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inTEST Corporation (INTT)

Q4 2015 Earnings Call· Wed, Mar 2, 2016

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. And welcome to inTEST Corporation’s 2015 Fourth Quarter and Full Year Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference is being recorded today. A replay will be accessible at www.inTEST.com. I would now like to turn the call over to Laura Guerrant, inTEST’s Investor Relations Consultant.

Laura Guerrant

Analyst

Thank you, Paula. And thank you for joining us for inTEST’s 2015 fourth quarter financial results conference call. With us today are Robert Matthiessen, President and CEO; Hugh Regan, Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer; and Jim Pelrin, Executive Vice President. Mr. Matthiessen will briefly review highlights from the fourth quarter as well as current business trends. Mr. Regan will then review inTEST’s detailed financial results and, discuss, guidance for the first quarter of 2016. We’ll then have time for any questions. If you’ve not yet received a copy of today’s release, a copy may be obtained on inTEST’s website, www.inTEST.com. Before we begin the formal remarks, the company’s attorneys advise that this conference call may contain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements do not convey historical information, but relate to predicted or potential future events that are based upon management’s current expectations. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed or implied by such statements. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to our ability to implement and execute the 2015 repurchase plan, changes in business conditions in the economy, changes in the demand for semiconductors, changes in the rates of and timing of capital expenditures by semiconductor manufacturers, the success of our strategy to diversify our business by entering markets outside the semiconductor or ATE markets, progress of product development programs, increases in raw material and fabrication costs associated with our products and other risk factors set forth from time-to-time in the company’s SEC filings, including, but not limited to inTEST’s periodic reports on Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. The company undertakes no obligation to update the information on today’s conference call to reflect events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of anticipated or unanticipated events. And with that, let me now turn the call over to Bob Matthiessen. Please go ahead, Bob.

Robert Matthiessen

Analyst

Thanks Laura. I’d like to welcome everyone to our 2015 fourth quarter and year-end conference call. Hugh will review the financial results in detail while I’ll review some of the highlights and will then discuss our markets and what we are seeing in our customer base. 2015 financial results marked our sixth consecutive year of profitability. The fourth quarter reflected the seasonal decline that we typically experienced in the latter half of the year but was softer than anticipated. One of our primary areas of focus has been the continual optimization of operations to control costs and enhance mortgage, and the recent reorganization of our mechanical and electric product segments into the new EMS products segment undertaken in January has successfully moved us toward those goals. Specifically the sales channel and operations were reorganized to increase efficiencies and in doing so, we were able to reduce annual cost by approximately $700,000. For the purposes of the Q4 conference call, we’re going to do things a little bit differently. I’ll give Q4 bookings and revenue for all three segments, thermal, mechanical and electrical. But for business highlights, I’ll break them down by thermal and EMS. Going forward, for Q1 2016 and thereafter we’ll report results for thermal and EMS. Now for a more detailed look at the segments starting with bookings and revenue by segment. Thermal segment bookings for the fourth quarter were $5.2 million compared with third quarter bookings of $5.6 million. Fourth quarter thermal segment revenues were $5.4 million compared with $6.3 million reported in the third quarter. Mechanical products bookings were $1.3 million consistent with that reported for Q3. Mechanical sales were $1.3 million and were also flat sequentially. Q4 electrical segment bookings were $838,000 compared with third quarter bookings of $1.4 million. Electrical revenues were $1.1 million…

Hugh Regan

Analyst

Thank you, Bob. Fourth quarter 2015 end user net revenues were $7.7 million or 97% of net revenues compared to $8.6 million or 93% of net revenues in the third quarter. OEM net revenues were $219,000 or 3% of net revenues, down from $637,000 or 7% for the third quarter of 2015. Net revenues from markets outside of semiconductor test were $2.7 million or 34% of net revenues compared with $3.1 million or 34% of net revenues in the third quarter. The company’s fourth quarter gross margin was $3.6 million or 46% as compared with $4.3 million or 47% in the third quarter. The reduction in the gross margin was the result of less favorable absorption of our fixed manufacturing costs, which were relatively unchanged at $1.4 million, but as a percentage of revenue increased from 16% in Q3 to 17% in Q4. Partially offsetting this increase was a slight reduction in our consolidated component material costs which declined from 33.2% in the third quarter to 32.8% in the fourth quarter. While our consolidated component material costs remained stable sequentially, we saw both increases and decreases in our product segments. Our Thermal Products segment followed the consolidated trend and saw a sequential decrease in its component material costs, declining from 31.1% in Q3 to 30% in Q4, while our Mechanical and Electrical Products segments both saw increases with our Mechanical Product segment increasing from 40.3% to 41% sequentially and our Electrical Product segment increasing from 35.6% in Q3 to 36.2% in Q4. The changes in component material costs were driven by changes in both product and customer mix. Selling expense was $1.3 million for the fourth quarter compared to $1.4 million for the third quarter, a decrease of $22,000 or 2% sequentially. There was reduced spending on travel and advertising…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. Your first question comes from Theodore O'Neill of Ascendiant Capital Markets.

Theodore O'Neill

Analyst

Hi, guys, I was wondering if the application you’ve got for testing products for radar for cars. Is that destined for a single car manufacturer or is that from a broad-line producer that sells to a lot of different car companies?

Robert Matthiessen

Analyst

Hi Theo, this is Bob. I would like Jim Pelrin to answer that.

Jim Pelrin

Analyst

Yes, that’s actually, many of - a lot of our customers are targeting the automotive market and they are testing devices for that market. So, this is a significant win for us to get this first one in. But we anticipate a lot more because that’s where our customers see the growth.

Theodore O'Neill

Analyst

Okay. And since, so I’d like to talk - you gave guidance for Q1 but in terms of Q2 which is typically your strongest quarter. Are you seeing anything different in terms of in the market it might lead you to believe that this Q2 coming up might be better or similar or worse than the last year’s Q2?

Robert Matthiessen

Analyst

I think we see some bright spots at front-end which means it will perk down to us few months later. So, we do see some brightening out there. And I would expect that Q2 would be better, I don’t know yet, we haven’t done a forecast for it. But it’s not looking nearly as glum as it looked going into Q1.

Theodore O'Neill

Analyst

Okay, thanks very much.

Jim Pelrin

Analyst

Thank you, Theo.

Robert Matthiessen

Analyst

Yes.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions]. At this time there are no further questions. I would now like to turn the floor back over to Mr. Robert Matthiessen for any additional or closing remarks.

Robert Matthiessen

Analyst

Well, thank you for joining us tonight. We look forward to updating you on our progress when we report our first quarter results in early May. Good evening, good night.

Operator

Operator

Thank you. This concludes your conference. You may now disconnect.