Bernie Blegen
Analyst · Needham & Company. Your line is open
Thank you very much. Good afternoon and welcome to the fourth quarter and fiscal year 2017 Monolithic Power Systems conference call. Michael Hsing, CEO and founder of MPS is with me on today's call. In the course of today's conference call, we will make forward-looking statements and projections that involve risks and uncertainty, which could cause results to differ materially from management's current views and expectations. Please refer to the Safe Harbor Statement contained in the earnings release published today. Risks, uncertainties and other factors that could cause actual results to differ are identified in Safe Harbor statements contained in the Q4 earnings release and in our SEC filings, including our Form 10-K filed on March 1, 2017 and Form 10-Q filed on November 6, 2017 both of which are accessible through our website, www.monolithicpower.com. MPS assumes no obligation to update the information provided on today's call. We will be discussing gross margin, operating expense, R&D and SG&A expense, operating income, interest and other income, pre-tax income, net income and earnings on both the GAAP and non-GAAP basis. These non-GAAP financial measures are not prepared in accordance with GAAP and should not be considered as a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP. A table of that outlines the reconciliation between the non-GAAP financial measures to GAAP financial measures is included in our earnings release, which we have filed with the SEC. I would refer investors to the Q1 through Q4 releases for both 2016 and 2017, as well as to the reconciling tables that are posted on our website. I'd also like to remind you that today's conference call is being webcast live over the Internet, and will be available for replay on our website for one year, along with the earnings release filed with the SEC earlier today. Continuing with our now five year trend, we are pleased to announce 2017 with another record year for revenue. Full year revenue of $470.9 million was up 21.2% from 2016. The year-over-year growth was nearly double that of the analog semiconductor industry, which SIA estimates grew 10.9% over the prior year. Looking at our 2017 over 2016, revenue growth by market segments, automotive revenue up 58.7%, computing and storage up 25.1%, consumer up 23.4% and industrial revenue up 12.9%, communications revenue essentially flat between years. Let me speak to highlights by market segment. Full year automotive revenue grew $19.9 million to $53.9 million in 2017. This growth primarily represented increased sales of infotainment, safety and connectivity application products. Automotive is MPS's largest SAM opportunity at $6 billion, and we are in the early stages of penetrating this market. In the years ahead, we plan to offer a number of new products will application in infotainment, body controls, lighting, EV batteries and Ados. Automotive revenue represented 11.4% of MPS's full year 2017 revenue compared with 8.7% for 2016. Compute and storage revenue grew $20.2 million to $100.8 million in 2017. This growth reflected strong sales growth for cloud computing, SSD storage and high-end notebooks. Compute and storage revenue represented 21.4% of MPS's total revenue in 2017. Consumer revenue grew $36.0 million to $189.8 million in 2017. This growth reflected games in gaming and high-value consumer markets, including home appliances and battery management systems. Consumer revenue represented 40.3% of MPS's full year 2017 revenue. Industrial revenue grew $7.2 million to $62.9 million in 2017. This growth reflected sales for applications and power sources, point of sales system and industrial meters. Industrial revenue represented 13.4% of MPS's full year 2017 revenue. Turning back to our overall financial performance. On a GAAP basis, full year 2017 gross margin of 54.8% expanded 50 basis points from the prior year. GAAP pre-tax income grew 44.8% over 2016 to $82.9 million. On a per share basis, GAAP net earnings of $1.50 were 19% higher in 2016. The enactment of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 resulted in a one-time GAAP tax expense of $13.5 million or $0.31 per share. This new tax legislation also allows MPS to repatriate foreign sourced earnings. The one-time charge increased our 2017 tax rate from 5.1% to 21.4%. On a non-GAAP basis, full year gross margin of 55.6% expanded 40 basis points from the prior year. Non-GAAP pretax income of $137.9 million grew 32.4% over 2016. MPS achieved record full year non-GAAP earnings of $2.93 per share, which was 27.4% higher than 2016. Switching to Q4. MPS had a record fourth quarter with revenue of $129.4 million, 24.9% higher than the comparable quarter in 2016 and slightly higher than revenue generated in the prior quarter. Looking at our 2017 over 2016 fourth quarter revenue growth by market segment, automotive up 57.7%, consumer up 44.6%, compute and storage up 14.0% and industrial up 6.7%. Fourth quarter revenue