National Instruments: 3Q Earnings Snapshot

AUSTIN, Texas (AP) _ National Instruments Corp. (NATI) on Thursday reported a third-quarter loss of $4.6 million, after reporting a profit in the same period a year earlier.

The Austin, Texas-based company said it had a loss of 4 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for one-time gains and costs, came to 23 cents per share.

The results exceeded Wall Street expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment Research was for earnings of 19 cents per share.

The maker of scientific measuring equipment and software posted revenue of $308.1 million in the period, which also topped Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $302.6 million.

For the current quarter ending in December, National Instruments expects its per-share earnings to range from 32 cents to 46 cents.

The company said it expects revenue in the range of $333 million to $363 million for the fiscal fourth quarter. Analysts surveyed by Zacks had expected revenue of $302.6 million.

National Instruments shares have declined 21% since the beginning of the year. In the final minutes of trading on Thursday, shares hit $33.51, a decline of 18% in the last 12 months.

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This story was generated by Automated Insights (http://automatedinsights.com/ap) using data from Zacks Investment Research. Access a Zacks stock report on NATI at https://www.zacks.com/ap/NATI