威世科技 (VSH) 2011 Q2 法說會逐字稿

Good morning, and welcome to the Vishay Intertechnology second quarter 2011 earnings call. My name is Melissa and I will be your conference operator today. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. After the speakers remarks, there will be a question-and-answer session.

(Operator Instructions)

I will now turn the call over to Dr. Yahalomi. You may begin.

Good morning, thank you Melissa. This is Lior Yahalomi, Vishay's Chief Financial Officer. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Vishay's second quarter 2011 earnings call. On the line with me today our Dr. Gerald Paul, Vishay's President and Chief Executive Officer. Lori Lipcaman, Vishay's Executive Vice President and Chief Accounting Officer, and Dave Tomlinson, Vishay's Senior Vice President and Corporate Controller. Before I start, Dave Tomlinson will read our customary opening statement.

You should be aware that in today's conference call we will be making certain forward-looking statements that discuss future events and performance. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ from the forward-looking statements. For a discussion of factors that could cause results to differ, please see today's press release and Vishay's Form 10-K and Form 10-Q filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Thank you, Dave. I will summarize our US GAAP results. Dr. Paul will present a detailed analysis of the second quarter of 2011 with comparisons to prior periods for our business, excluding the spun-off Vishay Precision Group.

As you are aware, on July 6, 2010, we completed the spinoff of Vishay Precision Group into an independently publicly traded Company. Although VPG is an independent Company, due to certain continuing involvement, such as common Board members, limited supply agreements and leases and trademark licenses, we did not restate prior financial statements to present VPG as a discontinued operation for US GAAP purposes.

To assist in the analysis of Vishay including and excluding VPG, we realigned our US GAAP reportable segments, segregating VPG into its own segment. Consolidated results for the first and second quarters of 2010 include VPG.

Quarterly results -- for the second quarter of 2011, Vishay reported revenues of $709.8 million, or 2.1% higher than the first quarter of 2011, and 1.2% higher than the second quarter of 2010. We reported earnings attributable to Vishay stockholders of $82.1 million compared to $75.3 million for the first quarter of 2011 and $76.7 million for the second quarter of 2010. On an adjusted basis, net earnings for the quarter two were $84.6 million, compared to $85.3 million for the first quarter of 2011, and $76.7 million for the second quarter of 2010.

Our consolidated gross margin for the quarter was 29.9%, compared to 30.9% for the first quarter of 2011, and 30% for the second quarter of 2010.

SG&A expenses for this quarter were $92.8 million, or 13.1% of revenues, compared to $92.5 million, or 13.3% of revenues, for the first quarter of 2011, and $109.3 million, or 15.6%, for the last year second quarter.

The fiscal quarter and six fiscal months ended July 2, 2011, include a pre-tax charge of $3.9 million to accelerate the recognition of certain executive compensation related to the passing of our founder and former Executive Chairman Dr. Felix Zandman.

Other income and expense for the second quarter of 2011 consists mainly of $4.6 million of interest expense, $2.7 million in interest income, and $2.7 million in exchange rate losses.

The effective tax rate for the second quarter of 2011 was approximately 26%.

Capital expenditures for the quarter were $26.8 million compared to $18.6 million in our first quarter of 2011, and $31.1 million in the second quarter of 2010.

Depreciation and amortization for the quarter was $46.1 million, compared to $45.4 million in the first quarter of 2011, and $48.8 million in the second quarter of 2010.

As announced in our press release, Vishay reported earnings attributable to Vishay stockholders of $0.48 per diluted share for the second quarter of 2011. Adjusted diluted earnings per share, excluding the executive compensation charge, were $0.50, compared to adjusted net earnings per diluted share of $0.49 for the first quarter of 2011, and adjusted net earnings per share, diluted share of $0.40 for the second quarter of 2010.

Six months result -- for the six fiscal months of 2011, Vishay reported revenues of $1.4 billion, or 4.7% higher than the same period in 2010. We reported earnings attributable to Vishay stockholders of $157.4 million, compared to $122.1 million for the same period in 2010. On our adjusted basis, net earnings for the six fiscal months of 2011 were $169.9 million, compared to $122.1 million for the same period in 2010.

