Sales Up, Profits Down at Vitesse Semiconductor

Vitesse Semiconductor Corp. in Camarillo, whose chips speed data on fiber-optic networks, said fiscal fourth-quarter sales jumped 71% but net income fell 40% due to acquisition costs.

Net income dropped to $11.6 million or 6 cents a share, from $19.4 million or 11 cents a year earlier. Excluding acquisition-related costs, income was $40.3 million or 21 cents a share. Revenue in the period ended Sept. 30 rose to $138 million from $80.7 million.

Vitesse, like rivals Applied Micro Circuits Corp. and PMC-Sierra Inc., is benefiting from higher sales of chips to communications-equipment makers including Cisco Systems Inc. and Lucent Technologies Inc., as demand for Internet capacity surges.

The company expects sales to increase about 70% in fiscal 2001, an official said last month.

Excluding acquisition costs, analysts expected Vitesse to earn 19 cents a share, according to a poll by First Call/Thomson Financial. The company was predicted to have about $133 million in sales during the quarter.