Gregory R. Beecher
Analyst · Jim Covello with Goldman Sachs
Thanks, Mike, and good morning, everyone. I'd like to first offer some perspective on the year just ended and our multi-year performance, before I update you on 2013. I'll then cover the fourth quarter highlights and first quarter guidance and close with some summary comments. So first, looking at 2012. We recorded our third consecutive year of very solid financial performance with sales of $1,657,000,000, a 23% operating profit rate and free cash flow of $285 million. Clearly, LitePoint was a standout performer, having more than doubled its annual sales to $286 million, far exceeding our original $160 million target. I'll come back to LitePoint shortly, but first, let me give you a quick multi-year picture. Over the last 3 years, we've averaged an operating profit rate of 24% and annual non-GAAP EPS of $1.76. We've also generated $963 million of free cash flow. This strong multi-year performance is attributable to our optimized business model and several selected growth investments. On the business model front, we consistently maintained financial discipline throughout the company. We require each business unit to be sized to earn model profits or better over a cycle, and we require that our core businesses steadily grow their market share by targeting attractive segments in which we can deliver a clear product differentiation. We also have some hard-sought advantages over our peers that contribute to our strong performance. For example, we're able to be much more efficient in SemiTest applications engineering, as our software is much easier to program. So while our customers get their silicon to market much faster, we spend far less in application support engineering. We're also able to be much more efficient in SemiTest engineering, as we don't have major overlapping platforms covering the same requirements, so we get more engineering leverage. And we take full advantage of our scale and the value of low-cost regions, whether in back-office functions such as accounting and IT, applications engineering or sourcing. Our strong core business and steady financial discipline provide a solid platform to grow the adjacent markets. This platform provides the dry powder and allows for the necessary management bandwidth to allow us to expand into new, higher growth markets. This platform also is attracted to smaller, faster-growing test companies that are potential acquisition opportunities. As I said in our last call, over 40% of our 2012 bottom line resulted from entering new markets since 2008. So for us, a strong core and selected new growth opportunities go together and is what distinguishes Teradyne. I'd like to now spend a few moments providing some insight into how we execute new growth. Remember first, there is no predicting the timing of any new growth opportunity, but nonetheless, I think it's useful if we give you a sense of how we look at this area. First, for opportunities that meet our growth and profitability targets, which we can address organically, we have a straight-forward process. We work closely with a lead customer to confirm and tease out the new product requirements and differentiation. We then secure the lead customer's engagement with a firm order, and then we execute against a set of milestones. An example of this type of development is in storage test, where we've built a solid business over the last 4 years. Now for growth through acquisitions, we first look at growing markets with meaningful profit pools in closely related businesses. Teradyne's strengths revolve around developing complex test systems requiring tight integration of hardware and software, so naturally, our M&A efforts tend to focus on companies and end markets that demand similar skills. We have strict criteria around sustainable, competitive differentiation. We look for opportunities to build on that differentiation by leveraging our existing IP, our global distribution network, our financial strength or some combination of all 3. Eagle, Nextest and LitePoint are good examples of this approach. On the financial front, for organic or M&A opportunities, of course, we need to at least earn our cost of capital and our hurdle rate we set at 15%. As we pursue growth opportunities, we'll continue to maintain financial discipline so we can generate cash and self fund new growth opportunities or return capital through our stock buyback program, if that is more beneficial for long-term shareholders. We have about $169 million remaining on our buyback authorization. I go through this to remind investors that while we operate in a very dynamic environment, the foundation of our strategy remains steady: a tight business model generating strong free cash flow, coupled with a very disciplined growth strategy. I'd like to now turn to LitePoint, which is at the epicenter of the ever faster and steeper ramps of smart devices. LitePoint grew its sales from about $130 million in 2011 to $286 million in 2012. As you recall, LitePoint testers are at the module and assembled product end, and they do both calibration and testing of the wireless capabilities. LitePoint set records and new product launches and ramped manufacturing four-fold from the prior year peak. And being inside of Teradyne certainly helped LitePoint customers place even more business with them, as well as expand their Asia footprint. LitePoint was also first to market with an 802.11ac production test solution, which is clearly winning in the market. These wins bode well for the future as 802.11ac-based products ramp. In 2012, LitePoint benefited from a growing connectivity market due to smart device growth, some