Our consolidated gross margin for the six fiscal months of 2011 was 30.4% as compared to 21.1% for the same period in 2010.

SG&A expenses for the six fiscal months of 2011 were $185.3 million, or 13.2% of revenues, compared to $211.2 million, or 15.7% of revenues for the same period in 2010.

Other income and expense for the six fiscal months of 2011 consists mainly of $8.7 million of interest expense, $4.1 million in interest income and $4.6 million in exchange rates great losses.

The effective tax rate for the first six fiscal months of 2011 was approximately 31%, which includes $10 million of one-time tax expense due to the write-down of deferred tax assets following a change in tax rate in Israel. The normalized effective tax rate was approximately 0.7%.

Capital expenditures for the six fiscal months of 2011 were $45.4 million, compared to $49.2 million for the same period in 2010. Depreciation and amortization for the six fiscal months of 2011 was $91.5 million, compared to $99.3 million for the same period in 2010.

As announced in our press release, Vishay reported earnings attributable to Vishay stockholders of $0.91 per diluted share for the six fiscal months ended July 2, 2011. The adjusted diluted earnings per share were $0.98, compared to adjusted net earnings per diluted shares of $0.63 for the same period in 2010.

Share count -- as you may know, on May 13, 2011, we re-purchased 8.62 million of our own shares using $150 million proceeds of a new convertible debt instrument. We purchased our shares at an average stock price of $17.40. Using convertible debt at an annual fixed rate of 2.25% over 30 years was economical to finance our share buy-back, because the convertible included a contingent interest feature in which Vishay can take tax deductions at its comparable straight debt rate of 8.375%.

This action was nearly identical to the $275 million convertible debenture share buy-back transaction that we completed in November 2010. In the November 2010 transaction, we purchased 21.72 million of our outstanding shares.

On July 2, 2011, we had approximately 143.6 million of common shares and 13.5 million of class B shares outstanding. The adjusted weighted average share for Q2 2011 for diluted EPS calculation were approximately 170.6 million. We filed a Form 8-K this morning detailing how certain variables impact our share count for EPS calculations.

Vishay's liquidity -- as of July 2, 2011, Vishay had cash and cash equivalents of $692.6 million, and short-term investments of $314.4 million, for a total of $1.007 billion. Our short-term investments are comprised of highly liquid, high-quality instruments with maturities greater than 90 days but less than 270 days. The interest rates on these instruments averaged 1.7%, and are approximately 90 basis points higher than interest rates on our cash accounts.

Vishay had a total debt of $422.4 million as of July 2, 2011. The debt consists of the following four components. Number one, in $95 million of long-term notes with 91 years maturity, due on December 12, year 2102, with interest rate of 90-day LIBOR plus 0%. Number two, a $97.4 million carrying amount of the convertible senior debt due on 2040, which has a face amount of $275 million. These debentures were issued during the fourth quarter of 2010, with an interest rate of 2.25% of the face amount. The face amount is reduced by approximately $177.9 million and amortized discount, which will be amortized as a non-cash interest over the terms of the debentures.

Number three, a $50 million carrying amount of convertible senior debt due 2041, which has a face amount of $150 million. These debentures were issued during the second quarter of 2011, with an interest rate of 2.25% of the face amount. The face amount is reduced by approximately $100.2 million and amortized discount, again, which will be amortized as non-cash interest over the terms of the debentures. And number four, we had $180 million outstanding on our revolving credit facility, which we entered into during the fourth quarter of 2010, and matures on December 1, 2015, with an interest rate of 30-day LIBOR plus 1.65%.

The total capacity and the revolver is $450 million, and thus $270 million of which is available as of the end of the quarter. The total available credit line including the $270 million and use of revolver in the US was $271 million at July 2, 2011.

