RF Micro Devices Turns To Profit In Q1, Results Beat View

(RTTNews) - Chipmaker RF Micro Devices Inc. (RFMD) on Tuesday reported a turnaround to profit in the first quarter on strong revenue growth. Both revenue and adjusted earnings per share beat analysts' estimates. Looking ahead, the company forecast results for the second quarter in line with Street expectations.

Bob Bruggeworth, president and CEO of RF Micro Devices, said, "RFMD is capitalizing on the expanding demand for data-rich mobile applications, and our products are at the heart of the high-speed data connections enabling always-on, broadband mobility - both in the devices and consumer premises equipment, and within the supporting network infrastructure."

Bruggeworth added, "We are executing on multiple opportunities to increase our dollar content generation-over-generation in the world's leading smartphones, and we are benefiting from increasing participation in the highest volume entry-level platforms and reference designs."

The Greensboro, North Carolina-based maker of high-performance radio frequency solutions said its net income for the first quarter was $1.56 million or $0.01 per share, compared to net loss of $19.14 million or $0.07 per share in the year-ago period.

Excluding amortization costs and other items, adjusted earnings for the quarter were $25.55 million or $0.09 per share, compared with $2.69 million or $0.01 per share in the year-ago period. On average, fifteen 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.

Revenues for the quarter surged 45 percent to $293.00 million from $202.66 million in the prior-year period. Analysts had a consensus revenue estimate for the quarter of $287.93 million.

Gross margin for the quarter was 31.9 percent, compared to 31.7 percent in the same period last year.

Looking ahead to the second quarter, RF Micro Devices forecasts adjusted earnings of $0.10 to $0.11 per share on revenues of $305 million to $310 million. Analysts expect the company to report earnings of $0.10 per share for the quarter on revenues of $306.77 million.

Dean Priddy, CFO and vice president of administration of RF Micro Devices, said , "Our key margin improvement initiatives are all either on or ahead of schedule and we remain confident in achieving 300 to 400 basis points in gross margin improvement this year. We expect this will result in significant financial leverage throughout the year."

RFMD closed Tuesday's regular trading session at $5.44, up $0.04 or 0.74 percent on a volume of 5.38 million shares. In after-hours, the stock declined $0.04 or 0.74 percent to $5.40.