Chipmaker Linear Technology Corp. reported its fourth quarter earnings of $353.6 million, up 5.4 percent from the same quarter one year ago but down 5.0 percent from the previous quarter’s revenue.
Linear said the revenues of $353.6 million were not enough to match or surpass the $371.1 million the company generated in the third quarter of 2014 but more than the $334.6 million the company generated in the fourth quarter of 2013. Net income for the quarter was $123.6 million, an increase of $18.9 million, or 18.0 percent, over the same quarter in 2013 but decreased $5.9 million from the previous quarter.
Lothar Maier, CEO of Linear, said in a statement, that the sequential decline of 5 percent was within the company’s guidance and was the result of historical seasonality in the fourth quarter. He added while bookings declined slightly during the quarter, the industrial high-end market showed the most strength during the quarter and is likely to remain strong moving forward.
Maier said the outlook for the first quarter of 2015 remains positive and is forecasting revenue growth sequentially of between 4 percent and 7 percent. He added the company has repaid its debt and will be increasing the dividends to shareholders by 11 percent in the coming quarter.
While “there remains some weaker pockets of the global economy,” Linear’s book-to-bill ratio was positive in December and “we typically see strong bookings momentum in the automotive and industrial markets in the March quarter,” Maier said.
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