ON Semiconductor 1Q profit beats Wall Street expectations

PHOENIX—ON Semiconductor Corp. said late Tuesday its first-quarter profit fell 61.5 percent on higher costs.

However, results beat Wall Street estimates, and shares rose $1.26, or 16.1 percent, to $9.07 in premarket trading Wednesday.

Net income fell to $20.8 million, or 7 cents per share, from $54 million, or 18 cents per share, in the 2007 first quarter.

Excluding one-time costs and gains, the company earned $65.4 million, or 21 cents per share.

The latest quarter included an expense of $17.7 million for in-process research and development. Cost of revenue jumped to $275.3 million from $255.6 million.

Sales rose to $421.9 million from $374.2 million.

Analysts polled by Thomson Financial expected profit of 14 cents per share on sales of $386.2 million. Analyst estimates typically exclude one-time items.

Excluding the impact of the acquisition of competitor AMIS Holdings Inc., ON had stand alone sales of approximately $396.4 million, a decrease of approximately 3 percent from the 2007 fourth quarter.