ATI Technology beats 2Q expectations

ATI Technologies Inc. (Nasdaq: ATYT) a maker of 3D and multimedia graphics accelerator chips, said Thursday second-quarter earnings were 24 cents a share, or 21 cents a share after adjustments. First Call's expected a profit of 20 cents a share.

Shares closed at 15 11/16 Wednesday, down slightly from a 52-week high of 23 3/16.

Revenue for the three months ended February 29 was $380.1 million, an increase of 28 percent from $297.2 million for the same period last year.

Net income for the quarter was $51.1 million, or 24 cents per share, a considerable improvement over the $21.7 million, or 10 cents a share, earned in the same period last year.

Adjusted net income for the second quarter, which excludes the amortization of acquired intangibles and the gain on sale of long-term investments, rose 15 percent to $44.8 million, or 21 cents per share, compared with $39.0 million, or 18 cents per share, for the same period last year.

Goodwill and other intangibles of $887,000, or less than a penny a share, as well as a gain on sale of long-term investments of $10.7 million, or 3 cents per share, on an after-tax basis have been excluded from adjusted net income, the company said.

Strong sales of the company's newer products drove the quarter's gains, the company said.

"With such healthy results and our initial success in e-appliances we are well on the way to becoming the leading semiconductor supplier of both PCs and consumer electronics devices," said chairman and CEO. K.Y. Ho in a company release.

ATI announced yesterday the complettion of its acquisition of ArtX, Inc, a developer of high-performance graphics for PCs and consumer appliances. ATI also said Wednesday that IBM has selected its RAGE Mobility-M graphics chips for its new ThinkPad i Series 1500.

ATI competes with Creative Technology (Nasdaq: CREAF), Intel (Nasdaq: INTC) and S3 (Nasdaq: SIII)