NVE Corp (NVEC) 2018 Q4 法說會逐字稿

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the NVE Corporation Conference Call and Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year Results. (Operator Instructions) As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded.

I would now like to turn the conference over to our host for today, Dan Baker, President and Chief Executive Officer. You may begin.

Good afternoon, and welcome to our conference call for the quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2018. As always, I'm joined by Curt Reynders, our Chief Financial Officer. This call is being webcast live and being recorded. A replay will be available through our website, nve.com. After my opening comments, Curt will present a financial review of the quarter and the year. I'll cover business items, and we'll open the call to questions. We issued our press release and filed our annual report on Form 10-K in the past hour following the close of market. Links to documents are available through the SEC's website, our website and our Twitter timeline.

Comments we may make that relate to future plans, events, financial results or performance are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including, among others, such factors as our reliance on several large customers for a significant percentage of revenue, risks and uncertainties related to the economic environments in the industries we serve, risks and uncertainties related to future sales and revenue, uncertainties related to the impact of federal tax reform as well as the risk factors listed from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including our just filed 10-K. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements we may make.

We're pleased to report that a 19% increase in product sales drove a 15% increase in total revenue and a 28% increase in net income for the quarter. For the fiscal year, net income increased 7% to $2.87 per share, and operating cash flow increased 22% to our highest ever. Curt will cover the details of our financial results.

Curt?

Thanks, Dan. As Dan mentioned, fourth quarter total revenue increased 15% to $7.9 million compared to $6.85 million in the year-ago quarter. The increase was due to a 19% increase in product sales, partially offset by a 35% decrease in contract R&D. The strong product sales for the quarter were due in part to increases in anti- tamper sensor sales for defense applications. Those of you who've followed us for a while know our technology is well-suited for anti-tamper and cybersecurity. It remains a niche market for us, and it can be cyclical but has good long-term growth potential.

The decrease in R&D revenue was due to the completion of certain contracts. Dan will talk about contracts in a few minutes.

Gross margin increased to 81% of revenue compared to 79% last year due to a more profitable revenue mix. Expenses decreased 3% for the fourth quarter due to a 10% increase in SG&A, partially offset by an 8% decrease in R&D expense. The increase in SG&A was due to increased performance-based compensation with the strong quarter and increased patent expenses.

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Research and development expense was due to the completion of certain projects and project phases. Increases in sales and gross margins, along with the decreased expenses, drove a 26% increase in operating income for the quarter, and operating margin was more than 65%. Interest income increased 4% for the quarter due to an increase in the average interest rates on our securities. The increase in interest income was despite a decrease in our marketable securities as we use a portion of maturing securities to fund dividends.

Income before taxes increased 24% to $5.55 million from $4.46 million in the prior-year quarter, and pretax margin was over 70%. Our effective tax rate decreased to approximately 30% compared to 32% in the prior year quarter. The decrease was due to the blended effect of a decrease in the federal tax rate with the enactment of the Tax Reform Act. After-tax net income for the most recent quarter increased 28% to $3.88 million or $0.80 per diluted share compared to $3.03 million or $0.62 last year. Net margin for the quarter increased to 49% compared to 44% last year.

For the full fiscal year, total revenue increased 5% to $29.9 million from $28.3 million in the prior year. The increase was due to a 4% increase in product sales and a 19% increase in contract R&D. We report revenue by geographic region in our 10-K. About half our revenue was international in the past year. U.S. and Asia-Pacific revenue each increased 10%, while [EMA], Europe, the Middle East and Africa increased 5%. Dan will discuss a positive change in our European product distribution. Gross margin remained at 79% for the year. Expenses in fiscal 2018 increased 7% due to an 11% increase in R&D, partially offset by a 2% decrease in SG&A.

Innovation is critical for growth, and we invest heavily in R&D. We report customer- and company-sponsored R&D in our 10-K. In addition to company-sponsored R&D, we spent $1.27 million on customer-sponsored R&D in fiscal 2018 for a total R&D investment of $4.84 million or 16% of total revenue. Interest income decreased 6% for the fiscal year with the decrease in our marketable securities as we use a portion of maturing securities to fund dividends. As I noted in my quarterly summary, increased interest rates on recent bond purchases are beginning to offset portfolio reductions.

