Veeco Instruments Q2 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 7, 2023

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Veeco Second Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to our host, Anthony Papone, Head of Investor Relations.

Operator

Thank you. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Joining me on the call today are Bill Miller, Veeco's Chief Executive Officer and John Kiernan, our Chief Financial Officer. Today's earnings release is available on the Veeco website. Please note that we have prepared a slide presentation to accompany today's webcast. We encourage you to follow along with the slides on veeco.com.

Speaker 1

This call is being recorded by Veeco Instruments and is copyrighted material. It cannot be recorded or rebroadcast without Veeco's expressed permission. Your participation implies consent to our reporting. To the extent that this call discusses expectations about market conditions, Market acceptance and future sales of the company's products, future disclosures, future earnings expectations or otherwise make statements about the future, Such statements are forward looking and are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements made. These factors are discussed in the business description, management's discussion and analysis and risk factors sections of the company's report on Form 10 ks Annual Report to shareholders in our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10 Q, current reports on Form 8 ks and press releases.

Speaker 1

Veeco does not undertake any obligation to update any forward looking statements, including those made on this call, to reflect future events or circumstances after the date of such During this call, management will address non GAAP financial measures. Information regarding such non GAAP financial measures, Including reconciliation to GAAP measures of performance is available on our website. With that, I will turn the call over to our CEO, Bill Miller.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Anthony. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining our call today. Veeco had another solid quarter with strong top and bottom line results. Today, I'll take you through our Q2 highlights, provide an update on our markets and discuss a few significant growth opportunities in more detail. John will provide a financial update and guidance, and then we'll be happy to take questions.

Speaker 2

Revenue in Q2 totaled $162,000,000 toward the high end of our guidance range, While non GAAP operating income reached $24,000,000 and non GAAP diluted EPS totaled $0.36 both above the high end of our guidance range. Our semiconductor growth strategy of investing in advanced logic and memory to win new customers Continues to gain traction as evidenced by record semiconductor revenue during the quarter. In addition to our solid financial results, For high bandwidth memory enabling artificial intelligence. 2nd, we received LSA orders from Tier 1 logic customers for their most advanced nodes. And 3rd, we made further progress towards shipping evaluation systems For nanosecond annealing or NSA and ion beam deposition or IBD for advanced node semiconductor applications.

Speaker 2

I'll now provide more details on our markets and review several opportunities we view as integral to our success. Looking first at our semiconductor market, laser annealing plays a critical role in chip production. As devices continue to shrink, Customers require the most advanced technologies to meet increasingly stringent chip process demands. Growth from our laser annealing platform Represents our largest opportunity as we expand to new markets, new applications and introduce our NSA system. We saw broad based demand for our laser annealing platform during the quarter from both leading and trailing edge customers as evidenced by record revenue and robust order activity.

Speaker 2

Our IBD system for EUV mask blanks Continues to be the system of choice for our customers due to its ability to manufacture near defect free UV mask blanks. We expect continued demand for these systems as customers add capacity to support increased adoption of EUV lithography. Veeco provides wet processing solutions primarily used for photoresist strip, solvent cleans And flux removal for high bandwidth memory and temporary bond material strip. We also provide advanced packaging lithography systems Serving several applications, including copper pillar, bumping, redistribution layers and wafer level packaging. Based on our strong year to date results and order activity, we continue to expect our semiconductor business to be up Our opportunity in the compound semiconductor market It's driven by demand for epitaxy equipment for power electronics applications, including silicon carbide and gallium nitride, In addition to photonics applications such as microLED, integration of our silicon carbide CBD technology is progressing well End customer engagement remains healthy.

Speaker 2

We expect a demo ready system by year end in anticipation of several evaluations with Tier 1 customers next year. We believe our innovative system design offers an opportunity for a differentiated solution and are optimistic our sales, service and manufacturing infrastructure can position us to gain share in this high growth market. We also remain committed to our opportunities in GaN and MicroLED as long term fundamentals in these markets remain positive. Lastly, looking at our data storage business. Veeco has the most advanced ion beam equipment in the industry With customers using our products to manufacture thin film magnetic heads for hard disk drives.

