Earnings Preview: Synaptics

Synaptics (SYNA) is expected to report Q1 earnings after market close Thursday Oct. 23,  with a conference call scheduled for 5:00 pm ET.

Guidance

The consensus estimate is 44c for EPS and $110.86M for revenue, according to First Call. Company guidance from the last earnings call was for Q1 sales of $108M to $114M, which was above consensus at that time.

Analyst Views

Synaptics also said it saw FY09 sales growth of 20% to 30%. The company also announced the approval for a 3-for-2 stock split. Synaptics had some positive news on Oct. 8, when the CEO announced that the company's clearpad module is being used by Research in Motion (RIMM) for the touch-screen BlackBerry Storm.

For the September quarter, Thomas Weisel expects Synaptics will report earnings in line with its estimates of $110M and 43c. The firm continues to believe the revenue growth drivers for the quarter are likely to be notebooks and portable media players, while handsets are expected to represent a smaller percentage of sales, primarily due to timing issues. For Q2, Weisel expects Synaptics to guide in line to slightly better than consensus of 52c and $123.01M. While Weisel believes bookings in notebooks have indeed slowed, it expects the SYNA's mobile business would offset that weakness given anticipated touschscreen handset product launches for the holiday season. As such, Weisel expects increased contribution from the non-PC business would produce a record December quarter. The firm's Q2 estimates are $126M and 54c.