Income before taxes increased 5% to $20 million from $19.1 million, the prior year. For the fiscal year, our tax rate was approximately 30% compared to 32% in the prior year, primarily due to a decrease in the federal tax rate, partially offset by the effect of the new rate on deferred tax assets. Net income for the fiscal year increased 7% to $13.9 million or $2.87 per diluted share compared to $12.9 million or $2.68 per share last year. Net margin increased to 47% from 46%.

We continue to have best-in-class performance metrics. According to Standard and Poor's Compustat, NVE's gross margin is in the 99th percentile of the semiconductors and semiconductor equipment industry, and operating and net margins are in the 100th percentile.

As Dan said, operating cash flow increased 22% to a record $15.2 million for fiscal 2018. Fixed asset purchases were the highest they've been in several years, $605,000 compared to $520,000 last year and $287,000 in fiscal 2016. Most of the investments were to improve production efficiency or increase capacity to support growth. In addition to prior year comparisons, we report 3 years of financials in our 10-K. Product sales, total revenue and earnings have all increased for 2 consecutive years.

The Tax Reform Act, enacted in December, reduced federal corporate tax rates starting this calendar year. We currently expect our effective rate to decrease significantly to approximately 22% in the new fiscal year that began April 1. Strategically, we hope the lower rates will help us compete more fairly with foreign competitors. That would help us grow, innovate and justify new investments.

We've paid $4 per share in dividends in the past year, which brought the total cash returned to shareholders in the past 5 years in the form of dividends and stock repurchases to more than $70 million. In addition to the dividend paid in the past quarter, we announce today that our board declared another quarterly dividend of $1 per share, payable May 31 to shareholders of record as of May 14.

Now I'll turn it over to Dan to cover the business. Dan?

Thanks, Curt. I'll cover new products, R&D, distribution and fiscal 2018 highlights. R&D was focused on expanding our product lines, especially for the Internet of Things. In the past quarter, we began on sampling a new series of tunneling magnetoresistance or TMR couplers, the IL01 series. These devices are lower power than our legacy giant magnetoresistance or GMR couplers. The new devices are designed as gateways to the Internet of Things, where lower power allows parts to be battery-powered for a long time.

Turning to contract R&D. We made good progress on our Department of Agriculture biosensor grant, and we have components ready for prototypes, including biosensors, magnetic nanoparticles, aptamers, microfluidic manifolds and cartridges. We're focusing our efforts in this quarter on the biosensors and control electronics, and we remain optimistic we'll meet the main overall milestone, live pathogen testing, on schedule in August.

We completed a research contract for the U.S. Navy, Naval Sea Systems Command for circulating technology for full integration at the Monolithic Microwave Integrated Circuit level with useful results. The goal was to enable a next generation of microwave isolators and circulators. Our project team, led by the principal investigator Dr. Joe Davis and including a team from Oregon State University summarized the results in a paper presented at the INTERMAG conference last week in Singapore. There is a link to the paper abstract in the Papers and Presentations section of our website and on our Twitter timeline.

Perhaps, in part because of tweets like that one, our Twitter account was recently called Minnesota's nerdiest corporate Twitter account by Kathy Grayson of Minneapolis/St. Paul Business Journal. We took that as a compliment, of course.

In addition to military applications for our new circulator technology, there are potential commercial applications, such as 5G cellular infrastructure and automotive telemetry. The rugged reliability of our technology makes it ideal for automotive, industrial and other demanding applications.

A great example of that is as we've discussed previously, our components have been selected for the Europa Clipper mission. In the past quarter, the mission moved to, what they call, planned on Phase B, NASA's scheduled to complete Phase B with preliminary designs in September. We sold a small number of parts for the mission in the past quarter. The Europa Clipper is a mission to a moon of Jupiter to look for water and signs of life. The mission has rigorous requirements for a very harsh environment with cold and radiation.

