National Instruments Corp. (NI, Austin, TX) announced preliminary revenue for the third quarter of 2004 of approximately $125 million, a 20% increase over the third quarter of 2003. The company estimates that diluted earnings per share for the third quarter of 2004 will be approximately $0.11. This estimate is below NI's previous guidance for the third quarter of 21% to 25% year-over-year revenue growth and diluted EPS of $0.13 to $0.16.
"While acceptance of our new products continued to be strong, we saw a slight softening in the business climate in Europe and Asia," said NI CFO Alex Davern. "Our instrument control products, which now represent less than 16% of total revenue, saw a $2 million sequential drop in revenue in the third quarter, a quarter when we normally see an increase in demand for instrument control. This sequential revenue drop reflects the slowdown in year-over-year order growth seen in recent announcements by other large test and ATE companies."
