National Semiconductor Corp. (NYSE: NSM), which just turned 50 years old, is scheduled to discuss its fiscal fourth-quarter 2009 results today in a conference call featuring CEO Brian Halla, CFO Lewis Chew, and COO Don Macleod at 4:30 PM ET. You can catch the live webcast of the call on the company's website.
For the quarter in which the Santa Clara, Calif.-based chip maker announced a workforce reduction but also acquired Act Solar, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters expect the dividend-paying company to report a loss of $0.42 per share, compared to a profit of $0.34 per share in the same period of the previous year. Revenue for the quarter is expected to have fallen 41.0% to $272.7 million.
For the full year, the forecast is for a $0.16 per share profit (-87.3%) on $1.5 billion (-23.0%). National's earnings have beaten analysts' estimates in three of the past five quarters, including the surprise profit in the third quarter.
Analysts, on average, expect National's long-term EPS growth rate to be 10.2%, which lags behind the technology sector average, as well as rivals Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN) and Analog Devices (NYSE: ADI). The First Call consensus recommendation remains to hold NSM. The share price is about 27% higher than three months ago, but it is about 38% lower than it was a year ago.
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