There is not huge revenue potential, and it will take a while, but it validates the ruggedness and the reliability of our products and technology. The mission launch is planned for the 2020s, and then it will take several years to get to Europa.

NVE brand distribution is primarily catalog internet distributors in the U.S. and specialized distributors outside the U.S.

One of our most successful and important distributors outside the U.S. has been German-based IS-LINE. Effective April 1, combined its activities with Pewatron through the Swiss Angst+ Pfister Group. They say, the combination makes them even more powerful partners into the sensor technology and power electronics market. IS-LINE said the Pewatron sales team will more than double its sales power. We've been helping train the new sales team on our products, and we're optimistic about the new organization.

In fiscal 2018, we worked on technology to help save lives, improve safety and explore other worlds. Specifically, we continue to develop small, precise, reliable, efficient components for advanced lifesaving medical devices. We advanced our food-safety technology, and we designed ultra-rugged components suitable for space.

Other highlights of the past year. We extended our products for the industrial Internet of Things, including products billed as the world's smallest analog sensor, the world's most sensitive magnetic switch as well as high field sensors plus new angle, rotation and current sensors. We completed an Army contract on a Spin-Torque Microwave Diode and a Navy contract for a miniature circulator. We met key milestones on our Department of Agriculture biosensor grant. We launched a new partnership with one of the world's largest semiconductor companies to expand our distribution and reach larger markets.

Our quality management system was certified to the rigorous new ISO 9001:2015 standard, which will help us reach automotive and other new markets. And we continued preparations for the Europa flyby mission. R&D investments have uniquely positioned NVE with products and technology. Our vision for the coming year is to accelerate our growth as we lead a technology revolution.

Now I'd like to open the call for questions. Sonya?

(Operator Instructions) Our first question comes from Jeff Bernstein of Cowen.

Can you talk a little bit about the medical devices space in rhythm management, and I think, you were starting to see recovery there last quarter? And just give us a little more color.

Certainly. Well, Jeff, so CRM, as you know, as you mentioned, has been under pressure, for example, Abbott reported little or no cardiac rhythm management organic growth in their report for the first calendar quarter. But that compares to a significant decrease in 2017. And they said that last year, U.S. CRM sales were impacted by competitive dynamics in the MRI category, but they've reported FDA approval for MRI conditional labeling for their Assurity MRI and the Ellipse ICD this year and said -- this calendar year -- and said that FDA labeling approval for its ICD significantly enhances its competitive position in the category. So that's the specifics relating to Abbott. And long-term, the demographics are favorable for CRM, as you know, as the population ages. Our technology has a strong benefit proposition in CRM, and we're gaining traction in the broader neurostimulator market.

Great. And then I wanted to ask about the auto market. You had partnered with a major semi vendor. I think, you had 6 products that they were going to be taking to market for you. I think you were also looking for IATF [1649] certification. Can you just give us an update on auto?

Certainly. So automotive sensor contact -- content is expected to increase particularly with hybrid electric vehicles and self-driving cars. So our advantages in the automotive market are lower power for more efficiency and the higher isolation longer barrier life or reliability. We introduced one of the products that I mentioned in the prepared remarks was a new current sensor in the past year, the AAL024, which is an important category for electric vehicles. And we're also designing what we call smart current sensors, which are very useful in electric vehicles, and we'll make a more seamless, easier-to-use interface for computer and controller systems in cars. And our new private brand partnership that you mentioned will give us credibility and broader exposure in the automotive market.

You also asked about IATF or International Automotive Task Force certification. And we're working towards that. We've been working on new procedures, policies and -- to conform with the automotive standards. It's a rigorous process, but it'll build our credibility. And our goal is to have a conformance this year, this calendar year.

Got you. Okay. And so are you making sales yet into automotive?

Modest sales. But we're looking at this as a very large market, and we're looking at categories, particularly, battery management systems for hybrid electric vehicles, where we think that there is a much larger market than we're currently serving. The sales that we have now, we believe, are mostly related to some of our existing parts and in some cases, to controller area (technical difficulty) transceivers. But right now, it's modest, but we consider it a significant growth opportunity.

