Norway's Renewable Energy Corp posted forecast-beating earnings on Wednesday, but warned of waning demand, oversupply and price pressure as political uncertainty clouds key European solar markets.

Shares of NAND flash drive maker SanDisk are off by US$1.68, or 3.4%, at US$47.31 after the company reported revenue and earnings per share for 1Q slightly ahead of expectations and said Japan's disaster would not derail its earnings outlook for the year.

LED maker Cree reported a profit on Tuesday that missed Wall Street estimates and forecast lower-than-expected earnings in the current quarter due to high inventories and falling prices, sending its shares lower in after-hours trade.

Infineon will go into specifics concerning the past quarter, the outlook for the current quarter and the expectations for the fiscal year 2011 when presenting the figures for the second quarter of the fiscal year 2011 on May 3, 2011.

Liquid-crystal-display maker LG Display said Monday it swung to a first-quarter net loss due to weak television demand and panel prices, but in a sign of improving market conditions, a company executive predicted a return to profit on an operating basis in the current second quarter.

Operating profits for the first quarter of 2011 are estimated at KRW2.7-3.1 trillion (US$2.5-2.8 billion), compared to KRW3.01 trillion in the prior quarter and KRW4.41 trillion a year ago.

TomTom said consumer business revenues would "contract modestly" in 2011 due to a decline in the size of the market for personal navigation devices. To compensate, the firm expects to sign more agreements with car manufacturers and license its products to more commercial customers.

TriQuint Semiconductor's (TQNT) fourth-quarter earnings more than doubled as revenue jumped by nearly one-third, but results still fell short of analysts' forecasts. "With the world transitioning to a mobile Internet, I expect a strong market and see another solid growth year for TriQuint in 2011," said company president and CEO Ralph Quinsey.

The profit gain was largely due to "a significantly improved performance in electronic devices, driven mainly by the return to profit of the LCD business and demand expansion in NAND flash memories," Toshiba said in a statement.

The first full quarter on Elop's watch will include the first sizable sales from the company's N8 smartphone. The 44% drop in profit forecast by analysts stands in contrast to Apple's 78% earnings growth in the period.

ASML said it expects first-quarter net sales this year of about 1.4 billion euros (US$1.88 billion), and said the company has the potential for 2011 sales of more than five billion euros. Sales in 2010 rose to 4.51 billion euros.

Micron Technology said it expects prices for NAND to drop another 10% in the current quarter but pointed to signs of improvement as demand for the chips used in smartphones, tablets and solid-state hard drives grows.

"Chip prices remained strong until the first half of this year, but they dropped sharply, especially during the fourth quarter," CEO OC Kwon said in a recent interview. "Due to the sharper-than-expected fall, a considerable decline in both our sales and profit is inevitable in the fourth quarter."

Texas Instruments has narrowed its fourth-quarter financial forecasts that match analysts' projection, citing higher demand for communications equipment.

Verigy has reported a profit for the August-October period, as higher sales of semiconductor test systems helped it come back from a loss a year earlier. The company's guidance fell short of Wall Street's expectations, however.

Sharp cut its annual profit forecast by 40%, citing the stronger yen and falling prices of panels. Net income will probably total 30 billion yen (US$367 million) in the year to March 2011, down from its previous forecast of 50 billion yen.

"We booked EUR 1,297 million worth of systems in the third quarter of 2010 and expect bookings in the fourth quarter to exceed the Q3 level, confirming our potential for 2011 sales growth," said Eric Meurice, president and CEO of ASML.

Samsung Electronics, Asia's biggest maker of semiconductors, flat screens and mobile phones, reported profit that missed analysts' estimates, fueling concern the global recovery in demand for electronics is stalling.

Samsung Electronics Chairman Lee Kun-hee has signaled that the company's component businesses have reached a peak, suggesting that profit may fall in 2011 from this year's record level.

Analog chip vendor Texas Instruments has lowered the upper end of its forecast range for third-quarter profit and sales, indicating that semiconductor demand may be slipping as economic growth slows.

Marvell's net income for the second quarter ended July 30 nearly quadrupled to US$219.8 million, compared with US$58 million a year ago. The results gave it confidence to start buying back stock, according to the chipmaker.

Verigy, which makes products that test flash memory, high-speed computer memory chips and SoC devices, previously posted seven straight quarters of red ink, though recent losses had narrowed.

Wal-Mart, the world's largest retailer, saw its quarterly profits rise 3.6%, but sales in its home US market fell for the fifth quarter in a row.

Net income for the second quarter of 2010 was US$37.3 million, compared to US$2.2 million a year ago. Revenues grew by 35.7% to US$435.3 million.

Sharp said it made a group net profit of 10.69 billion yen (US$122.2 million) in the April-June quarter, reversing from a 25.2 billion yen net loss in the same period a year earlier.

MEMC, which makes wafers for computer chips and silicon for solar cells, said it earned US$13.8 million, or 6 cents per share, up from US$1.4 million, or a penny per share, during the same period last year.

Motorola reported a six-fold increase in second-quarter profit, largely driven by its lower-profile non-cellphone units, as the company took several key steps toward its planned split early next year.

Toshiba has posted its second straight quarterly profit on rising chip demand, beating analyst estimates for a loss.

SK Telecom posted a net profit of 364 billion won (US$306.5 million) in the three months ended June 30, largely thanks to increased sales of its wireless data services. Its net profit was 311.6 billion won in the same period a year earlier.

In the three months ended June 30, Infineon swung to a net profit of 126 million euros (US$164 million) from a loss of 24 million euros in the same period a year ago. The firm has raised its full-year outlook, expecting revenues to grow at least 40% in fiscal 2010 compared to the previous year.

LG Electronics, the world's third-biggest mobilephone maker, reported a 33% drop in second-quarter profit after it lagged behind Apple and Samsung Electronics in offering smartphones.