Earnings Roundup: Teradyne, Exar deliver upside surprises

Chip equipment maker Teradyne led the latest round of earnings with a third quarter upside surprise. Cognizant, Exar and PC Connection also topped estimates.

Here's the scorecard:

Teradyne (NYSE: TER)

Teradyne, which makes assembly test equipment for chip manufacturers, reported earnings of $153.5 million, or 84 cents a share, on sales of $848 million. The results topped First Call Corp.'s consensus estimates by a penny.

Total orders for the quarter were $818.7 million.

Sales and earnings were up significantly from a year ago. In the third quarter a year ago, Teradyne reported earnings of $62.6 million, or 35 cents a share, on sales of $497 million.

Cognizant Technology Solutions Corp. (Nasdaq: CTSH)

Cognizant, which supplies e-business software, reported third quarter earnings of $4.8 million, or 24 cents a share, on sales of $37.1 million. The results topped First Call estimates of 22 cents a share.

In the same quarter a year ago, the company reported earnings of $2.9 million, or 15 cents a share, on sales of $22.9 million. Sales were up 62 percent from a year ago and 17 percent sequentially.

The company, which added 14 new customers in the quarter, said 95 percent of its revenue base derives from traditional companies establishing themselves on the Internet.

Exar Corp. (Nasdaq: EXAR)

Exar, which designs communications chips, reported fiscal second quarter earnings of $8 million, or 37 cents a share, on sales of $31.5 million. The results were well ahead of consensus estimates of 32 cents a share. Sales were up 70 percent from $18.6 million a year ago.

In the same quarter a year ago, Exar reported earnings of $1.8 million, or 11 cents a share. Exar recently issued a 2-for-1 stock split, which goes into effect Oct. 19. Adjusting for the stock split, Exar's earnings per share would be 18 cents a share.

PC Connection (Nasdaq: PCCC)

The direct marketer of information technology products reported third quarter earnings of $10.3 million, or 40 cents a share, on sales of $397.1 million. Sales were up 41 percent from a year ago.

First Call consensus called for a profit of 38 cents a share.

PC Connection said its sales to small businesses were strong with enterprise networking and server products showing the fastest growth. Internet sales represented 7 percent of sales, or $27.5 million.

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