Earnings Labs

TTM Technologies, Inc. (TTMI)

Q1 2018 Earnings Call· Wed, May 2, 2018

$137.27

-4.79%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the TTM Technologies Inc., Q1 Earnings Call. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Sameer Desai, Senior Director of Corporate Development and Investor Relations. Please go ahead, sir.

Sameer Desai

Management

Thank you. Before we get started, I would like to remind everyone that today's call contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to TTM's future business outlook. Actual results could differ materially from these forward-looking statements due to one or more risks and uncertainties including the factors explained in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. These forward-looking statements are based on management's expectations and assumptions as of the date of this presentation. TTM does not undertake any obligation to publicly update or revise any of these statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or other circumstances, except as required by law. Please refer to our full disclosures regarding the risks that may affect TTM which may be found in the reports on Form 10-K, 10-Q, 8-K, the registration statement on Form S-4 and the Company's other SEC filings. We will also discuss on this call certain non-GAAP financial measures such as adjusted EBITDA. Such measures should not be considered as a substitute for measures prepared and presented in accordance with GAAP and we direct you to the reconciliation of non-GAAP and GAAP measures included in the Company's press release which was filed with the SEC and is available on TTM's website at www.ttm.com. I would now like to turn the call over to Tom Edman, TTM's Chief Executive Officer. Please go ahead, Tom.

Thomas Edman

Management

Thank you, Sameer. Good afternoon and thank you for joining us for our first quarter 2018 conference call. I'll begin with a review of our business strategy, including highlights from the quarter, followed by a discussion of our first quarter results. Todd Schull, our CFO, will follow with an overview of certain key balance sheet and cash flow metrics, our Q1 2018 financial performance and Q2 2018 guidance. We will then open the call for your questions. First and foremost, I would like to welcome the employees from Anaren, who joined TTM two weeks ago. In fact, we are in Syracuse today for this call. We are very excited to have all of you on Board and to be able to move forward together in building on TTM’s strong operational foundation with your tremendous depths and expertise in RF engineering. Together, we will provide a more comprehensive and value-added solution to our aerospace and defense and commercial customer base. I would also like to thank all of our employees for their achievements in the first quarter of 2018 for TTM. We achieved the highest revenues for our first quarter in the history of the company, and non-GAAP EPS within our guidance, despite some challenging seasonal trends. We continue on our journey towards diversification of our end markets and differentiation of our capabilities. The last several months have validated many of the elements of this strategy, which we have communicated over the past two years. First, the diversification of our end markets help to reduce quarterly volatility and grow total company revenues in what was a challenging quarter in two of our end markets. Specifically growth in our aerospace and defense and automotive end markets help to offset the difficult conditions in the networking communications and computing end markets. Second, we…

Todd Schull

Management

Thanks Tom, and good afternoon, everyone. We knew going into the first quarter that we would face some challenges, but in the end we executed well and delivered on our commitment. Revenue in the quarter of $663.6 million grew 6.1% year-over-year. Non-GAAP operating margin was 6.7% and non-GAAP EPS was $0.26 above the midpoint of our guidance. In the first quarter, we adopted the new revenue recognition standard ASC 606, which requires us to recognize revenue as we build the product, essentially, within finished goods inventory become revenue. The adoption of this new standard added $14.1 million to our revenue results in the first quarter and $2.1 million of pretax profit or $0.017 of EPS. In future quarters, the impact of this new standard could be either positive or negative depending on whether we are increasing inventories or reducing them in a given quarter. From an end market perspective, we bucket these revenues in the other category. So on to the details. For the first quarter, net sales were $663.6 million compared to net sales of $625.2 million in the first quarter of 2017 and compared to fourth quarter net sales of $739.3 million. The year-over-year increase in revenue was due to growth in our aerospace and defense, cellular and automotive end markets and the impact of the new revenue recognition standard, partially offset by lower revenue in our networking communications and computing end markets. GAAP operating income for the first quarter of 2018 was $30 million, compared to $52.6 million in the first quarter of last year and $71 million in the fourth quarter. On a GAAP basis, net income in the first quarter of 2018 was $10.1 million or $0.09 per diluted share. This compares to $33 million or $0.28 per diluted share in the first quarter of…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we will take our first question from Matt Sheerin with Stifel. Please go ahead.

