue rose 21% to $121.8 million, hitting the low end of the company’s reduced forecast. The earnings met analysts’ lowered expectations. Vitesse on March 26 slashed its sales forecast to $120 million to $125 million and halved its profit expectations to 10 cents to 11 cents from 21 cents to 22 cents. It was the company’s second reduction in profit and sales targets for the quarter. Shares of Vitesse fell $1.65 to close at $24.05 on Nasdaq.