Xircom beats lowered 2Q forecasts

Xircom hurdled analysts' reduced estimates in its second quarter Monday, posting a profit of $11.4 million, or 36 cents a share, on sales of $111.2 million.

Analysts lowered their consensus estimate to 33 cents a share late last month after Xircom (Nasdaq: XIRC) officials warned investors it would fall short of the original estimate of 56 cents a share.

"After a slow start to the quarter, in March we saw a significant increase in sell-through to our large enterprise customers and we won a number of high-volume customer deals that should begin shipping during the June quarter," said Dirk Gates in a prepared release.

Xircom, which makes products that enable computers to connect to networks, blamed the earnings shortfall on Y2K issues.

Its shares closed up 2 5/16 to 33 1/2 ahead of the earnings report.

The $111.2 million was a slight improvement from the year-ago quarter when it pocketed $9.5 million, or 37 cents a share, on sales of $101.9 million.

Its shares moved up to a 52-week high of 75 15/16 in December after falling to a low of 18 5/16 last April.

Six of the nine analysts tracking the stock maintain either a "buy" or "strong buy" recommendation on the stock.

Analysts expect it to earn $1.93 a share in the fiscal year.