Coherent, Inc. Reports Fourth Fiscal Quarter and Year-End Results

SANTA CLARA, Calif., Oct. 30, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Coherent, Inc. (NASDAQ, COHR), a world leader in providing photonics based solutions to the commercial and scientific research markets, today announced financial results for its fourth fiscal quarter and fiscal year ended September 28, 2013.

FINANCIAL HIGHLIGHTS

FOURTH FISCAL QUARTER DETAILS

For the fourth fiscal quarter ended September 28, 2013, Coherent announced net sales of $213.1 million and net income, on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP) basis, of $20.5 million, or $0.83 per diluted share.  These results compare to net sales of $188.7 million and net income of $12.5 million, or $0.52 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012. Coherent's results for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 includes a charge of approximately $4.3 million after tax due to the write-off of previously acquired intangible assets and inventories and a tax benefit of approximately $2.8 million due to the release of tax valuation allowances.

Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013 was $25.6 million, or $1.03 per diluted share.  Non-GAAP net income for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2012 was $18.1 million, or $0.75 per diluted share. Beginning in the second quarter of fiscal 2013, the company revised its presentation of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP diluted EPS for all periods presented to exclude the effect of intangibles amortization and inventory step up costs. For a complete overview of the differences between GAAP and non-GAAP results, please see the reconciliation table included at the end of this release.

Net sales for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 were $213.7 million and net income, on a GAAP basis, was $16.7 million, or $0.68 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2013 was $22.6 million, or $0.91 per diluted share.

Bookings received during the fourth fiscal quarter ended September 28, 2013 of $200.3 million increased 18.3% from $169.3 million in the same prior year period and increased by 5.9% compared to bookings of $189.2 million in the immediately preceding quarter.  The book-to-bill ratio was 0.94, and ending backlog shipping in the next 12 months was $285.8 million at September 28, 2013, compared to a backlog of $299.2 million at June 29, 2013 and a backlog of $352.8 million at September 29, 2012.

For the fiscal year ended September 28, 2013, Coherent posted net sales of $810.1 million and net profit of $66.4 million ($2.70 per diluted share) on a GAAP basis compared to the prior year sales of $769.1 million and a net profit on a GAAP basis of $63.0 million ($2.62 per diluted share).   Bookings received for the fiscal year ended September 28, 2013 were $767.3 million, compared to $773.2 million in bookings received during fiscal 2012.

"We posted a very strong performance in our fourth fiscal quarter including record service revenues and cash generation.  We received the first tranche of new ELA orders (>$15 million) and the ELA order pipeline for fiscal 2014 looks robust.  There was marked demand improvement within the semiconductor capital equipment industry tied to the introduction of new wafer inspection tools.  Ophthalmic and emerging dental  applications coupled with increased adoption of our OBIS™ platform led to very solid orders in the instrumentation and OEM component market," said John Ambroseo, Coherent's President and Chief Executive Officer.  "Record annual orders from Asia (excluding Japan) as well as a strong quarter in the U.S. fueled a recovery of research orders.  And while materials processing bookings were seasonally lower, we ended the fiscal year with a new materials processing bookings record," Ambroseo said.

Coherent ended the quarter with cash, cash equivalents and short term investments of $250.1 million, an increase of $48.4 million from cash, cash equivalents and short term investments of $201.7 million at June 29, 2013.

CONFERENCE CALL REMINDER

The Company will host a conference call today to discuss its financial results at 1:30 P.M. Pacific (4:30 P.M. Eastern). A listen-only broadcast of the conference call can be accessed on the Company's website at either http://www.coherent.com/Investors/ or http://www.earnings.com. For those who are not able to listen to the live broadcast, the call will be archived for approximately three months on both web sites.  A transcript of management's prepared remarks can be found at http://www.coherent.com/Investors/.

Summarized statement of operations information is as follows (unaudited, in thousands except per share data):

Summarized balance sheet information is as follows (unaudited, in thousands): 

Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP net income (unaudited, in thousands, net of tax):

FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

This press release contains forward-looking statements, as defined under the Federal securities laws. These forward-looking statements include the statements in this press release that relate to any timing for or occurrence of orders for the Company's ELA products. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future results and are subject to risks, uncertainties and assumptions that could cause our actual results to differ materially and adversely from those expressed in any forward-looking statement.  Factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include risks and uncertainties, including, but not limited to, risks associated with any general market recovery, growth in demand for our products, growth in demand for the Company's ELA products, the worldwide demand for flat panel displays, the demand for and use of short-pulse lasers in commercial applications, our successful implementation of our customer design wins, our and our customers' exposure to risks associated with worldwide economic conditions and, the ability of our customers to forecast their own end markets, our ability to accurately forecast future periods, customer acceptance and adoption of our new product offerings, continued timely availability of products and materials from our suppliers, our ability to timely ship our products and our customers' ability to accept such shipments, our ability to have our customers qualify our product offerings, worldwide government economic policies and other risks identified in the Company's SEC filings.  Readers are encouraged to refer to the risk disclosures and critical accounting policies and estimates described in the Company's reports on Forms 10-K, 10-Q and 8-K, as applicable and as filed from time-to-time by the Company.  Actual results, events and performance may differ materially from those presented herein.  Readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date hereof.  The Company undertakes no obligation to update these forward-looking statements as a result of events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated events.

Founded in 1966, Coherent, Inc. is a world leader in providing photonics based solutions to the commercial and scientific research markets and part of the Standard & Poor's SmallCap 600 Index and the Russell 2000. Please direct any questions to Leen Simonet, Chief Financial Officer at 408-764-4110. For more information about Coherent, visit the Company's Web site at http://www.coherent.com for product and financial updates.

SOURCE Coherent, Inc.