Cree: Record revenue of $1.65B on back of LED boom
Annual Net Income up 43 percent to $124M
Cree, the LED lighting company, has announced its Q4 and annual 2014 results, ended June 29, 2014. For fiscal year 2014, Cree reported revenue of $1.65 billion, which represents a 19 percent increase compared to revenue of $1.39 billion for 2013. GAAP net income was $124 million, an increase of 43 percent compared to $87 million for 2013. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for 2014 was $203 million, an increase of 31 percent compared to $155 million in 2013. Cree generated $319 million of operating cash flow and $121 million of free cash flow during fiscal 2014.
"Fiscal 2014 was another great year, as we achieved record revenue and grew our non-GAAP net income by over 30 percent," stated Chuck Swoboda, Cree chairman and CEO. "The strength of our operating model gives us the flexibility to make investments to support our goal to grow the business and increase operating margin. Our new product pipeline, brand momentum and strong balance sheet put us in a great position to enable our long-term customer goal of 100 percent upgrade to LED lighting."
Q4 revenue was $436 million for fiscal 2014, representing a 16 percent increase compared to revenue of $375 million reported for Q4 2013, and an 8 percent increase compared to the Q3 2014. GAAP net income for Q4 was $30 million, an increase of 6 percent year-over-year compared to GAAP net income of $28 million Q4 2013. On a non-GAAP basis, net income for the Q4 2014 was $51 million, an increase of 12 percent year-over-year compared to non-GAAP net income for Q4 2013 of $46 million.
Recent business highlights mentioned in the results included the introduction of the Cree LED T8 Series, the first linear fluorescent replacement; and the Cree XLamp XP-L LED, the first commercially available single-die LED to achieve up to 200 lumens per watt (LPW) at 350mA. Other significant projects highlighted were the replacement in San Luis Obispo, California of more than 2,000 high-pressure sodium (HPS) street lights with Cree LED street lights, reducing the city's annual energy consumption by more than 65 percent; and the transformation of the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. The 1,600 Musco fixtures leverage more than 51,500 Cree XLamp XM-L LEDs to light the East Span at estimated energy savings of 50 percent and a lifetime of 15 years.
Outlook
For its first quarter of fiscal 2015 ending September 28, 2014, Cree targets revenue in a range of $440 million to $465 million, with GAAP gross margin targeted to be 36.9 percent+/- and non-GAAP gross margin targeted to be 37.5 percent+/-.
