EXFO beats by .02
.06 expected actual: .08
EXFO REPORTS RECORD REVENUES AND OPERATING RESULTS FOR THE FOURTH QUARTER AND FISCAL 2000 10/04/2000
Revenues up 85% in the quarter and 70% for fiscal 2000
Net earnings from operations up 76% in the quarter and 71% for fiscal 2000
QUEBEC CITY, CANADA, October 4, 2000—EXFO Electro-Optical Engineering Inc. (NASDAQ: EXFO, TSE: EXF) today reported record revenues and operating results for the fourth quarter and year ended August 31, 2000.
Revenues increased 85% to US$23.1 million in the fourth quarter from US$12.5 million for the same period in 1999, and 19% sequentially from US$19.4 million in the third quarter.
Net earnings increased 76% to US$3.5 million, or $0.08 per share, for the fourth quarter from US$2.0 million, or $0.05 per share, for the same period in fiscal 1999, and 26% sequentially from US$2.8 million, or $0.07 per share, for the third quarter in 2000.
Overall for fiscal 2000, revenues increased 70% to US$71.6 million from US$42.2 million in fiscal 1999. Net earnings, meanwhile, increased 71% to US$9.9 million, or $0.25 per share, for fiscal 2000 from US$5.8 million, or $0.14 per share, for fiscal 1999.
“We are extremely pleased with our strong growth in the fourth quarter,” said Germain Lamonde, Chairman, CEO, and President of EXFO. “A few years ago, we had set our sights on two growing market opportunities: DWDM and High-Bandwidth Solutions and the Industrial and Scientific Market.
“We are now beginning to see evidence that we have a winning strategy.”
EXFO began shipping a number of new products in the fourth quarter including the DWDM Passive Component Test System dedicated to the production environment, the second-generation Remote Fiber Test System with DWDM monitoring capabilities to ensure network performance, and the second-generation Optical Spectrum Analyzer for field deployment.
All of these products have quickly received market acceptance from customers, especially the DWDM Passive Component Test System. This test system has been well received by manufacturers of optical components, value-added optical modules, and optical networking systems because it allows them to drastically reduce their testing time from hours to less than one minute for a 40 or 80-channel multiplexer-demultiplexer, the essential building block of a DWDM system.
“Test and measurement can account for as much as 60% of total production time for some optical components or value-added optical modules,” Lamonde added. “Not surprisingly, manufacturers are turning to third-party vendors such as EXFO to provide them with fully automated, off-the-shelf test systems so that they can achieve substantial improvements in productivity, yields, and manufacturing costs while concentrating their energies on product development.”
Selling and administrative expenses amounted to US$7.8 million, or 33.8% of revenues, for the fourth quarter compared to US$3.9 million, or 30.8% of revenues, for the same period in fiscal 1999 and US$6.5 million, or 33.7% of revenues, in the third quarter of fiscal 2000. Overall for fiscal 2000, selling and administrative expenses were at US$24.3 million, or 33.9% of revenues, compared to US$13.3 million, or 31.5% of revenues, for fiscal 1999.
Gross research and development expenses were at US$2.4 million, or 10.5% of revenues, in the fourth quarter compared to US$2.0 million, or 15.9% of revenues, for the same period in fiscal 1999 and US$2.2 million, or 11.6% of revenues, in the third quarter of fiscal 2000. Overall for fiscal 2000, gross R&D expenses amounted to US$9.4 million, or 13.1% of revenues, compared to US$6.4 million, or 15.2% of revenues, for fiscal 1999.
The audio Web cast of the fourth quarter and year-end conference call can be accessed live on EXFO’s Web site, under Investor Relations, at 8:00 a.m. (Eastern time) on Oct. 5, 2000. Guests are invited to click on the Web cast icon and enter 9799 as a password. A replay of the Web cast will be available for 90 days.
The replay of EXFO's fourth quarter and year-end conference call can also be accessed after 11:00 a.m. (Eastern time) October 5, 2000 until midnight (Eastern time) October 12, 2000 via telephone. The replay numbers are (800) 558-5253 and the password is 16401516, or (416) 626-4100 and the password is 16399799.
I really like this company.
Second quarter reporting as a public company, beat estimates both quarters.
Fred |
