Altera Corp.

Altera Corp. (ALTR - Analyst Report) is seeing upbeat earnings forecasts ahead of reporting in mid-July. The company also boasts a solid record of beating estimates, dating back to 2004.

Company Description

Altera provides innovative custom logic solutions and has been ever since inventing the world’s first reprogrammable logic device in 1984.

Altera’s comprehensive solutions portfolio contains fully integrated software development tools, versatile embedded processors, optimized intellectual property (IP) cores, reference designs examples, and a variety of development kits.

Bullish Forecasts

In early June, the company reaffirmed its revenue guidance, noting that second-quarter sales are projected to increase by 2% to 7% sequentially. Altera added that its new products, the 65-nanometer devices and 40-nanometer devices, have been the company's growth drivers during the second quarter

Analysts are forecasting second-quarter earnings of 16 cents per share, versus estimates of 14 cents 3 months ago.

Wall Street is calling for full-year earnings of 67 cents per share, which is above last month’s 66 cents. For the following year, Street estimates of 89 cents were increased from last month’s 88 cents.

The company’s second-quarter report is scheduled for release on July 14, 2009.

A Strong First Quarter

Altera’s first-quarter earnings of 17 cents per share topped the consensus estimate by 6%. During the past 4 straight quarters, earnings came in, on average, 9.37% ahead of analysts’ forecasts.

Dating back to September 2004, the company’s earnings were below analysts’ expectations only twice, matched forecasts 3 times and exceed the estimates during all the other quarters.

Favorable Industry Comparisons

Altera offers a return on equity (ROE) of 39%, well ahead of the industry average of 0.42%. The company’s net profit margin stacks up well against a negative industry average reading. The Growth and Income pick pays am industry-leading dividend yield of 1%.

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