II-VI Inc (IIVI) 2016 Q1 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to II-VI Incorporated's fiscal-year 2016 first-quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)

As a reminder, today's conference is being recorded. I would like to introduce your host for today's conference: Ms. Mary Jane Raymond, Chief Financial Officer. Ma'am, please go ahead.

Thank you, Michelle, and good morning. I'm Mary Jane Raymond, the Chief Financial Officer here at II-VI Incorporated. Welcome to our first-quarter earnings call for fiscal year 2016.

With me on the call today is Francis Kramer, our Chairman and Chief Executive Officer; and Dr. Chuck Mattera, our President and Chief Operating Officer. As a reminder, this call is recorded on Tuesday, October 27, 2015. Any forward-looking statements we may make during this teleconference are given in the context of today only. We do not undertake any obligation to update these statements to reflect events subsequent to today.

With that, let me turn it over to Fran Kramer, our Chairman and CEO.

Thank you, Mary Jane, and thank you, everyone, for joining us. We had a good quarter with growth in both bookings and revenues over the first quarter of last year. This year's first quarter was marked by particularly strong demand from the optical communication markets.

During fiscal year 2016 we expect to make progress across all our markets, especially industrial, communications, and military, which make up over 80% of our revenue. We do see slowing growth in China and continued stagnation in the eurozone, which we are monitoring closely.

We have restarted our review of potential acquisitions and are looking at differentiated opportunities with engineered materials competencies, an area where we have unique expertise and have been able to drive significant competitive advantages. With the investments made over the last 18 to 24 months, expansion of our product portfolio and customer base, and the improvements in our cost structure, we expect to deliver another year of solid performance with an improvement again year-over-year.

Let me turn it now over to Chuck to comment on our global businesses.

Thanks, Fran. This quarter the end-market distribution of our revenues was as follows. Industrial was 39%; communications was 35%; life sciences and semiconductor equipment combined was 13%; while the military was 12%. Our sales to the industrial market are concentrated in the laser solutions segment. Our sales to the communications market are concentrated in the photonics segment. And our sales to the military and the combined life sciences and semiconductor equipment markets are concentrated in the performance products segment. The growth in the overall communications market drove our consolidated growth, and revenues from this end market were up 12% compared to last year.

Our revenues into the combined life sciences and semiconductor equipment market increased 2%. Our revenues into the industrial market declined 2%, and our sales into the military market declined 3% compared to last year.

During the quarter we experienced a significant increase in demand from the telecom market, the datacom market, and from the cable TV infrastructure market. Our sales of silicon carbide substrates for wireless base station applications were flat compared to last year. We understand that the buildout of broadband access in China is a national priority, and we experienced a considerable increase in demand for our products to support it during the quarter.

We also saw an increased buildout of undersea networks and the planning of those networks. These taken together are driving greater demand for our submarine pumps, receivers, and filters -- all of which make up our industry-leading offering of a high-reliability product portfolio for undersea networks. Although we have discussed in the past that the demand for optical communication products can be lumpy and generally challenging to forecast, based on our current backlog, recent results of share allocations awarded to us, and recent channel checks, we believe that we may continue to see steady demand for another one or two quarters from customers in this end market.

Our results also benefited from our integration efforts and our continued focus on product leadership, operational excellence, and customer intimacy. Our optical communications group has done a great job of integrating the recently acquired businesses, increasing market share at key accounts, developing new products, and gaining traction with new Web 2.0 customers.

The decline in the industrial markets this quarter was due to unfavorable changes in currency valuations and slower growth in China. On a constant currency basis this market grew 3%. Sales of our beam delivery components in the one-micron market were a bright spot, increasing more than 10% compared to Q1 FY15. Overall, we remain excited about the industrial market, and we continue to invest in our new product roadmaps across the three segments.

The military market is stabilizing. Even though the revenue declined compared to the first quarter of FY15, it increased 9% over Q4, with growing funding for strategic programs and advanced technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance, and for infrared countermeasure systems. As a result, our outlook for the military business is favorable, and we expect moderate growth over the next few quarters. In addition, the consolidation of our Florida operations is complete and should contribute to margin improvement starting next quarter.

