Photronics Q3 2024 Earnings Report

Photronics EPS Results

• Actual EPS: $0.51
• Consensus EPS: $0.56
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$0.05
• One Year Ago EPS: $0.51

Photronics Revenue Results

• Actual Revenue: $211.00 million
• Expected Revenue: $225.00 million
• Beat/Miss: Missed by -$14.00 million
• YoY Revenue Growth: -5.90%

Photronics Announcement Details

• Quarter: Q3 2024
• Date: 8/29/2024
• Time: Before Market Opens
• Conference Call Date: Thursday, August 29, 2024
• Conference Call Time: 8:30AM ET

Photronics (NASDAQ:PLAB) (NASDAQ: PLAB) is a manufacturer of photomasks, precision photographic plates used in the semiconductor and flat-panel display manufacturing processes. Photomasks transfer circuit patterns onto silicon wafers and display substrates, making them an important component in the production of integrated circuits, memory devices, flat-panel displays and other electronic products.

The company provides photomasks for a range of semiconductor applications, including advanced logic, foundry and memory devices. It also supplies photomasks used to manufacture flat-panel displays for products such as televisions, computer monitors, mobile devices and other consumer electronics. Its offerings support customers across multiple technology generations and manufacturing processes.

Founded in 1969, Photronics serves global semiconductor and display manufacturers through operations and facilities in the United States, Europe and Asia. The company works with customers throughout the electronics supply chain, providing photomask manufacturing, engineering and related support services tailored to their production requirements.

Photronics Q3 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

• Photronics reported Q3 revenue of $211 million, down 3% sequentially as soft demand from Asia foundries weighed on both IC and FPD photomask sales, particularly high-end logic orders.
• Non-GAAP EPS of $0.51 beat last quarter and matched the prior year despite softer revenue, driven by tight cost control and strong operating cash flow; the company raised its share repurchase program to $100 million.
• Management highlighted long-term market drivers—AI, increased IC content in automotive, energy and consumer applications, plus growing AMOLED demand for mobile and large-screen displays—as favorable megatrends for photomask demand.
• Photronics is exploring strategic expansions, partnerships and capacity investments in the U.S., Europe and Asia to capitalize on long-range market opportunities while remaining financially disciplined.
• For Q4, the company guided revenue of $213 million–$221 million and non-GAAP EPS of $0.48–$0.54, noting lingering macro uncertainty and uneven order visibility.

Presentation

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Photronics' third quarter fiscal year, twenty-twenty-four earnings call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you would need to press star one one on your telephone.

[Operator]

You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. To withdraw your question, please press star one one again. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded on Thursday, August twenty-ninth, twenty-twenty-four. I would like now to turn the conference over to Eric Rivera, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Thank you, Michelle. Good morning, everyone. Welcome to our review of Photronics fiscal 2024 third quarter results. Joining me this morning are Frank Lee, our Chief Executive Officer, and Chris Progler, our Chief Technology Officer. The press release we issued earlier this morning, together with the presentation material that accompanies our remarks, are available on the investor relations sections of our webpage.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Comments made by any participants on today's call may include forward-looking statements that include such words as anticipate, believe, estimate, expect, forecast, and in our view. These forward-looking statements are based upon a number of risks, uncertainties, and other factors that are difficult to predict. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in the forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

We're under no duty to update any of the forward-looking statements after the date of the presentation to conform these statements to actual results. During the course of our discussion, we will refer to certain non-GAAP financial metrics. These numbers are useful for analysts, investors, and management to evaluate ongoing performance. A reconciliation of these metrics to GAAP financial results is provided in our presentation materials. At this time, I'll turn the call over to Frank.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Thank you, Eric, and good morning, everyone. Third quarter sales came in lighter than we expected due to soft demand from Asia Foundry as a strong order rate at the beginning of the quarter lost momentum. Lingering macro uncertainty and customer concern on elevated inventory caused some to limit or defer releasing new designs.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

As a result, photomask demand slowed, resulting in lower sales for both IC and FPD. High-end logic mask orders decreased, while our memory business improved in the quarter. High-end FPD improved due to demand for AMOLED mask used for mobile displays as companies prepare for model release in a recovering smartphone market. Compared with the second quarter, gross margin decreased due to the impact of lower revenue. Operating expenses was slightly lower than the second quarter. EPS was $0.55.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

