Zeev...ever look at CATS? 3.13 +.34 semi w/+.01 this Q: Thursday February 28, 4:02 pm Eastern Time
Press Release
SOURCE: Catalyst Semiconductor
Catalyst Semiconductor Reports 3rd Quarter Net Income of $0.01 Per Share On First Revenue Increase in 4 Quarters
SUNNYVALE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Feb. 28, 2002--Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. (NASDAQ:CATS - news) said today that it returned to profitability on higher revenues in its third fiscal quarter. For the quarter ended January 31, 2002, Catalyst had net income of $164,000, or $0.01 per diluted share, on revenues of $10.7 million, a 16 percent increase over the prior quarter. This compares with a net loss of $1.0 million, or a loss of $0.05 per diluted share, on revenues of $9.2 million in the second fiscal quarter of 2002. In the third fiscal quarter a year ago, Catalysts earned $7.0 million, or $0.35 per diluted share, on revenues of $23.6 million.
As of January 31, 2002, Catalyst had cash and cash equivalents of $29.0 million, an increase of $0.7 million versus the previous quarter. During the quarter, the Company repurchased 63,700 shares of its common stock for $155,000. Stockholders' equity was unchanged, remaining at $38.3 million, or $2.17 per basic share at the end of the quarter, as a combined result of the net income and the stock buy back program.
``We have completed a quarter that, as seen by some other semiconductor companies, may ultimately indicate that the markets in which we participate have stabilized and possibly are rebounding,'' said Radu Vanco, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer.
``During the third quarter we have seen bookings, which we earlier reported were becoming more regular with minimal cancellations and push-outs, continuing to improve and resulting in a positive book to bill for the quarter. This trend appears to be continuing so far during the current quarter. This correlates with our earlier estimates that the inventory reduction measures taken by our customers may have been completed and we are now moving into a lower but more normal level of business activity.
``A significant portion of the improvement in revenue and booking activity during the third quarter did not reflect increased bookings from existing customers or ASP Increases, but are the result of new accounts. We regard this as positive, since we believe it will provide us with additional upside opportunities when the cyclical business in which we participate moves into the positive territory. We have seen additional positive signs of small ASP increases for our principal revenue generators since the beginning of the current quarter, although there is no certainty this will continue.
``At the same time, as we announced earlier, we are now taking full advantage of the reduced costs negotiated earlier in the fiscal year with our principal contractors. Additional cost reductions, which we negotiated more recently, are expected to result in further improvement of our cost structure. As reflected in the numbers, we have continued to manage the overall operating expenses very tightly, resulting in a $111,000 reduction versus the previous quarter while, at the same time, the R&D portion of the expenses were actually increased from $985,000 to $1,140,000,'' he said.
During the third quarter we introduced two new members of the digital potentiometer family at 100 tap level -- CAT5111 and CAT5113. We also introduced a high speed Micro-Wire bus serial memory -- CAT93HC46 -- and four new members of our Motorola SPI bus interface family -- CAT25C01/02 and CAT25010/20. A significant number of other new products, including various types of analog and mixed signal products, are at various stages of development and scheduled for future introduction.
Outlook
``While we are pleased to see revenues and bookings increase after four quarters of decline, coupled with some recent signs of possible strengthening in ASPs, it is still too early to say that a new trend has been established. It is, therefore, difficult to project revenue and earnings ranges for future quarters. We continue to maintain a cautious attitude, but we have started to strengthen our organization by making selective hires, particularly in the R&D area, to support our increased commitment to new product development and introduction, particularly in the analog and mixed signal area,'' Vanco said.
Nine Month Results
For the first nine months of fiscal 2002, Catalyst reported a net loss of $442,000, or a loss of $0.02 per diluted share, on revenues of $30.3 million. In the same period last year, the Company reported a net income of $25.6 million, or a profit of $1.25 per diluted share, on revenues of $80.9 million.
Investor Conference Call
The Company will conduct a conference call on fiscal third quarter results beginning at 2:00 p.m. (Pacific Time) today. The call will be available to all investors and media via the company's Web site www.catalyst-semiconductor.com, at www.companyboardroom.com, or by dialing 800-252-8295 (domestic only). A replay of the call will be aired from approximately 4:00 p.m. today until 4:00 p.m. on March 13th at the company's Web site or by dialing (800) 633-8284, entering reservation number 20310163 and following operator instructions.
About Catalyst Semiconductor
Founded in 1985, Catalyst Semiconductor, Inc. is headquartered in Sunnyvale, Calif. The Company designs and markets a broad range of programmable products including Flash Memories, Serial and Parallel EEPROMs with I2C, SPI and Microwire interfaces, NVRAM, Digitally Programmable Potentiometers, Microcontroller Supervisory circuits and other programmable Mixed Signal products. Catalyst products are used in telecommunications, networking systems, computation, automotive, industrial and consumer markets. Typical applications include optical networks, modems, wireless LANs, network cards, PC BIOS, DIMM modules, cellular telephones, digital satellite box receivers, set-top boxes and Internet routers. Catalyst's Quality Management System is ISO 9001 certified. For additional information about Catalyst Semiconductor, visit our web site at www.catalyst-semiconductor.com
Earnings look better than most semi's I've seen! tuna |
