Altera Posts $120M Q1 ProfitAltera Posts $120M Q1 Profit

SAN JOSE, Calif. -- Altera Corporation (NASDAQ: ALTR) today announced first quarter sales of $410.5 million, down 7 percent from the fourth quarter of 2012 and up 7 percent from the first quarter of 2012. First quarter net income was $120.2 million, $0.37 per diluted share, compared with net income of $120.8 million, $0.37 per diluted share, in the fourth quarter of 2012 and $115.8 million, $0.35 per diluted share, in the first quarter of 2012. Cash flow from operating activities was $149.5 million. Altera ended the quarter with $3.8 billion in cash and investments. Altera's board of directors has declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.10 per share, to be paid on June 3, 2013 to stockholders of record on May 10, 2013. "The quarter's overall sales were roughly as expected and represent the low point in the recent communications equipment and industrial cycles. We expect second quarter growth in these markets," said John Daane, president, chief executive officer, and chairman of the board. "Development work for our next generation products is well under way. Using TSMC's 55 nm EmbFlash and their 20 nm planar technology plus Intel's 14 nm Tri-Gate process, we expect to have an optimized, competitively differentiated set of offerings, with notable performance improvements across all our products. As the only major FPGA company with access to the second-generation Tri-Gate process, we will benefit from much reduced implementation risk, the unique finFET power, performance and density advantages, and process availability long before any comparable alternative." Freescale Semiconductor Inc.