Vishay's total available liquidity measured by cash, short-term investments, and all available credit lines is $1.282 billion. There are no principal payments due on our debt until the revolver expires in December 2015.

Now some other summary financials. We are back in our acquisition mode. Last week we signed a term sheet with a US based company with annual sales of between $10 million and $15 million, and complementary product lines. We expect to close this deal during late third quarter or early fourth of 2011. It is this type of acquisition, and somewhat larger, that we want to pursue.

Going forward, we intend to supplement our accelerated organic growth with targeted complementary acquisitions. According to our growth plan as outlined in our presentation posted on the Investor Relations section of our website, we are targeting to add to acquisitions approximately $100 million of sales per year for the coming years. Depending on opportunities that we come across, we might make several smaller acquisitions, or a larger one. We intend to use cash, not debt or shares. Our revolver, of course, has adequate capacity if necessary. We are not targeting acquisitions larger than $500 million in purchase price.

Total inventory at quarter end was $476.3 million, compared to $460.4 million at the end of Q1 2011. Working capital at quarter end was approximately $1.5 billion, compared to $1.4 billion at the end of Q1 2011. Our free cash flow was $49.8 million for the second quarter of 2011, as compared to $80.4 million for the first quarter of 2011, and $78.7 million for the second quarter of 2010.

We had another strong quarter, with gross margin of 29.9%, adjusted operating margin of 16.8%, and an adjusted EPS of $0.50. I will now turn the call over to Dr. Paul, our President and Chief Executive Officer. Dr. Paul?

Thank you, Lior, and good morning, everybody. I think that also in the second quarter Vishay continued its strong performance of the year 2010 and of the first quarter 2011, right according to expectations.

We achieved a gross margin, as Lior said, of 30% of sales, an operating margin of 17% of sales, and adjusted earnings per share of $0.50. As Lior also said, operating margin in earnings per share exclude a one-time expense of $3.9 million pre-tax. We also continue to generate free cash in a healthy way. We have generated free cash of $130 million year to date. In the high backlog, Vishay indicates a solid third quarter.

Let me talk about the economic environment as we see it. Also in the second quarter, business conditions remain friendly and gentle. There were short lead times and there are sufficient inventories at distributors, and all this assures a good service level in the supply chain. The concerns around shortages from Japanese vendors have diminished. There isn't the expected normalization of backlogs, and the ASP development has started.

There is continued excellent performance of industrial, the industrial segment and of European automotive. On the other hand, there is some slowdown in consumer as well as in net and notebooks. Also, the seasonal upturn in Asia seems somewhat weaker than normal.

The inventory built at distribution has continued in the quarter. Inventories went up by 9%. On the other hand, a strong POS still justifies the relative high inventory levels at distributors. The inventory turns at distribution are overall acceptable but declining. We saw in the second quarter 3.9 turns worldwide, vis-a-vis 4.2 turns in the first quarter. In the Americas, 2.6 turns vis-a-vis 2.8 turns in the first quarter. In Europe, 4.7 turns, vis-a-vis 5 turns in the first quarter, and in Asia 4.8 turns, vis-a-vis 5.2 turns in the first quarter.

Let me talk about the development of Vishay's business in the second quarter. We have achieved sales of $710 million in the quarter, versus $695 million in prior quarter and $649 million in the prior year without VPG. This sales in quarter two met expected range. Excluding exchange rate effects, sales versus prior quarter were up by $2 million, or 0.3%, and up versus prior year by $34 million, or 5%. The book-to-bill ratio was 0.95 from details, 0.94, for distribution. 0.96 for OEMs, 0.95 for actives, 0.94 for the passives, 0.99 for the Americas, 0.96 for Asia, and 0.91 for Europe.

Our backlog is still very high at 3.7 months, 3.9 months for the actives, and 3.6 months for the passives. You will remember that our normal backlog levels are between 2.5 and 3 months, so we have historically very high backlogs.

