Csaba Sverha
Analyst · Karl Ackerman of BNP Paribas
Thank you, Seamus, and good afternoon, everyone. We are off to an excellent start to fiscal year 2027 with first quarter revenue that was well above our guidance range. Revenue of $1.474 billion grew 51% from a year ago for another quarter of accelerating revenue growth. These results flow through the bottom line, producing record non-GAAP EPS of $4.34, which was also well above our guidance range. Looking at the details of the quarter. We had a very strong performance from data center products, which grew 78% from a year ago and 16% from Q4 to $777 million or 53% of total revenue. Growth in data center revenue was broad-based, driven by strong demand across transceivers, data center interconnect and high-performance computing with continued momentum across all 3 categories. We continue to see growing demand and improving visibility from customers across the data center market, giving us strong confidence in our outlook for Q2. Looking ahead, the full year also looks very promising, supported by continued growth in existing programs and additional contribution from new transceiver programs as they begin to ramp. Communications infrastructure revenue was $444 million, an increase of 35% from a year ago and 8% from Q4. Growth was broad-based across a diverse range of customer programs and applications, including telecom systems, components and satellite communications. Automotive, industrial and other revenue was $253 million, up 20% from a year ago and 8% from Q4. In the first quarter, the laser market contributed the most to our sequential growth in this category as we make headway with customers who have historically focused on in-house manufacturing. As I discuss the details of our P&L, all expense and profitability metrics will be presented on a non-GAAP basis, unless otherwise noted. Gross margin in the first quarter was 12.1%, a 10 basis point decline from Q4, primarily due to annual merit increases that take effect in Q1. Gross margin declined 20 basis points from a year ago, primarily due to FX headwinds. Operating expenses remained well controlled at 1.3% of revenue in the first quarter, consistent with Q4. As a result, operating margin was 10.8%, down 10 basis points sequentially, but up 20 basis points year-over-year. Our operating model continues to deliver leverage with operating margin increasing from a year ago despite a slight decline in gross margin. Interest income was $6 million, and we had a relatively small foreign exchange revaluation loss of $220,000. Our non-GAAP tax expense was $6 million, excluding a $20 million noncash Pillar 2 top-up tax provision, resulting in a non-GAAP effective tax rate of 4% Tax credits intended to mitigate the impact of Pillar 2 are progressing in Thailand, but have not yet been implemented. As a result, we expect some variability in our reported tax expense over the coming quarters. In addition to the top-up tax provision, GAAP net income includes a $21 million noncash unrealized loss related to our minority investment in Raytek, which is also excluded from our non-GAAP results. GAAP net income was $103 million or $2.86 per diluted share. Non-GAAP net income reached $157 million or $4.34 per diluted share, marking another all-time high for the company. Turning to our balance sheet. We ended the first quarter with cash and short-term investments of $757 million, down $119 million from the end of Q4. Operating cash flow for the quarter was $21 million. CapEx increased to $159 million, driven by investments in growth and capacity expansion. This included the $77 million acquisition of our second campus in Santa Clara as well as continued construction costs associated with Building 10 in Chonburi and another capacity expansion initiatives. As a result, free cash flow was an outflow of $137 million in the quarter. In the first quarter, we repurchased approximately 77,000 shares at an average price of approximately $380 per share for a total cash outlay of $29 million. Since the end of the quarter, our Board authorized an additional $103 million for repurchases, bringing the total remaining authorization to [ $200 million. ] Turning to our guidance for the second quarter of fiscal 2027. We are encouraged by the increasing demand trends that we are seeing across our business. We expect that our growth will again be led by data center revenue with expansion from data center interconnect and transceiver programs, further bolstered by new program ramps that we expect to continue increasingly over the course of the year. Data center growth will be complemented by sequential and year-over-year growth in communication infrastructure as well as in automotive, industrial and other revenue. For the second quarter, we anticipate revenue to be in the range of $1.6 billion to $1.65 billion, representing year-over-year growth of 43% at the midpoint. From a profitability perspective, we expect to see efficiencies and leverage drive incremental improvements in margins. We anticipate non-GAAP EPS to be between $4.77 and $4.92. In summary, our impressive first quarter results represent a strong start to fiscal year 2027. With multiple significant programs ramping over the next few quarters, we are also very optimistic that we can deliver a terrific second quarter with momentum extending through the rest of the fiscal year. Operator, we are now ready to open the call for questions.