After adjusting for an FX gain, non-GAAP EPS was $0.51, higher than last quarter and the same as last year. We continue to generate strong operating cash, giving us added flexibility to invest in growth while also maintaining a strong balance sheet. As a result, we are announcing an increase of our existing share repurchase program to $100 million.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Eric will share details in a few minutes, but we believe this is the right time to restart our share repurchase activity and enhance our capital allocation framework. Based on our optimism in the long-range photomask market, we are also evaluating several growth options, including strategic expansion, partnerships, and other possibility in U.S., Europe, and Asia. We are maintaining flexibility to act quickly in support of our global customer and partners, while remaining disciplined to ensure our investment meet financial objectives. I'm very proud...

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

I'm very pleased with the way our team has performed during the quarter. They have taken care of the customers while managing costs and maximizing cash to maintain financial strengths. We have a great team at Photronics, and they are navigating the challenges well. Turning to the market, I would like to comment on the trend we are seeing.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Photomask demand is driven mostly by design activity. Several long-term trends, such as AI, mobile computing, and increased IC content in automotive, energy, and consumer applications, drive new designs in both leading-edge and legacy technology nodes, all requiring new photomasks. As the global leader in IC mask units, we see a high level of new product qualification across the node spectrum, each with projected revenue opportunities. These all play well to our marginal strengths, and is a positive long-term trend for our business.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

In addition to new designs, photomask demand is driven by an increase in wafer manufacturing capacity. New fabs are being built globally to meet the growth in applications, such as data centers that are needed for, to support AI, and to support an increase in supply chain regionalization. This is a positive long-term trend for photomask demand.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Due to our broad geographical footprint, capacity, and suite of technologies, we are able to provide all of our customers' photomask needs. We supply nearly all leading logic fab with strong market share, especially in Taiwan, China, and Korea. In U.S. and Europe, we are seeing the initial signs of growing demand for regionalization. Turning to display. Innovation is mostly due to new features in mobile displays, and to a lesser degree, new TV technology that improve performance. On the mobile display, this trend was largely supported by new premium smartphones.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Higher screen resolution and the need to add additional functions, such as fingerprint sensor and cameras, while reducing power, require new advanced mask sets. AMOLED continues to be introduced into larger size screens, such as tablets and laptop, and the development is underway to produce AMOLED on G8.6 glass.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

These trends all require high-quality photomask. As the technology leader in FPD mask, we are well positioned to benefit from these trends and grow. While near-term demand is being challenged by dynamic market condition, we remain optimistic regarding the long-term market outlook. Our competitive advantage, including strong customer relations, long-term purchase agreement, leading technology, and broad global capacity, position us to continue to outgrow the photomask industry. Our ability to control costs and manage cash should allow us to continue to invest in profitable growth and deliver shareholder value.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

At this moment, I will turn the call to Eric to review our third quarter results and provide fourth quarter guidance.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Thank you, Frank. Third quarter revenue of $211 million was down 3% sequentially, with market softness across both IC and FPD. IC revenue decreased 3% quarter over quarter. High-end was lower as improved memory sales were not enough to offset lower demand from logic foundries in Asia. Compared with the third quarter of 2023, high-end improved on strong US sales. High-end growth continues to be a factor for us as we see customers migrating to smaller design nodes, including 22 and 20 nanometers, to take advantage of the cost and performance benefits.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

At the leading edge, our specialty EUV business continues to grow. Year-to-date, high-end IC revenue is up 23%, demonstrating our success in growing this segment of our business. Mainstream, once again, achieved sequential growth as demand improved, particularly in the US.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

This further validates our belief that Q1 of this year was the bottom of the mainstream downturn, and we anticipate additional growth going forward. FPD revenue was lower sequentially as well. On a positive note, high-end resumed growth with improved demand for mobile AMOLED displays. Overall, display industry dynamics remain somewhat soft, largely due to the same factors that are impacting semiconductor demand.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

