AXT Revenues Bumped Up to $26.8 million For Q3 2010
AXT, a leading manufacturer of compound semiconductor substrates, has reported financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2010.
Revenues for the third quarter of 2010 was $26.8 million, compared with $23.2 million in the second quarter of 2010, and $16.8 million in the third quarter of 2009.
Total gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate revenue was $19.2 million for the third quarter of 2010, compared with $16.2 million in the second quarter of 2010, and $13.3 million in the third quarter of 2009.
Indium phosphide (InP) substrate revenue was $955,000 for the third quarter of 2010, compared with $1.1 million in the second quarter of 2010, and $688,000 in the third quarter of 2009. Germanium (Ge) substrate revenue was $2.3 million for the third quarter of 2010 compared with $1.6 million in the second quarter of 2010 and $1.8 million in the third quarter of 2009.
Raw materials sales were $4.4 million for the third quarter of 2010, compared with $4.2 million in the second quarter of 2010 and $1.0 million in the third quarter of 2009.
Gross margin was 39.3 % of revenue for the third quarter of 2010. By comparison, gross margin in the second quarter of 2010 was 36.8 % of revenue. Gross margin was 32.9 % of revenue for the third quarter of 2009.
Operating expenses were $3.8 million in the third quarter of 2010, compared with $3.6 million in the second quarter of 2010. Operating expenses in the third quarter of 2009 were $3.7 million.
Income from operations for the third quarter of 2010 was $6.7 million compared with income from operations of $5.0 million in the second quarter of 2010, and income from operations of $1.9 million in the third quarter of 2009.
Net interest and other income for the third quarter of 2010 was $442,000, which included an unrealized foreign exchange gain of $210,000. This compares with net interest and other income of $1.6 million in the second quarter of 2010, which included $1.2 million, net, sales tax refund and an unrealized foreign exchange gain of $230,000, and net interest and other income of $677,000 in the third quarter of 2009, which included an unrealized foreign exchange gain of $302,000.
Net income in the third quarter of 2010 was $5.6 million or $0.17 per diluted share compared with net income of $5.5 million or $0.17 per diluted share in the second quarter of 2010, and with a net income of $2.1 million or $0.07 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2009. Excluding the $1.2 million, net, sales tax refund or $0.04 per diluted share, our net income in the second quarter of 2010 was $4.3 million or $0.13 per diluted share.
"Q3 was another strong quarter for AXT," said Morris Young, CEO. "Solid demand in all of our key end markets coupled with great execution across our organization allowed us to deliver outstanding financial results and continued increases in our market share and customer penetration. Not only did we exceed our revenue expectations, our gross margin performance was the highest it has been in many years. We continue to see growing momentum in the long-term secular trends that are fueling our growth, including the adoption of smartphones and other intelligent wireless devices, the proliferation of LED applications and the expansion of photovoltaic technology. These trends are opening up exciting opportunities for our business that we believe will extend for years to come."
AXT estimates revenue for the fourth quarter will increase to between $28.0 million and $29.0 million. The company estimates that net income per share will be between $0.15 and $0.17, which takes into account its weighted average share count of approximately 32.4 million shares.
Conference Call
The company hosted a conference call to discuss these results on October 28.
A replay will be available until November 4, 2010 by dialing
(719) 457-0820 (passcode 6968854)
Financial and statistical information to be discussed in the call is available on the company's website.
AXT designs, develops, manufactures and distributes high-performance compound and single element semiconductor substrates comprising gallium arsenide (GaAs), indium phosphide (InP) and germanium (Ge) through its manufacturing facilities in Beijing, China. In addition, AXT maintains its sales, administration and customer service functions at its headquarters in Fremont, California.
The company's substrate products are used primarily in lighting display applications, wireless communications, fiber optic communications and solar cell. Its vertical gradient freeze (VGF) technique for manufacturing semiconductor substrates provides significant benefits over other methods and enabled AXT to become a leading manufacturer of such substrates. AXT has manufacturing facilities in China and invests in five joint ventures producing raw materials.
