News

26 February 2010

 

Kopin reports record Q4 revenue, up 13% year-on-year

Kopin Corp of Taunton, MA, USA has reported revenue of $114.7m for 2009 (flat on $114.8m in 2008 but exceeding April’s guidance of $90–110m). This included $68.2m for CyberDisplay LCDs and $46.5m for III-V heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) epiwafers.

For fourth-quarter 2009, revenue was $33m, up 3% on $32m in Q3 and up 13% on $29.1m a year ago. This included CyberDisplay revenue of $ 18m (up on Q3’s $17.7m but down slightly on $ 18.2m a year ago) and III-V revenue of $15m (up 5% on Q3’s $14.3m and 37% on $10.9m a year ago, driven by accelerating consumer demand for smartphones).

“We capped a strong year with the best fourth quarter in our history,” says president & CEO Dr John C.C. Fan. “After a difficult economic environment to start the year, III-V revenues ended 2009 with a flourish,” he adds. “Our unique GaAs HBT technology is helping the world’s leading integrated circuit manufacturers design power amplifiers with the enhanced performance and power efficiency required by today’s multimedia mobile devices.” Despite the challenging economic climate during much of the past year, business was strong across Kopin’s entire III-V customer base in second-half 2009.

Although down on Q3’s 32.6%, gross margin of 30.8% is up from 27.8% a year ago, reflecting higher sales of CyberDisplay products for military applications and an increase in III-V product volume. This contributed to full-year gross margin rising from 27.5% in 2008 to 29.7% in 2009.

Though down on Q3’s $8.5m, net income was $5.3m, up from $1.8m a year ago. Full-year net income rose from $2.6m in 2008 to a record $19.4m in 2009.

“Record 2009 net income resulted from our strategy, which we implemented several years ago, of focusing on offering higher-margin products and migrating from selling components to more complete system solutions,” says Fan.

“We generated $22m of cash from operating activities in 2009 while making significant investments in personnel, new product development and capacity for both products lines, and completing the acquisition of KTC (Kopin Taiwan Corp),” says Fan. So, despite capital expenditure of $3.7m and repurchasing $5.3m of stock under its buy-back program, cash and marketable securities rose during 2009 from $100m to $114.5m. “Our 2009 results are a testament to our basic philosophy of aggressively investing in technology while being fiscally conservative,” asserts Fan. Kopin has no long-term debt.

“Anchored by a strong balance sheet, manufacturing know-how and technology expertise, we are well positioned to generate sustained growth,” Fan believes. “While other companies have struggled during the economic downturn, we have capitalized on the opportunity by expanding our technology and product portfolios,” he claims. “We have continued to enhance our manufacturing capabilities and capacity, add new management and scientific talents, patent new technologies and develop the advanced new display systems and III-V structures that we believe will become growth engines for the company in the coming years.”

Based on the current business environment, for full-year 2010 Kopin expects revenue to rise to $120–130m.

See related items:

Kopin’s III-V revenues rise 37%, driven by smartphones/3G

Kopin invests in Taiwan foundry as GaAs demand returns

Kopin’s III-V revenues fall 37%, but margin boosted by military displays

Kopin grows profit in Q4 despite 8% drop in III-Vs revenues

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