Broadcom revenue up on smartphone chip demand

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Broadcom Corp (BRCM.O) posted higher quarterly earnings and revenue on Tuesday on strong demand for its chips used in smartphones such as Apple Inc's (AAPL.O) iPhone.

The maker of chips for electronics products such as set-top boxes and broadband equipment also gave a current-quarter revenue forecast that beat analysts' expectation.

"The guidance was pretty strong," said Gleacher & Co analyst Mark Mckechnie, who noted that Broadcom has good exposure to Apple's latest hit products, the iPhone 4 and iPad tablet computer.

He said Broadcom had gained market share at big mobile phone companies Nokia (NOK1V.HE) and Samsung Electronics (005930.KS). Its rivals in phone chips are Qualcomm Inc (QCOM.O) and Texas Instruments Inc TXN.N.

Broadcom shares rose 0.85 percent to $37.85 in extended trade after closing at $37.53 on Nasdaq. McKechnie noted that investors had already pushed Broadcom shares up 12 percent since the start of July due to expectations for solid results.

Broadcom said it plans to launch new products this quarter and forecast third-quarter revenue of $1.7 billion to $1.8 billion, which was above analysts' average expectation for $1.67 billion according to Thomson Reuters I/B/E/S.

The company said profit rose to $278 million, or 52 cents per share, from $13.4 million, or 3 per share, in the same quarter a year ago.

Revenue rose to $1.6 billion from $1.04 billion over the same period and was slightly ahead of analysts' average expectation for $1.59 billion.

Jefferies & Co analyst Adam Benjamin said it was "hard to poke holes" in the results and guidance which he described as "pretty solid all around."

(Reporting by Sinead Carew; Editing by Carol Bishopric and Richard Chang)