[February 09, 2010] Ramtron reports best financial results in a year Tweet Feb 09, 2010 (The Gazette - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- Ramtron International Corp. reported its best financial quarter in a year Tuesday and told stockholders it expects sales and earnings to recover this year to 2008 levels with the introduction of radio-frequency identification chips and other new products. The Colorado Springs-based semiconductor company said that its fourth-quarter profits fell 17.5 percent from a year earlier to $755,000, or 3 cents a share; revenue slumped 11.8 percent during the same period to $14.4 million. Despite the declines, both the earnings and revenue numbers were the highest in a year for Ramtron and represented the third consecutive quarter in which both measures had improved from the previous quarter. For all of 2009, Ramtron lost $5.83 million, or 22 cents a share, compared with 2008 profits totaling $3.66 million, or 14 cents a share. Without $6.2 million in onetime restructuring charges and writeoffs, the company would have been profitable. Revenue fell 25.2 percent to $47.5 million. "Demand for Ramtron's products continued to rebound in the fourth quarter," said Ramtron CEO Bill Staunton. "With distributor inventories back to desired levels across all regions, strong demand for our products and current booking activity considerably ahead of last year, we expect a very strong start of the year," including the first sales of its radio-frequency identification chip, which Staunton said is poised to "revolutionize the RFID industry." Ramtron told stockholders it expects revenue to rebound this year to between $60 million and $65 million and earnings to be between $1.2 million and $2 million. That would put the company's sales near or above the record $63.6 million total for 2008. The company reported the results after the nation's financial markets closed; stockholders reacted to the bullish forecast by bidding up the company's stock 17 cents, or 9.3 percent, to $2 in after-hours trading on the Nasdaq stock market. To see more of The Gazette, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.gazette.com. Copyright (c) 2010, The Gazette, Colorado Springs, Colo. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email [email protected], call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA. [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]