Supertex, Inc. (SUPX) reported revenues of $20.6 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2010, up 23% sequentially and up 37% in the year-ago quarter.
On a sequential basis, medical electronics product sales grew 69% across a broad customer base and all geographic regions. Industrial and Other Products sales grew 43%. Telecom product sales grew 25%. Sales of LED drivers for general lighting applications grew 27% as driver usage for the streetlight and general lighting markets continues to grow.
However, sales of LED drivers for backlighting LCD TVs declined 27% as most primary customer’s continue to transition to the 2010 models, which use new drivers allowing longer LED strings and fewer drivers per TV set.
Gross margin came in at 46%, lower than management’s expectations as substantial amounts of higher cost inventory built during previous periods of lower capacity utilization were sold.
Net income came in at $1.1 million or 9 cents per share compared to $2.0 million or 15 cents in the previous quarter and $0.9 million or 7 cents in the year-ago quarter.
Net sales for fiscal 2010 came in at $66.7 million, down 15.4% from a year ago. Net income came in at $5.1 million or 39 cents per share compared to $12.5 million or 97 cents per share in fiscal 2009.
New effective solutions are expected to accelerate the transition from TVs with conventional CCFL backlighting to TVs with LED backlighting. The overall market for LED backlit TVs is projected to grow 400% or more year over year. Sales of EL inverters for lighting cell phone keyboards were lower sequentially but are expected to resume growth as new phones of customers have been well received.
Going forward, bookings from all target markets are expected to be strong since January. Sales are expected to be 15% – 20% higher sequentially in the first quarter of fiscal 2010 due to strength in medical electronics, LED lighting and backlighting, and imaging markets.
The company is currently running the fab and test areas at increased capacity utilization. Utilization for the June quarter is projected at 70% – 85% compared to 62% in the March quarter. This should boost gross margins going forward.
Management expects that most of the high cost inventory will be flushed out by the end of this quarter and gross margin is projected at 52% – 56%.
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