Broadcom Corp. (Nasdaq: BRCM), a leading semiconductor firm, is expected to report its first quarter FY 2011 earnings on April 26, 2011. In the last four quarters, the company's reported EPS exceeded analysts' consensus estimates by margins in the range of 1.40 percent to 21.30 percent.
Broadcom is a major technology innovator and global leader in semiconductors for wired and wireless communications. Broadcom products enable the delivery of voice, video, data and multimedia to and throughout the home, the office and the mobile environment.
For the first quarter, analysts' EPS estimates range from a low of $0.52 to $0.72 per share, compared with a consensus estimate of $0.59 per share, or $0.57 per share, in the year ago quarter. For this quarter, analysts' revenue estimates range from a low of $1.77 billion to a high of $1.85 billion, compared with a consensus estimate of $1.81 billion, or $1.46 billion in the same quarter a year ago. For the quarter ended March 2011, the consensus EPS forecast has been unchanged for the past 60 days and stands at $0.59 per share.
In the last 52 weeks, BRCM is trading in the range of $29.05 and $47.39. The last trading price of Broadcom's stock was $38.12. On April 6, 2011, analysts' at Oppenheimer upgraded BRCM's rating to outperform from perform, and at DA Davidson analysts' upgraded the stock to buy from hold.
In the last quarter ended December 2010, Broadcom reported net revenue of $1.95 billion, up 44.9 percent compared with revenue of $1.34 billion reported for the fourth quarter of FY 2009. Net income for the quarter was $266 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, compared with net income of $59 million, or $0.11 per diluted share in the same quarter last year. For full year 2010, net revenue reported was $6.82 billion, up 51.8 percent, compared with revenue of $4.49 billion in FY 2009. Net income for the year was $1.08 billion, or $1.99 per diluted share, compared with net income of $65 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, for the FY 2009.
During the first quarter, Broadcom's board of directors approved a 12.5 percent increase in the quarterly cash dividend to $0.09 cents per share ($0.36 per share on an annual basis) payable to holders of the company's class A and class B common stock. The company also announced a $300 million accelerated share repurchase plan under its existing evergreen share repurchase program. The $0.09 dividend was declared by the board of directors on January 31, 2011 and was paid on March 7, 2011 to holders of record of the company's class A and class B common stock at the close of business on February 18, 2011.
In the semiconductor industry, Broadcom competes with companies such as QUALCOMM Inc. (Nasdaq: QCOM) and Texas Instruments Inc. (NYSE: TXN). In the trailing 12 months period, QUALCOMM reported an EPS of $2.17 per share on revenue of $11.67 billion with a quarterly revenue growth of 25.40 percent. Texas Instruments EPS was $2.62 per share on total revenue of $13.97 billion with quarterly revenue growth of 17.30 percent. In comparison to its competitors, Broadcom reported an EPS of $1.99 per share on revenues of $6.61 billion with quarterly revenue growth of 46.70 percent.
In comparison to the industry, Broadcom has a trailing P/E ratio of 19.16, lower than the industry's P/E of 20.20. Its P/S ratio is 3.11 compared with the industry's P/S ratio of 2.12. The P/B ratio of the company is 3.52, while industry's P/B ratio stands at 3.93. The net profit margin of Broadcom is 14.05 percent, compared with the industry's average margin of 11.20 percent. The industry's average on return on equity (ROE) is 10.10 percent, which is lower than company's ROE of 22.26 percent.
