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8-K - FORM 8-K - DIODES INC /DEL/ | d71033e8vk.htm |
EX-99.1 - EX-99.1 - DIODES INC /DEL/ | d71033exv99w1.htm |
EX-99.3 - EX-99.3 - DIODES INC /DEL/ | d71033exv99w3.htm |
Exhibit 99.2
Call Participants: Dr. Keh-Shew Lu, Richard White, Mark King and Carl Wertz
Operator:
Good afternoon and welcome to Diodes Incorporateds fourth quarter and fiscal 2009 financial
results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. At the
conclusion of todays conference call, instructions will be given for the question and answer
session. If anyone needs assistance at any time during the conference call, please press the star
followed by the zero on your touchtone phone.
As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded today, Tuesday, February 9, 2010. I would
now like to turn the call to Leanne Sievers of Shelton Group, the investor relations agency for
Diodes Incorporated. Leanne, please go ahead.
Introduction: Leanne Sievers, EVP of Shelton Group
Good afternoon and welcome to Diodes fourth
quarter and fiscal 2009 earnings conference call. Im Leanne Sievers, executive vice president of
Shelton Group, Diodes investor relations firm.
With us today are Diodes President and CEO, Dr.Keh-Shew Lu, who is joining us from Taiwan; Chief Financial Officer, Rick White; Senior Vice
President of Sales and Marketing, Mark King; and Vice President of Finance and Investor Relations,
Carl Wertz.
Before I turn the call over to Dr. Lu, I would like to remind our listeners that managements
prepared remarks contain forward-looking statements, which are subject to risks and uncertainties,
and management may make additional forward-looking statements in response to your questions.
Therefore, the Company claims the protection of the safe harbor for forward-looking statements that
is contained in the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Actual results may differ
from those discussed today, and therefore we refer you to a more detailed discussion of the risks
and uncertainties in the Companys filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.
In addition, any projections as to the Companys future performance represent managements estimates as of
today, February 9, 2010. Diodes assumes no obligation to update these projections in the future as
market conditions may or may not change.
Additionally, the Companys press release and managements statements during this conference call
will include discussions of certain measures and financial information in GAAP and non-GAAP terms.
Included in the Companys earnings release is a reconciliation of GAAP net income to non-GAAP
adjusted net income, which provides additional details.
For those of you unable to listen to the entire call at this time, a recording will be available
via webcast for 60 days in the investor relations section of Diodes website at www.diodes.com.
And now I will turn the call over to Diodes President and CEO, Dr. Keh-Shew Lu. Dr. Lu, please go
ahead.
Dr. Keh-Shew Lu, President and CEO
Thank you, Leanne.
Thank you, Leanne.
Welcome everyone, and thank you for joining us today.
I am pleased to once again report another solid quarter of profitable growth for Diodes. Our fourth
quarter was highlighted by a 50 percent increase in revenue over the prior year period and an 80
percent increase in gross profit. Revenue for the quarter increased primarily due to market share
gains at new and existing customers combined with continued strength in Asia and further
improvements in North America and Europe. Our revenue results are evidence of our market share
gains and design win momentum, as our revenue this quarter was 97 percent of the $134 million
record revenue we achieved in the third quarter of 2008.
Gross margin improved to 32.1 percent as our packaging facilities continued operating at full
capacity and utilization improved at our wafer fabs in Kansas City and the U.K. We expect
additional upside in gross margin in the coming quarters due to further improvements in utilization
at our wafer fabs combined with our new product initiatives.
