Earnings Labs

NVE Corporation (NVEC)

Q4 2014 Earnings Call· Wed, May 7, 2014

$77.60

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen and welcome to the NVE conference call on fourth quarter and fiscal year results. [Operator instructions.] I’d like to turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Daniel Baker, president and CEO. Sir, you may begin.

Dan Baker

Management

Good afternoon and welcome to our conference call for the quarter and fiscal year ended March 31, 2014. As always, I am joined by Curt Reynders, our chief financial officer. This call is being webcast live and being recorded. A replay will be available through our website, nve.com. After my opening comments, Curt will review financials for the quarter and fiscal year. I’ll cover business items, and we’ll take questions. We filed our press release with quarter and fiscal year results with the SEC prior to the start of this call. The release and filings are available through our website. The SEC allows 75 days after the end of a fiscal year to file a 10-K. We’ve often been able to file the day of the press release, but that wasn’t practical this year, because we have new auditors. Comments we may make that relate to future plans, events, financial results, or performance are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including, among others, such factors as uncertainties related to the economic environments in the industries we serve, uncertainties relating to future revenue and growth, uncertainties related to future R&D contracts, risks related to developing marketable products, uncertainties relating to the revenue potential of new products, as well as the risk factors listed from time to time in our filings with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements we may make. We’re pleased to report solid earnings for the quarter and fiscal year. For the quarter, net income was $0.53 per diluted share. For the fiscal year, product sales increased 4%, gross margins increased to a record 78%, and net income was $2.29 per diluted share. Now, I’ll turn the call over to Curt for details of our financial results.

Curt Reynders

Chief Financial Officer

Thanks, Dan. I’ll cover quarterly results, fiscal year results, and the balance sheet. Fourth quarter total revenue decreased 17% to $5.98 million, due to a 9% decrease in product sales and an 85% decrease in contract research and development revenue. Contract R&D revenue decreased due to the completion of certain contracts and contract activities in the past year. It has been a challenging environment for government funding, but contract R&D revenue increased about $100,000 sequentially, as we began a new contract in the fourth fiscal quarter. We are optimistic about future contract R&D revenue. The decrease in product sales was due to decreased sales in the medical device market. This appears to be related to order timing and indications are for improved sales in the medical device market in coming quarters. Gross margin increased to 77% of revenue for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014, compared to 74% last year, due to a more favorable revenue mix. Total expenses increased 2% for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2014 compared to the fourth quarter of fiscal 2013. A 9% increase in research and development expenses was partially offset by a 9% decrease in selling, general, and administrative expense. The increase in R&D expense was due to increased product development efforts. The decrease in SG&A was primarily due to less commissions with lower product sales. Interest income decreased 5% for the quarter, due to lower interest rates. The provision for income taxes was about the same rate as the prior year quarter, 32.9% of income before taxes compared to 32.8% last year. Net income for the fourth quarter was $2.56 million, or $0.53 per diluted share, compared to $3.11 million or $0.64 last year. Our margins continue to be among the best in the industry. Operating margin was 55% of revenue for…

Dan Baker

Management

Thanks, Curt. I’ll cover R&D contracts, intellectual property, product development, distribution and governance, then review some of our accomplishments in the past fiscal year. As we’ve discussed before, our growth strategy is new and improved products in the near term and game-changing extensions for the long term. We have significantly increased our R&D expenses the past three fiscal years to build a foundation for a bright future. Contract R&D supports long term growth with bold new ideas such as biosensors. We’re on schedule to successfully complete a one-year National Science Foundation project grant titled “Real Time Detection for Salmonella.” The project is to develop biosensors for enhanced food safety in cooperation with the University of Minnesota and the University of Florida. The goal of the project is to develop sensors for faster detection of food-borne pathogens compared to existing techniques while retaining sensitivity. In the past quarter, we made good progress in each of the three key areas of that project, spintronic sensors, nanobeads with aptamers, and microfluidics. We’re in discussions about commercial deployment with leading companies in the food industry, and we’re also considering applying for a Phase II NSF grant to help commercialize the technology. As Curt mentioned, despite a challenging government funding environment, we have a new contract in the past quarter. We began work on a Missile Defense Agency small business innovation research phase one contract titled “Spintronics-based Physical Unclonable Functions.” The contract is for six months, with an estimated completion of July 31, 2014. The contract is for approximately $125,000. A physical unclonable function, or PUF, is a function that’s embodied in a physical structure and is easy to evaluate, but hard to predict and replicate. The proposal is for spin PUFs based on existing and future spintronic devices. Possible applications include commercial high speed…

Operator

Operator

[Operator instructions.] And I am seeing no questions from the phone line.

Dan Baker

Management

Okay. Well, if there are no questions, we can wrap up the call. We are pleased to report solid earnings, product sales growth, and record gross margins for the year and several new products. We look forward to reporting first quarter results in July and to our annual meeting in August. Thank you for participating in the call.