Netlist Reports Fourth Quarter, Year-End Results

IRVINE, Calif., Feb. 18 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Netlist, Inc. (Nasdaq: NLST) today reported financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended January 2, 2010.  

Revenues for the fourth quarter ended January 2, 2010, were $6.7 million compared to $6.6 million for the fourth quarter ended January 3, 2009, and up from the $6.4 million in revenue for the third quarter ended October 3, 2009.  Gross profit for the fourth quarter ended January 2, 2010, was $1.7 million, or 25.1 percent of revenues, compared to a gross loss of $283,000, or negative 4.3 percent of revenues for the fourth quarter ended January 3, 2009.  

Net loss for the fourth quarter ended January 2, 2010, was $3.0 million, or $0.15 loss per share, compared to a net loss in the prior year period of $5.0 million, or $0.25 loss per share.  These results include stock-based compensation expense in the fourth quarter ended January 2, 2010, of $257,000 compared with $296,000 in the prior year period.  

"During the last quarter, we made important strides toward anticipated commercialization of our two emerging proprietary memory platforms, HyperCloud™ and NetVault™.  We believe we are in a strong position to continue that progress and to see revenues from those new technologies during 2010," Chief Executive Officer C.K. Hong said.  "I believe that one of the most important trends in the IT industry over the next decade is the build out of cloud computing.  We believe HyperCloud and NetVault technologies will play key roles in this trend by enabling efficient and cost-effective datacenters."

Revenues for the year ended January 2, 2010, were $18.5 million compared to $67.0 million for the year ended January 3, 2009.  The year-over-year decline in annual revenue was primarily due to a reduction in demand from the Company's current customer base and commoditization and end of life of some of its product offerings.  Netlist continues to focus on the development of high-margin subsystems based on custom logic devices.  Gross profit for the year ended January 2, 2010, was $3.0 million, or a gross margin of 16.0 percent, compared to gross profit of $7.6 million, or a gross margin of 11.3 percent in the year earlier.

Net loss for the year ended January 2, 2010 was $12.9 million, or $0.65 loss per share, compared to a net loss of $15.2 million, or a $0.77 loss per share, for the prior year.  These results include stock-based compensation expense in the year ended January 2, 2010, of $1.5 million compared with $1.3 million in the prior year period.  

During the fourth quarter, the Company remained focused on preserving cash.  As of January 2, 2010, cash, cash equivalents, and investments in marketable securities were $14.8 million, total assets were $27.2 million, working capital was $13.4 million, total long-term debt was $51,000, and stockholders' equity was $19.3 million.

Conference Call Information

As previously announced, Netlist is conducting a conference call today to be broadcast live over the Internet at 5:00 pm Eastern Time to discuss and review the financial results for the fourth quarter and year ended January 2, 2010.  The dial-in number for the call is 1-877-941-2069.  The live webcast and archived replay of the call can be accessed in the Investors section of Netlist's website at www.netlist.com.

About Netlist, Inc.  

Netlist designs and manufactures high-performance memory subsystems for the server and high- performance computing and communications markets.  The Company's memory subsystems are developed for applications in which high-speed, high-capacity memory, functionality, small form factor, and heat dissipation are key requirements.  These applications include tower-servers, rack-mounted servers, blade servers, high-performance computing clusters, engineering workstations, and telecommunication equipment.  Netlist maintains its headquarters in Irvine, California with manufacturing facilities in Suzhou, China.

Safe Harbor Statement

This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of Netlist and its products, including future opportunities and growth for the Company's business. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or projected. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, the rapidly-changing nature of technology; risks associated with intellectual property; risks associated with new product development; volatility in the pricing of DRAM ICs and NAND; changes in and uncertainty of customer acceptance of and demand for the Company's existing products and products under development, including uncertainty of and/or delays in product orders and product qualifications; delays in the Company's and its customers' product releases and development; introductions of new products by competitors; changes in end-user demand for technology solutions; the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the Company's reliance on suppliers of critical components; litigation involving the Company; fluctuations in the market price of evolving industry standards; and the political and regulatory environment in the People's Republic of China. Other risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K, dated March 30, 2009, and subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made by the Company from time to time.  Except as required by law, Netlist undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

