As it turns out, the February month was actually the best in an overall underwhelming quarter. |
Business conditions were stronger than we had originally anticipated. We reached our interim goal of 60 percent gross margin earlier than we expected and at the same time continued to gain market share in the analog standard linear market. |
Due to the low bookings in the fourth quarter we now expect a further decline in sales for the first quarter. |
First the PC goes on a chip. Next, the PC becomes a plug-in behind the dashboard of your car, behind a flat-panel display in your kitchen, or inside a set-top box. The PC disappears just the way electric motors are invisible in our lives. |
Going forward, we will continue to closely control costs while investing in key markets to maximize our potential for profitability. |
I have never seen it so good. The real dot-com boom is here. The [railroad] track is in the ground, and we are just starting to light it up. |
It's one thing to put this business on the books. It's far more important to maximize the profit from it. |
Led by robust analog and wireless sales, we had an outstanding quarter. Focus on execution drove our gross margins to 51 percent, up from 48 percent in the previous quarter. |
Now that we have the months of December and January finished, we felt it necessary to factor those results into our earlier projections and issue this update. |
Now, a lot of people are saying better than 25 percent or better than 30 percent, and we certainly feel as bullish as anybody right now. |
Sales continued soft during the summer quarter. We think, however, we may have touched bottom as bookings in the first quarter improved for the first time in a year. |
Seven weeks ago at our Dec. 7 earnings announcement, we projected a falloff in the current quarter of 10 percent based on slowness in the wireless market, PCs and peripherals, and a broad-based distribution inventory correction. |
The devil is in the details. |
This was a tough action for us to take, especially because it impacts many people who have served National well. However, given the continuing weakness in the marketplace, it is necessary to conform our resources to the market in order to maximize National's opportunity for long-term success. |
We are ahead of our gross margin goals and we are continuing in the same direction. |