For the year, revenue reached a record of $434.4 million, which is a significant accomplishment
during one of the most challenging periods that our industry and the economy has experienced in
quite some time. Other noteworthy accomplishments in 2009 included:
1. | We implemented cost reduction initiatives in response to the economic environment that
improved our profitability while growing revenue, resulting in our 19th
consecutive year of profitability. GAAP net income was $7.5 million, or seventeen cents per
share, and non-GAAP adjusted net income was $24.1 million, or fifty-five cents per share. |
||
2. | We achieved positive cash flow from operations every quarter during the downturn as a
result of our efforts to reduce debt, inventory levels and authorizations on capital
expenditures. For the year, cash flow from operations amounted to $65.5 million, net cash
flow was $138.5 million and free cash flow was $43.1 million. The significant improvement
in our cash position enables further expansion opportunities for the Company in the future. |
3. | We consistently improved our factory utilization at our packaging facilities and wafer
fabs throughout the year increasing gross margin to 32.1 percent in the fourth quarter from
the low of 18.6 percent in the first quarter of 2009. |
||
4. | We also continued to invest in new product development and achieved a high level of
design wins that contributed to increased market share and strong revenue growth in the
last three quarters of the year, and we expect to continue that momentum into 2010. |
||
5. | And lastly, we continued to strengthen our balance sheet and repurchased approximately $48 million of our Convertible Senior Notes, reducing the notes outstanding to $135 million par value. |
As a result of these achievements, the Company has returned to our profitable growth model, and I
believe we have emerged from the downturn as a stronger company with expanded growth opportunities
as we enter 2010. We expect continued growth momentum in the first half of the year and remain
positive on our outlook due to design win traction and new product introductions. Despite the first
quarter being a typically seasonally slower period for our markets, we are seeing strong customer
demand in the consumer and communications markets, in particular for our products utilized in
panels for LCD and LED televisions as well as smartphones and set-top boxes. We are also beginning
to see market stabilization in North America and Europe. As a result, the first quarter of 2010
will represent our fourth consecutive quarter of growth, corresponding to a year-over-year increase
of approximately 70 percent.
With that, I will turn the call over to Rick to discuss our fourth quarter financial results and
first quarter guidance in more detail.
Rick White, CFO
Thanks, Dr. Lu, and good afternoon everyone.
As Dr. Lu mentioned, Revenue for 2009 was a record $434.4 million, an increase over the $432.8
million in 2008. For the fourth quarter, revenue was $130.3 million, an increase of 50 percent over
the $87.1 million in the same period last year and an increase of 7 percent over the $122.1 million
in the third quarter of 2009.
Gross profit for the fourth quarter of 2009 was $41.8 million, or 32.1 percent of revenue, compared
to $22.9 million, or 26.3 percent, in the fourth quarter of 2008 and $37.6 million, or 30.8 percent
of revenue, in the third quarter of 2009. The 130 basis point sequential increase in gross margin
was primarily attributable to continued improvements in utilization at our wafer fabrication
facilities as well as the stable pricing environment. During the quarter, our packaging capacity
continued to be fully utilized with output from our China facilities at 5.2 billion units, up over
5 percent from the third quarter. Our wafer fab utilization continues to increase at both
facilities, which we expect to further benefit gross margin in the first quarter of 2010.
Total operating expenses amounted to $28.0 million, or 21.5 percent of revenue, in line with the
21.6 percent last quarter.
Looking specifically at Selling, General and Administrative expenses for the fourth quarter, SG&A
was approximately $20.0 million, or 15.4 percent of revenue, compared to $19.1 million, or 15.6
percent of revenue, last quarter.
Investment in Research and Development for the fourth quarter was $6.8 million, or 5.2 percent of
revenue, which was comparable on a percent of revenue basis to the $6.3 million, or 5.1 percent of
revenue, in the third quarter.
Total other expenses amounted to $2.3 million for the fourth quarter.
Looking first at interest income and expense, we had approximately $1.0 million of interest income,
primarily related to our portfolio of auction rate securities, and interest expense of $1.8 million
primarily related to our Convertible Senior Notes and our loan for the acquisition of Zetex.
During the fourth quarter of 2009, we recorded a pre-tax, non-cash amortization of debt discount of
approximately $1.8 million. As stated previously, effective January 1, 2009, U.S. GAAP requires us
to separately account for a liability and equity component of our Convertible Senior Notes. For the
full year of 2009, this additional pre-tax amortization of debt discount expense amounted to
approximately $8.3 million.
Turning to income taxes, our income tax benefit was approximately $3.6 million, which was basically
in line with our previous guidance.
Fourth quarter GAAP net income was $14.2 million, or $0.32 per diluted share, as compared to net
income of $7.0 million, or $0.16 diluted per share, last quarter. The fully diluted share count
used to compute GAAP earnings per share for the fourth quarter was 45.1 million.
Non-GAAP adjusted net income was $16.3 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, which excluded, net of
tax, $1.1 million of non-cash interest expense related to the amortization of debt discount on the
Convertible Senior Notes, $900,000 of non-cash acquisition related intangible asset amortization
costs, and nominal amounts for forgiveness of debt and loss on extinguishment of debt. This
compares to adjusted net income of $9.1 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, in the third quarter
of 2009. We have included in our earnings release a reconciliation of GAAP net income to non-GAAP
adjusted net income, which provides additional details. Included in fourth quarter GAAP and
non-GAAP adjusted net income was approximately $2.2 million, net of tax, non-cash share-based
compensation expense. Excluding this expense, both GAAP and non-GAAP adjusted diluted EPS would
have increased by an
additional $0.05 per share.