Speaker 2

As reported, The hard disk drive industry experienced contraction in exabyte shipments in 20222023 with uncertainty as to the timing of a recovery. However, recent analysts and industry forecasts predict nearline hard disk drive exabyte shipments To grow at an approximate 20% to 25% CAGR over the coming years. Despite current industry challenges, We continue to expect revenue growth in 2023 based on the ship dates of orders in our backlog. I'd like to take a few minutes now to touch on the emergence of artificial intelligence in areas where customers are utilizing our technologies. Opportunities for Veeco are growing as customers adopt our products for AI applications that require higher performance logic and memory content Compared to traditional chips, there are 3 main areas where we are benefiting from AI.

Speaker 2

First, for GPU chips, Veeco's LSA systems for transistor formation and IBD systems for EUV mask Blank manufacturing are established as production tools of record at our customers' most advanced nodes. Looking ahead, We believe there are significant opportunities for our NSA and IBD systems in AI GPU applications where traditional technologies are challenged. 2nd, HBM DRAM is driving increased demand for our technologies. As previously mentioned, in the Q2, we received follow on LSA orders for HBM applications. Equally important, we see future opportunities for NSA and IVD solutions for advanced AI memory applications.

Speaker 2

And 3rd, Veeco wet processing systems for flux clean of micro bumps are enabling advanced packaging for AI At both the sub module level for HBM and the system product level, recent wet processing wins validate our position. Our AP lithography systems for Bump also enable advanced packaging for AI at the full product level. I'd now like to take a deeper dive into 2 of our largest semiconductor growth opportunities, beginning with laser annealing. We continue to execute our laser annealing growth strategy in logic and memory by winning new customers and applications. Looking ahead, we expect opportunities for laser annealing to grow as geometry shrink and requirements and material sets continue to change.

Speaker 2

As an example, gate all around devices require annealing solutions with lower thermal budgets and lower contact resistance, both of which our technology is proving to achieve. Our laser annealing platform is production tool of record for Tier 1 IDMs, Foundries and memory customers for their advanced nodes and is under evaluation for additional applications. In the DRAM memory market, we are in the early stages of ramping an HBM application. Continued innovation is essential to We're excited to advance our NSA platform, which enables laser annealing at broader temperature ranges for significantly shorter dwell times. This technology also enables 2 classes of applications.

Speaker 2

The first is low thermal budget annealing For new applications like backside power distribution networks and the second is material property modifications for new 3 d applications. Customer pull for this new product is strong and we're planning evaluation shipments later this year and in 2024. Turning now to IBD for advanced node semiconductor applications. Veeco's decades of IBD leadership And our data storage business led us to successfully extend this core technology in the semiconductor market for EUV mask blank production. We see opportunities to utilize this technology for advanced node semiconductor applications requiring critical film performance And believe our innovative technology addresses gaps with incumbent technologies like physical vapor deposition or PVD For low resistivity metallization and high density dielectrics.

Speaker 2

In the area of low resistivity metallization for HBM In logic applications for AI, ion beam deposited tungsten and ruthenium are demonstrating roughly 20% lower resistivity as compared to PVD solutions. For DRAM, this enables our customers to continue scaling down tungsten bit line thickness while maintaining electrical performance of the device. For logic, rithinium based Metalization will enable new integration schemes at future nodes. While this significant opportunity is still in the early stages, Initial data has been promising and customer engagement continues to advance, with discussions expanding from technical capability To operational readiness and cost of ownership, our team is focused on successful execution, Beginning with shipping IBD evaluation tools to Tier 1 customers later this year and in 2024. As we look ahead, We believe demand for IBD Technologies can expand to multiple semiconductor applications.

Speaker 2

I'll now turn it over to John for a financial update.

Speaker 3

Thanks, Bill, and good afternoon, everyone. Today, I will be discussing non GAAP financial data and would encourage you to refer to our reconciliation between GAAP and non GAAP results, which you can find in our press release and at the end of the quarterly earnings presentation. Starting with Q2 revenue by market and geography. Revenue totaled $162,000,000 for the quarter, increasing 5% from Q1 and coming in near the high end of our guidance. This was driven by sales to semiconductor customers, which increased 14% sequentially and 9% year over year.