As uncertainty abates, we anticipate achieving above-market growth due to our leading technology, scale, market share, and strong customer relationships. Overall, our gross margin was 35.6%, down slightly as we would expect, given the softer revenue and our level of operating leverage. Blended ASP held up well as price increases implemented in previous years held firm. Our long-term purchase agreements continue to provide protection against downside risk during times of market softness, helping us maintain market share and pricing.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Delivery premiums, which were meaningful last year, are no longer material to our results as lead times have normalized. Operating expenses were slightly lower quarter over quarter, with operating margins compressing around 110 basis points to 24.7%.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Despite softer revenue through the first nine months of two thousand and twenty-four, we have maintained strong margins with the year-to-date operating margins of nearly 26%. Below the operating line and excluding the impact of FX gain, we achieved non-GAAP net income of $32 million, or $0.51 per share, ahead of last quarter and the same as last year. We generated $75.1 million in operating cash flow, and CapEx was $24.4 million in the quarter. Year-to-date CapEx is $87.7 million.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

We expect full year CapEx to be $130 million, 10 million lower than we previously estimated, as some of the CapEx payments will not occur until next year. Our CapEx will support anticipated demand growth, primarily in multi-node IC capacity and capability, and to continue replacing aging tools, all while ensuring we are increasing our return on invested capital.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Looking ahead to 2025, we see opportunities to continue investing in growth, primarily in IC, to ensure we are well positioned to capitalize on the positive long-term mega trends that are driving photomask demand. We will provide specific 2025 CapEx guidance during our Q4 earnings call in December. We further strengthened our balance sheet during the quarter, increasing the amount of cash, cash equivalents, and short-term investments to $606.4 million.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Total debt, primarily for equipment leases in the US, was reduced to $20.1 million. With our strong balance sheet and demonstrated ability to generate cash, we are increasing the size of our share repurchase program to $100 million and plan to restart activity under the program soon. We believe this is a good use of cash and will add value to our shareholders. Before providing guidance, I'll remind you that demand for our products is inherently uneven and difficult to predict, with limited visibility and typical backlog of one to three weeks.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

In addition, ASPs for advanced mask sets are high, meaning a relatively low number of high-end orders can have a significant impact on our quarterly revenue and earnings. With those qualifications, we expect fourth quarter revenue to be in the range of $213 to 221 million.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

While we're seeing good order rates at the beginning of the fourth quarter, lingering macro uncertainty is keeping us cautious. Based on those revenue expectations and our current operating model, we estimate non-GAAP earnings per share for the fourth quarter to be in the range of $0.48-$0.54 per diluted share. This equates to an operating margin between 25% and 27%, as we continue to keep costs under control and maximize profitability.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

We delivered sequentially higher adjusted EPS in the third quarter, even as demand remained soft. This was achieved by keeping a tight control of cost. We also continued to generate strong cash flow, keeping our balance sheet strong and enabling us to invest in growth. As demand on our markets improves, we are in a great position to grow revenue and expand margins. I'll now turn the call over to the operator for your questions.

[Operator]

Thank you. As a reminder, to ask a question, please press star one one on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw the question, please press star one one again. And our first question will come from Tom Diffely with D.A. Davidson. Your line is now open.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Yes, good morning, and thank you for taking a few questions. Eric, I was curious, you know, when we go through the results, and how earnings kind of held in there despite the weaker revenue, it looks like a combination of tax and the non-controlling interest were the big drivers there. Maybe talk about each one. On tax, you know, why did it fall as much as it did? And on non-controlling, you know, did the China percentage fall quite a bit? And if that's the case, is the profitability in China not where you want it to be quite yet? Thanks.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Sure, Tom. Thanks for the question. So from a tax perspective, what affected tax was the jurisdictional mix of earnings. Similar to the non-controlling interests, so our non-controlling our joint ventures didn't perform as well as they, you know, we would have liked them to perform. So as a result, there was less income attributed to them.

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

However, that was offset by some of our wholly owned subsidiaries. So as our wholly owned subsidiaries, as the mix between, earnings between our wholly owned subsidiaries and our joint ventures, you know, goes more towards our wholly owned subsidiaries, shareholders of Photronics Inc. benefit from an additional EPS gains.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

So maybe to summarize, when you do projects in North America or outside of Asia, the tax rates are better and the profitability is better?