Before I turn it over to Mary Jane to walk us through the analytics, I would like to thank our customers for their positive responses to our business model and value propositions. I would also like to acknowledge all of our fully engaged employees around the world for their tireless dedication every day to building a new II-VI that has as its foundation the same values as the founding Company, with its focus on manufacturing, innovation, quality, customer satisfaction, and exceptional business results.

I will now turn it over to Mary Jane to walk us through a review of our overall financial performance. Mary Jane?

Thank you, Chuck and Fran. We did well on our margin delivery this quarter. The gross margin of 37.6% and the operating margin of 11.5% benefited from increased volumes and favorable mix, especially in the photonics segment. Equally important were the benefits of last year's restructuring program. This compares to a gross margin of 36.5% and an operating margin of 10.4% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2015. We didn't incur any restructuring charges during this first quarter.

The EBITDA margin at 19.1% showed the largest progress compared to both Q1 last year, when the EBITDA margin was 16.8%, and compared sequentially to Q4 last year -- just one quarter ago -- when it was 18.9%. About half of the increase compared to the same period last year, that is, Q1 of last year, is due to currency.

We have mentioned before that volume and mix can have a big effect on our margins. Volume is always important for the efficiency of any materials growth process. That's particularly true this quarter with photonics that achieved an 8.8% operating margin in the quarter. That margin is very strong for photonics, and I'd caution you -- it's not the new standard for photonics. Our focus on margins for the whole Company and by segment is undiminished, however.

Our book-to-bill ratio is 0.99. The backlog is $239.5 million. It's down $2 million from Q4 of FY15. And it's $70 million in laser solutions, $61.4 million in photonics, and $108.1 million in performance products.

EPS of $0.27 for this quarter was above the $0.25 top end of our range. $0.01 was due to currency and $0.01 was due to favorable mix. This compares to $0.20 a share at the same time last year.

Our cash flow from operations was $22 million compared to less than $1 million in the same period last year. We reduced debt $13.5 million, bringing our debt level to $162 million. We are now in a net cash position, with $154 million in cash. Our interest payment is half of what it was last Q1.

We purchased back $5.9 million of stock in the quarter for about 355,000 shares, or one half of 1% of the shares outstanding. The average price was $16.43 a share. Our diluted share count at the end of the quarter was 62.7 million. To date we've purchased about $19 million of our $50 million authorized share repurchase program. We invested $9.4 million in capital this quarter and expect to spend $50 million to $55 million this year.

For FY16 our expected equity compensation should range from $11 million to $13 million. Our equity comp expense this Q1 was $4 million.

Our tax rate for the quarter was 22%. For FY16 for the whole year, we expect the tax rate to range from 21% to 23% with no renewal of the R&D tax credit expected. As I turn to our outlook for the second fiscal quarter that ends on December 21, 2015, the Company currently forecasts revenues to range from $180 million to $192 million and earnings per share to range from $0.21 a share to $0.26 a share -- diluted, of course. This is all at prevailing exchange rates.

This guidance balances a number of factors, including customer year-end cash flow management, making December one of the most volatile months of the year to forecast for shipments; and overall slowing in China, with the potential for some uncertainty in the speed of investments. Comparable results for the quarter ended December 31, 2014 -- so the second quarter of last year -- were revenues of $176.7 million and adjusted earnings per share of $0.24, excluding a one-time settlement of $0.11 and benefiting from $0.04 from the R&D tax credit that we presently are not expecting in the upcoming second quarter. Therefore, net-net, the comparable operating result from Q2 of last year is $0.20 a share.

Before we turn to questions, I'll just let you know that our first-quarter earnings release date is slated for Tuesday, January 26, 2016. Michelle, you can open the line for questions as I remind people that our answers to your questions today may contain forward-looking statements, which are based on our best knowledge today and for which actual results may differ materially. Michelle, over to you.

(Operator Instructions) Jim Ricchiuti, Needham & Company.