Speaker 3

Our semiconductor business comprised 65% of total revenue as compared to 60% in the prior quarter, led by record laser annealing shipments. Compound Semiconductor revenue increased slightly quarter over quarter and came in at 15% of revenue. The increase was primarily driven by system shipments for photonics applications. Moving along, our data storage business totaled 9% of revenue, a decline from the prior quarter and scientific and other Made up 11% of revenue in line with Q1. Now turning to quarterly revenue by region.

Speaker 3

Revenue from our Asia Pacific region, excluding China, increased to 36% of total revenue versus 25% in the prior quarter, resulting from a significant increase in semiconductor system sales. As forecasted, revenue from China decreased compared to Q1, totaling 31% of revenue. This decline was primarily due to lower LSA system shipments. Looking ahead to the second half of the year, we continue to expect a decline in China revenue versus the first half of the year, With full revenue in the range of 30% of total revenue. The United States was 22% of revenue.

Speaker 3

And finally, EMEA came in at 11% of revenue for the quarter. Switching gears to our non GAAP quarterly results. Gross margin came in at approximately 43%, a sequential increase from approximately 42% and above the high end of our guidance range. Gross margin was positively impacted by higher revenue, favorable product mix as well as lower spending in service and operations. Operating expenses for the quarter totaled $45,000,000 in line with guidance.

Speaker 3

We continue to focus on cost management while maintaining investment for growth. Tax expense for the quarter was approximately $3,000,000 in line with the prior quarter, resulting in an effective tax rate of 14% in Q2. Net income came in at $21,000,000 and EPS was $0.36 on a diluted share count of 61,000,000 shares. Looking to our GAAP results. We had a net loss of $85,000,000 or $1.61 per share, principally from a $97,000,000 loss on from refinancing a portion of our convertible notes.

Speaker 3

The loss resulted from paying $301,000,000 for repurchasing 80 Our 2025 and 2027 convertible notes, which were trading at a premium to the net carrying value of approximately $204,000,000 The company issued 4,500,000 shares of stock with a value of $102,000,000 and used $199,000,000 in cash for the repurchase. Turning to the balance sheet and cash flow highlights. We ended the quarter with cash and short term investments of $287,000,000 sequential increase of $34,000,000 This increase was primarily driven by $24,000,000 of net proceeds from refinancing of our convertible notes And $11,000,000 in cash flow from operations, partially offset by $4,000,000 in CapEx. From a working capital perspective, our accounts receivable increased by $10,000,000 to $130,000,000 with DSOs for the quarter increasing to 72 days. Inventory increased by $19,000,000 from the prior quarter to $244,000,000 with days of inventory also increasing to 2 25 days.

Speaker 3

This increase was attributed to continued investment in our valuation program And to support revenue growth in the second half of the year, accounts payable increased sequentially by $1,000,000 to $63,000,000 While days payable declined to 61 days, customer deposits increased from the prior quarter by $24,000,000 to $137,000,000 Long term debt on the balance sheet was recorded at $274,000,000 representing the carrying value of our $282,000,000 of convertible notes. In connection with the aforementioned refinancing, We completed a private offering of $230,000,000 of 2.875 percent convertible notes due in 2029, While also repurchasing $206,000,000 in aggregate principal amount of the outstanding 3.5% convertible notes due in 2025 And 3.75 percent convertible notes due in 2027. As a result of the transaction, Our cash balance and principal balance of debt each increased by $24,000,000 Key benefits of the refinancing include Ending the average maturity of our convertible notes by approximately 3 years, reducing the weighted average interest rates from 3.6% to 3%, Reducing cash interest payments by $900,000 annually, increasing the weighted average conversion price from $21.31 The $27.77 inclusive of the CAF call and is expected to result in lower share dilution. In summary, The refinancing strengthened our balance sheet and financial profile.

Speaker 3

For additional details related to the refinancing transactions, Please refer to the schedules included in the backup and financial tables sections of our earnings presentation. Now turning to our Q3 non GAAP guidance. Q3 revenue is expected to be between $155,000,000 $175,000,000 With gross margin between 42% 43%, we expect OpEx between $45,000,000 $47,000,000 Net income between $17,000,000 $23,000,000 and EPS between $0.30 $0.40 on a diluted share count of 59,000,000 shares. Now for some color on our full year 2023 non GAAP guidance. Based on our current backlog and expected growth trajectory in Moreover, we are raising our profitability outlook for the year to account for stronger gross margin, a reduction in net interest expense and a lower projected tax rate.

