Despite Good Quarter, International Rectifier Shares Fall on Outlook

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Shares of International Rectifier Corp. fell nearly 8 percent Tuesday, despite a more than 22 percent rise in fiscal third quarter profit, as the chip maker forecast slightly worse gross margins for the current quarter.

After the markets closed Monday, the El Segundo maker of power management semiconductors reported net income of $49.5 million (69 cents per share), compared with $40.4 million (56 cents) a year earlier. Revenue rose more than 22 percent to nearly $297 million.

Analysts surveyed by Thomson Reuters on average expected the company to report per-share profit of 48 cents on revenue of less than $292 million,

The third quarter benefited from a $6.5 million gross tax benefit and a $3.5 million reversal of asset impairment and restructuring charges that the company did not explain.

“The March quarter marked the eighth consecutive quarter of revenue growth for IR,” said Chief Executive Oleg Khaykin in a statement. “This achievement is driven by a number of factors, including continued growth in design wins with tier-one customers and expansion of IR’s power management content in energy-efficient household appliances, industrial applications and automobiles.”

In guidance for its fiscal fourth quarter, the company expects revenue to range from $310 million to $320 million. The Wall Street consensus is for $299 million. Even so, the company expects gross profit margin as a percentage of sales to dip to 38 percent from 39.5 percent.

Shares closed down $2.73, or 7.9 percent, to $31.56 on the New York Stock Exchange.