Veeco Instruments Has Announced Its Financial Results for The Third Quarter

Veeco Instruments has announced its financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011. Veeco reports its results on a US GAAP basis, and also provides results excluding certain items. Veeco reported third-quarter revenues of US$268 million, a 3.3% on-year decrease. Net income resulted in US$52.6 million and diluted earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter was US$1.31. John R Peeler, Veeco's CEO, commented, "Veeco reported a solid third quarter, with revenues of US$268 million, non-GAAP net income and earnings per share of US$53 million and US$1.33, respectively, all at the mid to high end of our guidance. LED and solar revenues increased 7% sequentially to US$234 million, including US$220 million in MOCVD, while data storage revenues were US$34 million, down 25% sequentially. Veeco has continued to execute within the challenging overall business environment, particularly in China, where customer facility readiness and credit tightening remain significant issues. Veeco's new MaxBright MOCVD System represented nearly half of the quarter's MOCVD revenue, including broad-scale customer acceptance at tier one LED manufacturers." "Veeco's third quarter orders were impacted by weak near-term LED industry demand, low MOCVD equipment utilization rates in Asia, and decreased business activity in China," commented Peeler. "In addition, negative global macro-economic data points caused customers to slow or cut their capacity expansion plans." Veeco's third quarter bookings were US$133 million, a decline of 57% sequentially. LED & Solar orders declined 59% sequentially to $112 million, with MOCVD orders at US$103 million. Data storage orders were US$21 million, down 44% sequentially." During the third quarter, under its Board authorized share buy-back program initiated in August 2010, Veeco purchased US$154 million in stock at an average price of US$38.63 per share. Veeco's fourth quarter 2011 revenue is currently forecast to be between US$175-215 million. EPS are currently forecast to be between US$0.46-0.78 on a GAAP basis. For the full year, Veeco's guidance is US$0.963-1.0 billion, with earnings per share forecasted to be between US$4.49-4.79 on a GAAP basis. Peeler indicated, "Despite the difficult overall environment, we are proud that the Company expects to deliver US$1 billion in 2011 revenue at the high end of guidance. This is a tremendous accomplishment and speaks to our technology leadership position, close connectivity to our global customers and ability to execute in a challenging environment." "Our current expectation is orders will remain depressed for a few quarters," continued Peeler. "While there are many data points indicating that LED lighting is accelerating, weak backlighting demand continues to cause low factory utilization rates. In data storage, planned industry consolidations combined with weak PC demand is causing our key customers to delay capex. In addition, global macro-economic concerns will likely have a dampening effect on our business heading into 2012." "While we do not know how long this slowdown will last, LED pricing declines will continue to stimulate demand for solid state lighting on a global basis. We expect wide-spread adoption of LED lighting led first by the commercial, municipal and industrial sectors, which make up 75% of the lighting market, followed by residential users as economic benefits of using LED-based products become more apparent. Despite some level of cyclicality which is to be expected, there is an enormous multi-year growth opportunity for MOCVD, aligning with our overall expectation of more than 5,000 reactors from 2011-2015. With the industry's most productive MOCVD platforms, Veeco's market position is the best it has ever been. We believe Veeco can continue to gain share as LED lighting hits an inflection point in 2012 and 2013," Peeler concluded. Source: www.digitimes.com