GT Advanced Technologies Inc. Announces Third Quarter Fiscal Year 2012 Results

MERRIMACK, N.H.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--GT Advanced Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ: GTAT) today reported results for its third quarter of fiscal year 2012, which ended December 31, 2011.

Third quarter of fiscal 2012 revenue totaled $153.0 million, compared to $217.7 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and $262.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2011. Revenue by business segment for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was $87.4 million in polysilicon, $34.4 million in photovoltaic (PV), and $31.2 million in the sapphire segment, which included revenue for ASF™ equipment as well as sapphire materials.

Revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2012 was $601.8 million compared to $627.4 million of revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2011.

Gross profit for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 totaled $66.0 million, or 43.1 percent of revenue, compared to $95.1 million, or 43.7 percent of revenue in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and $122.1 million, or 46.4 percent of revenue for the third quarter of fiscal 2011.

Gross profit for the first nine months of fiscal 2012 was $274.5 million or 45.6% of revenue, compared to $261.1 million or 41.6% of revenue for the first nine months of fiscal 2011.

Operating margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2012 was 20.7 percent of revenue, compared to 24.7 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and 36.1 percent in the third quarter of fiscal 2011.

Operating margin for the first nine months of fiscal 2012 was 27.3 percent of revenue, compared to 30.4 percent for the first nine months of fiscal 2011.

The company had net income of $15.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2012, compared to $36.9 million in the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and $63.6 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2011. Earnings per share in the third quarter of fiscal 2012 on a fully-diluted basis was $0.12 compared to $0.29 for the second quarter of fiscal 2012 and $0.46 for the third quarter of fiscal 2011.

For the first nine months of fiscal 2012, net income was $104.3 million compared to $122.9 million for the first nine months of fiscal 2011. Earnings per share for the first nine months of fiscal 2012 on a fully-diluted basis was $0.82 compared to $0.85 for the first nine months of fiscal 2011.

At the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012, cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash was $303.1 million, which included $96.2 million of restricted cash and zero debt. The Q3 cash balance reflects the use of $75 million for the accelerated share repurchase initiated during the quarter and $90.9 million to pay down the company’s remaining debt facility. Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2012 was $494.0 million and included $10.2 million of restricted cash and $90.9 million of borrowing.

As of December 31, 2011, the company’s backlog was $2.2 billion. This included $1.1 billion in the polysilicon segment, $212.1 million in the PV segment and $908.2 million in the sapphire segment. Included in the total backlog was $431.1 million of deferred revenue.

New orders for the third quarter were $228.9 million and included $218.1 million of polysilicon orders, $0.9 million of PV orders and $10.0 million in sapphire orders. The company had $27.2 million of adjustments to backlog resulting in net orders of $201.7 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2012.

Management Commentary

“We are very pleased with our third quarter performance,” said Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer. “We performed at the top end of our guidance for revenue and above our gross profit and earnings per share guidance, sustaining our track record of meeting or exceeding expectations.

“We saw continued success in our polysilicon business, including our first ever reactor booking with an incumbent manufacturer. This helped drive a positive book-to-bill ratio and strengthened our overall backlog to $2.2 billion at quarter’s end,” added Gutierrez. “Our reactors and supporting technologies continue to be validated as the industry’s most technologically-advanced and efficient solutions for building viable polysilicon production facilities.

“In our sapphire business, we completed installation, received acceptance and recorded revenue on a significant number of sapphire furnaces. We continue to believe that our ASF™ solution offers the most viable path to low-cost, high-quality sapphire production” continued Gutierrez. “In PV, while we saw some pockets of improvement, on balance we continue to believe a broad-based turnaround is unlikely in the near to mid-term. With less than 10 percent of our current backlog coming from PV, our current exposure in this space is limited. Longer term, as the PV industry’s well-financed technology leader, we are well positioned to drive our customers’ critical move to higher efficiency and lower cost products with our DSS™450 MonoCast™ and HiCz™ products.

“We continue to have one of the strongest balance sheets in the industry. This enables us to continue to invest strategically in new product technology and initiatives to further diversify the company and add new growth opportunities,” Gutierrez concluded.

New Credit Agreement

On January 31, 2012, the company and certain subsidiaries entered into a senior secured credit agreement with Bank of America, N.A., RBS Citizens and certain other lenders. The Credit Agreement consists of a term loan facility in an aggregate principal amount of $75.0 million with a final maturity date of January 31, 2016 and a revolving credit facility in an aggregate principal amount of $175.0 million with a final maturity date of January 31, 2016.

Business Outlook

The company updated its fiscal 2012 guidance, for the year ending March 31, 2012. Revenue is still expected to be in the range of $950 million to $1.05 billion. The company now expects its overall annual tax rate to be 33%, up from 30% due to the increased proportion of polysilicon revenue now expected in the fiscal year. Primarily as a result of this tax rate adjustment, the company now expects fully-diluted earnings per share in the range of $1.45 to $1.60 versus the previous range of $1.45 to $1.65. This guidance is based on estimated weighted average diluted shares outstanding of approximately 127 million. The company maintained its gross margin guidance range of 43 percent to 45 percent.

The company also provided its initial views on fiscal 2013, which begins April 1, 2012. The company expects to enter fiscal 2013 with a total backlog of greater than $1.7 billion. Revenue performance in fiscal 2013 is expected to show modest growth over fiscal 2012, gross margin to remain stable, annual tax rate to resume its downward trend, R&D to continue to increase and EPS to expand.

The company will provide additional details on its fiscal 2012 guidance, and commentary on fiscal 2013, during its live webcasted conference call tomorrow morning pre-market opening. See details below.

Investor Financial Summary Document

A comprehensive summary of the company’s financial performance can be found on the Investor Relations section of its website in the “Featured Documents” section and the “Q3 FY12 Earnings Call” webcast page. To access: http://investor.gtsolar.com.

Conference Call, Webcast

Tomorrow morning, Thursday, February 2, 2012, at 8:00am ET the company will host a live conference call to discuss quarterly results and the company’s longer-term outlook with Tom Gutierrez, president and chief executive officer, Richard Gaynor, chief financial officer, and Vikram Singh, VP & GM of PV.

The call will be webcast live and can be accessed by logging on to the "Investors" section of GT Advanced Technologies’ website, http://investor.gtat.com/. No password is required to access the webcast. A slide presentation will accompany the call.

The live call can also be accessed by dialing 866.783.2141 for callers in the United States and Canada and 857.350.1600 for international callers. The telephone passcode is GTAT.

A replay of the call will be available through May 2, 2012. To access the replay, please go to http://investor.gtat.com/ and select the webcast replay link on the ‘Events and Presentations’ page. Or, please dial 888.286.8010 for callers in the United States and Canada, or 617 801.6888 for international callers. The telephone replay passcode is 81044932.

About GT Advanced Technologies Inc.

GT Advanced Technologies Inc. is a global provider of polysilicon production technology and sapphire and silicon crystalline growth systems and materials for the solar, LED and other specialty markets. The company's products and services allow its customers to optimize their manufacturing environments and lower their cost of ownership. For additional information about GT Advanced Technologies, please visit www.gtat.com.