Micrel Doubles Fourth Quarter Earnings on Increased Revenues
Thursday January 29, 4:08 pm ET
biz.yahoo.com
-- Sales Increased 9% Sequentially and 15% Year-Over-Year to $58.3 Million
-- Net Income of $4.0 Million, $0.04 per diluted share
-- Highest Quarterly Booking and Backlog Level Since Fourth Quarter 2000
-- 2003 Sales of $211.7 Million, Net Income of $4.9 million, $0.05 per share
SAN JOSE, Calif., Jan. 29 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Micrel, Incorporated (Nasdaq: MCRL - News) today reported higher revenues and net income for the fourth quarter and year ended December 31, 2003, with net income doubling sequentially from the third quarter. Fourth quarter 2003 revenues of $58.3 million increased 9% from $53.4 million in the third quarter and were 15% higher than the $50.6 million recorded in the fourth quarter of 2002. Total revenues for 2003 were $211.7 million, an increase of 3% from $204.7 million in 2002.
Fourth quarter 2003 net income increased to $4.0 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, from $1.6 million, or $0.02 per diluted share in the third quarter and a loss of $12.8 million, or $0.14 per diluted share in the year ago period. Included in the fourth quarter 2003 results is $753 thousand of pre-tax, non-cash deferred stock compensation expense, equivalent to approximately one-half cent per share. Fourth quarter 2002 results included $20 million of stock compensation expense, $17 million of which related to acceleration of deferred stock compensation associated with the Company's fourth quarter 2002 employee stock option exchange program. For the year ended December 31, 2003 net income was $4.9 million, or $0.05 per diluted share, compared with a net loss for the prior year of $41.0 million, or $0.44 per diluted share.
"Last year marked the 24th year of profitability on a GAAP basis in Micrel's 25 year history," stated Ray Zinn, President and Chief Executive Officer of Micrel. "Our focus on reducing costs, but continuing to invest in research and development during the past two years is bearing fruit. In the fourth quarter, operating income, net income and earnings per share doubled on a sequential basis. During the fourth quarter, the Company generated the highest level of operating cash flow in almost three years, resulting in a $13 million increase in cash and short term investment balances."
Zinn continued, "Continued strength in demand during the fourth quarter resulted in the highest level of new orders for the Company since the fourth quarter of 2000 and a book-to-bill ratio substantially above one. The growth in orders was broad based with strength coming not only from the seasonally strong wireless handset and computing end markets, but also from customers serving the industrial, networking and communications markets."
Outlook
"The strong growth rate of the U.S. economy and the improving conditions in the global economy are encouraging," continued Zinn. "The noticeable increase in demand for enterprise computing and networking hardware is also a positive indicator. These factors, combined with lean channel inventories, higher capacity utilization and increasing lead times across the semiconductor industry are providing the strongest fundamental conditions for the sustainability of growth that the industry has seen in four years."
The Company entered the first quarter of 2004 with a higher backlog and January order rates were strong leading up to the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday period. However, the first calendar quarter of the year is typically marked by seasonality in the wireless handset and computing end markets which can reduce sequential growth rates. Based on current backlog levels and demand estimates, the Company believes that first quarter 2004 revenues will increase sequentially by approximately 5 percent to 7 percent.
Product Update
During the quarter, the Company released 22 new best-in-class products. In the analog product line, Micrel added five new products to its leading family of display drivers including its first organic EL driver and an LED driver specifically targeted to drive the flash function for cameras in cell phones. New power management products included additions to Micrel's world class family of LDO regulators and controllers, and additions to the Company's family of high performance hot swap power controllers. During the fourth quarter, Micrel also released the world's most advanced fiber optic transceiver management IC which will control all critical functions in small form factor laser modules used in the storage and telecommunications infrastructure markets. In the high speed communications area, the Company continued to demonstrate its technology leadership position by releasing five proprietary high bandwidth products targeted at networking and communications infrastructure applications, as well as an innovative 10/100 Ethernet physical layer device with integrated power management functionality. |
