Ultra Clean (UCTT) 28 Oct 242024 Q3 Earnings call transcript

Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the UCT Q3 2024 Earnings and Webcast Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] This call is being recorded on Monday, October 28, 2024. I would now like to turn the conference over to Rhonda Bennetto, Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good afternoon, everyone, and thank you for joining us. With me today are Jim Scholhamer, Chief Executive Officer; and Sheri Savage, Chief Financial Officer. Jim will begin with some prepared remarks about the business, and Sheri will follow with the financial review, then we'll open up the call for questions.

Today's call contains forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties.

For more information, please refer to the Risk Factors section in our SEC filings. All forward-looking statements are based on estimates, projections and assumptions as of today, and we assume no obligation to update them after this call.

Discussion of our financial results will be presented on a non-GAAP basis. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP can be found in today's press release posted on our website. And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to Jim. Jim?

Thank you, Rhonda. Hello, everyone, and thank you for joining our call this afternoon. I will start with a high-level summary of our financial and operating results for the third quarter and share our thoughts on the broader industry trends we are seeing. After that, I'll turn the call over to Sheri for a more detailed financial review before opening up the call for questions.

During the third quarter, an increase in equipment spend by our customers supporting the expansion of AI infrastructure build-outs and demand from the domestic China market resulted in revenue coming in at the high end of our guided range. Using the midpoint of our Q4 guidance and analyst consensus for our peer group, UCT revenue is on track to be up over 20% this year over last year, surpassing that of our largest customers.

In addition to the uptick in equipment sales for advanced packaging applications that we saw over the past several quarters, third quarter demand broadened to include other AI-related processes such as Chemical Mechanical Planarization, or CMP, specifically for the large AI chips.

Because UCT has such a diverse and flexible menu of solutions, customers are partnering with us to accelerate their leading-edge technology road maps.

Turning to China. Revenue from our Shanghai manufacturing facility supporting local Chinese OEMs remained elevated. Recent conversations with local customers and our expectation that regional fabs will continue to expand and new ones will come online, supported by local government investments, leads us to believe that this will -- higher level of spend will continue into 2025.

We will continue to meet regularly with our local Chinese customers and watch for any change in sentiment or spending patterns that could alter our opinion.

Last quarter, I mentioned some of the metrics we are tracking that could point towards a broader industry recovery, and they continue to improve. Inventories that mostly realigned, shipments of high-performance computing chips have increased, data center spending is very robust. Memory is being actively managed to keep supply and demand balanced. And fabs are reporting improved utilization rates.

In fact, the world's largest chipmaker recently announced that they "Continue to observe extremely healthy AI-related demand through the second half of 2024, leading to increased capacity utilization rates for leading-edge process technologies with signs of acceleration into next year and beyond."

UCT builds a diversified line of products for the industry that extends our reach far beyond gas and fluid delivery solutions.

If you could walk through a fab, you will see thousands of our parts, components and modules. UCT indirectly touches nearly every semiconductor chip that goes into every smartphone, smart card, data center and device that uses artificial intelligence today.

We have a road map built to last and leverage our competitive advantage by offering a high-value differentiated solutions across all end markets.

Our state-of-the-art manufacturing technology, especially in Malaysia, where revenue has increased nearly 150% since this time last year, is helping our customers reach greater economics of scale, especially at the leading edge. Semiconductor cycles are two-pronged. They are technology-driven and capacity-driven. Strong investment in the technology phase of the cycle has been healthy this year and one of the reasons UCT has been able to meaningfully grow revenue. The debut of AI-enabled smartphones and laptops is here and abroad replacement cycle shouldn't be far behind. We remain very optimistic that we are in the early innings of an industry-wide recovery. And as capacity investments begin to increase, we expect momentum to accelerate. UCT has withstood many cycles of varying lengths and has outperformed during every upturn.

In summary, our long-term outlook for the semi-industry remains very positive. We maintain our view that the global semiconductor market will exceed $1 trillion by 2030, driven by ballooning demands for integrated circuits and AI, digital economies and electrical vehicles. To achieve this, investment in WFE will need to be in the $150 billion range, and we are ready with the products, services, capacity and efficiency to meet the major increases in demand we see coming.

And with that, I'll turn the call over to Sheri for our financial review. Sheri?

Thanks, Jim, and good afternoon, everyone. Thanks for joining us. In today's discussion, I will be referring to non-GAAP numbers only.

As Jim mentioned, total revenue was up quarter-over-quarter due to increased demand from our customers relating to AI infrastructure build-outs and continued strength from our domestic China market. Total revenue for the third quarter came in at $540.4 million compared to $516.1 million in the prior quarter. Revenue from products increased to $479 million from $452.7 million last quarter. Services revenue was $61.4 million compared to $63.4 million in Q2. Total gross margin for the third quarter was 17.8% compared to 17.7% last quarter. Products gross margin was 16.1% compared to 15.6% and services was 30.5% compared to 32.7% in Q2. Margins can be influenced by fluctuation of volume, mix and manufacturing region as well as material and transportation costs.

