Mary Jane Raymond
Analyst · Needham & Company. Your line is open
Thanks Chuck. As a reminder, on the third page of our press release we show the segment results, the details on the bookings revenue and operating income by segment. Tables 3 through 5 and tables 7 and 8 reconcile any non-GAAP measures we might use to the important GAAP metric. The company's overall gross margin was 40.7% and is a solid operating result without much in the area of one-time items. Currency helped us about 100 basis points compared to Q2 of fiscal 2016, but the effect was fairly minimal sequentially. This follows a few quarters last year during which currency had more of a downward effect. At the operating margin level all segments improved sequentially. The reported operating margin for this quarter was 11.7%, compared to 11.3% for fiscal Q2 of 2016, and would have been 15.8% without this year's investment in our VCSEL platform, which we did not have at this level last year. The EBITDA margin was 20.8% this quarter, including about 2 percentage points for unusual items mostly foreign currency, which are recorded in non-operating income. Our backlog is $353 million. We had a 158 in photonics, a 116 in performance products, and 79 million in laser solutions. We have solid order coverage for the upcoming quarter. We also had had a growing backlog for the period more than six months out, particularly in photonics. We mentioned last quarter for the first time that we were seeing orders for longer periods of time. Our orders for delivery more than six months out are now more than double what they were last quarter. R&D spending this quarter was 10% of revenue. We spent 9.6 million pre-tax on the ramp of our new VCSEL platform, mostly in engineering. The capital cash flow has been about $32 million for this program year-to-date and there has not been much manufacturing depreciation effect yet. The SG&A expenses increased 3% sequentially, but increased about $6 million over the prior year Q2. The main drivers are the build-out of our IT platforms worldwide to further consolidate our multiple ERP and functional platforms, including at acquisitions. Some SG&A at the acquisitions at the acquisitions and new business and select M&A review activities that affect our business development and legal team expenses. The positive effect of foreign exchange in non-op income was a pretax number of $5.5 million in total this quarter. This was offset by a number of smaller items, including an update to the value of an acquisition around, and an inventory reserve for a positive effect of about $4 million in the pretax numbers. The second quarter FY17 tax rate is 25%. This was higher than our expected 22% for the year, due to an increase in our FIN 48 reserve. Our very low tax rate last Q2 - Q2 of FY16 a 14.4%, was low due to the inclusion in one quarter of the full-year effect of the R&D tax credit, which was extended late last year right before Christmas. We now have that benefit more evenly every quarter. The reported EPS in the quarter was $0.37 a share and includes our platform investment of $0.12 a share. Of the reported $0.37 a share, about $0.04 is attributable to the net of unusual items in the quarter post tax, foreign exchange, the Find 48 reserve, an increase in earn out valuation, and an increase in the inventory valuation. Our cash is $246 million and our net debt position is $17 million. The interest expense in the quarter was $1.4 million, compared to $600,000 last year, with 28 million cash outflow for CapEx this quarter. In addition to the capital for our platform investment, the growth in demand for optical and wireless communication products is driving our expected total capital cash flow for FY17 all segments to be at least $120 million, an increase from our prior high-end estimate of $110 million. We have 3.9 million in share-based compensation for the quarter. For the full-year, fiscal year 2017, we expect share-based compensation to be between $13 million and $15 million, higher than our normal $12 million to $14 million due to more grants outstanding and the increased share price. We didn't repurchase any shares so far in fiscal year 2017. We have $31 million remaining on our $50 million stock repurchase authorization. For fiscal year 2017, our excess cash is focused on funding the investment program that we will monitor carefully at the stock buyback opportunities when they have. The outlook. For the third fiscal quarter ending March 31, 2017 is revenue of $234 million to $244 million and diluted earnings per share of $0.31 to $0.36. The increased R&D platform investment will remain about $0.11 per share this quarter. I must just note that the guidance takes into affect our expectation that we won't have $0.04 in the EPS of net foreign currency and other things and it does a little bit anticipate the possible annual Chinese New Year effect. Our guidance numbers are all given at prevailing exchange rates and all of the earnings per share refer to diluted shares. Our diluted share count is 64,407,000 shares. Results for the quarter ended March 31, 2016, saw Q3 of last year, revenue of 200 and odd million dollars and diluted earnings per share of $0.24. As we will discuss in more detail during the Q&A, our actual results may vary from these forecasts due to a whole variety of factors, including but not limited to changes in product demand, customer forecasts, competition, and general economic conditions. This concludes our prepared remarks today. As we turn to the Q&A, I remind you that our answers to your questions may contain certain forward-looking statements, which are based on our knowledge today, our best knowledge today only, and for which actual results could differ materially. Sonia, you may open the line for questions.