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Chip-maker AMD profits plummet

Associated Press

Advanced Micro Devices Inc.’s second-quarter profit fell 65 percent Wednesday but beat Wall Street expectations as the chip maker reported record microprocessor sales despite what it claims are the unfair business practices of rival Intel Corp.

AMD said processor sales grew 38 percent over the same period last year, while revenue at its troubled division that makes flash memory for cellular phones and other devices slumped 31 percent. AMD plans to spin off the flash memory business in an upcoming public offering.

For the period ending June 26, AMD earned $11.32 million, or 3 cents per share, on sales of $1.260 billion. That’s down from a profit of $32.2 million, or 9 cents a share, on revenue of $1.262 billion in the same period last year.

•PepsiCo Inc., the soft drink and snack food company, on Tuesday reported a 13 percent rise in second-quarter earnings, driven by strength in developing markets and strong sales of cereal and pasta at its Quaker Foods business at home.

PepsiCo, which owns Frito-Lay snacks in addition to Quaker Foods and its flagship soft drink business, also forecast full-year earnings in line with its previous outlook.

Shares of PepsiCo, the world’s No. 2 soft drink maker after Coca-Cola Co., rose 93 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $54.78 in morning trading on the New York Stock Exchange, where it was among the most actively traded issues.

For the quarter ended June 11, PepsiCo reported earnings of $1.19 billion, or 70 cents per share, from $1.06 billion, or 61 cents, in the year-ago period. The results beat Wall Street’s average forecast of 67 cents per share, the mean estimate of 14 analysts polled by Thomson Financial.

Revenue rose 9 percent to $7.7 billion, above analysts’ average forecast of $7.56 billion.

•Levi Strauss & Co., jeans maker and owner of the Dockers brand, said Tuesday its second-quarter profit more than quadrupled as lower costs offset slumping sales.

For the fiscal second quarter ended May 29, Levi earned $26.8 million, up from $5.6 million a year ago. The results benefited from a decrease in product expenses, higher income from other operations and a sharp drop in restructuring costs, to $5.2 million from $25.7 million a year earlier.