Semtech’s earnings rise
Camarillo-based Semtech, a chip design firm, posted 67 percent increase in quarterly earnings on a slight increase in sales for the most recent quarter.
Semtech, which is in its 2012 fiscal year, said third quarter net income came to $27 million, compared with $16.1 million a year ago. However, earnings were essentially flat compared to last quarter, and revenue was up only slightly to $124 million for the quarter compared to last year.
Many of the charges that dampened earnings were one-time, such as the cost of evaluating companies that it might buy. CEO Mohan Maheswaran said the company managed its expenses carefully. Semtech had a record 25 “design wins” – meaning its products had superior specifications to competitors – during the quarter, but demand is going soft, he said.
“As we enter our seasonally weakest quarter, we see continued macro-economic uncertainty,” Maheswaran said in a release. “In addition we also expect our Q4 results to be adversely impacted by the recent floods in Thailand.”
Semtech has been bolstered by the $180 million all-cash buy of Sierra Monolithics, which put it into Internet infrastructure markets. Overall, the company has been reducing the number of consumer-device-oriented chips it designs and producing more chips for industrial and commercial applications, where volumes are lower but margins are better. Over the past few years, Semtech as focused on increasing bandwidth, green electronics and miniaturization.
Semtech’s shares rose to 1.5 percent to $23.20 on Nov. 30. Its earnings were announced after the markets closed.
