UPDATE 3-KLA-Tencor's quarterly rev forecast beats Street

Quotes

   

Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:54pm GMT

* Second quarter revenue $642 million

* Current quarter revenue seen between $770 mln and $830 mln

* Stock up 3.5 percent after hours

(Rewrites first paragraph to include guidance, adds quote)

SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - Chip equipment maker KLA-Tencor (KLAC.O) forcast fiscal third-quarter revenue above expectations, sending its shares higher as spending resumes by foundries rattled last year by economic uncertainty.

KLA-Tencor's earnings reinforced expectations of a pickup in orders by chip manufacturers after Dutch chip equipment maker ASML said last week that rising demand for smartphones and tablets was driving demand for new business.[ID:nL6E8CI067]

"So far, we are definitely seeing a rebound. 2012 looks better than it did three or four months ago. The issue is -- can the momentum keep going on the end market side? The particular area of interest is the PC sector and particularly DRAM capital spending," said Ben Pang, an analyst at Caris & Company.

KLA-Tencor, which provides systems that monitor and analyze chip production, said it expects current-quarter revenue between $770 million and $830 million. Analysts on average expected revenue of $684 million, according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S

It said gross bookings for the quarter would be between $825 million and $975 million, helped by new orders from foundry customers as well as NAND memory chipmakers. NAND chips are widely used in smartphones like Apple's iPhone.

"The Q3 demand picture looks similar to the December quarter with investment focused on leading edge technology development and concentrated primarily among the foundry and logic customers," Chief Executive Officer Rick Wallace told analysts on a conference call.

KLA-Tencor's revenue in the second quarter was $642 million, above the $631 million that analysts expected on average. KLA-Tencor reported net income of $111 million, or 66 cents a share, down from $185 million, or $1.09 a share, a year earlier.

Adjusted earnings per share was 72 cents, beating 66 cents expected by analysts. The Milpitas, California company's shares jumped 3.5 percent in extended trade after closing 1.91 percent lower at $50.26.

(Reporting By Noel Randewich; Editing by Bernard Orr)

((noel.randewich@thomsonreuters.com)) Keywords: KLATENCOR/

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