Flextronics, which makes mobile phones for Sony Ericsson <6758.T><ERICb.ST> and video game consoles for Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> among other products, said it had not seen many signs of customer weakness despite broader economic worries.
SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - Contract manufacturer Flextronics International Ltd <FLEX.O> posted a quarterly profit that beat expectations on Tuesday and stuck to its earnings forecasts, sending its stock up nearly 5 percent.
Flextronics, which makes mobile phones for Sony Ericsson <6758.T><ERICb.ST> and video game consoles for Microsoft Corp <MSFT.O> among other products, said it had not seen many signs of customer weakness despite broader economic worries.
"At the end of the previous quarter, what we said was that there had been a little slowdown in the industrial segment and telecoms, and that slowdown I would say has stabilized," Chief Financial Officer Thomas Smach told Reuters in an interview.
"Consumer is probably the only market segment we see continued slowing in. For Flextronics, I think we can still grow through that because we are still winning new programs and new products like LCD TVs, digital cameras and MP3 players."
!ADVERTISEMENT!On a later conference call with analysts, executives said computing and mobile segments performed better than expected while no business line fell short of targets.
"We are not seeing any overall weakness in our customer forecasts," Chief Executive Michael McNamara said. "Our pipeline of new business opportunities remains robust."
For its current fourth quarter, the Singapore-based firm said it expected adjusted earnings of between 22 and 24 cents per share on revenue of between $7.5 billion and $7.9 billion.
Wall Street analysts were looking for an adjusted profit of 23 cents per share on revenue of $7.81 billion.
For its third fiscal quarter ended December 31, Flextronics said its profit excluding acquisition costs and other charges was $250 million, or 30 cents a share, beating the 26 cents expected by Wall Street.
In the first quarter including results from last year's purchase of rival Solectron, Flextronics said net sales were $9.07 billion, up 67 percent from $5.42 billion a year earlier and ahead of the $8.61 billion that was the average analyst estimate.
Flextronics shares rose as much as 4.6 percent to $10.78 after the results were announced, before settling back to $10.69. Based on Tuesday's closing price, the stock has risen nearly 11 percent in the past five days, though it is still down 15 percent on the month, compared with a fall of 9 percent for Jabil Circuit Inc <JBL.N>.
(Reporting by Scott Hillis; Editing by Andre Grenon, Phil Berlowitz)