Cash flow for the fourth quarter amounted to $21.5 million from operations, $115.9 million net
cash flow and $12.0 million free cash flow. For the year, cash flow from operations was $65.5
million, net cash flow is $138.5 million and free cash flow was $43.1 million.
Turning to the balance sheet, at the end of the fourth quarter, we had $539 million in cash
and short-term investments, consisting of approximately $242 million in cash and $297 million in
short-term investments of par value auction rate securities. The auction rate securities, which
have been fully borrowed against resulting in a related current liability no net cost loan of
$297 million can be put back to UBS AG at par on June 30, 2010 under the previously disclosed
settlement. Our working capital at quarter-end was approximately $354 million and long-term debt,
including the Convertible Senior Notes, which are redeemable in October 2011, was approximately
$125 million carrying value.
Now turning to Inventory, at the end of the fourth quarter, inventory was approximately $90
million, which was an increase of approximately $7 million over the third quarter due mainly to an
increase in raw materials and WIP which was in line with the revenue increase. Finished goods, at
$32.3 million, was down 30 percent from year ago levels. Inventory days were 88, same as the third
quarter of 2009.
Accounts receivable was approximately $103 million and A/R days were 71.
Capital expenditures were approximately $10.1 million during the fourth quarter, or 8 percent
of revenue, and $25.9 million for the full year 2009. We continue to authorize CapEx at our model
rate of between 10 and 12 percent of revenue to grow our packaging capacity in line with demand.
However lead times on equipment are extending, causing a delay in the booking of expenditures
relative to the respective authorizations.
Depreciation and amortization expense for the fourth quarter was $12.1 million, and $47.2
million for the full year 2009.
Turning to our Outlook...
As previously discussed, we expect a stronger first quarter than our typical seasonality and
estimate revenue to range between $131 million and $137 million, up one half of one percent to five
percent sequentially. Additionally, with a favorable pricing environment and continued improvements
in utilization at our wafer fabrication facilities, we expect first quarter gross margin to range
between 32 percent and 33 percent. First quarter operating expenses are anticipated to decrease
slightly from fourth quarter levels on a percent of revenue basis. In terms of capital
expenditures, as I just mentioned, we continue to authorize at our model rate of between 10 percent
and 12 percent
of revenue. We also expect our income tax rate for the first quarter and full year 2010 to range
between 10 and 17 percent.
With that said, I will now turn the call over to Mark King, Senior Vice President, Sales and
Marketing. Mark...
Mark King, Senior VP of Sales and Marketing
Thank you, Rick, and good afternoon.
As Dr. Lu mentioned, we achieved another solid quarter of growth due to continued market share
gains and design win momentum. Overall our markets are solid, driven by continued strength in Asia
as well as steady improvements in North America and Europe. These positive trends across all
regions of our business are setting the stage for a strong first half for Diodes going into 2010.
In particular, we continued to achieve significant gains in MOSFETs, SBR® devices and bi-polar
transistors, as well as increases in analog new product revenue from LED drivers, Hall sensors and
USB power switches. Diodes MOSFET portfolio had record bookings during December and lead times are
lengthening. This bodes well for continued growth in this product line throughout 2010. We also
achieved strong momentum on SBR® products in Asia with significant demand and volume
growth, as well as continued upside in all areas from LCD/LED televisions to laptop power supplies.
There is also growing interest for these products in Europe and North America. The competitive
advantage of SBR® over conventional diode technology is evident in the increasing number
of design wins. Additionally, our Zetex mid- and high-performance bi-polar transistors also
achieved strong growth in the quarter primarily due to the ramping of designs in smartphones, as
well as increased momentum in the distribution channels. The increased opportunities in VoIP, LED
drivers and various phone applications for these products provide a strong foundation for continued
growth in 2010.
In terms of our end market breakout, computing represented 31 percent of revenue, consumer 32
percent, industrial 18 percent, communications 16 percent, and automotive 3 percent.
Asia represented 77 percent of total revenue growing 5 percent over the third quarter led by
continued strength in LCD and LED TVs as well as panels, set-top boxes and low noise block down
(LNB) converter products. We did see a slight decline in notebooks during the quarter, yet
performance was still better than the typical seasonality. Distributor POP grew as a result of an
aggressive effort by our Chinese distributors to rebuild strategic inventory in support of the
Chinese New Year. Distributor inventory increased to approximately 2 months. This level is less
than the normal year-end distributor inventory level in Asia and less than the fourth quarter of
2008, which was 2.8 months.
