Fairchild Semiconductor releases Results for Q1

Fairchild Semiconductor has announced results for the first quarter ended March 30, 2014. Fairchild reported first-quarter sales of $344.1 million, up 1 per cent from the prior quarter and slightly higher than the first quarter of 2013.

Fairchild reported a first-quarter net loss of $9.3 million or $0.07 per diluted share compared to net income of $0.9 million or $0.01 per diluted share in the prior quarter and a net loss of $0.5 million or $0.00 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2013. Gross margin was 30.3 per cent compared to 30.9 per cent in the prior quarter and 26.9 per cent in the year-ago quarter.

"Demand has been robust all the year as Fairchild's focus on improving energy efficiency in a wide range of industrial, appliance, automotive and a mobile application accelerates our growth. The strength in orders is broader based than a year ago, especially in the mobile end market.
Our current backlog is up 20% from a quarter ago, which when coupled with our lean inventory position enables us to guide for strong sales growth in the second quarter. Demand is very solid for our products supporting the automotive, industrial and appliance end markets. Sales of our products into the computing end market were also higher sequentially as demand recovered from a weak fourth quarter. Mobile demand was flat to the prior quarter which was better than expected. We benefited from content gains on a major new phone platform as well as mid-tier Chinese brands.

Fairchild reported first-quarter adjusted gross margin of 30.3 per cent, down 100 basis points from the prior quarter but 250 basis points higher than the first quarter of 2013. Adjusted gross margin in the past quarters excluded accelerated depreciation related to a line closure. Adjusted net income was $4.9 million or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to adjusted net income of $13.5 million or $0.11 per diluted share in the prior quarter and an adjusted net loss of $2.0 million or $0.02 per diluted share in the first quarter of 2013.