Xilinx Results Top Estimates

(RTTNews) - Programmable chipmaker Xilinx Inc. (XLNX) said Wednesday after the markets closed that its first quarter profit rose 21% from last year, helped mainly by better cost and expense control even as revenue declined 1%.

The company's quarterly earnings per share also came in above analysts' expectations as did its quarterly revenue. At the same time, the company gave an upbeat revenue forecast for the current quarter.

"The June quarter was exceptional on many fronts. Better than expected sales during the quarter were driven by broad-based end market strength, with particularly strong growth from wired communications and aerospace and defense applications," said Moshe Gavrielov, Xilinx President and Chief Executive Officer.

Xilinx shares are currently gaining 3.31% in after hours trading after closing the day's regular trading session at $43.53, up 24 cents. The shares trade in a 52-week range of $30.25 to $43.88.

For the first quarter ended June 29, 2013, the San Jose, California-based company reported net income of $157.0 million or $0.56 per share, compared to $129.8 million or $0.47 per share for the year-ago quarter.

On average, 27 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to earn $0.47 per share for the first quarter.

Gross margin for the quarter improved to 69.0% from 66.0% a year earlier, while operating margin for the quarter improved to 33.3% from 28.2% in the prior year quarter.

Net revenue for the first quarter fell 1% to $578.96 million from $582.78 million in the same quarter last year. First quarter net revenue rose 9% sequentially. Twenty-four analysts had a consensus revenue estimate of $549.32 million for the first quarter.

Thirty six percent of the company's first quarter revenue came from the Asia-Pacific region, which saw revenue growth of 2%. North America revenue rose 6% from a year earlier and constituted 31% of total revenue. However, the company saw revenue drop in Europe and Japan.

Xilinx declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.25 per share, payable on August 28 to all stockholders of record on August 7.

Looking forward, the company said it expects second quarter sales to be flat to up 3% sequentially., implying sales of $578.96 million to $596.33 million. Analysts currently expect the company to post revenue of $561.64 million for the second quarter.

Gross margin for the second quarter is expected to be about 69%.

Another programmable chip maker Altera Corp. (ALTR) is scheduled to report its second quarter results on July 23. Analysts currently expect the company to earn $0.31 per share on revenue of $420.90 million for the second quarter.