Microchip Technology 2Q Profit Falls

In the quarter ended Sept. 30, the company earned $60.7 million, or 27 cents per share, down from $79.5 million, or 36 cents per share, in the year-ago quarter.

Excluding acquisition charges, stock option costs and other expenses, the company earned $83.3 million, or 38 cents per share, down from $84.2 or 38 cents per share.

Revenue dropped 3.5 percent to $258.6 million from $267.9 million.

Analysts, on average, expected a profit of 35 cents a share on sales of $259.8 million according to a poll by Thomson Financial.

Chief Executive Steve Sanghi said that U.S and Asian results were lower than initially expected.

"Our results in the September quarter were adversely impacted by weakness in the U.S. housing market, and weakness in other segments of our consumer-related business. "Geographically, our Asia region was flat quarter-to-quarter, while the Americas region was down 1 percent sequentially," he said.

The company projected fiscal third-quarter profit of 34 cents to 37 cents per share. The company expects sales to decline up to 6 percent from the second quarter.

Analysts, on average, predict a profit of 35 cents per share on revenue of $256.1 million.

Microchip Technology's shares added 3 cents to $30.68.