Rubicon Technology Has Reported Financial Results for Its Q3 Ended September 30, 2011

Rubicon Technology, a provider of sapphire substrates and products to the LED, RFIC, Semiconductor, and Optical industries, has reported financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2011. Total revenues were US$33.6 million, a 64% increase over the third quarter of 2010. Revenue from six-inch polished wafers increased 79% sequentially to US$24.9 million. Gross margin of 48% was at the top of management's previous guidance. Diluted EPS was US$0.35 Raja Parvez, president and CEO of Rubicon Technologies, commented, "Although overall substrate demand from the LED market declined in the third quarter, major LED chip manufacturers continue to focus on migrating to larger diameter substrates in order to gain efficiencies. As a result, we had strong growth in revenue from our 6-inch polished wafers which helped to compensate for reduced orders of 2- through 4-inch sapphire cores." Rubicon ended the third quarter with US$72.6 million in cash and short-term investments and no debt. In the third quarter, Rubicon repurchased approximately 425,000 shares of its common stock at an average price of US$12.90 per share. At the end of the third quarter, Rubicon had US$19.5 million authorized for future repurchases of its common stock under the current program. Commenting on the outlook for the fourth quarter of 2011, Parvez said, "Previously, we had anticipated improved demand for sapphire products by the end of the third quarter. However, we now expect to see continued softness in the LED market at least through the fourth quarter. Although inventory levels at our customers are in decline, there continues to be excess inventory throughout the supply chain limiting our visibility on future orders for 2- through 4-inch sapphire cores. As a result, we expect prices for those products will decline further in the fourth quarter. Additionally, the prolonged weakness in the LED market could also impact 6-inch polished wafer volumes and pricing making projecting fourth quarter results particularly challenging. "As a result of these challenging market conditions, we expect revenue in the fourth quarter to be between US$20 and US$23 million, gross margins in the low to mid-30% range, and diluted EPS to be in the range of US$0.07-0.10." Source: www.digitimes.com