The selling prices after the increases in 2010 were virtually constant, minus 0.4% versus prior quarter, but plus 3.1% vis-a-vis prior year. The actives are on the way back to normal. ASP declines, we had minus 0.8% class decline versus prior quarter, but we are up by 0.7% in prices versus prior year. The passives are stable on an increased level. There was no price decline versus prior quarter and prices were up by 6.1% versus prior year.

Some highlights from operations. The inventory turns in the quarter were at an acceptable level of 4.2. Excluding exchange-rate effects, inventories increased by $12 million, mostly due to raw materials. $9 million out of the $12 million increase came from raw materials, and $3 million happened in WIP and finished goods. There was some buffering due to the events in Japan and we do have plans to reduce the inventory through the end of the year.

Capital spending in the quarter was year-to-date was $45 million, versus $45 million also in the prior year, without VPG again. We continue to expect capital spending of $175 million in 2011, approximately $95 million for expansion, $25 million for cost reduction, and $55 million for the maintenance of the business.

Our main expansion programs are for MOSFETs, trench diodes, power capacitors, power inductors, and special Wirewound resistors, all that for better exploiting market opportunities.

The employment level was fairly stable at 22,500. There were some head count increases in R&D, product marketing, and design-in, just according to our enforcement program for internal growth.

We generated $174 million cash from operations year-to-date, versus $168 million in prior-year, again without VPG.

2011 will be another year of strong free cash flow. Year-to-date, we generated $130 million free cash, as compared to $123 million in prior year, again without VPG.

Let me discuss our results, and reconcile the results vis-a-vis the first quarter. Based on $15 million higher sales, $2 million higher excluding exchange rate impacts. The adjusted operating margin decreased by $3 million from $122 million to $119 million. The main elements were a negative from the prices of $3 million, a plus of $1 million from volume. Variable costs were up by $6 million, mostly due to metals, and the fixed costs were down by $6 million.

Now the reconciliation of our results versus prior year. Based on $61 million higher sales, $34 million higher excluding exchange rate impacts, the adjusted operating margin increased by $24 million, from $95 million to $119 million. The main elements were a positive from the prices of $21 million, positive from volume, $8 million, variable costs were up by $7 million, whereby $16 million more than anything came from the metals. Fixed costs were better by $7 million, mostly because of the non-repetition of VPG spin-off costs last year. Exchange rates had a negative impact of $3 million, and all inventory impacts together are also a negative impact of $2 million.

I would like to go through the various lines we have, and I would like to start, as always, with resistors and inductors. Supported by a continued strong demand from automotive and the industrial segment, our traditionally most-successful business had another excellent quarter. Of course our strong position in Europe clearly helps. The sales in the quarter were $168 million, which was 5% below prior quarter but 5% above prior year. The book-to-bill ratio for resistors was 0.99. The backlog is high at 3.1 months.

We achieved gross margin of 35% of sales, which is the continuation of the excellent performance of resistors and inductors of previous quarters. ASPs were stable, just slightly up, 0.1% up versus prior quarter, 0.4% up versus prior year. The inventory turns were at excellent 4.7, and we expect a strong continuation of the business also in the third quarter, slightly impacted by European seasonality.

Coming to capacitors, our business with capacitors is based on a broad range of technologies with a strong position in European and American market niches. We benefit from the present strength of European auto and industrial applications, and we are well-positioned in renewable energy.

Sales in the quarter were $154 million, down by 7% versus prior quarter, but up by 10% versus prior year. There was a normalization at tantalum capacitors after really overheated market conditions. The book-to-bill ratio for capacitors was 0.89. The backlog has been high, very high, at the level of 4.1 months.

Gross margin came in at a good level of 29% of sales, which is down from Q1, but Q1 contained some positive similarities from inventory valuation and scrap reclaim. The selling prices were stable quarter-over-quarter, but remain substantially above prior year by 13%. Inventory turns were slightly down to 3.1 due to the lower volume. And we do expect a seasonally somewhat weaker third quarter.

