-=Cypress Semiconductor (CY) reported earnings on Thur 26 Oct 2017 (a/h)

Cypress tops 3Q profit forecasts

• Gross profit margin was 43% in the quarter, up from 40.9% in the prior quarter.
• Cypress’s sales in its “Microcontroller and Connectivity Division,” or “MCD,” rose 4% from the prior quarter, while sales for the memory products group, including “NOR” flash memory chips, were down 1%.

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) _ Cypress Semiconductor Corp. (CY) on Thursday reported third-quarter profit of $11 million.

The San Jose, California-based company said it had profit of 3 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 27 cents per share.

The results beat Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of eight analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 23 cents per share.

The chipmaker posted revenue of $604.6 million in the period, which did not meet Street forecasts. Five analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $604.7 million.

For the current quarter ending in December, Cypress expects its per-share earnings to range from 23 cents to 27 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $575 million to $610 million for the fiscal fourth quarter.

**The IoT component of the business is benefiting from continued strong sales of Nintendo’s (7974JP) “Switch” video game console, but also newer product introductions, such as a raft of Bluetooth wireless ear buds.

**In the automotive market, where Cypress makes about one third of its sales, the company’s parts are flourishing both on their own and as they ride the roll-out of “autonomous” drive functions being pushed by Intel (INTC) and Nvidia (NVDA) and their customers.

For example, Cypress already has 65% share of all the NOR flash chips that go into vehicles. The company also dominates in microcontroller chips for powering touch-based displays in dashboards.