Operator
Operator
Good day and welcome to the Universal Display Corporation third quarter 2010 earnings call. Today’s conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Joe Hassett. Please go ahead, sir.
Universal Display Corporation (OLED)
Q3 2010 Earnings Call· Mon, Nov 8, 2010
$89.62
-1.76%
Same-Day
+2.98%
1 Week
+1.25%
1 Month
+26.43%
vs S&P
+25.39%
Operator
Operator
Good day and welcome to the Universal Display Corporation third quarter 2010 earnings call. Today’s conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Joe Hassett. Please go ahead, sir.
Joe Hassett
Management
Thank you, Robert. And good afternoon, everybody. With us today are Steve Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Sid Rosenblatt, Chief Financial Officer of Universal Display Corporation. Let me begin today by reminding you that this call is a property of Universal Display. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of this call in any form without the expressed written consent of Universal Display is strictly prohibited. Further, as this call is being webcast live and will be made available for a period of time on Universal Display’s website. This call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of the date of the live webcast of this call, November 4, 2010. All statements in this conference that are not historical are forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These include, but are not limited to, statements regarding Universal Display's beliefs, expectations, hopes or intentions regarding the future. It is important to note that these statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause Universal Display's actual results to differ from those projected. These risks and uncertainties are discussed in the company's periodic reports filed with the SEC. Universal Display disclaims any obligation to update any of these statements. Now I'd like to turn the call over to Steve Abramson, President and CEO of Universal Display. Please go ahead, Steve.
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Thank you, Joe. And welcome to everyone listening on today’s call and webcast. This afternoon, I will start with a quick overview of our third quarter financial results. Then I will discuss highlights from the quarter and update everyone on our latest developments to grow our business in both the display and lighting markets. Sid will then follow with more detail on our financials before we open the call to questions. I am pleased to report that our revenues for the third quarter of 2010 rose to $7.1 million compared to $5.1 million for the same quarter of 2009. Once again this quarter, both developmental and commercial revenue were up from the same quarter a year ago and OLED products increasingly moved into the market. On an operating basis, our loss has a little change from a year ago, while the bottom line was well up, primarily due to the accounting for a stock warrant liability. Sid will provide more color on the financials after my remarks. Our UniversalPHOLED technology and materials remain key to the brain, beautiful energy-efficient OLED displays, spurring the rapid growth of high-end smartphones and other handheld devices. As a result, the market for OLED displays continues to grow at an exponential rate. Samsung Mobile Display recently increased their estimate of the number of handheld devices they expect to be using AMOLED screens in 2015 to 700 million units. This is up from 600 million units estimated just three months ago and is 25 times higher than the current market. New capacity is coming on line. Samsung has announced they are committed 2.2 billion to a new Gen 5.5 AMOLED plant. Reports indicate that the plant life of monthly capacity of 30 million three-inch AMOLED displays for mobile phones and that are scheduled to open in…
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
Thank you, Steve. And again, thank you, everyone, for joining us on the call today. I’ll be reviewing the financial results for the third quarter of 2010. I will also share some insights from the quarter, after which we will be happy to take your questions. Revenue for the third quarter totaled $7.1 million, an increase of 37% compared to $5.1 million in the third quarter of 2009. The improvement is even better than it appears since revenues for the third quarter of 2009 included $1.5 million received from a customer that ultimately did not enter the OLED business. And excluding last quarter’s recognition of $2.1 million, previously reported as deferred revenue, third quarter revenue was up sequentially from $6.3 million for the second quarter and from $4.3 million for the first quarter. Commercial revenue increased to $2.8 million for the third quarter compared to commercial revenue of $1.6 million for the third quarter of 2009. The increase is primarily due to an $834,000 increase in commercial chemical revenue and a $408,000 increase in royalty revenue, which is mainly representing royalties received under our patent license agreement with Samsung SMD. Developmental revenue increased to $4.2 million for the third quarter compared to developmental revenue of $3.5 million for the third quarter of 2009. The increase is primarily due to a $2 million increase in developmental chemical sales, offset by a $1.5 million decrease in technology development revenue. During the third quarter of last year, Kyocera dissolved its OLED subsidiary, an event that triggered the recognition of $1.5 million in revenue that was previously recorded as deferred revenue. There was no corresponding revenue recognized in the third quarter of this year. Total operating expenses for the third quarter were $10.9 million, up from $8.9 million for the third quarter of 2009.…
