Bozotti details ST's outlook for Q4

PARIS — In a commentary of financial results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2009, European chipmaker STMicroelectronics NV (Geneva, Switzerland) expressed confidence as it expects to increase competitiveness going forward.

At a press and analysts conference this week, Carlo Bozotti, ST's president and CEO, presented the company's outlook for the remaining of the year.

Bozotti declared: "We believe that the final three months of the year have been shaping up to be a stronger-than-seasonal quarter for ST. Based on our backlog and visibility, we expect IMS [Industrial and Multisegment Sector (IMS) business unit] to grow faster than the company average boosted by strong growth in microcontrollers, smartcards, and across all families in advanced analog, power and MEMS."

Moving to the ACCI (Automotive, Consumer, Computer and Telecom Infrastructure) product segment, Bozotti said ST anticipates growth to continue to come from automotive and digital consumer where the economic recovery and new products will drive growth in contrast with seasonal digital consumer patterns.

Wireless is, however, expected to show a normal seasonal pattern.

In combination, Bozotti said this leads to a potential sequential revenue growth of 5 to 12 percent, sequentially, for the fourth quarter, representing a revenue range of about $2.39 billion to $2.55 billion.

"After a year of negative year-on-year results, we expect the company to come back to positive results in the fourth quarter and, at the midpoint, our revenue guidance is about 9 percent," he stated.