Gerald Paul
Analyst · Jim Suva
Thank you, Lori, and good morning, everybody. The second quarter for Vishay has been simply good. Our results were substantially above the first quarter and is better than expected. Our continued solid order intake indicates also the third quarter to become successful. Vishay in the second quarter achieved a gross margin of 26% of sales, adjusted operating margin of 10% of sales, adjusted earnings per share of $0.27 and GAAP earnings per share of $0.23. We generated free cash of $36 million in the quarter and remained a very reliable generator of free cash. Let me talk about the economic environment. Throughout the second quarter, we enjoyed a friendly economic environment with healthy business conditions in almost all market segments and also in all geographies. Distribution continued to build backlog but at a substantially reduced speed of 1.5% quarter-over-quarter. POS also increased by 1.5% quarter-over-quarter. Inventory turns at distribution remained reasonable with overall turns of 3.6 like in prior quarter. Some additional detail. In the Americas, 2.4 turns, after 2.3 turns in the first quarter; in Asia, 4.8 turns, after 4.9 turns; in Europe, 3.8 turns, after 3.9 turns. The industrial demand continued to be very strong across the board, which can also be expected in Q3, which as you know is important for Vishay. Automotive remains quite robust in all regions. We expect growth also in the second half but possibly, at a more moderate rate of increase. Computers in general remain soft with some opportunities in service. The rates of decline in notebooks has slowed down but the segment continues to decrease. Fixed telecom leveled out in the second quarter and we expect it to be flat in the third quarter. The smartphone markets remained solid with upside potential going forward in conjunction with major new product launches. Military and AMS markets were still soft in the second quarter but medical continues to be strong. Let me talk about the business development of Vishay. Sales in the second quarter came in according to our guidance. We achieved sales of $642 million versus $602 million in prior quarter and $598 million in prior year. Excluding exchange rate effects, sales quarter-over-quarter were up by $39 million or by 6% and up versus prior year by $28 million or by 5%, excluding the impact of acquisitions and after-tax rate -- of the exchange rate. Book-to-bill ratio in the quarter was 1.0 versus 1.09 in the first quarter. We have seen 1.03 for distribution after 1.1 in the first quarter, 0.97 for OEMs after 1.08 in the first quarter, book-to-bill of 1.06 for actives after 1.12, book-to-bill of 0.94 for passives after 1.06, book-to-bill of 1.05 for the Americas after 0.99, 1.01 for Asia after 1.14, 0.97 for Europe after 1.1. We see no clear trends and there is stability, we believe. The backlog decreased slightly to 3.1 months, 3.4 in actives and 2.8 in passives, and there are no problems in general concerning lead times. The order cancellations remain at a low level. The price pressure remains normal to low, minus 0.6% versus prior quarter, minus 2.1% versus prior year. Price decline is relatively low for actives, minus 0.5% versus prior quarter, minus 3.2% versus prior year. And for passive, the price decline is moderate, minus 0.6% versus prior quarter and minus 0.9% versus prior year. Let me give you some highlights on our operations. The contributive margin in the second quarter improved quarter-over-quarter and came in within our traditional range of between 46% and 48%. The SG&A costs in the quarter were at $97 million, very close to our expectation. The manufacturing fixed costs for the second quarter were $131 million like in the first quarter and as expected. Total employment at Vishay increased to 23,080 heads or by 0.4%, all the increase was due to the acquisition of Holy Stone in Japan. The inventory turns in the quarter were at satisfactory 4.2. Due to increasing production outputs, inventories in the second quarter went up by 5 million when excluding the acquisition of Holy Stone. All happened in -- were in process and in finished goods. Capital spending in the second quarter was $34 million versus $27 million in prior year. $17 million for expansion, $4 million for cost reduction and $13 million for maintenance of business. For 2014, we continue to expect capital expenditures of about $170 million. We generated in the second quarter, cash from operations of $69 million versus $71 million in prior year, $297 million for trailing 12 months. We generated in the second quarter cash, free cash of $36 million versus $46 million in prior year, $141 million for trailing 12 months. And all in all, we expect another solid year for the free cash generation at Vishay. Let me go through our product lines, and I'll start as always with the resistors and inductors. Vishay's traditional and most profitable business continues on a good level. With resistors and inductors, we enjoy a very strong position in the industrial, auto and military markets. We are intensively penetrating the medical segment and focused on gaining share in Asian industrial markets, predominantly in China. We see good opportunities for thin film resistors, thick film power resistors and power inductors there. Sales in the quarter were $192 million, 2% above prior quarter and 10% above prior year, 7% above prior year when excluding the acquisition of MCB in France. Book-to-bill of 0.98 and a backlog of 2.8 months indicate stability. Gross margin in the quarter came in at 32% of sales, which is at the same level as in prior quarter. The price decline remains modest in our traditional markets, altogether, minus 1.1% price decline versus