27 February 2013

AXT enters loss as revenue falls a further 9% in Q4

For fourth-quarter 2012, AXT Inc of Fremont, CA, USA has reported revenue of $18.9m, down 9% on $20.8m last quarter and 10.8% on $21.2m a year ago. Full-year revenue was $88.4m, down 15% on 2011’s $104.1m.

Fourth-quarter gallium arsenide (GaAs) substrate revenue was $11.3m, up slightly from $11.1m a year ago but down 12.4% on $12.9m last quarter. Germanium (Ge) substrate revenue was $1.7m, down 15% on $2m last quarter and almost halving from $3m a year ago. Raw materials sales were $4.3m, level with last quarter, but down on $6.4m a year ago. In contrast, indium phosphide (InP) substrate revenue was $1.6m, level with last quarter but more than doubling from $724,000 a year ago.

Gross margin has fallen further, from 36.9% a year ago and 26.3% last quarter to 19.5%. Full-year gross margin was 28.1%, down from 43% for 2011. Operating expenses have also fallen further, from $4.8m last quarter to $4.6m (almost matching $4.5m a year ago).

“While we are coming off of a tough year in our industry, we believe that we have been able to weather the environment reasonably well, remaining profitable for the year and generating nearly $10m in cash,” notes CEO Morris Young. Full-year net income was $3.1m, down from $20.3m in 2011. However, fourth-quarter 2012 saw a net loss of $0.8m, compared with net income of $0.9m last quarter and $2.6m a year ago. During the quarter, cash and cash equivalents rose fell from $35.5m to $30.6m.

“As we enter 2013, we are seeing signs of market improvement in several of our product categories and believe that the current customer landscape holds interesting opportunity for AXT,” Young says. “We are approaching the year with cautious optimism and will continue to exercise tight expense control and careful financial planning,” he adds. “We are focused on delivering growth and shareholder value in 2013.”

See related items:

AXT revenue falls 17.5% to $20.8m in Q3

GaAs growth of 22% drives AXT’s revenue up 7% in Q2 despite drops in InP, Ge and raw materials

AXT’s revenue rebounds by 10.7% in Q1

AXT reports revenue up 9% for full-year 2011, but down 25% in Q4

Tags: AXT GaAs GaAs substrate InP Germanium

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