Good morning. I wanted to just go back to gross margins. And, Mary Jane, I wonder if you can comment a little bit about how you might see gross margins playing out over the course of the year? Just given the way Q1 has unfolded, I think you have suggested that gross margins could be in a range of 36% to 40% or so for the year. Is that right?

That is what we have said. 36% to 40% for the year. Finish your question.

I was just going to say, just given what you are seeing in the quarter -- the mix of the business, the backlog, the bookings, and the trends thus far -- if you can give us any more color on how you see that margin range playing out?

So probably the best thing to say is -- last year as well, just possibly coincidentally, possibly not -- last year's first quarter had a strong gross margin as well. The middle two quarters, not so much, and a little bit stronger in the fourth quarter.

So I would say, again, we had a particularly strong gross margin in the first quarter. It is not a low-water mark. I'd probably put it to you that way. We are still on our 36% to 40% range. I think it will probably vary a little bit across the year, but it might not be completely unreasonable to assume that the rough pattern of last year could fold, with possibly fourth quarter not being up a lot on the first quarter, just because the first quarter this quarter was particularly strong.

I would add -- this is Fran -- that our gross margin this quarter was nicely helped by our photonics segment. And Mary Jane cautioned in her comments about -- that's a new high-water mark. And to see that business stay at that level, we'll have to have two or three good quarters. And it's unclear that that's going to be that way.

That's helpful. And I wonder if I could just go back to that, Fran, and maybe we could understand that little bit more -- how you are viewing the photonics business over the next couple of quarters. You had a pretty solid quarter, clearly. How much of that was just mix and how are you seeing the demand trends, particularly in China?

Good morning, Jim -- this is Chuck.

Hi, Chuck, thank you.

Yes, I'm happy to address that. As I said in my comments, we have a number of factors that are affecting us favorably. The broadband China buildout is driving demand for our WDM components, our pump lasers, and the suite of passive components that our customers need from us. We started the quarter with a -- coming off of a fairly strong bookings month in June. So we reported for the segment itself the strong bookings in the fourth quarter of last year.

Obviously, the [quarter] coverage included into the first quarter, but we actually experienced incremental demand during the quarter itself. And so for all three of our markets -- and also from both China, and in North America, and in Europe, and in Japan -- we were feeling some increase in demand. It feels like things are warming up just a tad.

I do expect, based on all of the processes we've gone through with volume purchase agreement negotiations this last month, this month, speaking with customers, I am expecting that we have a very good chance to have a steady demand, both for next quarter and the quarter after that. And the volume, the mix, and the introduction of new products, which are also -- we are being told to do on a very aggressive schedule, is working out very well.

Chuck, is it a combination of share gains and just the overall healthier tone to the market? Do you think you are gaining share here?

Yes.

And if so, what areas?

When you say what areas, can you be specific about that, Jim?

Within the photonics business -- I wonder are there some specific areas that you feel you may be gaining some share? Thank you.

Absolutely. I would say in all areas, to make it simple. Our photonics segment operates as two different groups. One is a photop group; one is an optical communications group. As I said, the propensity of our communications business is derived from that segment. And I feel very good about the progress that that segment -- we're making, and making inroads both into the market with new products and actually selling existing products to new customers. I would say all of the above, Jim.

Okay. Thanks. I'll jump in the queue.

I think Chuck would add -- or maybe I will -- that some of the products we had in prior quarters that were losing us money we are not shipping anymore. We priced out of that business. So I don't want you to miss, you know, the actions we've taken should benefit us going forward.

Yes, as well as the restructuring that we did last year coming into this year. So maybe that's sufficient.

Thank you very much. Yes, thank you.

Ted Moreau, Barrington Research.

Thank you very much. And I'd actually like to say thanks for breaking out the end market breakouts there. That's very helpful.

I was just kind of wondering how the macro environment impacts your business -- specifically more on the laser solutions side in terms of maybe a CO2 versus fiber laser demand dynamic. Are you seeing any sort of delay by customers to migrate to fiber because of questionable macro conditions? Or how do you view directionally where those two, the CO2 and the fiber lasers, are going?