Design activity in Asia remained strong in the fourth quarter and included 16 different wins for
our USB switches, power ICs and LED lighting designs. In total, we had 75 wins at 62 customers
during the quarter.
As I have mentioned last quarter, we are pleased with our continued progress and account
development in the China market. Increasing our market share in China is a key strategic initiative
for Diodes, as we consider the China market a major growth driver.
In North America, fourth quarter sales represented 13 percent of total revenue and increased 20
percent over the third quarter. OEM sales were driven by strength in set-top boxes as well as
initial signs of improvement in our industrial account base. Distributor POS and POP grew in the
quarter, while inventory was up 2 percent but still remained at all-time lows. Our backlog was
strong once again, positioning us for further growth in North America for the first quarter.
Overall, the near- to mid-term outlook from both OEMs and distributors is positive.
Design activity in North America also remained strong and the momentum continued with 62 total
design wins, highlighted by 9 analog wins, 1 Hall sensor, 2 LED drivers, 3 SBRs® and 20 MOSFETs.
Sales in Europe accounted for 10 percent of total revenue in the quarter and increased
approximately 17 percent from the third quarter. The growth demonstrates further signs of a
recovery in the region following the solid sequential growth achieved last quarter. OEM sales grew
double-digits for a second consecutive quarter with sales to automotive customers up 6 percent
sequentially. Direct sales to consumer accounts gained 7 percent, and sales to industrial customers
grew for the first time in 2009 with a strong rebound of 49 percent quarter-over-quarter.
Distributor POS exceeded distributor POP and was up 16 percent over the third quarter. Inventory
remained flat and distributor outlook is positive. We begin 2010 with a very strong customer
backlog and expect further improvements in the first quarter.
Now
turning to new products new product revenue was $16.2 million in the fourth quarter,
representing 12.5 percent of total revenue compared to 16.5 percent of sales last quarter. The
decrease in new product revenue was primarily due to the aging-out of some MOSFETs, ASMCC and TVS
products as well as quarterly end equipment mix.
During the fourth quarter, we released 54 new products, consisting of 20 analog products across 5
device families including 3 LED drivers, 8 USB switches and 7 Hall sensors; and 34 discrete,
consisting of 8 bi-polar devices, 9 SBR® devices and 17 MOSFETs for notebooks, PCs,
voice-over-IP and mobile phone applications.
We continue to see new product revenue increase from our USB power switch family with further
penetration in notebooks and set-top boxes. The quarter-over-quarter growth rate was almost 50
percent for this product line. This trend is expected to continue in 2010 as more new products are
released to the market that offer higher current, lower Rdson and added discharge features. The
RESET devices are gaining popularity in applications where particular power rails are monitored for
better system power management. More development in the RESET family is underway to further expand
our device portfolio in 2010. For Hall Sensors, new products represented over 60 percent of our
revenue in this product line by the Asian notebook and cell phone markets. Similarly, new LED
products represented 77 percent of total family revenue, and we anticipate the percentage of new
LED driver revenue to continue to increase.
In terms of global design wins, in-process design activity remained high with wins at 146 accounts
globally: 75 wins at 60 customers in Asia, 62 wins at 32 customers in North America, and 76 wins at
54 accounts in Europe. Design wins and in-process design activity were broad-based in both product
and end equipment.
Design activity was the highest for our core products in target end equipment at key accounts,
which we believe will drive additional revenue growth in 2010. We continue to see the strongest
momentum on the analog side in USB switch, LED drivers and LDOs as well as with MOSFETs, bi-polar
transistors, and SBR® on the discrete side.
In summary, our continued strong performance and revenue growth is evidence of our successful
execution on new product initiatives and market share gains. The expanded customer base that we
obtained through our acquisition of Zetex has provided Diodes a larger sales footprint and
broadened our global presence. We continue to maintain our investment in technology innovation to
enhance our design activity and further capitalize on the product synergies and cross-selling
opportunities, which I believe have just begun to be exploited. As Dr. Lu mentioned, we expect the
first quarter to be stronger than normal seasonal patterns as a result of increased customer demand
for our products that are utilized in panels for LCD/LED TVs, smartphones and set-top boxes. We are
very encouraged by the positive trends that we are seeing for our business and believe that Diodes
is well positioned for increased growth opportunities in the first half of the year.
With that, Ill open the call for questions Operator?
Upon Completion of the Q&A...
Dr. Lu: Thank you for your participation today. Operator, you may now disconnect.