John Curran
Analyst · Joe Giordano with Cowen
Thank you, Rob. As noted last quarter, our Q2 earnings release and all discussions reflect the retroactive adoption of the new revenue standard that took effect on January 1st. As a reminder, the sale of certain accessories that we historically reported on a net basis are now reported on a gross basis. This does not change our gross margin dollars but our gross margin percentage has decreased from historical rates by 100 basis points to 200 basis points. Now, for our Q2 highlights. As mentioned, Q2 revenue was $211 million, an increase of 19% year-on-year. Gross margin was 74% compared to 76% in the year ago period. This decrease was primarily due to an increase in revenue related to application-specific customer solutions. These solutions typically have lower gross margins due to the engineering effort required to develop the solution, as well as services associated with the installation and support. Operating expenses totaled $94 million for the second quarter, an increase of 23% year-on-year. It's worth noting that the rate of expense growth is slowing, but we expect to continue to invest in critical areas to support the long-term growth opportunities we see for our business. Incremental spending in Q2 came from new hires and increased activity in sales and engineering. In terms of headcount we now have nearly 2000 Cognoids worldwide, an increase of 26% over a year ago. Operating margin in Q2 was 30%, an increase of 10 percentage points compared to Q1 of 2018, but a decrease of 4 percentage points when compared to Q2 of 2017. The year-over-year change is mainly a reflection of our record-breaking performance last year along with our continued investments in engineering and sales. Our tax rate excluding discrete items was 17% for the quarter compared to 15% in Q1 of 2018 and 18% in Q2 of 2017. We have increased our tax rate for 2018 to 16%, reflecting our expectation that more of the Company's profits will be earned and taxed in a higher tax jurisdiction than previously expected. Excluding discrete tax adjustments, we reported earnings of $0.31 per share for Q2 of 2018 compared to $0.28 in Q2 of last year. Looking at revenue year-on-year from a geographic perspective, overall market conditions were strong. Greater China led the way in percentage growth as revenue grew more than 50% year-on-year. Demand was strong in automotive and in the broad electronics supply-chain. Revenue from the Americas grew by more than 20% over Q2 of '17. Similar to Q1, growth was particularly strong in the logistics market as well as other industry verticals, including automotive, food and consumer products. Europe increased mid-single digit in constant currency, strengthened the broad factory automation market led by logistics, automotive and consumer products was partially offset by lower large order revenue from consumer electronics. Revenue from other Asia region decreased mid-single digits on a percentage basis from Q2 of 2017, reflecting lower spending by customers in OLED display manufacturing. Our balance sheet remains in great shape, as we exited the quarter with $755 million in cash and investments and no debt. We have sufficient capital to support our organic growth objectives, M&A plan and to returning capital to our investors through stock buybacks and dividends. In Q2, we bought back 1.1 million shares. We plan to continue to buy back stock in Q3 subject to market conditions and other factors. As announced tonight, our Board of Directors declared a cash dividend of $0.045 per share payable on August 31st to all shareholders of record as of August 17st. With that, I will now turn the call back to Rob.