Analog Devices Inc., the giant maker of microchips, managed to post stronger-than-expected quarterly earnings as a result of continually strengthening orders, and this led the company to predict second-quarter earnings above estimates as well.

The developments sent shares of the company up by 2%.

"Our business has broadly strengthened over the past few quarters and backlog levels are now approaching pre-recession levels", Chief Executive Jerald Fishman said.

Mr. Fishman is expecting revenue from the customers of industrial and communications sectors to grow during the year's second-quarter.

For the second-quarter Analog is expecting earnings from continuing operations to be about 48 cents to 51 cents a share, on revenue of some $635 Million to $650 Million.

In the first quarter, revenue in the industrial sector surged by 19% to $260 million, and that from the automotive segment, which has been separated from industrials segment from the first quarter onwards, grew 81% to $74.6 million.