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

So even within Asia, there are certain jurisdictions that just have different tax rates. So as that jurisdictional mix changes, as you have more income in lower tax jurisdiction, you benefit from a tax perspective.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

... Okay, great. And a couple more here. So, noticed that SG&A was up quite a bit quarter over quarter, despite the revenue dip. Maybe a little color there?

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

Sure. So our SG&A was primarily increased due to professional services, fees that were incurred during the quarter.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay. I guess that leads me to my next question. Any update on the general counsel dismissal? And does that have any impact outside of professional services?

[Eric Rivera, CFO at Photronics]

No, there was certainly no impact to our financial results. No significant impact, I should say. No update further than that, though, at this time.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay, and then just one broad question. When you look at the margin structure on the mature, the mainstream business, and how over the last few years, it's ramped nicely, it kind of peaked, you know, maybe a year ago. Is the mainstream business still healthy from a price point of view, or has the softness in the in the overall transaction run rate, you know, put it back into its old kind of sequentially declining on an annual basis?

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Tom, this is Frank. Our mainstream business actually is very stable, because as we reported several times in the call, in the mainstream manufacturing side, there are many end-of-life tool. So, with that, we have to replace the equipment to add capacity. But in general, the capacity for mainstream segment is not increasing, so that enable us to keep a stable price.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay, great. And then I don't know if Chris is on the call, but I do have kind of a technology question.

[Christopher J. Progler, CTO at Photronics]

Yeah. Yeah, I'm here, Tom.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Oh, hey, Chris. So, I guess two things. First, what do you think the longer-term impact is, if any, of Apple canceling its microdisplay project? And then how do you see OLED ramping into flat panels, of a larger size over time?

[Christopher J. Progler, CTO at Photronics]

Yeah, so in microdisplay, we don't really see much impact. You know, microdisplay, we didn't have it marked up as a big growth driver for photomasks, so to the extent companies like Apple decide not to commit to microdisplay, it does not really change our outlook on the FPD market. As far as the OLED, definitely we see the Gen 8.6 form factor starting to go into production next year,

[Christopher J. Progler, CTO at Photronics]

we believe. One of the large panel makers already has that fab, and we're talking to them about shipping initial masks into that, and we do think we'll be in a good POR position for that, those high form factor masks, and you know, the ASPs for those, because they're tough masks to make, AMOLED at Gen 8.6, much harder, much more complex than LCD.

[Christopher J. Progler, CTO at Photronics]

We, you know, we'll see really good ASPs on those products.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Okay. And I assume that you have a, a bit of a technology advantage over some of your newer peers in that space as well?

[Christopher J. Progler, CTO at Photronics]

Yeah, for sure. In FPD, we think we have pretty strong technology lead. The other thing we see on AMOLED is a lot of uptake of so-called advanced masks, things that, you know, not to use jargon, but phase-shifting masks and-

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Yeah

[Christopher J. Progler, CTO at Photronics]

... the types of technology that really helped IC evolve through Moore's Law. We're seeing the adoption rate on those for flat panel increase quarter over quarter. So a really good take up on our higher-end masks to get more performance on panel. So we think, yeah, our tech leadership here is gonna be a big advantage.

[Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson]

Great. Okay. Well, thank you, Eric, Frank, and Chris. Appreciate your time today.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Thank you, Tom.

[Christopher J. Progler, CTO at Photronics]

Thank you.

[Operator]

Okay, I show no further questions in the queue at this time. I would now like to turn the call back over to Frank Lee for closing comments.

[Frank Lee, CEO at Photronics]

Thank you. Thank you for joining us this morning. While demand has been soft through the first nine months of twenty twenty-four, we have done a good job of maintaining margins and generating strong cash. I'm proud of the way we have performed. Looking longer term, there are several mega trends that should support market growth. As the leading photomask producers, we are well positioned to grow as demand improves, creating value for our customer, employee, and shareholders. I look forward to updating you on our progress. Thank you.

[Operator]

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes the conference call for today. We thank you for your participation and ask that you please disconnect your line. Thank you.

Participants

Executives

• Eric Rivera, CFO
• Frank Lee, CEO
• Christopher J. Progler, CTO

Analysts

• Thomas Diffley, Analyst at D.A. Davidson