Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2014, including fourth quarter sales of $152.7 million compared with $143.1 million in the third quarter of 2014 and $152.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. Net income was $9.3 million or $0.23 per diluted share. The company ended the quarter with $128.4 million in cash and marketable securities, a sequential increase of $22.6 million.
"We ended 2014 with a strong quarter," said Yuval Wasserman, President and CEO of Advanced Energy. "Our investment in new semiconductor products targeting key technology inflection points is enabling accelerated growth in existing and new applications, and drove record revenues for the quarter. Having made three strategic acquisitions in the last 12 months, we have entered several new and adjacent industrial markets, expanding our total available market and increasing our diversification. We are in the process of evaluating strategic alternatives for our solar inverter business given some of the near-term challenges facing the industry. With a strong pipeline of opportunities and choices for our business, we believe that we are well positioned for 2015."
Precision Power Products sales were $105.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, a 16.1% increase from $91.2 million in the third quarter of 2014 and a 20.8% increase from $87.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. This was driven by a record quarter in semiconductor sales and a recovery in our industrial applications.
Inverter sales were $46.8 million in the fourth quarter of 2014, down 9.8% from $52.0 million in the third quarter of 2014, and down 27.9% from $64.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2013. The solar inverter business was impacted by a number of macroeconomic factors including economic weakness in Europe, pricing pressure, changes in currency exchange rate and increased competition.
Net income for the fourth quarter of 2014 was $9.3 million or $0.23 per diluted share, compared with net income of $12.3 million or $0.30 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2014, and $34.4 million or $0.83 per diluted share in the fourth quarter last year. Based on the company's current view, guidance for the first quarter of 2015 is within the following ranges: Sales of $137 million to $147 million and GAAP earnings per share of $0.32 to $0.40.
