News

Micrel Reports 2011 Third Quarter Financial Results

October 27, 2011 by Jeff Shepard

Micrel, Inc. announced financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2011. Third quarter revenues of $64.2 million decreased by $4.3 million, or 6.2% compared to revenues of $68.5 million in the second quarter of 2011. Revenues for the same period last year were lower by $16.4 million, or 20.3%. The sequential and year over year decrease in revenues was due to lower overall demand from customers in most geographies and end markets.

Third quarter 2011 GAAP net income was $9.2 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, compared to second quarter 2011 GAAP net income of $10.7 million, or $0.17 per diluted share, and GAAP net income of $14.9 million, or $0.24 per diluted share in the same period in 2010. Third quarter 2011 non-GAAP net income was $10.2 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, compared to second quarter 2011 non-GAAP net income of $11.6 million, or $0.18 per diluted share, and non-GAAP net income of $15.7 million, or $0.25 per diluted share in the same period in 2010.

"The moderation in orders that we began to see toward the end of our second quarter continued throughout our third quarter across all end markets. As a result, revenues of $64.2 million fell below our expectations," commented Ray Zinn, President and CEO of Micrel. "Gross margin declined in the quarter to 55.5% primarily due to a mix shift to lower margin consumer products and lower factory capacity utilization. Earnings per diluted share of $0.15 were within our estimated range for the quarter reflecting our continuous commitment to controlling costs. Our third quarter book-to-bill ratio was below one. We continue to generate a significant amount of cash, with our cash, cash equivalents and short term investments growing to $143 million, or $2.30 per share at the end of the third quarter. Cash flow from operations for the quarter was $19.1 million. To the benefit of our shareholders, we repurchased approximately 539,000 shares for a total of $5.3 million; year to date we have repurchased approximately 1.1 million shares for a total of $12.5 million and, as mentioned last quarter, our quarterly dividend was raised to $0.04 per share."

Zinn continued, "The slowdown that we experienced in the third quarter is reflective of the overall weakness in the world economy, particularly in the U.S. and China, which has worsened the demand for semiconductors. We believe that inventory levels for the industry are now reaching their normal levels, taking into consideration shorter lead times and overall weak demand, and that orders in general will strengthen through the fourth quarter. We expect that lead times will remain compressed until inventories are depleted in the semiconductor channel, which we believe will occur early next year. Order rates are expected to return to a more normal pattern during the latter part of the fourth quarter and therefore we do not expect to see growth in the semiconductor industry before the first quarter of 2012. For the next three months, visibility for the industry and our Company remains low due to the lack of bookings and the continued slowness in the world markets. Based on current estimates, the Company projects revenues for the fourth quarter will be down in the range of 5% to 10% on a sequential basis. Gross profit margin is expected to be approximately 52% to 53%. In addition, the Company estimates that fourth quarter GAAP net income will be approximately $0.06 to $0.10 per diluted share."