Matthew Sheerin

Analyst

Yes. Thank you and hello everyone. Just a question regarding your mobile – your cellular business which was down, I think greater than you had expected in the March quarter, which is no surprise, and then you're guiding down significantly, it looks like you're going to be down around 14% revenue year-over-year in that sector. In the past time you've given outlook for the year for different sectors and your outlook at the beginning of the year, I think was in the mid single-digit growth range, and obviously you're starting out a much lower base here. So what is your outlook that you can - the visibility that you have in Q3 and Q4 in your relationship with that big customer.

Thomas Edman

Management

Sure, Matt. So one thing in terms of just keeping in mind, with the ASP's the revenue itself if you look – so Q1 to Q1 actually we grew on the cellular phone side, you're right on the Q2 to Q2 compare will be down. But if you look at that and then you think about the overall market forecast of 5% to 8% that's not all of it that difficult of a hill to climb given the ASP move between the first half of this year and the first half of last year. And remember that in Q3 last year, we experienced a late start up particularly on the cellular side, and so that that impacted our revenues in the third quarter. So as we look at the full-year, we're still comfortable that we'll be able to move into that range of 5% to 8%, provided we hit the ramp schedules as expected. And certainly at this point we’re in that the prototyping sort of the normal pace in terms of prototyping stage that you would expect to see.

Matthew Sheerin

Analyst

Okay. And last year as you just pointed out, the seasonality of that business was different than you typically see, do you getting a sense that there's a more normal seasonality in that business this year versus last year? Or was it hard to tell?

Thomas Edman

Management

Well, I think if you look at last year with a significant technology shift, and of course on the printed circuit board side and with other in other areas as well. The extent of the technologies shift at least on the PCB side that we would expect to see this year would be left. That would certainly lead you to look at the PCB ramp schedules being one that would be more typical in terms of ramp cycles. Of course, we're not in control or have any influence on the rest of what goes in a phone, so I'm saying that was great. But that, certainly, from what we're seeing and on the PCB side a more normal technology shift as we look at this years cycle.

Matthew Sheerin

Analyst

Okay. Thank you. That's helpful. And then regarding Anaren, you talked about the contribution in the aerospace and defense area, which is significant. And then with your guidance on the network communications in the June quarter, I think you're looking for significant growth. Is that – how much of that comes from Anaren in terms of the sequential growth in that network communications? Or is this – the base business is going to be flat up slightly, and the rest will be Anaren to get to that number that you have, the percentage?

Thomas Edman

Management

Yes. That's a good way to think about it.

Matthew Sheerin

Analyst

I know your network comm business has been declining. It looks like seven quarters in a row year-over-year. And so question one is, Anaren growing that business and are they in different parts of the business if they are? And second, when do you expect to kind of turn the corner on this business, which has obviously been a drag on topline? I know there's 5G. What's your outlook there Tom?

Thomas Edman

Management

Sure. And yes, the Anaren business very different from the standpoint of supplying RF components that are then used in the base station, but also the microcell. And so as you're building on top of the infrastructure, essentially they would continue to see business. From a PC board standpoint, the PCB business is oriented around that that base station rollout, and so really you see that growth as the infrastructure is laid out globally. So as you remember we had a very nice spike in demand and networking communications back with 4G, as 4G rolled out. And at that point at the peak of that 4G rollout, the telecom portion of our networking communications space, it really grew to about 50%, now we're back down, have been back down to less than a third of networking communications being that that base station related demand. So from a PCB standpoint, we would expect to see a similar kind of cycle with 5G. From a Anaren benefit standpoint, you would see again that that initial spike certainly with base stations rolling out, but then on top of that an ongoing strong business profile with microcells.

Matthew Sheerin

Analyst

Okay, thanks very much.

Operator

Operator

Our next question will come from William Stein with SunTrust. Please go ahead.

William Stein

Analyst

Great, thanks for taking my question. In automotive, I think we're well aware that the predictability or the let's say the pipeline of visibility, [indiscernible] a very strong, you can design wins early there. But we noted that recently there was news of fire factory of a competitor and I'm wondering from a share perspective does that provide an opportunity and are we seeing that in either the near or further term outlook?

