Earnings Preview for National Semiconductor

National Semiconductor

will be reporting its fourth-quarter fiscal 2011 results tomorrow, June 9, after the closing bell. Analysts are looking for the tech company to post earnings of $0.27 per share on revenues of $365.1 million. That is down from $0.33 per share and $398.5 million in the same period of last year. The consensus earnings estimate is unchanged over the past 90 days.

The full-year forecast calls for per-share earnings of $1.21 on revenues of $1.5 billion. That's up from $0.88 per share and $1.4 billion last year. Note that analysts have underestimated National Semiconductor's annual earnings in the past few years, as well as its quarterly earnings in most recent reporting periods.

Santa Clara, California-based National Semiconductor designs, develops, manufactures and markets analog and mixed-signal integrated circuits and subsystems. Its chips are used in wireless, networking, medical, solar, automotive and industrial applications. About 75% of its sales come from customers outside the United States. The company announced in April that it would be acquired by Texas Instruments

for $25 per share in an all-cash transaction of about $6.5 billion. The deal is expected to close later this year.

National Semiconductor has a dividend yield of 1.5%. The 19.4 price-to-earnings ratio is more than the industry average, and the 2.2 price/earnings-to-growth ratio suggests overvaluation. The long-term earnings per share growth forecast is 9.5%. The share price is up about 79% since the beginning of the year. Nearly all that gain came in early April following the buyout announcement. Due to that bump, the stock has easily outperformed the semiconductor industry average and the broader markets year-to-date.