Dr. Gerald Paul
Analyst · Cowen
Thank you, Lori, and good morning, everybody. Also in the second quarter, the steep upturn of our business visible since October of last year continued. We keep ramping up critical manufacturing capacities, increasing revenues and profits further. Quite excellent plant efficiencies, the impact of price increases and our traditional discipline in fixed costs support the financial results. Vishay, in the second quarter, achieved a gross margin of 28% of sales, an operating margin of 15.3% of sales, earnings per share of $0.64 and adjusted earnings per share of $0.61. We, in the second quarter, generated $85 million of free cash, and we do expect another solid year of cash generation. The economic environment for the electronics business continues to be exceptional with sales and backlogs at a historical high. Virtually all markets currently are in excellent shape, and supply chains continue to be rather depleted. Despite all efforts to expand manufacturing capacities quickly, lead times for many product lines have stretched out rapidly and massively. Price pressure presently is very low, and selected price increases are being implemented, partially required to offset increased costs for metals and transportation. Commenting on the regions. We see a continued strong performance in Asia and in the Americas. Europe is somewhat lagging due to temporary supply problems in the automotive sector caused by a lack of ICs. The Industrial segment drives demand in all the regions. Distribution in all hemispheres continues to be extremely hungry for product. Talking about distribution, global distribution continues to get overwhelmed with orders. We see a record high since at least 15 years. POS in the second quarter was 5% over prior quarter and a remarkable 45% over prior year. After massive increases in the first quarter, POS increased further in all regions, by 3% in the Americas, by 6% in Asia and by 5% in Europe. Global distribution inventory has stabilized on very low, partially critically low levels. Inventory turns of global distribution increased to quite extreme 4.4 from 4.3 in prior quarter; in the Americas, the 2.1, after 1.9 in Q1 and 1.4 in prior year; in Asia, 7.4 turns after 6.7 in Q1 and 4.1 in prior year; 4.6 turns in Europe after 4.4 in Q1 and 3.0 in prior year. Talking about the various industry segments we serve. Automotive continues strong globally with OEMs continuing to struggle for replenishing vehicle inventory. The increase of the electronic content clearly accelerates. There are some temporary supply problems in -- leading to some artificial slowdown of the industry. Still expect previously forecasted growth of 10% versus prior year in terms of vehicles. We see an exceptional growth of the industrial sectors, which indicates an ongoing broad global upturn. Factory automation and accelerated residential development, governmental investments in power generation and transmission systems as well as alternative energy systems are driving the demand. Markets for computer and peripheral equipment are holding up well. 5G base station equipment continues to show promising growth in telecom. Military spending continues reasonably strong. Commercial aerospace showing first signs of recovery. The medical sector stabilized on a high level, and consumer market sectors continue to show growth, driven by high rates of home construction, traditional television and gaming. Coming to the business development for Vishay. Due to high orders and backlogs and based on continued increase of manufacturing capacities, Q2 sales, excluding exchange rate impacts, came in at a record and above the midpoint of our guidance. We achieved sales of $819 million versus $765 million in prior quarter and $582 million in prior year. Excluding exchange rate effects, sales in Q2 were up by $55 million or by 7% versus prior quarter and up by $215 million or 36% versus prior year. Book-to-bill in the second quarter remained on a very high level of 1.38 after 1.67 in prior quarter; 1.41 for distribution after 1.89 in quarter 1; 1.34 for OEMs after 1.41; 1.41 for semiconductors after 1.86 in Q1; 1.35 for passives after 1.50 in quarter 1; 1.33 for the Americas after 1.42 in the first quarter; 1.29 for Asia after 1.86 in Q1; 1.54 for Europe after 1.62 in Q1. Backlog in the second quarter climbed to another record high of 7.5 months after 6.8 months in Q1; 8.4 months in semis after 7.7 months in quarter 1; and 6.7 months in passives after 5.9 months last quarter. There is practically no price decline. In fact, there are some increases quarter-over-quarter. Vis-à-vis prior quarter, we saw a price increase of 1.0% and versus prior year, a slight loss of 0.3%. In semis, these numbers were an increase of 1.5% versus prior quarter and a slight decrease of 0.7% versus prior