Synaptics 3Q profit more than doubles as revenue rises, strong outlook sends shares soaring

Synaptics 3Q profit more than doubles, shares soar

SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Shares of Synaptics Inc. jumped Friday after the developer of touchscreen technology for notebook computers and cell phones reported fiscal third-quarter earnings that beat Wall Street’s expectations and forecast solid fourth-quarter profit.

The company said late Thursday that its earnings more than doubled to $11.6 million in the quarter, or 33 cents per share, compared with $5.4 million, or 15 cents per share, in the prior year. The previous fiscal quarter was hurt by $1.4 million in interest expenses and $2.9 million in investment losses.

Excluding one-time items, Synaptics earned $16.3 million, or 46 cents per share, in the latest period. Revenue rose by nearly 16 percent to $116.2 million from $100.6 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Reuters were expecting earnings of 42 cents per share on revenue of $113 million.

President and CEO Tom Tiernan credited the results to better-than-seasonal trends in both notebook PC and mobile phone applications. PC revenue of $72.9 million jumped 44 percent year-over-year and represented 63 percent of the company’s total revenue.

“We expect to end fiscal 2010 on a high note based on demand for our product offerings,” he added.

The company forecast June quarter revenue of $136 million to $146 million, up 18 percent to 26 percent year-over-year. That’s above the average $129.3 million estimate of analysts.

Synaptics’ board of directors also approved $100 million to be used for stock buybacks, in addition to $38.1 million remaining under a prior repurchase plan.

Shares of Synaptics, based in Santa Clara, Calif., were up $3, or 9.8 percent, to $33.50 in morning trading.