Shares of Anaheim’s Multi-Fineline Electronix Inc., a maker of flexible circuit boards for cell phones, continued their downward slide a day after the company gave a weaker-than-expected sales outlook for the current quarter.
The company’s shares were down 12% near the close of trading Friday on a recent market value of about $415 million.
Multi-Fineline, known as M-Flex, said Thursday it’s looking for first-quarter sales of $170 million to $190 million, less than the $201 million expected on average by analysts.
The company didn’t give a profit outlook.
Analysts, on average, are looking for $11 million in profits.
“We remain concerned regarding the potential impact that a prolonged economic slowdown could have on customer demand, and recently we have begun to see softness in customer orders,” said Chief Executive Reza Meshgin.
The gloomy outlook comes after M-Flex reported fourth-quarter results on Thursday that surpassed expectations.
For the three months through December, M-Flex reported sales of $217 million, up 18% from a year earlier and ahead of analysts’ expected $215 million in revenue.
The company posted profits of $14 million, roughly flat from a year earlier and beating analysts’ expected $13 million in profits.
“We saw strong order flow throughout the December quarter, which helped drive net sales above our expectations,” Meshgin said. “The company saw strong demand for its flex assemblies, particularly for smartphones. We have also expanded our relationship with one of our key customers, which has already resulted in significant new programs.”
M-Flex’s four biggest customers are Apple Inc., Research in Motion Ltd., Sony Ericsson Mobile Communications AB and Motorola Inc.
