arron's Blog:SYNA Rising: FYQ4 Rev, EPS Beat; Q1 Rev View In Line

(This story has been posted on Barron's Online's Tech Trader Daily blog at http://blogs.barrons.com/techtraderdaily/)

By Tiernan Ray

Shares of sensor chip maker Synaptics ( SYNA) are up $1.33, or 3.3%, at $42, in late trading after the company this afternoon reported fiscal Q4 revenue and earnings per share that topped analysts' expectations.

Revenue in the three months ended in June was up 67%, year over year, at $230 million, yielding EPS of $1.39.

Analysts had been modeling $220.8 million and $1.24.

The revenue was at the high-end of the company's pre-announced range of $227 million to $230 million offered back on June 25th.

Synaptics CEO Rick Bergman remarked that the company's "markets are dynamic." He said the "declining PC market will continue to impact our growth rate."

PC-based revenue made up 25% of revenue in the quarter and was down 26% from the prior-year period.. Chips for mobile products made up 75%.

Synaptics management will host a conference call with analysts at 5 pm, Eaastern time, this evening, and you can catch the webcast of it on the company's investor Web site.

Update: Bergman was kind enough to take a few minutes to chat with me following the announcement. I asked him about whether he's expecting a snap-back in PC sales this year, as Intel ( INTC) has opined, as technologies such as touch move into more and more devices.

He is not officially expecting such, but seemed to hold out hope it would still happen somehow:

When I walk through Best Buy and I look at what you can buy for $400 or $500, I'm pretty impressed. Nobody puts it in our plans any more, because we've all been burned, but gosh, it seems like there's got to be a surge [in PC buying] because it's still the best productivity tool out there.

Regarding competitive positioning, Bergman expressed confidence, stating, "We are without a doubt the touch leader in the world."

"When the OEMs out there, the Samsung's of the world, and so on, want the best, they pick us. We are the first ones they come to."

He expressed enthusiasm for partner Uni-Pixel ( UNXL), which is helping to bring down the cost of bringing touch control to PCs.

Update 2: On the call, management projected Q1 revenue of $210 million to $225 million, which is in line with consensus of $217 million. Synaptics shares are up 83 cents, or 2%, at $41.50 following the call.

 
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(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 01, 2013 21:44 ET (01:44 GMT)

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