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Non-Tech : EARNINGS REPORTING - surprises, misses & more -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: 2MAR$ who wrote (306)	9/21/2000 5:02:22 AM
From: 2MAR$	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 762

9/19...MERX...Reports Record for the First Quarter (beat 9 cent) FOREST GROVE, Ore.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Sept. 19, 2000--Merix Corporation (Nasdaq:MERX - news) today reported final results for the first quarter of fiscal 2001 ended August 26, 2000. Sales for the quarter were $51.0 million, a 50% increase over the $34.1 million reported for the first quarter of fiscal 2000, and a 10% increase over the $46.2 million reported for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000. Net income increased to $7.9 million or $0.54 per diluted share compared to $1.0 million or $0.11 per diluted share for the same period last year, and $3.6 million or $0.32 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000. All earnings per share numbers reflect the recently completed three-for-two stock split. Gross margin increased to 34.0% in the first quarter, compared to 23.0% in the previous quarter. Operating margins increased in the first quarter to 24.7% from 13.2% in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2000. These margin improvements resulted primarily from a more technologically advanced product mix and record levels of premium work which consisted of prototype and compressed lead time orders. Commenting on the first quarter, Merix CEO and President Mark Hollinger said, ``This was an excellent quarter with record sales, margins, and earnings. We experienced robust demand for high performance printed circuit boards with a book-to-bill ratio for the quarter of 1.35 to 1.0. Our backlog at the end of the quarter was $47.1 million, a 33% increase from $35.4 million at the end of the prior quarter. Our manufacturing team did a great job responding to customer needs while maintaining their excellent on-time delivery record of 98%. Sales to customers in the communication market segment, including our wireless, datacom, and optical networking customers, increased to 57% of total sales.'' ``We previously announced two capital expansion projects with a total cost of $90 million, which will double our high technology production capacity. The additional capacity will come on-line on an incremental basis beginning this fall and will support an annual revenue run rate of about $400 million by the summer of 2003.'' ``Our operations are running extremely well today and we are very proud of the level of service we are providing our customers. Our biggest challenge now is to give them additional capacity to support their growth plans. The management team is focused on that objective and we are excited about the opportunities we see to deliver value to our customers and our shareholders,'' concluded Hollinger. A conference call will take place at 7:30 a.m. PT on Tuesday, September 19, 2000. The dial-in number is 415/537-1988. A replay will be available until approximately 5:00 p.m. PT on September 26, 2000 by calling 858/812-6440 reservation No. 16106961. A replay of the conference call will also be available on the Internet at www.vcall.com.