Robert J. Willett
Analyst · Needham & Company
Thank you, Dr. Bob. Good evening, everyone. I'm pleased to report our results for the second quarter of 2013. Revenue of $86.5 million set a new record for Cognex. Reported growth was 3% year-on-year. The increase was 6%, including currency exchange rates, which reduced second quarter revenue by $2.4 million. Revenue growth was driven by strong execution in the factory automation market, particularly in the Americas and China. From a product standpoint, revenue from ID products grew faster than the rest of our business year-on-year and set another record for Cognex. In recent years, we stepped up our investments in engineering and sales to drive future growth. The contribution from these efforts was meaningful in the quarter, helping to offset the sluggish market conditions we see in Europe, still soft SEMI market and the impact of a weaker yen on reported revenues. We had strong margin performance in the second quarter. Gross margin was 76%, consistent with the gross margin reported a year ago and in the prior quarter. This reflects the high value of Cognex products, both the unique hardware and leading-edge software. Operating margin is lower year-on-year due to our investments in new product development and sales channel expansion. We feel good about these investments, and we are pleased to see them begin to deliver for us. Operating margin increased 100 basis points on a sequential basis due to leverage from the revenue growth, primarily in ID products and China. Earnings were $0.38 per share in the second quarter, $0.01 higher than the Thomson Reuters First Call consensus estimate of $0.37. I want to point out that our results for last year's second quarter included an investment gain of $1 million or $0.02 per share that did not repeat this quarter. Now let's turn to the details of the quarter. In the factory automation market, revenue was a record $67.2 million in the second quarter. This is 6% higher than the prior record set just last quarter. Factory automation grew 9% year-on-year on a reported basis, 11% in constant currency. Looking at factory automation from a geographic perspective, Asia, excluding Japan, was our best-performing region in terms of percentage growth. In the second quarter, factory automation revenue from Asia grew 26% year-on-year and 19% over the prior quarter. Growth was led by particularly strong sales to manufacturers of consumer electronics in China where revenue set a new quarterly record. In the Americas, factory automation revenue also set a new record, with revenue increasing 17% over the second quarter of 2012 and 8% over the record revenue reported in the prior quarter. The underlying strength we see in the Americas is encouraging. This is particularly true in logistics, where we're beginning to receive large project orders after lengthy evaluation trials. As you may have seen in the news release issued last week, we received orders totaling more than $1 million from a major retailer who will purchase Cognex ID readers for their U.S. distribution centers. We expect to receive other substantial purchase orders for logistics applications in the next few weeks. Factory automation revenue in Europe was essentially flat, both year-on-year and sequentially, while there was a slight increase on a constant currency basis. We're thankful to our European team for their hard work keeping the business stable in what are difficult market conditions. Currency exchange rates had a negative impact on sales to the Japanese factory automation market. Reported revenue decreased 18% from the second quarter of 2012 and 5% from the prior quarter. However, in constant currency, Japanese factory automation grew 1% year-on-year and 5% sequentially. Revenue from the semiconductor and electronics capital equipment market, or SEMI as we call it, was $7.1 million in the second quarter. SEMI decreased 28% or $2.7 million from a strong quarter a year ago. On a sequential basis, SEMI increased 2%. In the surface inspection market, second quarter revenue was $12.2 million. This represents decrease of 5% year-on-year. On a sequential basis, surface vision increased 16% off a low base in Q1. Surface inspection revenue can be uneven due to the timing of deliveries and installations and the impact of revenue deferrals. We continue to perform well in surface inspection, and demand remains at a high level. Moving on to new products development. We were pleased with the productivity and innovation of Cognex engineering. During the second quarter, we released our next-generation advantage engines for integration into OEM equipment. Target customers for these products are in new markets for Cognex such as life sciences, printing and kiosks. You'll hear more about these opportunities at our Analyst Day in September. We introduced In-Sight Track & Trace 2.0. This new version of our identification and label verification software brings additional features and functionality to pharmaceutical and medical device manufacturers seeking to comply with new regulations and to reduce counterfeiting and other illegal activities. Our advanced code-reading algorithms reported to our industry-leading DataMan 8000 ID reader, making it the most powerful and reliable industrial handheld ID reader available today. And new lighting and optics features that enable easier setup were added to our DataMan 300 series of fixed-mount ID readers. In summary, we had a strong second quarter, and all indications from our sales team are that the momentum will continue to build in the second half of the year. In regard to Q3, we believe that revenue will surpass the record level reported tonight for Q2 and be between $88 million and $91 million. Growth in ID products, driven particularly by customers who are now placing volume orders for logistics applications, as well as the shipment of orders booked late in Q2, is expected to more than offset the seasonal softness we typically see in the factory automation market. Operating expenses are expected to increase by less than 2% on a sequential basis, and the effective tax rate, excluding discrete tax items, is expected to be 19%. Now let's open the conference call up for questions. Operator, we are ready to take questions.