Synopsys posts profit vs. year-ago loss

SAN FRANCISCO - Synopsys Inc. (Nasdaq: - ), a maker of software for designing microchips, on Wednesday posted a quarterly net profit, versus a loss a year earlier, and raised its profit and revenue forecasts, sending its stock up nearly 5 percent.

For its second fiscal quarter ended April 30, Synopsys showed a profit of $5.4 million, or 4 cents per share, compared with a loss of $5 million, or 3 cents per share, a year earlier.

Excluding special items such as stock-based compensation, the company earned $24.5 million, or 17 cents per share, versus a profit of $12.7 million, or 9 cents per share a year earlier.

On that basis, Synopsys had been expected to earn $23.7 million, or 16 cents per share, according to the average analyst forecast on Reuters Estimates.

Revenue was $274.8 million, up 12 percent from a year earlier and ahead of the average Wall Street expectation of $266.5 million.

"It's pretty much all across the board, all the geographies as well as all the major (product) areas," chief executive Aart de Geus told Reuters in an interview when asked about which areas were strongest for the company.

"That's largely because the global economy is moving along fairly well and the degree of semiconductor penetration in electronics products is still increasing, and because of globalization, the number of customers is still increasing."

The company also slightly raised its full-year revenue and profit targets.

Revenue was now expected to be between $1.075 billion and $1.09 billion, up from $1.055 billion to $1.085 billion, while profit excluding items was seen at 68 to 74 cents per share, compared to 65 to 73 cents per share previously.

Shares in Synopsys rose 4.6 percent in extended trading on the Inet electronic brokerage after the results were released. The stock closed up 3 cents at $20.44 on Nasdaq.

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