This is Fran. I'll make a stab at this, and Chuck can add to it. I think the transition of new assembly line lasers from CO2 to fiber has crossed the 50%/50% point now and our business we've set up in the fiber laser side of it our components are good. Sales there are very good.

As I think Chuck mentioned in his script, or I mentioned in mine, there's softening in China. That was an important place for us to be working, and certainly they started very aggressively. And now they've slowed down as their economy is slowing. But we expect that to rebound.

The overall trend by customers -- whether they are going to buy fiber or CO2 -- it's hard for us to see or to hear. Our customers -- some of them do both. So when we hear from them, we are mostly talking about CO2, because that's not an area that we are building a product that competes with our customers.

On the fiber laser side of it, we also see how that business is growing; but it is really dominated by one company. And you can watch that company -- they are doing well, but our businesses that are in that space are doing very well also. Our HIGHYAG unit, where we make cutting heads -- we've come out with new laser light cables, and QVH connectors, and improved cutting heads, all to be in that one-micron space. So that space is, I think, fine, with the exception of China being a little slower.

Okay. And so you said CO2 versus fiber has crossed 50%/50%. So you think of your laser solutions, your fiber lasers are now over 50% of your fiber solutions? Am I getting that right, or is it the market, or --? (multiple speakers)

This is Fran. I was making the comment relative to the overall market, the overall business out there. I think if you said that it's a 6,000 high power CO2 plus fiber units go to the field each year, it would be 60%/40% or maybe something like that -- fiber laser the bigger number.

Okay. And how is your revenue breaking out between fiber and CO2 lasers right now?

The number we usually give is of our total Company sales. We are in the 15%, 17% of our total sales are toward the one-micron business.

Okay.

Some of ours are very much the passive components that go into people's fiber lasers or the semiconductor lasers that go into them that we sell to those manufacturers.

Sure. Okay. And then also in your first response to my initial question here, Fran, were you suggesting that the visibility can be challenging to see how a customer -- whether or not a customer is going to order a fiber laser versus a CO2 laser? Or -- and if so, what kind of lead times do you have there? What kind of lead times are they requesting? Can you just kind of dig into that a little bit?

Okay. To an extent, yes. Remember, we are down in the food chain. The OEMs are building CO2 laser machines or fiber laser machines. We supply to both of those OEM sets. So our business is about a half a step behind. So whether a customer, an ultimate user -- pick an auto company or a job shop -- where they are going to make their buy-in, they are not really in our ear talking about it. They are talking about it to the OEMs and the aftermarket system builders. So ours is a half-step back. And we have a reasonable feeling, but not an exact feeling. This is worldwide we are talking about.

Okay. Sure. And then on the photonics business, you guys have indicated that demand should remain steady for the next two quarters. And certainly, from what we're gathering, optical demand seems to be pretty good out there. But it looks like bookings were down sequentially, and -- it looks like maybe 10% -- and even a little bit year-over-year.

So we're just kind of trying to figure out -- seems like a little bit of a disconnect. Can you kind of walk us through where your confidence is coming from on the photonics business in the coming quarters despite a little bit of bookings deterioration, maybe backlog deterioration?

Ted, this is Chuck. Sure, I'm happy to add to it. First of all, the bookings in this market can be and tend to be lumpy. That's one thing. So you can't look at it as a steady every monthly -- as I said, we've got a strong bookings month in June in the fourth quarter carrying us over.

We have -- overall market demand, we believe, is increasing; not only driven in China by broadband China, but also new technologies coming into the marketplace, even in North America. We're beginning to hear talks not only about the large metro deployments that are expected to take place in calendar year 2016 in North America, but even long-haul networks in North America and the advent of 400G systems is looking like it's on the near horizon.

Those 400G systems require the amplifiers and a wide array of components which we make, including tunable optical filters, optical time domain reflectometers for network monitoring. We feel from a new product pipeline and from overall near-term trends in the market that we are well-positioned to be able to participate in the demand.

In addition to that, the cable TV infrastructure buildout for data center interconnect and for data communications market in North America is strong. And we have a very, very strong route into that market.

