Teradyne
has lowered its fiscal Q1 guidance and will take steps to further
reduce costs on the "continued deterioration" in the semiconductor
equipment market.
"Global economic conditions and consumer demand further weakened
this quarter, causing our customers to reduce their test needs to
unprecedented levels," said Mike Bradley, Teradyne president and
CEO, in a statement Monday evening.
"While there are some indicators suggesting that we have reached
the bottom of this cycle, we cannot currently predict when we will
see meaningful improvement in demand. In response to these very
difficult market conditions, we are taking steps to further lower
our annualized costs by approximately $50 million, with a majority
of those savings estimated to be in place by the end of the second
quarter."
Teradyne now projects that in the quarter ending April 5, its
sales will be between $115 and $120 million and its net loss per
share will be between $0.42 and $0.40 on a non-GAAP basis.
Teradyne's guidance for the April quarter had been for sales of
$125 million to $145 million, with a loss per share between $0.38
and $0.31 on a non-GAAP basis. In the company's Q4 2008, revenue
was about $195 million and non-GAAP loss was $0.19 per share.
Teradyne projected its fiscal Q2 sales will be about flat with
its Q1 sales.
Teradyne did not specify the further planned cost-cutting
actions. The ATE (automatic test equipment) company in January
announced a
14% staff
reduction and a 10% broad-based temporary
pay cut in an effort to reduce expenses by approximately $140
million a year.
Bradley estimated that the new reductions will bring the test
company's total planned 2009 cost reductions to approximately $190
million and said that Teradyne will continue to adjust costs as
necessary.
By Suzanne Deffree, Managing Editor, News -
Electronic News
See also: Electronics
Weekly Live, the "How To" exhibition and conference
taking place within National
Electronics Week, 16 - 19 June, Earls Court 2. Themes
of the show are: Eco-Design, Embedded processor design, Using
Linux, Power-efficient design, Test for embedded systems, Wireless
system design.