Coming to opto products, Vishay's opto business consists of infrared sensors, couplers and LEDs, and we are the largest supplier of infrared products. The business contains a high share of customer-designed products. Sales in the quarter were $64 million, which is 8% above prior quarter and 5% above prior year. The book-to-bill of 0.86 brought backlog closer to historical levels but backlog is still very high at 3.5 months.

Gross margin continues at a good level, at 34% of sales, and we achieved excellent inventory turns of 5.6. Selling prices were fairly stable, minus 0.5% versus prior quarter, minus 0.8% versus prior year. We expect a similar third quarter for our opto products.

Coming to diodes. Diodes represent a broad commodity business where we are the largest supplier worldwide. We offer virtually all technologies, as well as the most complete product portfolio, and we are leading, in particular, in power applications. Sales in the quarter were $170 million, which is 5% above prior quarter and 8% above prior year. Book-to-bill was at 0.97 and the backlog is at four months, which is very high. Based on higher volume, gross margin increased to 26% of sales, and our turns were quite excellent, 5.3.

There is a return of the price decline. We have seen a price decline of 0.8% versus prior quarter, but we are up vis-a-vis prior year by 3.3%.

We see continued success with our trench diodes, where we practically continue to be in a sole-source position. All power packages are now available in our new trench technology. And also for diodes we expect a similar third quarter.

Last but not least, the MOSFETs. We are a market leader in low-voltage MOSFETs. Sales in the quarter were $153 million, up by 7% versus prior quarter, down by 1% versus prior year. The book-to-bill ratio was 0.95. The backlog is still high at 3.9 months. Gross margin came in at the solid level of 28% of sales, and inventory turns also at a good level of 4.0.

Similar to diodes, the business is MOSFET is getting back to a normal ASP development. We have seen a price decline of 1.0% versus prior quarter, and of 1.4% versus prior year.

There is a ery strong demand for industrial -- in the industrial market for high-voltage MOSFETs. There is capacity expansion in Vishay on the way for new superjunction technology, and we expect the volume production in the first quarter of 2012. Also for the MOSFETs we expect the third quarter to be on the same level.

Now let me summarize. The quarter for our enterprise, as well as for me personally, was overshadowed by the loss of our Founder and Executive Chairman, Dr. Felix Zandman. His vision of a multinational broadliner was quite revolutionary in our industry, and will continue to be the basis of our success. Our new Executive Chairman Marc Zandman and myself, both of us are committed to carry on Felix's vision.

The financial results of the quarter, like of last year and prior quarter, were quite excellent in terms of profitability and cash generation. For the third quarter, we expect a continuation of a friendly economy, but we also see some adverse factors, like high inventory levels at distribution, in particular in Asia. We therefore guide to a sales range between $675 million and $715 million, with a mainly volume-driven gross margin reduction.

Being very confident about Vishay's mid- and long-term future, and focusing on our goal to enhance shareholder value, we have developed and published a plan to materially improve earnings per share over the next years, based on accelerated interim growth, in combination with some acquisitions.

In this context, we have announced the promotion of Dieter Wunderlich to Chief Operating Officer of the Company and Johan Vandoorn to Chief Technical Officer of the Company. Both gentlemen have had long careers in our industry and at Vishay. Both have a technical background and both, like myself, are committed to Vishay's growth and success. We are sure that in their new positions they can even help me more in my duties as the CEO.

And now, we are open for questions. Melissa, please.

(Operator Instructions)

Your first question comes from Steve Smigie.

Great, thank you. I was hoping you would comment a little bit more on the gross margin decline. You're expecting -- is it 50 basis points, 100 basis points? Just order of magnitude on it?

It's just related to volume, and you know we have approximately a 50% variable margin. It's mainly volume-related and you see how the mid-point goes down. That answers that question, I believe.

Okay. And it sounds like there is a little bit of excess inventory out there in the channel, and I think you built a little bit here. So if I look at typical seasonal patterns, Q4 might be down a little bit. That suggests you have a little bit more gross margin erosion going forward, particularly since we have the -- seems like the return of the normal pricing patterns for the discreet devices.

