Earnings Labs

Wolfspeed, Inc. (WOLF)

Q3 2025 Earnings Call· Thu, May 8, 2025

$25.67

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Hello, everyone. Thank you for joining the Wolfspeed Incorporated Third Quarter Fiscal 2025 Earnings Call. My name is Megan, and I will be coordinating your call today. I will now hand you over to your host, Tyler Gronbach, VP of External Affairs to begin. Please go ahead.

Tyler Gronbach

Management

Thank you, operator, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Wolfspeed's third quarter fiscal 2025 conference call. Today, Wolfspeed's Chairman of the Board, Tom Werner; Wolfspeed's CEO, Robert Feurle; and Wolfspeed's CFO, Neill Reynolds, will report on the results for the third quarter of fiscal year 2025. Please note that we will be presenting non-GAAP financial results during today's call, which we believe provides useful information to our investors. Non-GAAP results are not in accordance with GAAP, and may not be comparable to non-GAAP information provided by other companies. Non-GAAP information should be considered as a supplement to, and not a substitute for financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation to the most directly comparable GAAP measures is in our press release, and posted in the Investor Relations section of our website, along with a historical summary of our other key metrics. Today's discussion includes forward-looking statements about our business outlook, and we may make other forward-looking statements during the call. Such forward-looking statements are subject to numerous risks and uncertainties. Our press release today and the SEC filings noted in the release mention important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially. Also, please note that we will not be taking questions during today's conference call. Lastly, all numbers presented today will be on a continuing operations basis. And now, I'd like to turn the call over to Rob.

Robert Feurle

Management

Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us today. I'm very excited to have the opportunity to connect with you. Although I've been only in the role for a few days, I've spent my time listening closely to our customers, employees, and leadership team, and reviewing our results, roadmaps, and strategic initiatives. One thing is abundantly clear; Wolfspeed is a company with enormous potential, underpinned by strong foundational elements already in place. As Tom and Neill will elaborate shortly, the Board has taken decisive steps to improve our financial foundation, including right-sizing of our operations and accelerating our path to cash flow breakeven. My immediate focus will be maintaining stability and continuity for all stakeholders and building upon our strengths. First and foremost, Wolfspeed's silicon carbide technology is second to none. I've long-term admired the talent and the can-do spirit of the organization. I firmly believe Wolfspeed possesses the technology leadership required to drive the industry forward and develop solutions for new emerging applications. Additionally, Wolfspeed has already established and right-sized a best-in-class greenfield, fully automated 200-millimeter manufacturing footprint poised to deliver customers with cutting-edge silicon carbide solutions. Drawing on my experience as an operator and leading through complex transitions, I feel very well prepared to support Wolfspeed as we enter a new era with new energy. I'm grateful for all the work that Tom and Neill, and the rest of the leadership has done in improving the foundation of the company prior to my start. In coming weeks, I'll collaborate closely with our leadership team and Board to refine our operating plan with a clear emphasis on re-accelerating revenue growth and enhancing profitability. We've already taken initial steps that will aid these plans by reorganizing the company to improve teamwork, accountability, and streamlining decision-making process. From a product…

