Diodes warns on 3rd-quarter earnings

Diodes Inc. on Friday forecast its third-quarter earnings would drop by as much as 32 percent from the year-ago level, sending its stock sharply lower.

The Dallas-based company, which makes components for electronics, computing products and other markets, anticipates a quarterly per-share profit of 26 cents to 30 cents. The low end of that outlook puts its per-share profit 31.6 percent below 2007's third-quarter earnings of 38 cents per share, while the high end suggests a shortfall of about 21 percent.

Last month, Diodes projected revenue of $134 million to $142 million for the September quarter.

On average, analysts surveyed by Thomson Financial forecast a quarterly profit of 33 cents per share on revenue of $138.1 million. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time items and therefore are not comparable with the company's per-share earnings projections.

Diodes earned $16.1 million, or 38 cents per share, on $105.3 million in revenue in the third quarter of last year.

The company's shares slid $2.51, or 12 percent, to close at $18.39.