Tektronix reports strong 4Q

Tektronix, Inc. (NYSE: TEK) said Thursday earnings for its fourth quarter were 64 cents a share, vaulting over First Call's expected profit of 35 cents a share

Shares in the provider of measurement and monitoring equipment closed at 69 1/2 Wednesday. The stock has been rising since the company beat estimates in its third quarter.

Net income was $31.5 million, or 64 cents a share for the company's consolidated results, which include the measurement segment, and the video and networking and other segments, discontinued operations and other nonrecurring items, , including investment gains on the sale of Merix Corporation holdings. This compares to net earnings of $24.9 million, or 53 cents a share, for the same quarter a year ago.

Consolidated net sales for the quarter were $301.5 million compared to $326.6 million for the fourth quarter, fiscal 1999.

For fiscal 2000, consolidated earnings were $349.0 million, or $7.25 per share, compared to a loss of $51.2 million, or $1.07 per share in 1999. Fiscal year results reflect the gain on the sale of the color printer division in January 2000. The company reported net sales of $1.12 billion for the year, compared to $1.13 billion for the same period a year ago. Results comparisons reflect the fact that the video and networking division was included in the entire fiscal 1999 year, but only in the first quarter of the current year.

During the past year, Tektronix has moved from a portfolio company to a business focused on test, measurement and monitoring. The company said earnings for the measurement segment were 63 cents a share, compared to 48 cents a share in the year prior. For the quarter, net sales were $298.7 million, up 23 percent compared to $243.8 million for the same period last year.

The company also said its measurement business, now the sole focus of the company, reported record sales of over $1 billion for fiscal year 2000.

This year's net sales of $1.05 billion are up 20 percent over last year's $879.5 million -- generating $1.66 per share compared to $1.01 per share for the measurement segment in fiscal 1999.

The company also said order growth was also strong, at 39 percent for the quarter and over 30 percent for the year.

Developments during the fourth quarter include Tektronix's purchase of Gage Applied Science, a Canadian company that will expand it into the PC card-based market, and multi-million dollar agreements with General Dynamics and Lucent Technologies (NYSE: LU) to purchase high-speed optical test equipment.

The company"s competitors include Agilent (NYSE: A) and Teradyne (NYSE: TER).