Adam C. Spice
Analyst · Stifel, Nicolaus
Thank you, Kishore. I will first review our results and then briefly discuss our outlook. In summary, our Q2 revenue was a record $29.8 million and above the high end of our prior guidance. As Kishore noted, growth in our revenues from cable was broad-based, and cable continues to be poised to continue to help drive top line growth in 2013. We're also encouraged that the combination of hybrid TV and ISDB-T digital terrestrial TV set-top box applications delivered the anticipated growth in terrestrial revenues in Q2, reversing softness in recent quarters. Now moving to the rest of the income statement. GAAP and non-GAAP gross margins for the second quarter were approximately 58% and 62% of revenue, respectively, versus our prior guidance of 61% to 62% for both GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin. This compares to GAAP and non-GAAP gross margin of 63% in the first quarter of 2013 and 62% in the year-ago quarter. The divergence in GAAP and non-GAAP gross profit in the second quarter was due to approximately $1.1 million of expenses related to the impairment of previously-capitalized production masks, for which future use is no longer expected. Currently, we do not believe there is risk of significant future mask impairments, as the remaining net book value of masks currently capitalized totaled $1.4 million as of June 30, 2013, and we believe our process for determining the capitalization of masks is adequate. Our Q2 GAAP operating expenses were $20.1 million, which includes $3.3 million of stock-based compensation, $1.2 million for an accrual related to the our performance-based equity bonus plan for 2013, and $1.1 million in net professional fees related to the Silicon Labs patent litigation. Consistent with 2012, payouts under our 2013 performance bonus plan are expected to be settled in shares of MaxLinear stock. Net of these items, OpEx was $14.5 million, which was below our prior guidance of $15.5 million, driven primarily by a slower-than-anticipated headcount ramp and continued tight focus on discretionary spending items, and the delay of previously-anticipated Q2 R&D tape-out-related expenses in the quarter. Second quarter GAAP OpEx, attributable to R&D, was up approximately $800,000 quarter-on-quarter to $12.3 million, which included stock-based compensation of $2.2 million, and $900,000 related to the 2013 bonus plan. The increases in R&D spending relative to Q1 2013 were primarily due to increased payroll, stock-based compensation and bonus plan accruals, due in part to the increase in headcount. Second quarter GAAP OpEx attributable to SG&A was up approximately $400,000 quarter-on-quarter to $7.8 million, which included $1.2 million in stock-based compensation, $300,000 in bonus plan accruals and $1.1 million in net professional fees related to Silicon Labs' patent litigation. The increases in SG&A were driven in part by professional fees related to patent filings, commission expenses related to higher revenues, and for payroll-related items similar to those described for R&D. At the end of the second quarter 2013, our headcount was 297 as compared 281 at the end of the first quarter 2013. We continue to add headcount, staff growth initiatives and continue to gain operating leverage in R&D by appropriately balancing hiring across our R&D design centers in the U.S., India, China and Taiwan. GAAP loss from operations was $2.8 million in Q2, compared to the loss from operations of $2.2 million in the prior quarter and GAAP loss from operations of $2.5 million in Q2 of last year. GAAP net loss per share in the second quarter was $0.09 on basic shares outstanding of 33.7 million. GAAP net loss per share includes $1.1 million of expenses related to the impairment of previously-capitalized production masks, for which future use is no longer expected; $3.3 million in stock-based compensation expense; $1.2 million for an accrual related to our 2013 base bonus plan; and $1.1 million in net professional fees attributable to the Silicon Labs' patent litigation. This compares to GAAP net loss per share of $0.07 in the prior quarter and a loss of $0.08 in Q2 of last year. Net of these items, our non-GAAP earnings per share in Q2 was $0.11 on fully diluted shares of 35 million, compared to $0.07 per share in Q1 2013 and $0.05 per share in Q2 of last year. Moving to the balance sheet and cash flow statement. Our cash, cash equivalents and investments balance increased $4 million from Q1 2013 to approximately $81.3 million, and a decrease of $3 million as compared to $84.3 million in Q2 of last year. Our cash generated from operations in the second quarter of 2013 was $6.2 million, approximately $5.4 million more than in the first quarter of 2013 and approximately $5.3 million better than the year-ago