ATI beats Q4 estimates

In a conference call Thursday morning, Ontario-based ATI Technologies, maker of computer graphics cards and chipsets, announced earnings of $22.3 million on revenue of $380.7 million for the quarter that ended August 31.

This represents a profit of 9 cents a share, or 12 cents a share excluding investment gains, goodwill amortization (debt readjustment), and other items.

This beat analysts' expectations (according to a Reuters Research poll) of 10 cents per share on adjusted earnings.

ATI attributes the positive report of a more than 70 percent increase in sales to demand from notebook computer and mobile phone manufacturers.

This follows some recent big news for ATI: ATI chips will be included in Apple's latest Powerbook laptops. ATI chips will also be used in Microsoft's Xbox 2 console. And earlier this week ATI announced that it is the "preferred graphics partner" for Half-Life 2.