There will be some inventory reduction at Vishay as I told you, but a major part of it is raw materials, and this is what I tried to refer to. Of course to the extent finished goods and where in process will be concerned, but it's the smaller portion. There is some limited impact of the gross margin also. True.

Okay. Then regard to operating expense, I think at the mid-point of the guidance you're down about 2% on the revenue side. Will you keep the OpEx dollars roughly similar, or will you adjust that down a little bit to account for the mid-point of the revenue range?

Well, first of all, for the next quarter it will be practically unchanged at the level we had. Also, even if things got worse, we will stick to our technical programs. So we may squeeze it another point, but as a matter of fact, I want to continue with our programs, our technical programs. But we have a high backlog, we are looking for another good quarter.

Great. And if I could sneak one last one in. On the acquisition that you mentioned at $10 million to $15 million, I think you said it was, can you talk about the nature of the products in that, and whether you expect that to be accretive or dilutive?

Lior, do you want to answer?

This is Lior. We decided at this point not to share the nature of the product line, but we emphasize that it is complementary at Vishay, only because we were at the term-sheet level. We will share that of course at closing. What was the second question, sorry?

Accretion.

Yes, I'm sorry. As Dr. Paul indicated over the last several quarters, including in our M&A strategy, this will be accretive.

And I guess you don't want to -- go ahead, I'm sorry.

(multiple speakers) the pay-back is below the 8 years we are looking for.

I don't need too much detail, I'm just sort of curious on the products. Is it still in the discreet product areas, either active or passive, or are you looking to get into integrated circuits with this a little bit?

It is within our present range and it complements our portfolio quite nicely.

Okay. Thank you very much.

Your next question comes from Shawn Harrison.

Good morning. Just a follow-up on the M&A. $100 million a year revenue goal, is that something you expect to hit this year with the small transaction announced, so we should expect more in coming quarters?

We're looking for other candidates, and $100 million, principally speaking, can be achieved.

Okay. Then the follow-up, I want to drill into the POA versus the POS at distribution. I think your statement was it was relatively high during the quarter. Are you seeing that diverge now and through July, into early August, maybe some of the trends during the early third quarter, where we started to see maybe distribution pull back a little bit further?

Well, the orders from distribution have clearly weakened in July. So we believe that they work on the inventory.

Okay, and I guess that flows into the backlog question. It's still well above where you would like it to see. How should we see that normalize through the back half of 2011? Is that just a function of inventory adjustments, or would you expect some cancellations in the backlog as maybe you bring some more capacity online?

We are watching cancellations and we cannot see a significant increase of cancellations at this point. I believe we are going back in steps to our normal situation, with backlogs between 2.5 month and 3 months. This will take some time. I quickly mentioned this will extend over the second half of the year. Normally doesn't go that quickly.

Thanks so much.

Your next question comes from Jim Suva.

Thank you, and congratulations to you and your team, gentlemen. My question is regarding the impact of raw materials and cost of goods sold that you are using. Should we think about -- are we at a gross margin level that is now sustainable, except for mixed driven? Or are there some additional challenges with raw materials that could impact gross margins in the quarters ahead and how we should think about that impact to your financial model? Thank you.

Jim, I cannot forecast how metals -- we are talking metals in really -- how metals will go. I only see that the major pressure which we have seen in quarter two again has gone away. It's not as severe any more altogether than it has been. If it stays at this plateau, by nature it's not an impact on our gross margin level. Our gross margin really is driven by volume and price, but as you know, for half of our products nearly, for the passives, there is no price decline.

For the actives, well it's true, we are entering back a phase of normalized price decline. But our industry is used to that, and we have cost-reduction programs. But materials, I believe, may I say that from my perspective without knowing the future, obviously, the worst seems to be over.

Great. And a quick modeling question. Can you help us with what you believe the forward tax rate should be for the Company?

It is 27%, roughly, as we indicated.

Great. Thank you, and congratulations, gentlemen to you and your team.

