SiliconBeat

Coherent, the Santa Clara maker of lasers and precision optics, scaled back its expectations sales during its most recently completed quarter. It reduced its range by about 9 percent from $141 to $142.5 million down from $154 to $157 million, citing “delivery push-outs and lower orders from the microelectronics market” as the main reason for the lowered guidance.

The company also announced “another major component” of its “EBITDA initiative” — first time we’ve heard a company plan called something like that — which was the closing of its excimer laser site in Munich, which will be consolidated into the company’s other German facilities in Goettingen.

Chordiant Software slashed its forecast for its fiscal fourth quarter by a third and said it
will lay off 33 employees, or about 13 percent of its work force, after sales dropped toward
the end of September.

“The macroeconomic climate, even in the emerging geographies, which until recently had
remained strong, deteriorated significantly during Read the rest of this entry »

Netgear, the San Jose supplier of networking gear targeted for use by consumers and small businesses, pulled back its guidance for sales in its recently completed third quarter by about 15 percent, but says its operating margin — adjusted for some special items — will actually be higher. Huh? Read the rest of this entry »

Con-way, the freight transportation company based in San Mateo, lowered its operating profit guidance for full-year earnings in 2008 to between $2.60 and $2.80 per diluted share, 16 percent lower than its previous forecast of between $3 and $3.40.

“The economy has been battered by an unprecedented confluence of macroeconomic crises, curtailing demand for freight transportation services,” said Chief Executive Douglas Stotlar in a statement. “Over the past several weeks we have seen Read the rest of this entry »

AngXT, the Fremont supplier of chip-making materials, warned Wednesday that results for its quarter just ended will be below previous guidance and that it will likely record a loss instead of a profit, as previously estimated.

In addition to blaming the “overall market slowdown and lower than expected demand from customers”, the company referred to Read the rest of this entry »

Google shares had their biggest one-day decline ever Friday, dropping $52.12, or 9.8 percent, to $481.32 as they were punished by investors digesting the Internet search giant’s second-quarter earnings that were released after the markets closed Thursday. Read the rest of this entry »

If you were going to put out a release you hoped few would notice, a Thursday eve prior to the July 4th holiday and a long weekend would seem as good time as you could find. That’s when Catapult Communications of Mountain View chose to tell the world that it expects to report sales of $8.5 million for its third fiscal quarter ended Monday. That’s down about 14 percent from the company’s original estimate of $9.9 million.

Richard Karp, the company’s chief executive said that although the results will be Read the rest of this entry »