Micronics reveals troubled quarter
Micronics stock dives 30 percent in morning trading after the company announced disappointing quarterly results.
In active trading, the stock dropped 7/8 of a point from yesterday's close of 2-3/4.
Micronics anticipates a net loss of between $2.7 million to $3.2 million, or 19 to 23 cents, respectively, for the quarter ending March 31, compared with a loss of $916,000 or 7 cents a share for the corresponding quarter a year earlier.
Revenue is expected to be between $24 million to $25 million, compared with a revenue of $40.7 million for the same quarter in fiscal 1996.
Micronics had expected sales to remain relatively flat from the previous quarter. The expected net loss is a result of the lower level of sales and lower gross margins on certain products due to competition and unexpected product returns.
Chief financial officer Bill Finley said that distributors returned products because their shelves were overstocked. He added that lower sales to OEMs for the quarter is a general trend in the industry and that no specific Micronics product was targeted, but rather it was just an overall slowdown. The company is a maker of high-performance system boards and multimedia peripherals for personal computers.
The 1997 second-quarter revenue shortfall is expected to be attributed principally to lower sales to OEM and government markets, unanticipated returns by distributors, and delays related to suppliers' inability to provide component parts.
Micronics reported income of 1 cent per share last quarter after having come off a fiscal fourth quarter in which it posted a big loss of 82 cents a share. It expects to announce its complete second-quarter results at the end of April.