Audio component sales grew 73 percent for chip maker...
Audio component sales grew 73 percent for chip maker Cirrus Logic in Q2 of fiscal 2011 ended Sept. 25, driven by continued growth in portable audio and “strength in general home and audio products,” Chief Financial Officer Thurman Case said…
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on an earnings call Thursday. Audio contributed $71.2 million in revenue in Q2, he said. Sales to the company’s largest end customer were $43.7 million, about 44 percent of sales, he said. In a 10-Q filing at the SEC, Cirrus said the customer was Apple. Sales to Apple were up from 38 percent of Cirrus’s total a year earlier, the filing said. Cirrus is the main audio-chip supplier for Apple’s current-generation iPad and iPhone. Cirrus is “preparing for additional production ramps coming over the next several quarters,” said CEO Jason Rhode. While much of the audio growth came from that “number one customer” in Q2, he said in the call, “we also saw strong growth from a wide range of home audio products,” including Blu-ray players and home theater systems. Cirrus is eyeing opportunities to “expand and diversify our overall audio revenue through key new growth programs,” he said. In automotive audio, it “secured a major design commitment in a tier-one amplifier system that includes multiple Cirrus Logic products,” he said. That system will start “initial production in mid-fiscal year 2012, and has the potential to ramp to more than a million units annually,” he said. Cirrus is also “targeting growth in portable audio via smartphones, tablets and Bluetooth accessories,” he said. The company has had “good conversations” about “potentially customizing” versions of an unspecified smartphone, but there’s “nothing in the real short-term that’s going to be meaningful,” he said. Q2 profit grew to $30.9 million, 42 cents a share, from $6.8 million, 10 cents, in Q2 last year. Overall revenue soared 81 percent to $100.6 million but was slightly weaker than some analysts expected. In energy products, Cirrus “received our first production orders for our power factor correction chip,” Rhode said. Cirrus expects overall Q3 revenue to come in at $88 million-$94 million and predicted that portable audio sales will continue to be strong. But the Q3 projection was weaker than some analysts had expected, and Cirrus shares fell $2.56, or 15.68 percent, closing at $13.77 in Thursday trading.