Your next question comes from the Matt Sheerin.

Yes, thank you, from Stifel Nicolaus. So just getting back, Dr. Paul, to the questions of distribution and customer orders in general, do you get a sense that correction that you're seeing is going to take a quarter or given that the distributors are looking like they're seeing weaker orders -- weaker than seasonal -- do you think it will take more, like a couple of quarters through the December quarter, to work that down?

I cannot see distribution panicking at all. They have a strong business. Which leads me to the assumption, Matt, that this normalization will go smoothly, which I believe will take two quarters. That's my personal opinion. But, of course, if the economy turned down, which at the moment the backlog doesn't indicate at all, but if it should go down, then of course there can be more pressure on the inventories. But under these conditions which we see today, I would expect normalization within the next 6 months.

Okay. And you talked about some areas of strength -- auto, industrial, some weakness in consumer. Could you talk about what you're seeing in the mobility space, where I know you have a lot of exposure there. There's some winners and losers. How are you spread in terms of your exposure across the smartphone players and the tablet players?

Well, as a matter of fact we are well-positioned, but it's true that this is a certain segment of weakening at the moment, and as I said before, the seasonal upturn in Asia is not that strong this year. So all together, it's a picture which indicates some slowdown there.

And that's in the mobility space, in the smartphones?

Yes.

Okay. Could you give us a rough idea for the share count for this coming quarter, because I know you did some of the buy-backs during the quarter?

We have filed an 8-K, and I think it's best if you look at that in detail, and then we'll be happy to answer any specific questions.

Is that number in the 8-K?

Yes, definitely.

But you can't tell us. Okay, we'll take a look. And then lastly just on M&A, is your intent to do M&A both on the actives and the passive side, or is there one preference?

The preference is for specialty product. And by nature of things we find it's more likely on the passive side, but we were open in both directions. I think the criteria are fixed, and coming back to this -- to acquisitions, it's a good sign that we have started it. It's a very nice line, it's complementary, and fits the need of the professional industry so to speak. So we are back. This is the message, and we will continue.

Okay. Thanks a lot.

(Operator Instructions)

Your next question comes from Steve Smigie.

Great. Thanks for the follow-up. So with regard to the end markets, I think you indicated in the quarter just passed that you had the strength in the auto industrial. Is that continuing in your guidance? Are you still seeing -- obviously we've heard of auto weakness from some other guys, but that seems more tied to maybe a one-quarter Japan disruption, and I think you are maybe less exposed to Japan than some of the others. Any color you can provide on those markets would be great?

I think -- our guidance included is a seasonal, slight seasonal decline of European industrial, but this is really seasonal, I would like to highlight that, Europe has a seasonality. The auto industry this year pulled through and we do not expect to see any seasonality in automotive Europe. There are still super strong. But industrial includes a little slowdown, which is due to the summer.

Okay. Then overall, are you indicating again that you see the overall environment as friendly? I think we're seeing a number of people take down the results here, but some -- even people taking down numbers are saying they don't see major negative drop-off, like going into a 2008-type situation. Obviously, GDP is not great, at least in the US. So I'm not saying things are great, but it doesn't seem like it's a fall-of-the-world type quarter.

I am not the one to comment about the global economy. What I can see is really the situation of our business, and I have to state it's friendly still, no question. There is some weakening in Asia, as I said before. But Vishay's position, very strong in Europe, and this helps at the moment. No question.

The nature of that Asian weakness, is that more just the local, say Chinese market, or is that more just ODMs and so forth that are ultimately shipping products out to elsewhere in the world?

I personally believe that we see the results already of some overstocking at distribution in Asia. This is, I think, more a correction than anything else.

Okay, great. Thank you.

(Operator Instructions)

There are no further questions. I will turn the call over to Dr. Yahalomi for closing remarks.

Thank you, Melissa. Thank you all for your participation. We appreciate your interest, and look forward to your continued interest in Vishay. Thank you.

This concludes today's conference call. You may now disconnect.