Speaker 3

We now expect gross margin in the 42% to 43% range And non GAAP EPS between $1.30 $1.50 per diluted share for 20.23. With that, I'll now turn the call over to Bill for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Thank you, John. Before concluding our prepared remarks, I'd like to highlight why Veeco is a compelling investment opportunity and is making progress toward our $800,000,000 target model. First, as an innovative manufacturer of key semiconductor process equipment, Veeco is uniquely positioned with differentiated technologies in growth markets driven by the lasting megatrends we frequently discuss, including high performance computing and AI. 2nd, Our laser annealing product line is well established and our efforts to expand our footprint to new markets, applications and products are gaining traction. 3rd, we have decades of experience and leadership in the ion beam technology and we're continuing to advance our product roadmap.

Speaker 2

Moving beyond EUV mask blanks, we're now introducing I'm Beam into wafer level critical films for the semiconductor industry and are planning to gain share from incumbent technologies. And lastly, we have a long term opportunity to capitalize on demand in the And with that, we'll be happy to take your questions. Operator, please open the line.

Operator

Thank you. And ladies and gentlemen, at this time, we will conduct our question and answer session. Our first question comes from Tom O'Malley with Barclays.

Speaker 4

My first question is just regarding the AI opportunity. You spent a decent amount of time on the call talking about it and then you've introduced a couple of slides in your deck Showing what that opportunity might look like, but mine is more on the financial side. Could you just describe how big in terms of your revenue today Is related to HBM, I know that that's a specific you've outlined a couple of AI opportunities, but how big today is your HBM exposure? And how big do you think that HBM opportunity can be long term and how big that AI opportunity could be long term?

Speaker 2

Tom, I'll take an attempt at your question. Last year, I would say, our contributions from AI were Very small, maybe negligible. We did some analysis and with some assumptions, we're estimating That a little under right about 10% of our revenue is attributable to AI. Going forward, we're certainly not going to give too much quantitative color on 2024, But clearly, it does seem to be a significant driver that we're having a lot of qualitative discussions, evaluations And the like and it's a focus area, these areas of nanosecond annealing evaluations and ion beam deposition evaluations. And Our expectation is these will end up in AI type applications or at least a significant portion will be in those applications.

Speaker 4

Helpful. And then you guys are raising the profitability for the full year. Obviously, there's the reduction in interest expense. You talked about lower tax and gross margin. Could you just highlight on the gross margin side, you saw a pretty significant step up.

Speaker 4

Is that mostly related to mix And the higher semi revenue, is that just certain wins that you guys have gotten? What's given you the confidence that that gross margin profile is higher than it was originally?

Speaker 3

Yes. Well, first of all, Tom, the first half of the year results were a bit higher than initially forecasted, so half the year is behind us here where our gross margin came in better. I think as we looked at this And we did see a bit of a mix impact positively. And then we've been Seeing a bit of improvement on logistics, cost and controlling operations and service Spending. As we look out for the balance of the year now, we're raising our guide for the second After the year slightly and to come in slightly higher than the first half of the year.

Speaker 3

Now part of that We'll get a benefit by expected higher volumes in the second half of the year.

Speaker 4

Got you. And if I could just sneak one more in, you guys Oftentimes, give a little color on the out quarter for what you see by segment for your businesses. Could you just help us out within the September quarter, what you guys are seeing? Thank you.

Speaker 3

Sure, Tom. So, at the midpoint of the guide, we're guiding about 100 and Slightly down after a record quarter in Q3, so we're in Q2, excuse me, and we're not forecasting another record In Q3 at this point, we see compound semi being flat. We've been talking about for a number of quarters now that we expect our data storage revenue to be up in the second half of the year. So we are expecting that in the third quarter. Data storage to be up could be in the $30,000,000 range for Q3 And we're expecting scientific flat.