large program buying and the addition of the 5-gigahertz WiFi band driving up test time. We also gained market share with our production optimized solutions and followed the chipset strategy, which helps customers get their products to market faster. Longer term, the wireless trends remain very positive with ongoing smart device growth, with faster and steeper ramps, the growth of the Internet of things that is connecting appliances, security, medical devices, climate control and lighting to your handheld device; and finally, increasing cellular data requirements from the growth in media sharing across multiple devices anywhere, anytime. Now coming back to this year. As we've said last quarter, we expect 2013 LitePoint revenues to be in the $260 million to $360 million range or $550 million to $650 million in its first 2 years as part of Teradyne. Similar to 2012, the first quarter and fourth quarters should be the low points. As you know, we have our sights set on breaking into cellular in 2013 in a more substantial way, so stay tuned for further updates. Our expectation is that connectivity buying will be less than last year given the very large 2012 program buying. Companywide, 2013 is expected to start off more slowly than last year. And as a reminder, in any one year, either our second or third quarter can be the peak. Mobility will remain the main driver, and some of our other segments that we're very strong in, such as performance analog, microcontroller, automotive, should pick up as we get further into 2013. Our new growth investments that we talked about last quarter will continue to ramp in the first quarter, and we expect to be on the model we shared with you last quarter. Some of our investments will bring new offerings to market later this year, so stay tuned. Now moving to the key highlights of the fourth quarter. We had total company bookings of $273 million. SemiTest bookings were up to $183 million. SOC test orders were $171 million. And Memory Test orders were $12 million in the fourth quarter. SemiTest service orders were $51 million. Systems Test Group orders increased to $64 million with $35 million of service orders. Wireless Test orders were $26 million. In the fourth quarter, Semiconductor Test sales were 74% of the total. Systems Test grew 16% and Wireless Test 10%. Our book-to-bill ratio for the fourth quarter was 1.1 for the overall company, 1.0 for Semiconductor Test, 1.6 for the Systems Test Group and 1.1 for Wireless Test. At the end of the quarter, our backlog stood at $354 million, of which 68% is scheduled to ship and be recognized as revenue within the next 6 months. The top line of $248 million was down $215 million or 46%, sequentially, from the third quarter. SemiTest was $184 million, down $127 million or 41%, and Systems Test group was $40 million, up $6 million or 18%. Wireless Test was $24 million, down 79%. We had one 10% customer in the quarter, and our top 5 customers accounted for 28% of our fourth quarter sales. For the full year, we had one 10% customer. SemiTest product shipments decreased 49% from a quarter ago. Within the $248 million, service revenue was $69 million, a $1 million decrease compared to the third quarter. SemiTest service revenue was $52 million. Total company product turns business was 40% versus 31% a quarter ago. SemiTest product turns business was 40% versus 30% a quarter ago. Memory revenue was $10 million. Moving down the P&L. Non-GAAP gross margins decreased to 54% from 56% in the third quarter due to lower volume. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $122 million compared to $131 million in the third quarter, as our variable compensation flexes down on lower sales. At the operating line, we posted a 5% profit, marking the third consecutive year that we stayed in black in the trough fourth quarter. Our non-GAAP net interest and other expense was $2 million. Taxes were a benefit of $3 million in the quarter, as we adjusted the full year tax rate down to 10%. Looking to 2013, we expect a cash tax rate of about 11%. Cash from operations generated $14 million after capital additions. We ended the quarter with gross cash of $1 billion. DSO was 56 days, up from 40 in the third quarter. We expect cash and marketable securities to decrease by about $40 million in the first quarter as we pay out annual variable compensation and make tax payments. As a reminder, we have about $300 million of cash offshore and subject to U.S. tax if repatriated. This will likely grow by about $100 million a year. As noted in the press release, sales for the first quarter are expected to be between $260 million and $280 million, and then non-GAAP EPS range is a loss of $0.01 to income of $0.05 on $195 million diluted shares. Diluted shares are lower than normal because at this profit level, including interest and excluding the convertible shares, is more dilutive. I should add that the guidance excludes the amortization of acquired intangibles, the noncash imputed interest on the convertible debt and includes taxes on a cash basis. Our GAAP EPS range is a loss of $0.06 to $0.01. The operating profit rate at the midpoint of our first quarter guidance is about 2%. Now moving to the P&L percentages. In the first quarter, we expect non-GAAP gross margins to be 52%. R&D should be 24% to 26%, and SG&A should also be 24% to 26%. Non-GAAP net interest expense is expected to be about $2 million. So in summary, 2012 was our third consecutive year with 20% plus operating profitability. We will continue to stay focused on maintaining financial discipline while selectively investing to drive further earnings growth. Now I'll turn the call back to Andy.