for the communication segment fell 7.0% from the prior-year period. Fourth quarter GAAP gross margin was 55.0%, matching the prior quarter of 2017 and 50 basis points higher than the fourth quarter of 2016. Our GAAP pre-tax income was $26.7 million compared to the $25.1 million reported in the prior quarter of 2017 and $18.4 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2016. For the fourth quarter of 2017, non-GAAP gross margin was 55.7%, matching the prior quarter of 2017 and 30 basis points higher than the fourth quarter from a year ago. Our non-GAAP pre-tax income was $39.2 million compared to the $39.5 million reported in the prior quarter and the $29.7 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2016. Let's review our operating expenses. Our GAAP operating expenses were $46.1 million in the fourth quarter compared with $47.0 million in the third quarter of 2017. On a non-GAAP basis, fourth quarter 2017 operating expenses were $33.9 million, $1 million up from the $32.9 million expense in the third quarter, primarily reflecting, an increase in R&D, new product spending. Fourth quarter 2017 operating expenses were up $5.5 million from the $28.4 million reported in the fourth quarter of 2016. From both and the GAAP and a non-GAAP basis, fourth quarter litigation expenses were $340,000. The difference between non-GAAP operating expenses and GAAP operating expenses for the quarter discussed here are stock compensation expenses and expenses from an unfunded deferred compensation plan. Stock comp expense was $11.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2017 compared with $14.0 million in the prior quarter of 2017 and $10.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2016. Switching to the bottom line. Q4 GAAP net income was $12.1 million or $0.27 per fully diluted share compared with $0.54 per share in the previous quarter of 2017 and $0.39 per share in the fourth quarter of 2016. The current quarter GAAP results included the one-time expense of $13.5 million or $0.31 per fully diluted share resulting from the newly passed tax legislation. Q4 non-GAAP net income was $36.3 million or $0.82 per fully diluted share compared with $0.84 per share in the previous quarter of 2017 and $0.65 per share in the fourth quarter of 2016. Now let's look at the balance sheet. Cash, cash equivalents and investments were $304.3 million at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017, $620,000 less than the prior quarter of 2017. For Q4 2017 operating cash flow was $53.4 million, and for the full year 2017, MPS generated operating cash flow of about $133.8 million. Cash proceeds from employee's stock option exercises and the ESPP were $20,000 in Q4 and $2.9 million for all of 2017. Q4 2017 capital equipment purchases were $40.7 million, and for the full year, were $65.8 million. Dividend payments were $8.7 million for the quarter and $33.9 million for the year. Fourth quarter accounts receivable was $38.0 million or 27 days of sales outstanding, which was lower than the 36 days we reported at the end of the prior quarter of 2017. This decrease was due to a higher proportion of the quarter sales being recorded in the first two months of Q4 compared with the prior quarter. Fourth quarter of 2017 day sales outstanding were three days lower than the 30 days in the fourth quarter of 2016. Our internal inventories at the end of the fourth quarter of 2017 were $99.3 million, down slightly from the $99.9 million at the end of the prior quarter. Days of inventory decreased from - to 155 days at the end of Q4 from 156 days at the end of Q3 2017. I would now like to turn to our outlook. First and foremost, MPS is announcing a 50% increase in our quarterly dividend from $0.20 per share to $0.30 per share for shareholders of record as of March 30, 2018. During the next year, MPS will look for future opportunities return value to our shareholders. As of January 1, 2018, MPS adopted ASC 606. This new accounting standard, which modifies the revenue recognition role will have a minimal impact on our Q1 revenue. Looking at Q1, we are forecasting revenue in the range of $122 million to $128 million. We also expect the following, GAAP gross margin in the range of 54.8% to 55.8%; non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 55.3% to 56. 3%; total stock-based compensation expense of $13.9 million to $15.9 million, including approximately $400,000 that will be charged to cost of goods sold; litigation expenses of $250,000 to $350,000; non-GAAP R&D and SG&A expenses to be in the range of $32.1 million to 35.1% million. This estimate excludes stock compensation and litigation expenses. Other income of $600,000 to $700,000 before foreign exchange gains or losses. Fully diluted shares to be in the range of 43.9 to 44.9 million shares. Our tax rate for 2018 is expected to be between 5% and 10% on both a GAAP and a non-GAAP basis. In conclusion, we continue to grow and continue to enhance shareholder value. I'll now open the microphone for questions.