Catalyst Semiconductor Inc. (Sunnyvale, CA) announced that it returned to profitability on higher revenues in its third fiscal quarter. For the quarter ended January 31, 2002, Catalyst had net income of $164,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, on revenues of $10.7 million, a 16 percent increase over the prior quarter. This compares with a net loss of $1.0 million, or a loss of $0.05 per diluted share, on revenues of $9.2 million in the second fiscal quarter of 2002. In the third fiscal quarter a year ago, Catalysts earned $7.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, on revenues of $23.6 million.
As of January 31, 2002, Catalyst had cash and cash equivalents of $29.0 million, an increase of $0.7 million versus the previous quarter. During the quarter, the company repurchased 63,700 shares of its common stock for $155,000. Stockholders' equity was unchanged, remaining at $38.3 million, or $2.17 per basic share, at the end of the quarter, as a combined result of the net income and the stock buy-back program.
"We have completed a quarter that, as seen by some other semiconductor companies, may ultimately indicate that the markets in which we participate have stabilized and possibly are rebounding," said Radu Vanco, chairman and CEO. "During the third quarter, we have seen bookings, which we earlier reported were becoming more regular with minimal cancellations and push-outs, continuing to improve and resulting in a positive book-to-bill for the quarter. This trend appears to be continuing so far during the current quarter. This correlates with our earlier estimates that the inventory reduction measures taken by our customers may have been completed and we are now moving into a lower but more normal level of business activity."