So there will be variances quarter-to-quarter.

Operating expense for the quarter was $56.5 million compared with $55.8 million in Q2.

As a percentage of revenue, operating expense decreased to 10.5% from 10.8% in Q2. Total operating margin for the quarter increased to 7.3% from 6.9% in the second quarter. Margin from our Products division was 7% compared to 6.2% and services margin was 10.1% compared to 11.8% in the prior quarter. The overall margin improvements were largely driven by improved product operating efficiency and effective management of operating expenses across both business units on higher revenue.

Our tax rate increased from 24.7% last quarter to 27.1% this quarter, representing a year-to-date effective tax rate of 24.3%.

Our mix of earnings has been weighted to higher tax jurisdictions like China and the Czech Republic.

And as a result, we now expect the tax rate for 2024 to stay in the mid-20s. Based on 45.5 million shares outstanding, earnings per share for the quarter were $0.35 on net income of $15.9 million compared to $0.32 on net income of $14.4 million in the prior quarter due to higher revenue.

During the quarter, we experienced some foreign exchange headwinds, primarily related to the Malaysian ringgit that negatively impacted EPS by $0.06 per share.

Turning to the balance sheet.

Our cash and cash equivalents were $318.2 million compared to $319.5 million in Q2. Cash flow from operations was $14.9 million compared to $23.2 million last quarter, primarily due to timing of cash collections and vendor payments.

For the fourth quarter, we project total revenue between $535 million and $585 million.

We expect EPS in the range of $0.34 to $0.54.

And with that, I'd like to turn the call over to the operator for questions.

Thank you. [Operator Instructions] Your first question comes from the line of Charles Shi from Needham.

The first question is about the China. What's the percentage of revenue coming from China in the third quarter? But maybe it's a related question, I'll ask altogether. When I look at the PowerPoint you posted on the website, that your revenue from Lam is up, the revenue from AMAT is actually probably down a little bit.

So is China the main contributor to the non-Lam, non-AMAT revenue growth in the third quarter? That's the first question.

So yes, I -- so we -- I think we did about 50-something million, 52 -- $55 million this quarter from China direct, right? So I'm talking about like what we sell directly to our Chinese OEMs.

And so as you look at percentages from our different Applied and Lam, you can't read too much into that. It's just simply we're seeing some more strength from Chinese OEMs, but we're seeing also some strength from Lam and ASM and ASML and others.

So those percentages are going to move around a little bit. But I think when you look at that way, I think you're seeing the fact that we're continuing to see some significant strength from our direct sales to Chinese equipment makers.

Got it. $55 million from China direct. I just want to clarify.

Yes. And just to give you like a reference, Charles.

So in the past, we did like $10 million a quarter, maybe $20 million if we had a great quarter.

So this has been continued strength. And I just actually met with the CEOs in China, and they continue to think that that's going to stay strong through the year and through next year as well.

Got it. Got it. Obviously, the access for you guys to the Chinese semi cap is pretty unique in the industry. Maybe I want to ask you, maybe this is a technology question and maybe it's a product question.

You talked about the AI infrastructure build-out. We all know that you have -- your revenue is -- I mean, part of your revenue is tied to Lam's electroplating, which has done very well. They said it's more than double this year. Strength may continue next year. But it looks like this quarter, you're talking about some CMP-related strength. Can you talk a little bit more about that? First off, because we tend to associate your product more with the depth and edge, but what is the CMP exposure? That's number one. But number two is why there's a CMP ramp related to AI infrastructure build-out? Is it just going in general with advanced nodes? Or there's something specific about CMP for the, as you said, the large AI chip manufacturing?

Sure. Yes. I mean, as you just mentioned, I'll reiterate the wet etch electrochemistry strength that we've been seeing for the interconnect business has continued to remain really strong out of our Czech Republic factory. But what we started to see this quarter and 1 of the reasons for our outperformance as well is we started to see CMP business increase.

Now we have a really good position.

We have a significantly high footprint in CMP. And CMP is very spotty on and off. But what we're seeing is chemical mechanical planarization is kind of something that people do to get their yields up in the chips that they're making.

So this is becoming where we're starting to see more investment in that space. And since we also -- like I said, we have a very diversified platform that we cover across many different types of equipment and technology.

So we have a really solid position there. And then we're starting to see companies invest in CMP to kind of -- to take their yield up, especially in the AI area.

Your next question comes from the line of Edward Yang from Oppenheimer.

