29 April 2011

Kopin’s Q1 revenue up 37% year-on-year to record $35m

For first-quarter 2011, Kopin Corp of Taunton, MA, USA has reported revenue of a record $34.9m, up 5.4% on $33.1m last quarter and 37% on $25.4m a year ago.

Revenue from Displays (used in mobile applications, military thermal weapons sights and wearable computers) was $17.3m, down 4% from $18m last quarter but up 59% on $10.9m a year ago, due mainly to higher military display sales. Revenue from III-V heterojunction bipolar transistor (HBT) epiwafers was $17.6m, up on 16.5% on $15.1m last quarter and 21% on $14.5m a year ago, reflecting stronger orders from integrated circuit partners.

Although down on 34.6% last quarter, gross margin of 33.3% (as a proportion of product revenue) is up from just 26.5% a year ago, reflecting increased in sales of military displays and leveraging the III-V fixed costs over greater volume.

Net income was $2.1m. This is less than half last quarter’s $4.7m, but that was boosted by $2m (the receipt of $1.4m in insurance proceeds and $0.6m from the sale of patents that the firm was no longer using). Compared with a year ago, net income has more than doubled from $1m (a profit only due to $373,000 from insurance proceeds and $686,000 from the sale of stock of IC maker Micrel Inc of San Jose, CA).

“Our earnings reflect our commitment to maintaining prudent expense management, while at the same time investing strategically in R&D and capacity expansion to execute our growth strategy,” says president & CEO Dr John C.C. Fan. R&D expenses have risen from $4.3m (16.9% of revenue) a year ago and $5.8m last quarter (17.5% of revenue) to $6.4m (18.3% of revenue), due to the firm’s investments in the Golden-i display product, III-V products for smartphones, and the acquisition of Forth Dimension Displays Ltd (FDD). Although down on $111m at the start of Q1, Kopin still has cash and marketable securities of $99m and no debt.

“We continue to expect III-V to grow at an annualized rate of 20–25% over the next several years, driven primarily by global smartphone demand,” Fan says. “In our display business, as is the historic pattern, revenue from military applications fluctuates quarter to quarter but we expect strong military revenues in 2011 as we continue to supply the US Army’s Thermal Weapons Sight program,” he adds.

“Looking ahead, we are focused on our two main goals: extending the leadership position of our III-V products to take advantage of the expected growth in smartphones and tablets; and advancing the development schedule for Golden-i toward a planned launch in 2012,” Fan concludes.

Based on the current business environment and conversations with its customers, Kopin is affirming its guidance for full-year 2011 revenue of $130–140m (up 8–16% on 2010).

See related items:

Smart-phone demand drives 34% III-V revenue growth for Kopin in 2010

Kopin’s III-V growth slows in Q3 to 4.4%

Smartphone demand drives 54% year-on-year growth in Kopin’s III-V revenue in Q2

Kopin’s III-V revenue more than doubles year-on-year in Q1

Kopin reports record Q4 revenue, up 13% year-on-year

Tags: Kopin

Visit: www.kopin.com