Costa Mesa-based manufacturer Ceradyne Inc. posted an 84% drop in first-quarter profit from a year earlier to $3.8 million.
Revenue declined 29% to $106.3 million.
Analysts on average had expected the technical-ceramics maker to post $9 million in quarterly profit and $120 million in sales.
Ceradyne saw about $81 million worth of new orders last quarter. That compared with $232 million for the same period last year.
Chief Executive Joel Moskowitz attributed the quarterly performance primarily to “the unusually sharp decline in solar photovoltaic crucible shipments.” He said shipments were down 80% from a year earlier.
The declines came on “the significant over-capacity and excessive inventory build by our customers, the Chinese solar-module manufacturers,” Moskowitz said.
Ceradyne also saw a delay in an expected U.S. government approval for a large quantity of body armor, which pushed scheduled shipments into the second quarter, Moskowitz said.
The company reined its guidance on annual per-share earnings to a range of $1.40 to $1.65, from a previous $2.30 to $2.65.
Ceradyne also lowered 2012 sales guidance to $540 million to $565 million, from a previous $590 million to $625 million.
—Jane Yu