year. For passives, price increases, plus 0.4% versus prior quarter and plus 0.1% versus prior year. Some highlights of operations. Thanks to continued excellent plant efficiencies and despite still high transportation and metal costs, contributive margin in the second quarter improved further, returning to traditional levels. SG&A costs in the second quarter came in at $104 million, according to expectations when excluding exchange rate effects. Manufacturing fixed costs in the second quarter came in at $141 million, again according to expectation without exchange rate effects. Total employment at the end of the second quarter was 22,500, 2% up from prior quarter at 22,060. Excluding exchange rate impacts, inventories in the quarter increased by $31 million, $11 million in raw materials and $20 million in work in process and finished goods. Inventory turns in the second quarter remained at a very high level of 4.8. Capital spending in Q2 was $32 million versus $25 million in prior year, $20 million for expansion, $2 million for cost reduction and $10 million for the maintenance of business. In view of the extremely high market demand, we are accelerating midterm expansion programs noticeably. We now expect for the year '21 CapEx of approximately $250 million. We generated, in the second quarter, cash from operations of $365 million on a trailing 12-month basis. We generated, in the second quarter, free cash of $230 million, again on a trailing 12-month basis. Despite increased CapEx, we also, for the current year, expect a solid generation of free cash, quite in line with our tradition. Let me come to our product lines and the start as always with resistors. With resistors, we enjoy a very strong position in the auto, industrial, military and medical market segments. We offer virtually all resistor technologies and are globally known as a reliable and high-quality supplier of the broadest product range. Vishay's traditional and historically growing business has recovered completely from the pandemic running at record levels now. Sales in the quarter were $195 million, up by $8 million or 4% versus prior quarter and up by $47 million or 32% versus prior year, all excluding exchange rate impacts. Book-to-bill ratio in the second quarter continued strong at 1.39 after 1.50 in prior quarter. Backlog increased further to 6.6 months from 5.6 months in prior quarter. Due to higher volume and quite excellent efficiencies in the plants, gross margin in the second quarter increased further to 30% of sales from 29% in prior quarter. Inventory turns in the quarter remained at a very high level of 5.1. Selling prices are increasing, plus 0.5% versus prior quarter and plus 0.6% versus prior year. We are in process to raise critical manufacturing capacities for resistor chips and for power wirewound substantially, opening also a new production site in China, and we do expect a very successful year for resistors. Coming to inductors. This business consists of power inductors and mechanics. Since years, this is our fastest-growing business we have in passes and represents one of the greatest success stories of Vishay. Exploiting the growing need for inductors in general, Vishay developed a platform of robust and efficient power inductors and leads the market technically. With magnetics, we are very well positioned in specialty businesses, demonstrating their steady growth. Sales of inductors in the second quarter were $86 million, up by $2 million or 3% versus prior quarter and up by $19 million or 29% versus prior year, all excluding exchange rate effects. Book-to-bill ratio in the second quarter increased to 1.21 after 1.13 in prior quarter. Backlog grew to 5.1 months from 4.5 in Q1. Gross margin reached a quite excellent level of 34% of sales after 33% in the first quarter. Inventory turns normalized to a level of 4.7, down from 5.1 in the first quarter. We see reduced price pressure. We see price increases of 0.8% versus prior quarter and a decline of 2.2% versus prior year. We are accelerating our next steps of capacity expansion for power inductors in order to get ahead of the demand curve. Capacitors. Our business with capacitors is based on a broad range of technologies with a strong position in American and European market niches. We enjoy increasing opportunities in the fields of power transmission and of electro cars, namely in Asia, especially in China. Sales in the second quarter were $120 million, 13% above prior quarter and 36% above prior year without exchange rate effects. Book-to-bill ratio in the second quarter remained at a high level of 1.37 after 1.73 in prior quarter. Backlog increased to a record level of 7.7 months from 7.4 months in Q1. Gross margin in the quarter improved further to 24% of sales coming from 23% in Q1. Inventory turns in the quarter remained