Nanometrics 3Q profit beats Wall Street forecast

Nanometrics posts profit for third-quarter on higher sales, beating Wall Street forecast

• On 6:54 pm EDT, Thursday October 29, 2009

MILPITAS, Calif. (AP) -- Semiconductor manufacturing equipment maker Nanometrics Inc. posted a third-quarter profit Thursday on higher revenue, reversing its year-ago loss and beating Wall Street expectations.

Shares of Nanometrics advanced $1.04, or 14 percent, to $8.25, in after-hours trading, following a loss of 3 cents to close at $7.21 during the regular session.

The company said it earned $1.6 million, or 8 cents per share, for the three months ending Sept. 26. That compared with a loss of $60.4 million, or $3.25 per share, the same time a year ago.

Revenue was $25.8 million, up 12 percent from $23.1 million a year ago. On average, analysts polled by Thomson Reuters had forecast a loss of 6 cents per share on revenue of $21 million.

Nanometrics said operating expenses for the quarter fell sharply to $12.4 million, down from $70.2 million in 2008. Last year's third quarter included $55 million in asset impairments.

The company said revenue growth was largely driven by multisystem orders and technology upgrades from semiconductor companies. While continued revenue improvements are expected, the company noted it would be at a slower rate going forward.