quarter. Accounts receivables totaled $17.9 million at the end of the second quarter of 2013 compared to $18 million in the prior quarter and $14.9 million in Q2 of last year. The days sales outstanding for the second quarter was approximately 57 days, or 3 days greater than the previous quarter and approximately 8 days more than the DSOs in the year-ago quarter. The increase in DSOs is largely attributable to revenue being increasingly derived from direct sales rather than through distributors, and our larger direct customers negotiating extended payment cycles. We remain comfortable with the quality of our accounts receivables aging and experienced very limited bad debt expense. As a reminder, we only recognize revenue on a sell-through basis. And as such, we are not subject to revenue fluctuations caused by changes in distributor inventory levels. Our in-house inventory at the end of the quarter was $9.4 million, up approximately $700,000 compared to the $8.7 million in the previous quarter, and up approximately $800,000 versus the year-ago quarter. Our inventory turns improved to 5.2x in the second quarter compared to 4.5 turns in the first quarter and improved relative to the 4.8 turns in the year-ago quarter. That leads me to our guidance. We are pleased to note that we expect revenue in the third quarter of 2013 to increase approximately 4% to 7% sequentially, to $31 million to $32 million. Built into this range, we expect both cable and terrestrial revenues to increase on a quarter-over-quarter basis. More specifically, we expect the growth forecast in cable to come predominantly from data applications, and growth from terrestrials come from hybrid TV tuners. We expect GAAP and non-GAAP gross profit percentage, again, to be approximately 61% to 62% in the third quarter. Our gross profit percentage forecast could vary plus or minus 2% depending upon product mix and other factors, in particular, the relative contribution of cable and terrestrial applications. We continue to fund strategic development programs targeted at delivering attractive top line growth in 2013 and beyond, with the focus on increasing the operating leverage in the business. As we entered 2013, we expected non-GAAP OpEx to be bounded in the range of $14.5 million to $16 million per quarter. As we've put the first half of 2013 in the rearview mirror, we've come in on the low side of OpEx, having reported $14.2 million and $14.5 million in Q1 and Q2, respectively. The combination of these OpEx underages, along with the upside in gross margins, have enabled us to exceed non-GAAP EPS expectations for the last couple of quarters. As Kishore mentioned earlier in the call, we're excited at the opportunities that are being created as a result of our close collaboration with major satellite TV operators in North America and Europe, and we're well underway in executing on these incremental opportunities to drive revenue in 2014 and '15. Relatedly, the OpEx underage of $1 million in Q2 relative to our prior guidance, pushes to Q3 as we incur R&D expense items owing to multiple tape-outs and increased R&D headcount required to address the new satellite gateway opportunity that Kishore mentioned. Specifically, we are augmenting staffing in critical engineering disciplines such as systems, RFIC, field applications, and also in sales account coverage to support these exciting opportunities. We remain committed to increasing the operating leverage in the business and are having great success in balancing this incremental hiring across our R&D design centers in the U.S., India, China and Taiwan. As such, we expect Q3 2013 GAAP operating expenses to increase approximately $3 million relative to the prior quarter to $23 million, with stepped-up payroll-related expenses, which will include the full-quarter effect of our incremental Q2 hires, anticipated Q3 hiring, a step up in Silicon Labs' litigation-related spending, and 40-nanometer R&D mask- and tape-out-related expenses previously mentioned. We expect that Q3 2013 non-GAAP operating expenses will step up a lesser amount of approximately $2 million to $16.5 million, due to previously-referenced payroll-related increases and the step-up due to 40-nanometer R&D mask- and tape-out-related expenses. In closing, we're pleased to report revenues in Q2 that were above the high end of our guidance, combined with gross margin improvements and tight OpEx control that delivered operating leverage in our business model, and correspondingly, positive operating cash flow, along with significant improvements in our non-GAAP bottom line results. Our guidance for Q3 revenues, to grow 4% to 7% despite a challenging macro growth environment, signals confidence in our strong product cycle momentum. With that, I would like to now open the call to questions. Operator?