at 3.9. Selling prices are increasing, plus 0.2% versus prior quarter, plus 1% versus prior year. We also expect a good year for capacitors driven by large governmental projects in China by our solid mill business and a very friendly business environment in general. Opto products. Vishay's business with Opto products consists of infrared emitters, receivers, sensors and couplers. The business in 2020 experienced a significant recovery from disappointing results in prior years. Also in Opto, we see a strong acceleration of demand. Sales in the quarter were $76 million, 3% below prior quarter but 47% above prior year without exchange rate impacts. Book-to-bill in the second quarter remained at a very high level of 1.69 after 1.66 in the first quarter. Backlog continued to grow to an extreme high of 9.3 months after 7 months in Q1, partially due to COVID-related restrictions of manufacturing capacities in Malaysia. This is the only place we incurred such restrictions. Gross margin in the second quarter remained at an excellent level of 32% of sales after 33% in the first quarter. I think we can say that Opto is back to its historical profitability level. We see more normal inventory turns of 5.8 in the quarter after 6.4 in Q1. Also in the case of Opto, selling prices are going up, plus 1.7% in prior quarter and plus 1.5% versus prior year. And we are in process to modernize and expand the Heilbronn fab in Germany. Diodes. Diodes for Vishay represents a broad commodity business, where we are the largest supplier worldwide. Vishay offers virtually all technologies as well as the most complete product portfolio. The business has a very strong position in the automotive and industrial market segments and keeps growing steadily and profitably since years. The business has started to exceed pre-pandemic levels. Sales in the quarter were $175 million, up by $18 million or by 11% versus prior quarter and up by $47 million or 36% versus prior year without exchange rate effects. There's a continued strong book-to-bill ratio of 1.45 in the quarter after 1.85 in the first quarter. Backlog climbed to an extreme high of 8.9 months from 7.9 months in prior quarter. Gross margin continued to improve to now 24% of sales as compared to 22% in Q1. Inventory turns were at 4.7 after 4.8 in prior quarter. Also for diode, selling prices are increasing by 1.7% versus prior quarter and by 0.2% versus prior year. We decided for a substantial expansion of our in-house fab capacity in Taipei, introducing at the same time, the 8-inch technology relevant also, of course, for cost reduction. As expected, diodes with a return to normal volumes has reached a pre-pandemic profitability levels. MOSFETs. Vishay is one of the market leaders in MOSFET transistors. With MOSFET, we enjoy a strong and growing market position, in particular in automotive, which in view of an increasing use of MOSFETs in automotive will provide a successful future. Demand has reached extreme levels and increases further. Sales in the quarter were $168 million, a record level, 10% above prior quarter and 39% above prior year, excluding exchange rate effects. Book-to-bill ratio for MOSFETs in the quarter was 1.26 after 1.97 in the first quarter. Backlog remained at an extreme level of 7.9 months as compared to 7.8 in Q1. Due to a combination of higher volume, better prices and even better efficiencies, gross margin in the quarter increased noticeably to 28% of sales, up from 24% in prior quarter. Inventory turns in the quarter increased further to 5.0 from 4.7 in Q1. We see a decrease in price pressure. We have indeed [Technical Difficulty] increases of prices vis-à-vis prior quarter of 1.2% and minus 2.5% versus prior year, much lower than normal. MOSFETs remain key for Vishay's growth going forward. Let me summarize. Our industry and also Vishay continues to operate in a quite excellent economic environment. There is an unstoppable global trend towards electronification that makes our future promising. We are exploiting the present high demand to the best we can, but beyond this, we expect a midterm acceleration of the electronification worldwide. We are preparing ourselves in terms of available machine capacities and will provide the capital required. While enjoying higher growth, we will definitely keep our feet on the ground in terms of fixed costs as we always did so in the past. But we do plan to increase further our technical presence in the markets, and we will increase critical R&D resources. We will do our utmost to remain the same fair and service-oriented supplier close to our customers we are known for. The results for the third quarter look promising. We guide to a sales range in between $810 million and $850 million at a gross margin of 28.3%, plus/minus 50 basis points. Thank you very much. We turn the call to Peter.