Xilinx Inc. (NASDAQ: XLNX) is scheduled to release its fiscal fourth-quarter earnings after the closing bell on Wednesday, April 27, 2011. Analysts, on average, expect the company to report earnings of 52 cents per share on revenue of $579.70 million. In the year-ago quarter, the company reported earnings of 47 cents per share on revenue of $529.02 million.
Xilinx, Inc. engages in the design, development, and marketing of programmable logic solutions. It offers advanced integrated circuits in the form of programmable logic devices (PLDs); software design tools to program the PLDs; predefined system functions as intellectual property (IP) cores; design services; customer training; and field engineering and technical support solutions. In addition to its programmable platforms, Xilinx provides design services, customer training, field engineering and technical support.
PLD’S are widely used in industrial, aerospace, automotive, electronics, medical, computing, and communications markets. Wireless communication markets have been the fastest growing segment.Companies which have business operations involving semiconductors have generally been performing well over the last few years due to the rise of devices that require semiconductors. Their inclusion in TVs and cars, as well as smartphones and tablets, has been a boon to the industry. Increased global demand for the newest technology has also helped.
In the preceding third-quarter, the San Jose, California-based company's net income was $152.3 million, or 58 cents per share, compared with $106.9 million, or 38 cents per share, in the comparable quarter last year. Revenue rose to $567.19 million from $513.34 million in the prior year quarter. Analysts, on average, expected the company to report earnings of 52 cents per share on revenue of $569.46 million.
Last month, the company reiterated its sales guidance for the fourth quarter, and also announced higher quarterly cash dividend. For the March quarter of fiscal 2011, sales are still expected to be flat to up 5% sequentially, assuming that the company's shipments to customers in Japan are not affected by the earthquake and tsunami on March 11. The company said that it is still in the process of assessing the situation in Japan. While announcing the previous quarterly results in January, Xilinx had noted that it projects gross margin for the fourth quarter to be about 65 percent plus or minus one percentage point.
The company's stock currently trades at a forward P/E (fye Apr 3, 2012) of 15.64 and PEG ratio (5 yr expected) of 1.09. In terms of stock performance, Xilinx shares have gained nearly 17 percent over the past year.
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