By Sinead Carew
But the company's shares fell almost 10 percent in late trading after it said on a call with analysts that third- quarter profit margins would fall from the second quarter as expenses rise, even as it issued a revenue forecast that was higher than estimates.
Broadcom cited strong demand in wireless and wireline communications chips for the stronger than expected second- quarter revenue.
One analyst said the company is likely benefiting from the increasing value of the chips it sells to Apple Inc
"It was clearly a blowout quarter," said Piper Jaffray analyst Gary Mobley about Broadcom's top and bottom line.
Net profit rose to $134.8 million, or 25 cents a share, from $34.3 million, or 6 cents a share, a year ago.
Excluding items such as stock based compensation and impairment and amortization, Broadcom would have earned 50 cents per share compared with average analyst estimates of 35 cents a share, according to Reuters Estimates.
But as expense rise due to new product sales, Broadcom executives told analysts on a conference call that gross margins would go back to typical levels in the third quarter after second-quarter margins were a point ahead of the historical range of about 49 percent to 51 percent.
In the second quarter, revenue rose 33 percent $1.2 billion, well above Broadcom's April forecast for second- quarter revenue of $1.075 billion to $1.125 billion.
On average, analysts had expected revenue of $1.102 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
It said during the conference call that third-quarter revenue would grow to a range of $1.25 billion to $1.3 billion. Analysts had been expecting an average third-quarter revenue of $1.155 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.
"Despite continued economic turmoil, demand for Broadcom's wired and wireless communications products strengthened in the second quarter," Chief Executive Scott McGregor said in a statement.
Its report came a day after Texas Instruments Inc
Broadcom shares dropped 9.8 percent to $24.92 after the comment on margins, giving back a share price increase of 3.5 percent right after it reported its results. Broadcom closed at $27.64 in regular Nasdaq trading on Tuesday.
(Reporting by Sinead Carew; editing by Jeffrey Benkoe, Andre Grenon and Gunna Dickson)