Speaker 4

Thank you very much, guys.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Tom. Thanks, Tom.

Operator

Our next question comes from Dave Dooley with Steelhead Securities, please state your question.

Speaker 4

Yes. Thanks for taking my question.

Speaker 5

I guess the first one is a little bit of a follow-up on the high bandwidth memory opportunity Or just memory in general, could you just discuss how big you think the LSA TAM is in The foundry and logic business and perhaps compare that to the memory business. And it's my recollection, at least in the foundry logic business that Kind of one advanced node, then you picked up other nodes or other applications. How do you expect the high bandwidth memory business to unfold over the next year or 2?

Speaker 2

Dave, I would say in memory in general, Veeco has very little exposure to memory. That being said, we just had our first foray into high bandwidth memory winning So we've been sizing the logic portion of laser annealing at about 400,000,000 A year. And then with this one success that we've had, we've kind of sized it currently with this one success At about $100,000,000 but I think if you look 3 to 5 years out, as we can hopefully win more customers and kind of land and And in memory, we could see that opportunity growing to be comparable size to logic. So going from 400 in logic to another 400 in memory.

Speaker 5

Okay. And as far as The Epi tool for silicon carbide, I was just wondering if you could just talk about You seem like you made a pretty big bet here on that marketplace. How big do you think the Epi tool market is? And what do you think your advantages are with this tool? I know you have tons of years of experience In Epi and other markets, but I'm just curious what you think about what the advantages are for the silicon carbide market?

Speaker 2

Yes, we're really excited about the acquisition. From talking with customers, They're very excited about the technology that we acquired. The challenge was they were a smaller company And really not bankable. And so I think their technology plus Veeco's manufacturing service and sales Support logistics worldwide really opens up a lot of doors and we're seeing very strong engagement from customers. Regarding the first half of your question regarding the market size, we're estimating that market to be in the $200,000,000 to $300,000,000 A year at this time and then maybe by 2027 kind of growing to about $500,000,000 in the future.

Speaker 1

Okay. Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Dave.

Operator

Our next question comes from Mark Miller with Benchmark. Please state your question. Thank you.

Speaker 4

Just wondering, I think you mentioned some micro LED developments later this year. Can you give a little more color on that?

Speaker 2

What we've seen is, it's been pretty broadly discussed is MicroLED pushing out about a year. And so, we're actually, I think, very well positioned. We've developed A new arsenide phosphide product to intercept that the microLED market when it happens. We're also selling tools for GaN on silicon for disruptive microLED applications. So Mark, I would say, microLEDs has potential to be a large opportunity, but it's probably not going to be in significant Volume until 2025 timeframe.

Speaker 4

Thank you.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Mark.

Operator

Thank you. There appears to be no additional questions at this time. I'll hand the floor back to Bill Miller, CEO, for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

I want to thank our customers and shareholders along with the Veeco United team for their continued support as we execute Our growth strategy. Have a great evening everyone.

Operator

Thank you. And with that, we conclude today's call.

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Key Takeaways

  • Q2 results beat guidance: Veeco posted $162 million in revenue, $24 million in non-GAAP operating income and $0.36 non-GAAP EPS, driven by record semiconductor sales led by its laser annealing platform.
  • Advanced tool momentum: Broad demand for laser annealing (LSA) and ion beam deposition (IBD) systems yielded new Tier 1 logic and HBM orders, with nanosecond annealing (NSA) and IBD evaluation units slated for late 2023 and 2024.
  • Compound semiconductor growth: A demo-ready SiC epitaxy system is expected by year-end amid strong customer engagement in power electronics and photonics, while GaN and microLED opportunities remain on track for longer-term upside.
  • Balance sheet strengthened: Veeco completed a $230 million 2.875% convertible note issue, repurchased $206 million of older notes to extend maturities by ~3 years, lower interest costs and improve dilution, ending Q2 with $287 million in cash and investments.
  • Upgraded full-year outlook: 2023 non-GAAP gross margin guidance was raised to 42–43%, and EPS guidance to $1.30–$1.50, as semiconductor backlog growth offsets flat compound/scientific segments and a projected data storage recovery in H2.
A.I. generated. May contain errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Veeco Instruments Q2 2023
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