Seth Bagshaw
Analyst · Deutsche Bank
Thank you, John. I will cover our second quarter results then provide additional detail on guidance for the third quarter, which will include a partial quarter's results for our recently closed acquisition of Photon Control. Sales in the second quarter were a record $750 million, up 8% sequentially and up 38% year-over-year. Our record performance reflects another quarter of robust semiconductor demand as well a strong acceleration in our advanced markets. Sales to semiconductor market set yet another record at $431 million, up 5% sequentially and up 34% year-over-year, reflecting wide-ranging of demand across memory, foundry and logic applications. Our broad-based product portfolio is leveraged to all of these applications. While growing supply constraints of certain components impacted our second quarter results, we are very pleased with how well our global operations team has responded to the unprecedented effect of the global pandemic. To give a perspective of how our team has executed since the start of COVID-19 disruptions, we have grown our vacuum analysis semiconductor revenue by 75% compared to pre-COVID levels in the fourth quarter of 2019. Not only does this reflect a world-class operational execution, but also a flexible and asset-light manufacturing model. Complementing our strong vacuum analysis results, we also delivered record revenue in our Light and Motion division sales to semiconductor market as we are gaining traction with our photonic solutions for lithography, metrology and inspection applications. As John highlighted earlier, the targeted investments we are making in our world-class optics initiative are yielding results, and we'll continue to leverage our scale and technical expertise to drive additional design wins with key customers. Sales to our advanced markets accelerated in the second quarter, setting a record at $319 million, up 13% sequentially and up 43% year-over-year, led by strong demand in advanced electronics applications, in particular, for flex PCB V drilling systems. We are very pleased with the performance of our Equipment Solutions division with revenue of almost $100 million in the second quarter and is inclusive of the revenue headwind from our discontinuation of low-margin semiconductor market products that occurred late last year. In fact, the disciplined returns-based approach to our portfolio, combined with strong revenue and favorable mix, has led to a record Equipment Solutions gross margin of over 53%. For the second quarter, the revenue split between our Semiconductor and Advanced markets was 57% and 43%, respectively. Second quarter gross margin was 47.4%, up 100 basis points sequentially and up 210 basis points year-over-year. This strong performance was due to higher volumes, product mix and effective cost control. Second quarter operating expenses were $147 million, up $4 million sequentially, primarily due to higher R&D product costs and variable compensation due to our strong financial results. Second quarter operating margin was 27.7%, up 190 basis points sequentially and up 610 basis points year-over-year, which reflects the strong operating leverage in our financial model. Adjusted EBITDA in the quarter was a record $229 million, resulting in adjusted EBITDA margin of over 30%. Net interest expense for the second quarter was $6 million, and our tax rate was approximately 17%. Net earnings for the second quarter were a record $168 million and a record $3.02 per diluted share. On a year-over-year basis, our EPS increased 86%, more than twice our revenue growth rate, exceeding our long-term target operating model that we announced at our Analyst Day. Exiting the second quarter, we maintained a strong balance sheet and liquidity position with cash and short-term investments over $1 billion and $100 million of incremental borrowing capacity on an asset-based line of credit subject to certain borrowing base requirements. Our term loan principal balance was $829 million in the second quarter, and we exited the quarter at $210 million net cash balance, up over $130 million sequentially. In terms of working capital, days sales outstanding were 52 days at the end of the second quarter compared to 55 days at the end of the first quarter. And inventory turns were 3 times in the second quarter compared to 2.9 times in the first quarter. We remain focused on improving our cash conversion cycle. In second quarter operating cash flow was a record $165 million, up 19% year-over-year increase. Free cash flow for the second quarter was also a record $149 million, a 26% year-over-year increase. We increased our dividend in the second quarter by 10% and made a dividend payment of $12 million or $0.22 per share. I'll now turn to our third quarter outlook. Based on current business levels, we estimate third quarter revenue of $720 million, plus or minus $30 million. It's worth noting a few items that are impacting our third quarter outlook. First, due to typical seasonality in the flex PCB market, our Advanced Markets revenue is expected to decline sequentially. However, we expect revenue from our advanced markets to grow considerably on a year-over-year basis. Second, increasing supply constraints on certain components are expected to be a headwind in the third quarter. Excluding the impact of these component constraints and given current business levels, we have expected our overall revenue to grow sequentially. Based on anticipated product mix and revenue levels, we estimate third quarter gross margin of 47%, plus or minus 1 percentage point; and operating expenses of $149 million, plus or minus $4 million. For the third quarter, net interest expense is expected to be approximately $6 million. And our tax rate is expected to be approximately 17%. Given these assumptions, we expect third quarter net earnings of $2.74 per diluted share, plus or minus $0.26. Let's now turn the call back to the operator for Q&A.