(By Salman - iStockAnalyst Writer)Late on Tuesday, Altera Corp. (NASDAQ: ALTR) announced fourth quarter net income rose to $83.0 million 28 cents a share, from $65.5 million 20 cents a share in the same quarter of 2007.Quarterly sales fell 3% to $314.5 million from $323.2 million. Analysts expected the company to earn 27 cents a share for the quarter on revenue of $318.74 million. Looking ahead, for the first quarter, the company expects sales to drop sequentially by 15% to 25%. In a statement, Altera Chief Executive John Daane said, "While we experienced the effects of a global economic-driven slowdown in the fourth quarter, we increased our market share in the programmable logic industry for the sixth year in a row."

Black Box Corp.(NASDAQ: BBOX) reported that third quarter net income declined 13% to  $9.8 million, or 56 cents a share from $11.3 million, or 64 cents a share, in the comparable period a year ago. Revenue grew 1.3% to $261.8 million, from $258.3 million. Looking forward, for the full fiscal year 2009, the company expects to post revenue in the range of $990 million-$1.0 billion and operating earnings in the range of $3.25 to $3.30 a share. Commenting on the results, Terry Blakemore, President and Chief Executive Officer, said "Black Box's results for the third quarter demonstrate the strength of our business model. Our well-diversified customer base and solution offering has minimized the impact of a slowing global economy on our revenue. Our ability to effectively manage costs continues to drive double digit operating margins and our consistent positive cash flow has allowed us to continue our stated goal of making selective strategic acquisitions. With that said, we recognize that we are not immune to the decrease in corporate capital expenditures and reduced IT spending occurring throughout the economy."

Cascade Financial Corp. (NASDAQ: CASB) said that its fourth quarter net income slipped to $2.5 million or 19 cents a share from $4.0 million, or 33 cents a share. Consensus expectations were for earnings of 23 cents a share for the quarter. Net interest income for the quarter decreased to $11.13 million from $11.32 million while total non-interest income rose to $1.89 million from $1.74 million in year ago period." Despite the increase in the loan loss provision, Cascade is  surviving the downturn in the economy better than many of our peers, which is evidenced by our nonperforming assets to total assets ratio," Cascade said in a statement. The bank said that nonperforming assets to total assets ratio stood at 2.6% at the end of 2008, compared with 0.1% a year ago.

E*Trade Financial (NASDAQ: ETFC) posted a fourth-quarter net loss of $276 million, or 50 cents a share compared to a loss of $1.7 billion, or $3.98 a share in the corresponding quarter a year ago. Analysts' expected the company to lose 23 cents a share. "During the fourth quarter, the U.S.