Santa Ana circuit board maker TTM Technologies Inc. took a beating in after-hours trading Tuesday after reporting a sequential drop in fourth-quarter sales and slimmer profits.
The company’s shares were off 7% in trading after the market closed. TTM counted a recent market value of nearly $500 million.
Sales for the fourth quarter came in at $59.2 million, up 9% from a year earlier but down 5% from the third quarter.
TTM blamed the quarter-to-quarter drop on “capacity constraints” at its Chippewa Falls, Minn., facility late in the third quarter and early in the fourth quarter.
The company makes printed circuit boards,the electronic innards that run computers, wireless phones and other electronics. Companies hire TTM for quick turnaround of custom circuit boards for use in their products.
TTM said its gross profit margin decreased to 24.6% of sales for the fourth quarter, down from 26.1% a year earlier and off from 28.4% for the third quarter.
Higher prices for raw materials, competition and lower operating efficiency were to blame, according to TTM.
TTM’s operating profit came in at $8.2 million, up from a year ago but down 29% from the third quarter.
For the current quarter, TTM said it projects sales of $59 million to $62 million, in line with estimates. The company said profit could range from $5 million,below what Wall Street is expecting,to $6.7 million, the consensus of analysts who follow the company.