    
    
                                TABLES FOLLOW
    
    
    
                                Netlist, Inc.
               Unaudited Consolidated Statements of Operations
                  (in thousands, except per share amounts)
    
                             Three Months Ended              Year Ended
                          ------------------------     -----------------------
                          January 2,    January 3,     January 2,   January 3,
                            2010           2009          2010          2009
                          ---------     ----------     ----------   ----------
    
    Net sales              $6,698         $6,602       $18,479       $67,011
    Cost of sales(1)        5,015          6,885        15,522        59,460
                            -----          -----        ------        ------
    Gross profit            1,683           (283)        2,957         7,551
                            -----           ----         -----         -----
    Operating
     expenses:
      Research and
       development(1)       2,464          1,928         8,083         6,871
      Selling, general
       and
       administrative(1)    2,133          2,787         8,303        12,929
                            -----          -----         -----        ------
        Total operating
         expenses           4,597          4,715        16,386        19,800
                            -----          -----        ------        ------
    Operating loss         (2,914)        (4,998)      (13,429)      (12,249)
                           ------         ------       -------       -------
    Other income
     (expense):
      Interest income,
       net                      4             92            79           473
      Other income
       (expense), net        (109)           (82)           25          (137)
                             ----            ---           ---          ----
        Total other
         income, net         (105)            10           104           336
                             ----            ---           ---           ---
    Income (loss)
     before provision
     (benefit) for
     income taxes          (3,019)        (4,988)      (13,325)      (11,913)
    Provision
     (benefit) for
     income taxes              (3)           (31)         (412)        3,301
                              ---            ---          ----         -----
    Net loss              $(3,016)       $(4,957)     $(12,913)     $(15,214)
                          =======        =======      ========      ========
    Net income
     (loss) per
     common share:
      Basic and
       diluted             $(0.15)        $(0.25)       $(0.65)       $(0.77)
    Weighted-
     average common
     shares
     outstanding:
      Basic and diluted    19,876         19,855        19,876        19,847
    
    (1) Amounts include
     stock-based
     compensation
     expense as follows:
    
      Cost of sales           $11            $38          $224          $144
      Research and
       development             39             39           301           179
      Selling, general
       and administrative     207            219           960           954
    
    

    
    
    
    
                                    Netlist, Inc.
                   Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
                                   (in thousands)
    
                                                         January 2, January 3,
                                                            2010       2009
                                                         ---------- ----------
    
    ASSETS
    Current assets:
      Cash and cash equivalents                           $9,942      $15,214
      Investments in marketable securities                 3,949        5,199
      Accounts receivable, net                             4,273        1,917
      Inventories                                          2,232        1,829
      Income taxes receivable                                  -        1,880
      Prepaid expenses and other current assets              854          761
                                                             ---          ---
        Total current assets                              21,250       26,800
    
      Property and equipment, net                          4,779        6,939
      Long-term investments in marketable securities         941          960
      Other assets                                           221          234
                                                             ---          ---
        Total assets                                     $27,191      $34,933
                                                         =======      =======
    
    LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
    Current liabilities:
      Accounts payable                                    $4,057       $1,786
      Accrued payroll and related liabilities              1,706          799
      Accrued expenses and other current liabilities       1,231        1,284
      Accrued engineering charges                            661            -
      Current portion of long-term debt                      108          474
      Current portion of deferred gain on sale and
       leaseback transaction                                 108          118
                                                             ---          ---
        Total current liabilities                          7,871        4,461
    Long-term debt, net of current portion                    51          130
    Deferred gain on sale and leaseback transaction,
     net of current portion                                    -          108
                                                             ---          ---
        Total liabilities                                  7,922        4,699
    
    Commitments and contingencies
    
    Stockholders' equity:
      Common stock                                            20           20
      Additional paid-in capital                          71,332       69,383
      Accumulated deficit                                (52,026)     (39,113)
      Accumulated other comprehensive loss                   (57)         (56)
                                                             ---          ---
        Total stockholders' equity                        19,269       30,234
                                                          ------       ------
        Total liabilities and stockholders' equity       $27,191      $34,933
                                                         =======      =======
    
    

SOURCE Netlist, Inc.