Operator
Operator
(Operator instructions) Our first question comes from Darice Liu of Brigantine Advisors. Darice Liu – Brigantine Advisors: Good afternoon, guys. Can you provide an update on your green material and when you believe it will be in the market? And can you also provide an update on the interest level for a new RGBB architecture?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Well, I heard the last half of your question, Darice, about the interest levels on RGBB. And the answer is, we’re finding significant interest in the industry on that architecture. Could you repeat the first part of your question? Darice Liu – Brigantine Advisors: Yes. I was wondering if you could provide an update on your green material. And when do you believe it will hit the market? And you mentioned there is interest in the RGBB architecture. When do you think we are going to see that in the market as well?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
I can’t really predict when we’re going to see either of those things in the marketplace, although I would suggest that you’re going to see Green before you see RGBB. And Green is still in testing with our major customers. And as soon as we are able to announce when they are going to be in the marketplace, we will do so. Darice Liu – Brigantine Advisors: Fair enough. And then I know that this is probably a difficult question to answer. But SMD has now extended its old license agreement twice. Can you talk about what these ticking points are with the new license agreement?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Actually, the negotiations are really confidential. So we prefer not to speak about them at all. Darice Liu – Brigantine Advisors: Fair enough. And then in terms of lighting, there has been quite a buzz growing. One of the companies creating that buzz is GE. But its material partner is DuPont, who used to work with you in the past, seems to be working on some sort of phosphorescent material. Can you talk about what that means for you, especially since GE plant that prototype starting next year?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
I guess all I can say is that we work with a lot of people in the industry. And we work with DuPont and we’ll continue to work with everybody in the industry. I can’t comment specifically on that. Darice Liu – Brigantine Advisors: Okay. And just a last question, housekeeping question. What should we be modeling for OpEx in 4Q and for 2011?
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
I don’t see significant changes from the past two quarters moving forward. I do see some growth, but I don’t imagine the growth is much more than 5%. Darice Liu – Brigantine Advisors: Okay. Thanks, guys.
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
Thank you.
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Thanks, Darice.
Operator
Operator
Our next question comes from Jed Dorsheimer with Canaccord. Josh Baribeau – Canaccord: Hi, this is Josh Baribeau for Jed. Pretty straightforward, just really one question about pricing of the materials. There is, I think, some perception in the market that PHOLED are two to three times fluorescent materials. Can you address this, or maybe talk about the delta between the two?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Well, we don’t really know – and we’ve heard numbers like that. We don’t know specifically what fluorescent materials sell for. We think that our phosphorescent materials, as customers get into high volumes or price that is competitive for what you get and the advantage that you get with our materials. But we don’t have real answers because we don’t see what actual pricing is for fluorescent materials. Josh Baribeau – Canaccord: Okay. And then just –
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
(inaudible) Josh Baribeau – Canaccord: And then just a housekeeping question. The gross margin has come down a bit over time as the commercial chemicals have ramped up sort of from the 90s to now at the low-80s. Is that a trend that should continue or does it come back up? How do you think about gross margins?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
The reason in these past two quarters is that we’ve seen significant increases in developmental chemicals. As I mentioned, when we sell developmental chemicals, some of them are the same materials that we sell commercially if you have the commercial license, but others are specific materials that we develop onesies and twosies in small quantities. And the cost of making a batch of 10 grams or 50 grams of material is really different than making 500 grams of materials. So because you are seeing a larger amount of developmental chemicals in the mix, the cost of developmental chemicals per grams is higher than the cost of commercial materials. Josh Baribeau – Canaccord: Okay. That’s great. I’ll pass it on. Thanks.
Operator
Operator
Our next question comes from Rob Stone of Cowen & Company. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: Hi, guys. Lots of good stuff going on.
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Hey, Rob.