Tom Werner

Management

Thank you, Robert. On behalf of the entire Board, welcome. We look forward to your leadership. I'm pleased to report that our fiscal third quarter financial performance met or exceeded the midpoint of our guidance ranges, and we continued our strong execution at Mohawk Valley, which posted $78 million in revenue and sequential growth of 50%. I'd like to thank the team for continuing to improve the company's financial performance. Operationally, we made steady progress at the JP. We were granted a conditional certificate of occupancy in February and expect our full certificate of occupancy in June. Our 200-millimeter products from the JP continue to demonstrate industry-leading quality, a competitive advantage driving ongoing customer engagement and new contract opportunities. As a matter of fact, we are actively engaged with customers on sampling our 200-millimeter materials and pursuing new contracts for 200-millimeter wafer supply. We will begin significantly ramping production at the JP as market conditions improve. Moving on, since the beginning of the year, we've consistently communicated that our primary objective is improving our capital structure to capitalize on Wolfspeed's competitive advantages and multi-decade growth opportunity in silicon carbide. To achieve this objective, we've remained focused on these key priorities. First, continuing to take aggressive steps to strengthen our balance sheet. Second, continuing our efforts to raise cost-effective capital required to support our long-term growth plan. And third, dramatically improving the financial performance of the company and accelerating our path to generate positive free cash flow. I'm pleased to report that we made notable progress on these priorities this past quarter. Related to improving our balance sheet, we received approximately $192 million in cash tax refunds from the Section 48D Advanced Manufacturing Tax Credit, further boosting our liquidity. Additionally, we remain actively engaged with our lenders addressing our capital structure.…

Neill Reynolds

Management

Thank you, Tom. Turning to our third quarter results, we generated revenue of $185 million in line with our guidance midpoint and up 2.2% sequentially. Power revenue was $107 million, driven primarily by significant growth in our automotive revenue, offset slightly by a decrease in industrial and energy revenues. Materials revenue was $78 million, largely due to the slowing demand that our materials customers are seeing across the device market. Mohawk Valley contributed $78 million, up 50% sequentially, and up over 175% year-over-year. Non-GAAP gross margin was 2.2%, also in line with the midpoint of our guidance, driven by incremental contribution from Mohawk Valley, offset by lower utilization at our Durham 150-millimeter device fab, and lower revenues and utilization from our materials factories. Adjusted EPS was negative $0.72 per share, also above the high end of our guidance range. Our simplification and restructuring initiatives continue, targeting $200 million in annual cash savings and $150 million in liquidity to non-core asset divestitures. The Farmers Branch 150-millimeter epitaxy facility was closed at the end of December and is being prepared for sale. The closure of the Durham 150-millimeter wafer fab remains on track to close at the end of calendar 2025. The non-factory workforce reductions, along with the factory closures, now contributing to approximately 25% reduction in total company employment, remains on track with most of the reductions already completed at the end of fiscal 3Q. Restructuring charges for fiscal 2025 are projected at $400 million to $450 million, with $57 million incurred this quarter. These charges primarily reflect severance, asset impairments, accelerated depreciation, and related expenses. We anticipate restructuring to be cash neutral in fiscal 2025 and generate substantial annualized cash savings starting in fiscal 2026. Moving to our balance sheet, we ended the quarter with over $1.3 billion of cash…

Tom Werner

Management

Thanks, Neill. In my early conversations with Robert, one thing became immediately clear. We need to return to the core innovation that built Wolfspeed's leadership. That means recommitting to the technologies and markets where silicon carbide delivers the greatest impact and where Wolfspeed has the clearest right to win. I'm encouraged by the fresh perspectives Robert is bringing to the company and to the management team. I'm looking forward to working with him as I transition back into the role of Board chair. Before I close, I would just like to state how proud I am of the entire Wolfspeed team and the work that we've accomplished during my tenure as executive chairman. We have made significant progress on all the priorities we outlined in January, including hiring a new permanent CEO who shares the Board's vision of what Wolfspeed can become, completing our at-the-market equity offering and receiving our cash tax refunds to improve near-term liquidity, working closely with the current administration to secure federal funding, accelerating our transition to a pure-plate 200-millimeter silicon carbide producer, reducing operating expenditures to lower our EBITDA break-even point, reducing our CapEx levels to accelerate the path to positive free cash flow, and most importantly, progressing negotiations with our lenders on efforts to improve our capital structure and give Robert the strongest financial foundation possible as he looks to put his stamp on next-gen Wolfspeed. With the right foundation in place, we believe we're positioned to execute and win. Thank you for your time today.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's call. Thank you for joining. You may now disconnect your lines. End of Q&A: