Altera Beats Estimates, Guides Higher (ALTR)

Altera Corp. ALTR reported better than expected fourth quarter earnings, and guided its first quarter for 2011 much better than Wall Street had expected. Altera reported earnings of 72 cents per share on revenues of $555.4 million. Wall Street analysts had expected earnings of 71 cents per share on revenues of $547.63 million. The company also guided its first quarter revenues much higher than Wall Street expects. Altera said for the first quarter it expects revenues of $527.6-549.8 million. Wall Street had expected revenues of $524.92 million for the first quarter. "The fourth quarter delivered a positive note to end a remarkable sales growth year. Our sales were up 64 percent in 2010, significantly outpacing most companies in the semiconductor industry. In the fourth quarter, new products continued to be growth drivers as we saw substantial sales gains from our 65-nm and 40-nm FPGAs," said John Daane, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board. "During the fourth quarter we taped out our first 28-nm FPGAs. We believe Altera's unique features and performance will extend our technology leadership into this next FPGA generation adding to the momentum we have established at the 40-nm node." Despite the earnings beat, shares are off in the extended hours session, down 16 cents to $37.75.