Got you, okay. And then the -- you said it in the introduction that you had some revenue contribution this quarter from the anti-tamper PUFs, I guess, which I wasn't sure if they had actually been commercial prior. So can you give us an update on that?

It was a variety of technologies. PUFs is a little bit longer-term. We try not to be too specific about what exactly we're selling because it could be self-defeating to get too specific, but we have a variety of anti-tamper technology. Some of it is for what's called volume protection, which means physical intrusion or some

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Removes the circuit board to try to reverse engineer it or opens a box that's supposed to be secure. We have technology to detect that, and then we have technology to detect counterfeited or replaced integrated circuits or to guard data streams. So it's a variety of things. And just everything or a lot of things came together for a very strong quarter in that area. As Curt mentioned, it can be a little bit lumpy. So it's not the sort of steady business that we get from some of the commercial devices, but it's excellent technology, as you well know. And we see long-term growth opportunities in both the high-end military aerospace markets but also for migrating this technology into commercial applications and securing all the things that we rely on every day in terms of cybersecurity. So long term, we consider it very important.

(Operator Instructions) And we do have a follow-up question from Jeff Bernstein of Cowen.

Okay, I had a couple more. Can you just differentiate -- you talked about the Navy contract on the isolator, I guess, and then I know you had an Army contract. And can you just differentiate those 2?

Right. So both are in the same general category, but the Army contract was for a Spin-Torque Microwave Diode, which is a device that can be used for ultrahigh frequency microwave communications, in particular, I believe we said -- just trying to think what we can say publicly, but it can be used for radar, for certain types of radar. The Navy contract was for a circulator, which is a device that can route or combine very high-frequency signals. So the general category that we're looking at is extremely high frequencies. And as you know, as bandwidth starts to become more and more crowded, we tend to move towards higher and higher frequency with the assumption that the technology will keep up. And one of the technologies that'll help keep up is our technology, spintronics, because it can run at very high frequencies.

And so both of those projects involved microwave range, communications and signal processing, which, as I mentioned in the prepared remarks, is important not just for the military but also 5G data for cellphone networks, cellular networks is moving towards higher and higher frequency bands, and telemetry for cars is also moving to some of those bands and possibly, the same ones as 5G. So there's a need for just sort of a -- it seems like an unquenchable need for faster and faster devices.

Got you. And then I wanted to ask about the hearing aid business?

Yes. So the hearing aid business is a -- it's been an important strong business for us for many years. It's been -- as I mentioned in response to your prior question, like CRM, it's been a challenging market in the near term because of the landscape for health care and some other factors that are beyond our control. But we continue to invest in that market. We have a strong benefit proposition in terms of ultralow power, which extends battery life. We continue to work on lower and lower power in smaller and smaller devices, and there is just a tremendous need, an appetite for that to make hearing aid smaller, more power efficient, last longer with the battery charge -- the batteries or charge and to be smaller and less obtrusive and fit deeper into the ear. So those are things that we can help facilitate.

The other advantage it has over life-support medical devices is that the product cycles can be shorter. They're -- it's a demanding application but probably, there is nothing as demanding as something like life-support medical devices. It can take a long time to get devices qualified. So that's one of the advantages of non-life-support medical markets like hearing aids.

Got you, okay. And then, lastly, just wondering -- I've been reading some things about spintronics and qubits. Are you guys doing anything there? Have you filed any IP there?

We are fascinated by spintronics and by quantum electronics. We do long-term research in some amazing areas. Typically, though, our goal is commercialization and eventual revenue generation in everything we do. So things like that are probably a little bit too far off for us to put a large amount of resources in.

And I'm showing no further questions at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Dan Baker for any closing remarks.

Thank you, Sonya, and thank you, everyone for listening in and participating. We were pleased to report a 19% increase in product sales for the quarter, record cash flow for the year and important development milestones. So we look forward to speaking with you again in July to discuss first quarter fiscal 2019 results. Thank you again for participating in the call.

Ladies and gentlemen, this does conclude today's program. You may all disconnect. Everyone, have a great day.