Compiled by Julie Leupold
TECHNOLOGY
Santa Ana’s STEC Inc., a maker of flash memory for industrial uses, upped its outlook for the recently ended quarter, citing stronger demand from server makers. STEC said it expects third-quarter results to come in at the high end of a range it gave in August. The company said it’s looking for profits of $5 million to $6 million, in line with Wall Street’s expected $6 million. STEC is expecting sales of $61 million to $63 million, slightly more than analysts’ expected $62 million. The company is set to report results Nov. 10.
Aliso Viejo-based Quest Software Inc.’s longtime chief Vincent “Vinny” Smith is stepping aside to make way for Doug Garn, who’s set to be the new chief executive at the maker of business software. Smith held the post for more than a decade and is set to continue on as chairman. Garn, who joined Quest 11 years ago, was named president in 2005. The company also said it plans to buy back $135 million to $400 million worth of its shares.
Irvine chipmaker Broadcom Corp. said it filed a second lawsuit going after the way rival Qualcomm Inc. does business calling it “patent misuse.” Qualcomm has had a contentious legal strategy that involves going after companies for royalties after accusing them of infringing on its patents. About a third of Qualcomm’s roughly $10 billion in yearly revenue is made up of royalty and licensing fees.
HEALTHCARE
The former chief executive officer of Endocare Inc. agreed last week to plead guilty to one count of criminal fraud in a scheme to defraud investors at the Irvine-based medical device company. Paul Mikus, who resigned as Endocare’s chief in 2003, entered his guilty plea to one count of electronic mail fraud involving falsifying sales transactions between Endocare and an Oregon company. Under the plea deal, Mikus would go to federal prison for as long as six years and pay up to $350,000 in fines. The sentence can be reduced by the judge, who scheduled a Dec. 22 hearing. Mikus also agreed to pay $510,000 in restitution.
Santa Ana-based Advanced Medical Optics Inc. lowered its outlook for the rest of the year amid a slowdown in laser vision correction surgeries. The company now expects 2008 sales of $1.17 billion to $1.2 billion, down from an earlier view of $1.22 billion to $1.24 billion. Profits are seen coming at $43 million to $49 million, down from an earlier forecast of $61 million to $70 million. Analysts on average had been expecting a profit of $63 million on revenue of $1.23 billion.
REAL ESTATE
An analyst said a rebound in shares of Irvine-based homebuilder Standard Pacific Corp. has gotten ahead of itself with more writedowns on land due this year and next. A JPMorgan Securities report downgraded Standard Pacific to “underweight” from “outperform.” The company stands to see more writedowns on falling values for land in California, Florida and Arizona. Standard Pacific could see charges for lower land values of $343 million in the second half of 2008 and $380 million in 2009, according to the report.
APPAREL
A running slump at mall retailers Pacific Sunwear of California Inc. and Wet Seal Inc. continued in September as sales at stores open at least a year fell. Anaheim-based Pacific Sunwear saw same-store sales fall 5% last month versus a year earlier. Total sales were down 4% to $91.2 million. But the company did better than analysts had expected. On average, Wall Street forecast a 7.3% decline. Foothill Ranch-based Wet Seal reported a September same-store sales decline of 7.5%. Analysts had been looking for a drop of 7.3%. Thanks to cost cutting, Wet Seal forecasts a profit of $4.8 million to $6.7 million for the quarter. Analysts on average expect $5.7 million.
FINANCE
Newport Beach-based bond manager Pacific Investment Management Co. is in talks to handle funds bought by the government’s $700 billion bailout package. Pimco, along with New York-based BlackRock Inc., submitted proposals to manage the mortgage-backed securities, according to Bloomberg. Treasury is expected to pick its managers as early as this week.
OTHER NEWS
Costa Mesa-based Ceradyne Inc., a maker of ceramic bulletproof vests, has received what it called its largest order, a $2.37 billion contract with the Army. The company is set to supply ceramic armor plates to the Army’s Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland, a weapons testing facility. The contract is for five years.