Got it. Okay. And are you inside the data center, too, or primarily more out in the telecom network and in the data center interconnect market?

We work in the telecom network, in the long-haul, in the metro. We are also participating through our customers into the data center itself. And as I mentioned in my prepared comments, some of the Web 2.0 customers that are operating data centers and running them are also beginning to talk to us as well about our capabilities.

Sure. And so have you shipped into Web 2.0 data centers today? And if so, how many of the Web 2.0 players do you think you are supplying into? Do you have any of that info?

I would say that we have some activities with many of the large data center customers who are at least in contact with us about our capabilities, our product portfolios, and our roadmaps. But our primary channel to that market is through our customers today.

Okay. Got it. Thanks. I'll pass it along. Good luck.

(Operator Instructions) Mark Miller, The Benchmark.

Good morning. Just was wondering if you can give a little more color -- laser solutions seemed to be somewhat weaker. Was that China in terms of margins and sales?

This is Fran. Nice to meet you, Mark. The change in laser solutions from fourth quarter to first is rather usual for us. The CO2 laser business tends to slow in the first and second quarter and then improve quite nicely in the third and fourth. So that would be mostly driven by the CO2 business being down. It really has to do with the aftermarket -- the running of the lasers around the world and how that replacement parts business happens -- slows down in late summer as the Europeans are on holiday, and does okay and September, October, November -- it shuts down again in December and then runs pretty good in the entire second half, January to June.

Okay. We've seen some of the largest players in semiconductor cut their capital spending plans for next year. Are you feeling any impact of that? And what's your feeling for what's going to happen in semiconductor?

This is Chuck Mattera, and I'll take that one. I would say that we have a -- in the second half of the year we are expecting that our customers will have an uptick in demand for our lithography products, our dUV products. We're not betting on eUV demand in the second half of calendar year 2016, but we believe that the technology is entering into a decisive stage for eUV, and we think that FY17 will be a year that we maybe can begin to dial that up. So I would say that overall we are not taking our review down about our semiconductor business for the second half of the year or for this quarter.

And I don't know if you have ever provided this, but if you could just provide us just a little color on how have fiber laser sales done year-over-year? I imagine they would be up?

Fran, do you want to --?

The only thing I would comment -- we see our business with the components that we supply to fiber laser, or disk laser people, or even direct diode laser people up -- no doubt about it. But for the end product, the end lasers themselves, we are selling to those people that are selling them into the market. So ours is secondhand, but it is sure growing.

I can add to that, Fran. I would say -- just to remind you, Mark, we do not make and sell fiber lasers; our customers do. So we are a full-line supplier of components to the marketplace. And I would say a view, from our bird's-eye view into the market in China, I would say that if you are asking about the volumes I would say that both for the pulse fiber laser market, for the mid-power fiber laser market, and for the high-power fiber laser market in China, our channel checks suggest that the volumes are growing. Even though they've slowed down by just in the last quarter or so, year-over-year, likely to grow anywhere from 30% to 50%.

You also see a contribution, don't you, for auto for your fiber components and the laser welding heads?

Yes, we do -- indeed we do. And as I mentioned in my prepared comments, one of the bright spots in our laser solutions segment, yet again, was our sales of beam delivery systems for welding, for cutting, and for connecting up high-power lasers to the robots themselves. And that business grew again double-digit -- over 10% -- compared to last year. We expect that business to grow at least with the overall growth in the market this year.

Thank you.

Thank you. And I'm showing no further questions. And I'd like to turn the conference back over to Fran Kramer for any final remarks.

Thank you, everyone, for attending. We expect another year of good progress here in FY16. We're happy with many of the new products we've been out with, and Chuck mentioned many of them, and they are both in all areas -- all three of our segments. We haven't gone over those, but we are working hard on that. And as Mary Jane said, our intensity to improve margins remains unaffected. We are keeping working on it. And our reductions in costs that we have taken during this year, I think, set us up to have a very good year. Thanks for attending. Goodbye.

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program, and you may all disconnect. Everyone have a great day.