Credence Systems misses Q4 revenue estimates, EPS in line

Shares of Credence Systems Corp. (Nasdaq: CMOS) are losing ground in pre-market after the provider of test solutions for the semiconductor industry reported its fourth-quarter revenues missed analysts’ expectations, while earnings clocked in line with estimates.

For the three months ended Nov. 3, 2007, the Milpitas, Calif.-based company booked revenues of $97.7 million, below the mean revenue estimate of $105.26 million that five analysts polled by Thomson Financial were projecting. Net sales were down 23% from $127.1 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2006.

Net income for the quarter was $5.6 million, or $0.05 per share, compared with a net loss of $1.9 million, or $0.02 per share, in the fourth quarter last year. Earnings were right in line with the consensus of five analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Going forward, Credence said it intends to prioritize its research and development activities in the diamond and industry-standard ASL platforms to accelerate deployment in mainstream consumer semiconductor markets.

With the highest concentration of consumer semiconductor manufacturers located in Asia, Credence said it will attempt to double sales and support headcount in the region by the end of 2008.

For the first quarter of fiscal 2008, Credence said it expects net sales to be $58 million to $62 million, with a per share loss of approximately $0.37 to $0.39. Four analysts on average were forecasting earnings of $0.02 per share on revenues of $102.75 million. 

Shares of Credence Systems (CMOS) slipped 12.83%, or $0.29, to $1.97 in pre-market. Shares of Credence Systems have been trading in the range of $1.79 to $5.23 for the past 52 weeks.

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