Two technology companies upped their outlooks for the recently ended quarter, offering a bit of upbeat news to a year that’s started on a down note for much of the sector.
Aliso Viejo-based QLogic Corp., a maker of electronics for data storage networks, said it expects sales for the December quarter to be $155 million to $157 million, up from an earlier forecast of $147 million to $151 million.
Sales for the quarter could come in 10% to 12% higher than a year earlier, QLogic said.
The company expects profits before some stock compensation and other expenses of about $38 million.
Analysts had been expecting $33 million.
QLogic’s shares jumped more than 5% in early New York trading on a market value of $1.9 billion. They ended the day up 4%.
Irvine-based business software maker Epicor Software Corp. said it expects fourth-quarter sales to surpass Wall Street’s expectations on higher licensing revenue for its products.
The company said sales could come in at $115 million to $117 million, versus the $111 million analysts had expected.
Profits also should come in higher, though Epicor didn’t offer specific guidance.
Wall Street had been expecting about $15 million in quarterly profit.
Shares of Epicor closed up more than 3% on a market value of about $670 million.
The upbeat forecasts come after days of declines on Wall Street for technology shares.
Last week, an analyst’s downgrade for chip bellwether Intel Corp. and a report saying the company saw a slowdown in fourth-quarter orders hit shares of just about all tech companies, including many in Orange County.