prior quarter and 2.5% price decline versus prior year. There is some acceleration due to the impact of adding customers in Asia. Inventory turns remained at excellent 4.5. Our acquisitions in the field of specialty products, Hunting (sic) [Huntington], HiRel and MCB, continued to be successful with a run rate of sales of over $100 million. Let me come to Capacitors. This business is based on a broad range of technologies with a strong position in European and American market niches. The business last year has suffered from slowdown, in particular, in renewable energies and from generally high inventory levels at distribution. After a strong order intake in previous quarters, sales increased to $112 million, 6% prior -- above prior quarter but 2% below prior year still. Relatively weak book-to-bill ratio of 0.19 -- 0.88 after 1.09 in previous quarter was visible mainly due to power capacitors but this is a temporary effect. The backlog decreased to 2.9 months. Gross margin at Capacitors increased to 24% of sales due to higher volume, better selling prices, higher efficiencies and lower cost for noble metals. The selling prices increased due to some measures in certain specialty products. We raised the prices by 0.3% altogether versus prior quarter and by 1.8% versus prior year. We remain confident for this product group, especially in view of opportunities in Asia, and also based on our latest acquisition, Holy Stone in Japan, which will allow us to penetrate the polymer tantalum market. Coming to opto products. Vishay's opto business consists of infrared emitters, receivers, sensors, couplers as well as LEDs for automotive applications. It contains a substantial and growing share of customer design products mainly sold to automotive and industrial markets. The business represents one of Vishay's growth opportunities, especially in the area of sensors and high performance couplers. Sales in the quarter increased further to $63 million, 10% above prior quarter and 6% above prior year. We see the continuation of an encouraging book-to-bill ratio at opto products, 1.04 in the second quarter after 1.16 in prior quarter. The backlog is at 3.1 months. Gross margin continues at an excellent level of 36% of sales, slightly down from 37% in prior quarter, which had benefited from some singularities. Inventory turns are quite excellent, they are 5.1. There's the low price decline, minus 0.7% versus prior quarter and minus 0.5% versus prior year. We continue to increase our technical staff in order to support growth, working on an increasing number of design-in projects. We also made a tender offer for Capella, a leading Taiwan-based IC design company. Capella, in a substantial way, would further -- could further strengthen our position in the promising field of optoelectronic sensors, where Vishay already is fairly successful. Diodes. Diodes represent a broad commodity business, where we are largest supplier worldwide. Vishay offers virtually all technologies, as well as the most complete product portfolio and we are leading, in particular, in power applications. The business continues on a growth path. The book-to-bill in the quarter was 1.07 after 1.09 in the first quarter. The backlog has grown to 3.5 months. Sales in the quarter were $150 million, 9% above the first quarter and 5% above prior year. Gross margin at diodes increased further to 23% of sales after 22% in the prior quarter. The inventory turns were at excellent 4.6. Price decline is relatively low, 0.2% versus prior quarter and 2.3% versus prior year. And we continue to expand manufacturing capacities in SMD packages. Coming to MOSFETs. Vishay continues to be one of the market leaders in MOSFETs, the MOSFETs transistors. The originally predominant Asian business, with customers in computers and phones, over years has been expanded successfully to automotive and recently also to industrial. And this now helps to balance the decline in laptops and PCs, which recently has slowed down. Sales in the quarter grew to $124 million, 10% above prior quarter and 7% above prior year. Book-to-bill ratio remains encouraging, 1.05 in the second quarter after 1.13 in the first quarter. The backlog at MOSFETs has grown to 3.4 months. The gross margin has improved to 15% of sales after 11% in prior quarter based on better volume, but continues, of course, to be impacted negatively by additional depreciation as a consequence of the announced restructuring until the first quarter of 2016. We have good inventory turns at MOSFETs of 4.1. Price decline was normal, 0.9% versus prior quarter and 5.4% versus prior year. And we are on the way to implement a major restructuring program, which targets at a move of substantial volume from a 6-inch to an 8-inch fab, including major reductions of fixed costs. We continue to expect full implementation by the first quarter of 2016, and all this should enable us to reach a gross margin in the area of 20% of sales. Let me summarize. The second quarter for sure has been a good quarter for Vishay. We achieved very reasonable financial results, better than expectation. We continue to generate cash and we continue to do our homework, following our growth plan. Additionally, we are excited about 2 major moves that will help to assure a good future for Vishay. The acquisition of Holy Stone, which will open the door for a new business segment in Capacitors. The tender offer for Capella, which is a successful enterprise already today, but has the potential to boost our effort to grow in optoelectronic sensors, a very promising growth market. For the third quarter, we guide to a sales range between $630 million and $670 million at gross margins in line with this volume. Thank you. Peter?