Jim, congrats on a great quarter. I wanted to dig a bit deeper into your demand outlook, and you mentioned growing faster than your customers. And I wanted to understand, is this a function of customers outsourcing more and relying on partners like UCT, your win rates? Or are you exposed to right technology platforms? That is, your customers have such broad-based end market exposure, are you overweight or underweight any particular areas that would help you meaningfully grow faster?

Yes, hi, Edward.

So yes, we definitely -- as you start to see the markets start to turn back and the industry started to bring up. And we've seen this over the years as we typically outgrow the industry in the up years.

So what happens is you start to see our customers begin to outsource a bit more.

So we have some of that.

We also have gains in lithography that we've been exploiting. And also our new platform in Malaysia, where customers want to take advantage of that low-cost region that we've been growing.

So yes, we are starting to see our outperform in these areas from those basic strengths.

So I think those are like the main things.

But if you were to look back to our history over the last 10 years, you will see that when the industry starts moving up a bit, we do experience a higher level of outsourcing, and we do experience a higher level of market share gain.

I just wanted to piggyback on Charles' question on China.

You mentioned your quarterly revenue there was $55 billion. And that is up triple digits year-over-year, but it is down about $4.5 billion from the prior quarter. Is there any seasonality there? Or is that -- did you see any moderation? Or is it just kind of lumpiness within China that you're seeing from revenue, I mean?

Yes.

So yes, Edward, I can't go into details, but we have 2 main customers there, and 1 is dealing with some internal issues and quality and it's not our issue.

Another 1 is growing faster.

So we had -- it is lumpiness, but it's nothing to like be concerned about the long-term prospects.

Your next question comes from the line of Christian Schwab from Craig-Hallum Capital Group.

I mean, last quarter, you guys talked about seeing broader market improvement in the second half of '24 versus the first half of '25, which has obviously been correct.

We also kind of talked about WFE being really strong on a year-over-year basis in '25, but I didn't really hear an update on that. We understand what your largest customer -- talked about seeing growth. But I think we kind of talked about percentages on the call last time. Do you have any update for us there?

Yes.

I think we've been looking at -- and we continue to update that, Christian.

So we continue to look at like 14% -- 10% to 14%. And it all depends, obviously, on how the year ends in '24, right? So the baseline changes a little bit. But we are still very positive that the WFE is going to increase. Whether it's up 10% or 12% or 14%, very difficult to say.

We will do better than that in the next year. But I think it's -- I think we need to see how '24 ends before we could come out with like a really good estimate for '25. But we definitely believe '25 will be up, and we believe we will be up more than that.

Great. No other questions.

Your next question comes from the line of Krish Sankar from TD Cowen.

This is Robert Mertens on for Krish. Maybe just real quick to jump back on the domestic China strength that you're witnessing. Have you segmented out that before between -- if it's more foundry or memory based or broad-based? And then also, what sort of visibility do you have at customers within China? I know you are expecting it to still remain strong in the December quarter, but just what sort of visibility and confidence you have heading into next year would be helpful.

Yes. Robert, so we have not segmented it out to the chip type. Mostly what we provide for them in deposition and etch modules. Especially in the gas panel area, which was obviously 45% of our business. And as I mentioned before, I just made the trip there. I just had dinner with the CEOs of those companies. And they continue -- they're going to continue to gain market share. That's a clear thing. They are definitely over investing right now, trying to get every piece of equipment they can. Not every piece of the equipment is actually going out the door to their customers. But we basically, from everything I could see in every discussion I've had with these customers, is that 2025 is going to continue to be at the same level that we've been experiencing in 2024.

So that, together with a broader market recovery at some point, together with the AI strength that we're seeing in different parts of our diversified products, we're very comfortable and confident that we're going to continue.

As we guided up in Q4, we're going to continue to see things get better and better.

Great. That's helpful. And then just 1 more, if I may.

In terms of the product margins, they've been doing well in the September quarter. Is that more due to mix? Or does just the sales volume have a bigger play into the puts and takes of margins on a quarterly basis?

They both do. It just depends.

Sometimes we'll have a mix where there's higher margin shipments happening.

Specifically, if we ship more out of certain locations for certain product types. But volume definitely plays a huge factor for us in general just because with the volumes coming up, it's covering more of our fixed costs. We've added capacity over the last couple of years.

So it definitely covers some of those expenses associated with that.

So that's probably the more major factor out of it.

There are no further questions at this time. I will now turn the call back to Jim Scholhamer for closing remarks. Please continue.

Thank you, everyone. Thank you for joining our call today.

I think you could pick up, we're really excited about the go forward. And I hope you can join us next quarter, and looking forward to it. Thank you.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation.

You may now disconnect.