Aug 31, 2001
Nevertheless, the Singapore foundry company reaffirmed its third-quarter earnings guidance, which was originally provided on July20.
"The quarter is progressing much as we had anticipated, and we remain on track to achieve our gross profit margin and EPS targets of a `loss of approximately $84 million to $86 million' and a `loss per ADS of approximately 94 to 96 cents,' respectively," said Chia Song Hwee, senior vice president, CFO & CAO, in a released statement.
"Wafer shipments may dip slightly, meaning that average utilization could be in the `low-20s' instead of the `mid-20s,' which we had originally projected," Chia continued. "With this in mind, we have widened the band on our revenue target to `down 15-20%' from the prior quarter. The original target was `down approximately 15%.'
"Even at the low end of this band, we anticipate still being within the range of our gross profit margin guidance as a result of additional success in our cost-reduction actions. In line with expectations, product mix has improved this quarter, and we are holding our average selling price guidance of `up a few percentage points' from prior quarter."
While there are growing signs of stabilization in the industry, Chartered continues to plan cautiously, according to Barry Waite, president & CEO. "We still expect the cycle to bottom some time in the second half of this year; however, the exact timing and the pace of the expected recovery remain difficult to predict."
Chartered plans to release its third quarter earnings on Tuesday, October 23.
