Freescale Semiconductor Q2 Results Top Estimates, Guides Q3 Revenue In Line

(RTTNews) - Embedded processing solutions provider Freescale Semiconductor Ltd. (FSL) reported Thursday a low for the second quarter that widened from last year, hurt by charges. Stripping down the charges, adjusted earnings per share and quarterly revenues topped analysts' expectations. The company also provided revenue guidance for the third quarter, in line with Street view.

Freescale Semiconductor was formed by the divestiture of the semiconductor products segment of Motorola in 2004. In December 2006, Freescale was acquired by a consortium led by private equity firm Blackstone Group LP for the sum of $17.6 billion or at $40 per share.

The company was formerly known as Freescale Semiconductor Holdings I, Ltd. and changed its name to Freescale Semiconductor, Ltd. in April 2012.

"Our overall financial results continued to improve both sequentially and year over year. Revenues, operating earnings and adjusted earnings per share all continued to grow and while we are still early into implementing our new strategy, we do see some signs of good progress," President and CEO Gregg Lowe said in a statement.

The Austin, Texas-based company reported a net loss of $65 million or $0.25 per share for the second quarter, wider than $34 million or $0.14 per share in the prior-year quarter.

Results for the latest quarter include $59 million charge associated with a debt refinancing transaction completed in June 2013. Excluding items, adjusted net income for the quarter was $23 million or $0.09 per share, compared to $17 million or $0.07 per share in the year-ago quarter.

On average, 12 analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expected the company to report earnings of $0.07 per share for the quarter. Analysts' estimates typically exclude special items.

Net sales for the quarter grew to $1.04 billion from $1.03 billion in the same quarter last year, and topped fourteen Wall Street analysts' consensus estimate of $1.02 billion.

Microcontroller net sales grew to $199 million from $169 million, and digital networking net sales edged up to $229 million from $220 million last year. Automotive microcontroller net sales were $272 million, up from $258 million, while analog & sensor net sales dropped to $188 million from $258 million a year ago.

RF net sales, which include sales of power amplifiers to the wireless infrastructure market, were $81 million, up from $66 million, while other net sales dropped to $69 million from $126 million last year.

Looking ahead to the third quarter, the company expects net sales in a range of $1.05 billion to $1.09 billion, with Street currently looking for revenues of $1.06 billion.

FSL closed Thursday's regular trading session at $16.30, up $0.43 or 2.71% on a volume of 5.94 million shares. However, the stock lost $0.24 or 1.47% in after-hours trading.