Conexant Systems Inc

Conexant Systems Inc. makes computer chips that, among other things, help link television sets with broadcast satellites. But it's the Newport Beach company's own links to China and India and beyond that really tell you the way U.S. industry is headed. The company started life in the 1970s as a high-tech division of Rockwell International Corp., back when that firm was an aerospace giant.

It's nearly four weeks before Conexant Systems Inc.'s official launch on Wall Street, but already the company's stock is showing signs that it will surpass analysts' expectations. Debuting Wednesday at $13 a share, the stock--which was traded on a "when-issued" basis--soared as high as $22 in midday trading before closing at $17.87. On Thursday, the stock price fell $1.63 a share, closing at $16.25.

Conexant Systems Inc. said it had hired Daniel Artusi as chief executive. Artusi will also serve as president of the semiconductor maker. He replaces Dwight W. Decker, who will remain as nonexecutive chairman, the Newport Beach-based company said. Artusi has been CEO of ColdWatt Inc., a provider of power supply equipment. He'll start at Conexant on July 9.

Conexant Systems Inc., a Newport Beach maker of chips for broadband devices, said company President Matt Rhodes was stepping down from his post and leaving the company in June. Dwight Decker, chairman and chief executive, has assumed the role of president, which oversees the general managers of Conexant's four business groups, as well as its president of operations in India.

Newport Beach-based Conexant Systems Inc. shrank its quarterly loss fivefold as the maker of communications and networking chips beat its own expectations and said it speeded its overall recovery, sending its shares up 9%. Conexant said the net loss for its first fiscal quarter ended Dec. 31 was $24.3 million, or 5 cents a share, compared with a loss of $120.7 million, or 26 cents a share, a year earlier.

In other earnings news among California companies: Conexant Systems Inc., a maker of chips used in cable and DSL modems, reported a smaller net loss for the fiscal second quarter, as it did not have the merger-related charges of a year earlier, but revenue fell sharply. The company's revenue came in about $10 million higher than the company's forecast, and its shares rose 11 cents, or about 9%, in after-hours trading. In regular trading on Nasdaq, the stock fell 7 cents to $1.22.

Communications chip maker Conexant Systems Inc. moved Tuesday to undo some of the damage from its roughly $1.2-billion acquisition of GlobespanVirata Inc., reappointing founder Dwight Decker as chief executive and moving the firm's headquarters back to Newport Beach from Red Bank, N.J. Conexant has racked up more than $439 million in losses since the deal closed in late February.

Chip maker Conexant Systems Inc. on Thursday reported a fiscal first-quarter loss of $52.2 million, or 20 cents a share, as the market for networking and telecommunications gear remained tough. That compared with a loss of $204.5 million, or 80 cents a share, in the same quarter a year earlier, Newport Beach-based Conexant said. Revenue rose to $164.5 million from $141 million a year earlier.

Conexant Systems Inc., a maker of computer chips for communications gear, will spin off its unprofitable Mindspeed Technologies business, which makes semiconductors for Internet equipment. Mindspeed will receive $150 million in cash from Conexant in initial capital and contingent funding. Conexant will get warrants to purchase common stock representing as much as 20% of Mindspeed, Chief Financial Officer Balakrishnan Iyer said. Shares of Newport Beach-based Conexant rose 20 cents to $1.

Conexant Systems Inc. said it posted a narrower fiscal second-quarter net loss as revenue rose from a year earlier. The Newport Beach company, whose chips are found in most fax machines, reported a net loss of $68 million, or 26 cents a share, compared with a net loss of $200.7 million, or 78 cents, a year earlier. Revenue rose 6% to $158.4 million. Conexant shares rose 7 cents to $1.71 on Nasdaq before the announcement.