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
Hey, Rob. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: I had a follow-up about chemicals generally as well. Do you get the sense that as volumes go up, your cost of securing chemicals from your manufacturing partner would go down? Do customers expect volume discounts as they buy a bigger quantity? How should we think about the influence on commercial chemical margins going forward?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
There is two parts. Obviously, as the volumes go up, our cost should come down. As the batches grow, we should get some economies of scale. And from the other side, our customers are always looking to have a reduction in the cost of materials. And they are either just over time or just tied to the volumes that they purchase. So I do see some pricing erosion, but we are not talking about big chunks. I mean, I don’t see our cost coming down in high volume in big chunks either. But we are in the 80% on average gross margin, and so I don’t see that coming down significantly over the next one to two years. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: Okay. In terms of contract research, a number of announcements, lots of stuff in lighting. Can you say what your total backlog is of research contracts that are funded at this point?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Off of the top of my head, I believe the number is somewhere $7 million and $8 million over the next two years that we have in-house. We have a significant number of programs that goes through 2011 and 2012, and a lot of the newer ones run through that period. So the number is – we're comfortable with our estimates for the $5 million of contract research this year and next year. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: How much was contract research in Q3?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
In Q3, it was about $1.3 million. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: Okay. Finally, when do you expect the Moser Baer facility to start producing lighting products?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
It’s Q3 of next year. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: And this is the end of next year, it should be [ph] year after?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Yes. I mean, it will be small volume. The facility is small volume, and the first product coming out will be onesies. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: How does that activity affect you in terms of P&L? Does it generate revenue for you or chemical sales? Or what’s the impact?
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Well, part of it is the government program that we have that we will be working on. And then as they scale up, they will use our technology, there will be a licensing agreement in place, and our material sales. But this is really a very low volume facility, and I don’t see any significant revenue coming out of this facility for us. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: Okay. More of a proof-of-concept.
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Correct. Rob Stone – Cowen & Company: Great. Thanks very much.
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
Thanks, Rob.
Operator
Operator
Our next question comes from Yair Reiner of Oppenheimer. Michael Suh – Oppenheimer: Hi, this is Michael Suh actually for Yair here. How is it going, Sid?
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
Hey. Hi, Michael, how are you? Michael Suh – Oppenheimer: Good. Congrats on the quarter. Just a couple of quick housekeeping questions, if you will. Just wondering – it seems like you had a bit of a dip-off in your commercial assistance. Has that dropped off completely for the next –?
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
It fluctuates – we have a number of programs that we get paid for working with customers, but it is not going to be a significant piece of our revenue stream. Michael Suh – Oppenheimer: Okay. Fair enough. Would you mind giving the breakdown between royalties and license fees?
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
The royalties are approximately $800,000 and license fees are approximately $200,000. Michael Suh – Oppenheimer: Okay. It seems like there is a bit of upside in your commercial chemicals than what I expected. Is there anything in particular that you thought driving that? Was it your major customer just getting more orders or is that some secondary customer –?
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
Our commercial chemicals are predominantly from Samsung. When you have a license agreement, we record these as commercial chemicals. So we’ve seen, obviously, an increase in Samsung’s material purchases during the quarter because they are increasing their output. Michael Suh – Oppenheimer: Okay. Great. And I guess my final question is, do you have any updates in terms of the capacity that’s going to come online from AUO or LG? I know you mentioned that they would come on line sometime in 2011.
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
No. I think Steve said they have Gen 3.5 lines that are coming on line next year, but that’s really all the information that’s publicly released about them. And we don’t get a whole bunch more than that. Michael Suh – Oppenheimer: Okay. Great. Well, thanks very much and congrats on the quarter again.
Sid Rosenblatt
Chief Financial Officer
Thanks, Michael.
Operator
Operator
And at this time, there are no further questions. I’ll turn the call back to our moderators for any closing remarks.
Steve Abramson
President and CEO
I’d like to thank you all for participating. And again, as you all are very aware, you can contact me for follow-up questions, which most of you do. So thank you very much, and have a good evening, gentlemen.
Operator
Operator
And this does conclude today’s conference call. We thank you for your participation. And have a wonderful day.