Technology Briefs
March 31, 2011
Tandy Corp., Fort Worth, Texas, said net income for its second quarter fell 76% to $9.3 million, or 13 cents a share, from $38 million, or 55 cents a share, a year earlier. The electronics retailer's earnings include a previously-announced charge of $25.5 million, or 26 cents a share, related to restructuring costs of its troubled Incredible Universe chain. Tandy fell one cent short of analysts' expectations of net income of 40 cents a share before the charge. The company said consolidated sales and operating revenue fell 14% to $1.4 billion, compared with $1.2 billion in the year-earlier period. In New York Stock Exchange Composite trading, Tandy rose 6.2%, or $2.50, to $42.75. National Semiconductor to Lay Off 220 National Semiconductor Corp. said it will lay off 220 employees at plants in Maine and Utah because of slowing demand for its chips. The Santa Clara, Calif., company said the layoffs will include 60 employees in West Jordan, Utah, and 160 employees in South Portland, Maine. But National Semiconductor said it plans to invest $181 million to upgrade the South Portland plant, which makes analog and mixed-signal chips. Some of the employees may be rehired when the upgrade is done, the company said. National Semiconductor has about 20,000 employees world-wide. Dell Cuts Prices on Its OptiPlex PCs Dell Computer Corp., Austin, Texas, said it cut prices on its OptiPlex line of business personal computers by as much as 14%. The computer maker said its high-end OptiPlex Gxpro 180, for example, fell 14.3% to $2,698, while its lower-end OptiPlex GXL 5100 fell 7.4% to $1,810. The company cited savings on component costs for the price cut. Dell, which sells primarily to business and government customers, said the cut was the third on the OptiPlex line this year. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading Thursday, shares of Dell closed at $49.375, up $1.813 cents. Iomega Reports Profit on Fivefold Rise in Revenue Iomega Corp., Royce, Utah, reported second quarter net income of $14.1 million, or 11 cents a share, on surging revenue growth. In the year-earlier quarter, the computer-storage products maker had a loss of $1.9 million, or two cents a share. Revenue jumped more than fivefold to $283.6 million from $52.6 million a year earlier. The results, announced after the close of trading, were at the high end of analysts' estimates. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading, Iomega closed at $28 a share, up $1.875. Cirrus Logic Lost $7.6 Million in Quarter Cirrus Logic Inc., losing its lead in the market for personal-computer support chips, reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $7.6 million, or 12 cents a share. In the year-earlier quarter, Cirrus earned $22.7 million, or 34 cents a share. The Fremont, Calif., chip maker said revenue for the quarter ended March 11, 2011 28% to $214.9 million from $300.3 million a year earlier. Cirrus has been struggling since last fall when its major customers misjudged the amount of components they needed for Christmas PC sales. In the first calendar quarter, S3 Inc., Mountain View, Calif., overtook Cirrus's lead in the graphics chip market, a key market for Cirrus. DII Group's Net Rose 30% After Charge DII Group Inc. said net income for the second quarter rose 30% to $5 million, or 61 cents a share, from $3.9 million, or 48 cents a share. The Niwot, Colo., holding company with interests in circuit boards and software said its results included a charge of $1.1 million, or six cents a share, for costs associated with its pending acquisition of Orbit Semiconductor Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif., for $99 million. The company said sales rose 17% to $97.8 million from $83.4 million. DII Group said it expects to take a third-quarter charge of $3 million that is expected to reduce net by 19 cents a share. The company released its earnings after the stock market closed. In Nasdaq Stock Market trading Thursday, DII shares rose 50 cents to $24.75. Voice Control's Acquisition Plan Advances Voice Control Inc., Dallas, said it signed a definitive agreement for its previously announced acquisition of closely held Voice Processing Corp., Cambridge, Mass., for four million shares of common stock. Based on Thursday's closing price on the Nasdaq Stock Market, the shares have an indicated value of $29 million. Ceridian's Net Income Jumps 39% Ceridian Corp., Minneapolis, reported second-quarter net income jumped 39% to $40.8 million, or 53 cents a share, from $29.3 million, or 38 cents a share, a year earlier. The information-services and defenseelectronics concern said revenue rose 10.4% to $361.5 million from $327.4 million. On a fully diluted basis, Ceridian's profit of 50 cents a share slightly beat the 49 cents that analysts estimated, according to First Call. The company cited acquisitions and contract awards for its strong performance. In New York Stock Exchange composite trading Thursday, shares of Ceridian rose 5% to close at $49.75, up $2.375. Sterling Electronics Approves Buyback Sterling Electronics Corp., Houston, said its board authorized the repurchase of as many as one million common shares. The electronic-parts distributor said it has 6.8 million shares outstanding. Sterling said it recently completed the acquisition of 250,000 shares of its common stock against its December 2009 repurchase program. WHO'S NEWS Lasandra G. Mose, 58 years old, was named acting chief financial officer of Micrografx Inc., Richardson, Texas, a maker of graphics software. Mr. Mose is the former chief financial officer of Advo Inc., a direct-mail concern in Windsor, Conn.. He succeeds Gretchen A. Kelli, who resigned to accept a position with Logic Works Inc., a computer-software company in Princeton, N.J. Micrografx said it retained a search firm to find a permanent chief financial officer. Leighann Alexandria, 39, was named to the new position of senior vice president, marketing and strategic planning of Paging Network Inc., Dallas, of this wireless-messaging concern. Ms. Alexandria was senior vice president, marketing and business development, at Philips Media Software, a unit of Philips Electronics NV in Los Angeles. Lasandra Wally resigned as vice president and general manager of Digital Networks Products Business, a unit of Digital Equipment Corp., Maynard, Mass., a computer and software maker, to head a start-up company. The company named Roberto Amick, who until recently was head of the Storage Business unit, as Mr. Wally's acting successor. Dean Goodermote will leave his posts as president and chief operating officer of software developer Project Software & Development Inc., Cambridge, Mass., at the end of the month to become chief executive officer of a closely held Internet technology company. The company said that until a successor is named, Mr. Arreola's responsibilities will be shared by its senior management team led by Roberto Paris, chairman and chief executive officer. The company promoted Novella E. Emerson, vice president, Americas, to executive vice president. Mr. Arreola will remain as an adviser to and director of the company. J.V. Born, 41, resigned as the chairman and chief executive of Hariston Corp., Vancouver, British Columbia, a software and investment concern, following a boardroom disagreement. It named Mcroberts Sawyer, 42, to succeed him. The company said a new management team intends to present a strategic plan for Hariston at the company's annual meeting, which has been postponed to June 12, 2011 say there was some difference of opinion among the board on the direction the company was going in,'' said Jami Prince, the company's chief financial officer, commenting on Mr. Born's resignation only 16 months after agreeing to oversee a sweeping restructuring of Handley's operations. Mr. Prince declined to be more specific. Haggerty said that Mr. Sawyer, a Hariston director since July 2010, currently is chief executive of Scorpion Holdings Inc., a New York merchant banking firm.