Thomas Edman

Management

Sure, thanks Will. Yes, I'd say – so the fire that occurred for those who haven't heard was at a Chin Poon facility in Taiwan and Chin Poon is really is the leader in automotive. TTM at least as far as market forecasters are concerned come is the second in position there. The facility affected was in Taiwan, not their largest facility, which would be in China. And I’d really like to say first and foremost this was just a real tragedy and our sympathies go out to the first line responders, who lost their lives in that incident as well as I understand there were two contract employees who were affected. And that more than anything employee just really makes you concerned and heightens are attention to safety in our facilities and – but beyond that in terms of customer support certainly where we're determined to support our customers as they go through, as they experience the after effects of this. From a TTM, overall effect we're running very pretty much full out and our major automotive facility in China. So well, we're going to go all out to support customers. I think it's a rather immaterial effect in terms of our prospects and it's reflected in that second quarter forecast that we gave you.

William Stein

Analyst

Appreciate that thoughtful answer. Maybe one other any – you’ve already giving us some good details about Anaren and how we should expect it to progress through the year. Any early lessons or let’s say surprises that it might have – that you might have seen in Anaren business as you have closed it relatively recently? Thank you.

Thomas Edman

Management

Sure. I would say that more than anything else is just been reinforcing our excitement about the business, about the prospects. I think the – if anything – the customer reaction certainly on the aerospace and defense side has been gratifying, I think for all of us. I think the assurance that Anaren had found a good home for the long-term business and then the synergy, the revenue synergy opportunity in terms of the combination of just fantastic RF engineering capability with TTM’s breadth of technologies on the PCB side has again excited to our customers and also our employees. So we're planning now for the integration. For us it's really – the key is prioritizing opportunities, making sure that we grow properly with those opportunities and that we take care of our customers, and that's where our attention is focused at this point. But really tremendously exciting for us and we're happy to be here in Syracuse today making this call.

William Stein

Analyst

Thanks and congrats on the good results and outlook.

Thomas Edman

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we will move next to Steven Fox with Cross Research. Please go ahead.

Steven Fox

Analyst

Good afternoon. Couple questions for me. First of all, when you think about all the auto opportunity that you mentioned that's ramping just this year, can you give us a sense, I know it's a little early, but a sense for what you think that mean for second half auto versus first half auto sales for the company? And then I had a follow-up.

Thomas Edman

Management

So generally we're looking still at a year-on-year growth level of that in the market forecaster range between 5% and 8%. Obviously, we're looking at – it looks like a good strong second quarter which is tremendous. And we will certainly update this as we get through the second quarter, but at this point overall comfortable with the 5% to 8% growth rate, we're very – again excited about the RF area and ongoing development going on at our customers, and our ability to provide the right kind of support for those customers. During the course of this year most of that from a commercial standpoint will impact volume next year and the year after, but even the work that we've done in the last couple years is now paying off and contributing to that 5% to 8% growth rate.

Steven Fox

Analyst

Great. Thank you. And then in terms of just thinking about the technology mix, like you mentioned you get ASP benefit year-over-year. How does that play out as you anticipate your mix into the rest of the year? Does ASP year-over-year benefit sort of dissipate because these products become more standard and if so by can you give us a sense for any other color around that?

Thomas Edman

Management

Sure. So the ASP reference was specific to cellular and really was a result of that large technology change as we move to what's called a substrate like PCB processing capability. And that was really driven by the need to get the finer lines and spacing are more dense circuitry in cellular phone. So that major move in technology which occurred last year, of course, resulted in an ASP move. Well we would see and as I’d mentioned earlier, this year less of a technology move therefore less of an ASP move. And so if you start thinking about ASP’s third quarter and fourth quarter to last year's third and fourth quarter that would be a much less pronounced difference in ASP. Of course earlier in the cycle, you get the benefit, they are usually versus late in the cycle, so versus second quarter into third quarter, so the previous cycle to the news cycle there will generally be a move up in ASP's, but given the fact the technology is not changing significantly, you'll see a rather – that will be a smaller move. And then during the course of the ramp, you would see that that ASP, a regular sort of reduction in ASPs during the course of that ramp. So hopefully that gives you a feel for what we're seeing.

Steven Fox

Analyst

Yes, it does. Thank you.

Thomas Edman

Management

Thank you.

