The company said it expects first-quarter share loss ranging from 30 cents to 32 cents, which compares with Thomson First Call analysts average forecast of a loss of 7 cents a share.
DuPont Photomasks added that quarterly revenue would likely be up 8 percent from a year earlier at $84.0 million. A year-ago the company reported a first-quarter loss of 17 cents a share.
The first quarter results, to be issued on Oct. 23, would be unfavorably impacted by approximately 6 cents a share as the company's effective tax rate changed from 30 percent to 10 percent, DuPont Photomasks said in a statement.
It added that its cash equivalents totaled about $144 million at the end of the quarter, and said its customers continue to implement aggressive cost cutting measures which is hurting orders.
DuPont Photomasks' stock ended on Thursday at $22.16 on the Nasdaq stock market. The shares have traded between $19.24 and $54.30 over the past 52 weeks.
DuPont Photomasks Sees Wider Loss
DuPont Photomasks Inc., a maker of glass plates used in microchip production, on Friday forecast to report a wider-than-expected loss for its first quarter of fiscal 2003 due to hit from a change in its effective tax rate and a weak semiconductor industry.