FEI Company (Nasdaq:FEIC), a leading provider of high-resolution imaging and analysis systems, today announced that, based on preliminary results, its gross bookings for the fourth quarter of 2008 are projected to be above $170 million.

On October 26, the company announced during its public investor conference call that it expected gross bookings to be above $150 million, assuming foreign currency exchange rates stayed at the same level as the end of the third quarter, when the euro/dollar exchange rate was $1.46. The actual exchange rate at the end of the fourth quarter was $1.39.

Preliminary bookings results are subject to completion of standard review and documentation of all customer purchase orders. Gross bookings will also be reduced by approximately 5% to 8% due to the normal quarterly revaluation of the company’s backlog.

“Our strong bookings performance in a difficult economic environment is based on our technology leadership and the diversity of our markets and geographic scope,” commented Don Kania, FEI’s president and CEO. “Life Sciences bookings were paced by several orders for our Titan Krios S/TEM from leading research institutions around the globe, and our Research bookings remained robust, offsetting industry-wide weakness in semiconductor and data storage markets. Our strong fourth-quarter bookings follow our record third quarter total and reaffirm the visibility we have for our performance in the first half of 2009.”

For comparison purposes, net bookings in the third quarter of 2008 were $175.3 million, and net bookings in the fourth quarter of 2007 were $156.3 million.

FEI expects to report full financial results for the fourth quarter of 2008 on Thursday, February 5, at the close of regular trading.