Balu Balakrishnan
Analyst · Sterne Agee
Thanks, Joe, and good afternoon, everyone. Power Integrations had a very good second quarter with 14% sequential revenue growth, a further expansion of our gross margin and our operating margin and a 30% sequential increase in non-GAAP earnings per share. We also generated more than $24 million of cash flow from operations during the quarter and increased our balance of cash and investments by $26 million. Bookings and backlog both grew sequentially, and we expect healthy revenue growth again in the third quarter. On the strategic front, we announced an exciting collaboration with Qualcomm Technologies,, putting us in a leading position, with respect to rapid charging, which is likely to be one of the most important trends in the mobile device market in coming years. I'll return to that important development in a moment after discussing the Q2 results in a bit more detail. We saw robust sequential revenue growth in Q2 across all foreign market categories, including growth of nearly 10% in both consumer and communications and midteens growth in computing. Leading the way, though, was the industrial market, with growth of better than 20%. Industrial accounted for 35% of sales in the second quarter, making it our largest end market for the first time ever. On a year-over-year basis, industrial revenues were up more than 40% in Q2. A portion of the growth is the inorganic benefit of the CT-Concept acquisition, which closed on May 1 last year, and therefore, only contributed 2 months of revenues in the year-ago period. But the majority of the increase is organic, including growth in LED lighting and smart meters, as well as our continued success in penetrating diverse and highly fragmented market for traditional industrial power supply applications, where factors like ease of use and reliability make our products extremely attractive. The CONCEPT business itself has also grown organically and had record sales in second quarter, thanks to continuing market share gains and end market growth. The growth of our industrial revenues combined with our continuing success in consumer appliance applications, has been good news for our gross margin. 69% of our sales in Q2 came from industrial and consumer applications, a percentage that has increased dramatically in recent years. In just the past 2 years, our non-GAAP gross margin has expanded by more than 6 percentage points, and a substantial portion of that improvement has been the result of end market mix. For Q2, non-GAAP gross margin came in higher than expected at 53.6%, an improvement of 70 basis points from the prior quarter. Before I turn it over to Sandeep, I'd like to focus for a moment on the partnership we announced earlier this month with Qualcomm Technologies, which has chosen Power Integrations as the lead strategic partner for the next-generation rapid charging protocol known as a Quick Charge 2.0. As I think we are all painfully aware, charging has become a source of frustration for users of mobile devices. As devices have become more feature-rich and power-hungry, OEMs have responded by designing in larger and longer-lasting batteries. Unfortunately, because of the voltage limitations of standard USB chargers, larger batteries have led to longer charge times and increased downtime for users. Qualcomm's Quick Charge initiative helps resolve this bottleneck with innovative but simple technology that reduces charge times by up to 75%, while maintaining backwards compatibility and interoperability with existing USB charging standards. The Quick Charge protocol employs an interface between mobile device and the charger, in which the device signals its visibility to receive a higher voltage than standard 5 volts, and the charger then adjusts its output to match the capabilities of the device. If the charger does not detect the quick charge circuitry in the device, it defaults to a standard 5-volt charge. Two weeks ago, we announced the launch of CHY100, the industry's first charger interface chip for rapid charging of mobile devices. This product, which is the result of intensive collaboration between Power Integrations and Qualcomm, is designed to be used alongside our highly integrated power-conversion chips in chargers for smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices. We believe the advent of rapid charging and the quick-charge platform in particular, has the potential to be a game-changing development in the competitive landscape for mobile device chargers. Until now, mobile phone chargers have been viewed by OEMs as little more than a cost to be minimized, with virtually no opportunity to add value to the user experience. Rapid charging introduces the performance element to the charger business and a new way for device makers to differentiate their products. This is great news for Power Integrations for a couple of reasons. First, the technology requirements of rapid charging are right in our sweet spot, integration, efficiency and system level design expertise. We believe Qualcomm's decision to partner with us is a direct reflection of that. Second, the dollar content available to Power Integrations maybe as much as 3 to 4x, what we get in a standard 5-volt charger, which makes this an extremely attractive opportunity. With that, I'll turn the call over to Sandeep for a review of the financials.