National Semiconductor Corp. reported sales of $398.5 million and net income of $79.2 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, which ended May 30, 2010.
National’s fourth quarter sales were 10 percent higher than the third quarter of fiscal 2010, when the company reported $362 million in sales, and 42% higher than the $281 million reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009. Increased sales of National’s analog and power management products to the personal mobile device and industrial markets boosted revenues in the fourth quarter.
Fourth quarter net income of $79.2 million, or 33 cents per diluted share, was an increase from the $53.2 million, or 22 cents per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2010. In last year’s fourth quarter, National reported a net loss of $63.7 million, or a net loss of 28 cents per diluted share, which included $116.1 million of pre-tax charges primarily for severance and asset impairments related to a corporate restructuring.
Gross margin increased to 68.8% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010 driven by improvements in manufacturing cost performance and increased capacity utilization. National reported gross margin of 67.3% in the third quarter of fiscal 2010 and 58.3% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2009.
"Increased demand for our analog products for the wireless handset and industrial markets drove revenue growth in the quarter" said Don Macleod, National’s President and Chief Executive Officer. "Looking forward to our summer quarter, we see these two end markets continuing to drive more revenue growth opportunities for our analog, and in particular, power management products."
