Rob Willett
Analyst · Needham & Company. Jim, your line is open
Thank you Dr. Bob. Good evening everyone. I am pleased with our third quarter results which included the highest quarterly net income and earnings per share from continuing operations that we had ever reported in our company's history. Revenue was $148 million which is above the guidance that we gave to investors in August. It also represents substantial growth over Q3 of 2015. This strong performance was helped by our ability to deliver on large opportunities in consumer electronics. Outside of that industry, revenue grew by low double-digits year-on-year despite continuing challenging market conditions. We had strong margin performance in the third quarter. Gross margin was 78%, reflecting a revenue mix from higher margin products than in the prior quarter and in last year's Q3. Operating margin expanded to 37% from 26% a year ago. This significant increase reflects the substantial leverage that incremental revenue has on our business model. We achieved an impressive after-tax margin of 36%, helped by significant tax savings related to stock option exercises during Q3. Those positive items combined to deliver record earnings per share for the quarter of $0.61 significantly exceeding the Thomson Reuters' First Call Consensus estimate of $0.48 per share. Even excluding the $0.07 per share stock option tax benefit, earnings were well above consensus. Let's now turn to the details of the quarter. In the factory automation market, revenue for Q3 was $142 million, which represents significant growth year-on-year led by major contributions from consumer electronics. As previously discussed, large electronics orders were split this year between Q2 and Q3. Last year, the majority were recognized in Q2. On a sequential basis, consumer electronics increased while the rest of factory automation experienced a normal seasonal slowdown we see during the summer months. Looking at factory automation from a geographic perspective as compared to Q3 a year ago, our Greater China region continued to deliver strong growth in excess of 20%. Sales to consumer electronics, automotive and consumer products drove factory automation revenue to a new quarterly record exceeding the prior record set last quarter. Europe delivered the largest contribution to growth at absolute dollars helped by large electronics orders that were placed in Europe for Cognex products used on assembly lines in China. Outside of those orders, our European factory automation revenue grew year-on-year although the rate of increase was small. In the Americas, factory automation revenue increased by high single-digits year-on-year as expected. Spending by U.S. manufacturers in many industries remains lackluster. And in other Asia, factory automation revenue grew by more than 20% year-on-year. Growth came primarily from automotive and electronics. In the semiconductor and electronics capital equipment market, revenue was $6 million in the third quarter, up mid-teens over Q3 a year ago. As we have said in the past, demand from semi has been relatively flat on an annual basis for the past several years. Our expectations for growth in this market, in this very small piece of our business continue to be low. In other news, we recently completed two strategic acquisitions in the high growth area of 3D vision. First is EnShape, an innovative company located in Jena, Germany, specializing in cutting edge snapshots technology. This is a fast-growing approach to 3D data capture that we expect will find widespread use in factory automation. Secondly AQSense of Girona, Spain brings to Cognex both a user-friendly graphical interface that makes 3D products easier to use and sell and 3D vision tools that complement our own powerful algorithms. Not only is all of this new technology exciting but equally or perhaps more importantly with these two acquisitions we have been able to bring on 11 highly skilled and experienced engineers, of which seven have advanced degrees in machine vision. We expect these acquisitions will significantly accelerate our efforts to bring new 3D vision systems to market. Moving on to new product introductions. We expanded our In-Sight product line to include the world's worst multi-smart camera vision system. The new In-Sight VC200 can connect and manage up to four smart cameras at the same time without diminished performance, unlike any of our competitors' solutions. This is important as manufacturers look for vision systems to work together to solve inspection tasks that require multiple views of an object on fast-moving production lines. In summary, Cognex had an outstanding third quarter helped by volume orders from consumer electronics. While that business will not repeat in Q4, factory automation continues to perform well in a difficult environment. In regard to specific guidance for Q4, we believe that revenue will be between $115 million and $118 million. We expect to report double-digit revenue growth year-on-year with continued strong progress in high potential markets including logistics, 3D and China. Gross margin is expected to be in the mid to high 70% range, reflecting a higher proportion of revenue coming from service than in the third quarter. Operating expenses are expected to be essentially flat with Q3. A true up at the bonus accrual in Q3 is not expected to repeat in Q4. The effective tax rate is expected to be 18% excluding discrete tax items. Now, let's open the call up for your questions. Operator, we are ready to take questions.