Operator

Operator

Our next question will come from Paul Coster with JPMorgan. Please go ahead.

Paul Coster

Analyst

Yes, just a couple of quick ones. First of all, you put in place some dedicated capacity for a major cell phone customer and the utilization rate fell as our products and went through cycle. Have you found additional customers for that capacity and how should we think about that in terms of its impacts on margins over the course of the year?

Thomas Edman

Management

Yes, so as there has been additional work done on this technology, I think you've probably seen. There been some announcements. I think both that from an IP standpoint out of Korea as well as out of China adoption I expect will be occurring through the course of this year and then into next year. And from a TTM standpoint, again I think – where we look at when we hit that third quarter and fourth quarter, really we’re in full ramp and so the effect that or any effect that you would see would be more on the tail end of the ramp and Q1, Q2 next year. So relatively small and for the next certainly through this year cycle and then we will hope to see the benefit of that spreading of technology as we move forward over the next several years.

Paul Coster

Analyst

We have the figures that we’re seeing the EMS space in evidence of the supply chain buying long lead time inventory and investing ahead of some of the customer ramps. I'm not quite sure what to make of your balance sheet at the moment, just sort of looking at first time. But is there anything we should know regarding the way in which inventory is evolving, heading into what was particularly with on boarding Anaren and heading into the second half of this year?

Thomas Edman

Management

Yes, just Paul I didn’t want to cover off and so the second part of your first question which also to finish up on the technology because what you're seeing here is driven by circuit density that is a drive that we see beyond cellular phone. So I would expect that you'll start to see that technology move into other areas such as computing and automotive here as additional all reliability data is gathered, so certainly a technology that has legs in terms of the breadth of application for it. With that, let me turn it over to Todd for that answer on inventory.

Todd Schull

Management

So when you look at our balance sheet right now, it looks very strange I think. You see inventory looks like its way down year-over-year and then we have this new asset that's called contract revenue or something like that, which is really this new revenue standards kicking in. And so what used to be within finished goods inventory is now in this accrued revenue if you will asset and it really muddies – it makes it harder for you folks to be able to see or to discern what's happening at the underlying inventory levels. What I can tell you on a more apples-to-apples basis is that inventory is relatively unchanged absent this revenue recognition change rule or rule change. When you look at our cash flow and some of my comments around cash flow really the bigger issue there was in our inventory, it was our receivables, which is really more a function of the timing of customer payments and whatnot. That's really what we saw the challenging Q1 versus Q4 for example. But inventory levels in general are not too bad. Well, you're getting a lot on the EMS world because I've been reading about that also is really kind of in some of the very discrete components where they're having trouble and that’s really not on the circuit board side.

Paul Coster

Analyst

Got it. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we will move next to Woo Jin Ho with Bloomberg Intelligence. Please go ahead.

Woo Jin Ho

Analyst

Great. Thanks for taking my question. I just have one quick one in terms of the cellular phone market. I appreciate that you expect [monies] to be down on a sequential basis given what’s happened to your largest customer. But in terms of the near-term visibility, how should we think about timing in terms of the next cycle? I mean could we potentially see orders come in a little bit sooner or late into the June quarter or do you still expect that to be into September quarter? Thanks.

Thomas Edman

Management

Yes just as I mentioned earlier that because the extent of the technology again from a PCB perspective is rather – we’re not seeing a huge change that allows for what I would call a more standard launch versus last year. What I can comment on is again you know what other areas that would affect the end product and there we just don't have the visibility. But certainly as we prototype we're very much on schedule for what I would consider a more normal ramp schedule for the phones.

Woo Jin Ho

Analyst

Thanks.

Thomas Edman

Management

Thank you. End of Q&A

Operator

Operator

It does appear there are no further telephone questions. At this time, I would like to turn the conference back over to Tom Edman for any additional or closing remarks.

Thomas Edman

Management

Thank you. And I'd like to just close quickly by summarizing some of the points we made earlier. First, in the first quarter we delivered results that were in line with the guidance we provided, while our first half is challenging we are certainly executing well and we're excited by the product ramps in the second half of the year, as well as the integration of Anaren. Finally, I'd like to thank our employees, our customers, and our investors for your continued support, and wish you all a good evening. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today’s conference. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.