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FARO
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hier die earnings:

FARO`s Earnings Per Share Jump to 20 Cents From 4 Cents on 57% Sales Increase
Thursday May 6, 4:29 pm ET


LAKE MARY, Fla., May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- FARO Technologies, Inc. (Nasdaq: FARO - News) today reported a 473% increase in net income in the first quarter of 2004 to $2.8 million, or 20 cents per diluted share, from $489,000, or four cents per diluted share in the first quarter of 2003. Fully diluted shares grew approximately two million shares or 16.5% to 14.1 million shares at April 3, 2004, from 12.1 million shares at March 29, 2003. Sales for the quarter increased 56.7% to $21.0 million, from $13.4 million in the first quarter of 2003. Gross margin increased eight percentage points to 64.0% in the quarter, from 56.0% in the first quarter of 2003, as a result of lower service expenses, less price discounting, and increased production efficiencies.
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20000522/FLM035LOGO )
Selling, general and administrative ("SG&A") expenses decreased as a percentage of sales from 41.4% in the first quarter of 2003 to 38.6% in the first quarter of 2004. On a sequential quarter basis SG&A expenses as a percentage of sales increased 0.9 percentage points compared to 37.7% in the fourth quarter of 2003, resulting from higher selling expenses as a percentage of sales, partially offset by lower general and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales. The Company had forecast this increase in selling expenses as a percentage of sales in the first half of 2004, primarily as a result of costs related to the expansion of its worldwide sales force.

Income from operations increased $2.8 million from $459,000 in the first quarter of 2003 to $3.3 million in the first quarter of 2004. This increase was primarily a result of an increase in gross profit of $6.0 million, offset by a $2.5 million increase in SG&A expenses. On a sequential quarter basis, operating margin improved to 15.9% in the first quarter of 2004, compared to 11.8% in the fourth quarter of 2003.

Income tax expense in the first quarter of 2004 was $765,000 or 21.2% of taxable income, in line with the 20%-25% guidance given by the Company for 2004, and compared to $72,000, or 12.9% of taxable income in the year-ago quarter.

"We showed continued strong year-over-year growth in the first quarter, continuing a trend shown throughout 2003," said Simon Raab, President and CEO. "We took a number of initiatives in the quarter to help continue our penetration into the large, underserved CAM2 market. These included expansion of our sales force around the world, with an emphasis in the Asia/Pacific, and the establishment of service centers in key newer markets including Brazil, Japan, and China. Besides expanding into new geographic regions, we are also focused on further penetrating our larger existing customers. Sales to existing customers represented 68% of total sales in the quarter, compared to 62% in all of 2003."

Regionally, sales in the Americas increased 57.4% in the first quarter of 2004 to $8.5 million, from $5.4 million in the first quarter of 2003. Sales in the Europe/Africa region increased 65.6% to $10.1 million, from $6.1 million in 2003. Sales in the Asia/Pacific region grew 26.3% to $2.4 million, from $1.9 million in 2003.

Market Evolution and Size Assessment

"We believe that the growth in the CAM2 market (Computer Aided Manufacturing Measurement) should parallel the growth already seen in the first two stages of the CAD (Computer Aided Design) revolution which started in earnest over three decades ago," continued Raab. "CAD is now virtually 100% adopted in the industrial design environment, and has grown to a multi-billion dollar market. The CAM (Computer Aided Machining) stage of the CAD revolution followed next. CAM allowed single parts to be machined on computer-controlled machine tools using CAD data. Eventually the majority of machine shops around the world required such CAM hardware and software, and this market has also grown into the billions. The penetration of CAD/CAM into the manufacturing environment was however incomplete. Once the single parts manufactured through CAM are brought to assembly, where very little CAD exists and problems with dimensional fit, tooling and scrap occur, that is where the CAM2 market emerges. Today this market is at an early stage of its evolution, at an estimated amount of approximately $200 million. We expect that this market will continue to grow as the manufacturing evolution that started with CAD and CAM continues. The penetration of CAD-based measurement tools adaptable to the manufacturing environment is the final stage of the CAD evolution. In fact, we believe that our continued strong year-over-year growth in orders is in part at the expense of a diminishing market for conventional, non-portable coordinate measuring machines and check fixtures but more importantly due to the inevitable expansion of the CAM2 market."

Outlook for the Remainder of 2004.

As stated in an earlier news release, on the basis of new order growth in the first quarter, we are now expecting sales for 2004 to be $90-$93 million, a 25%-30% increase compared to $71.8 million in 2003. We expect gross margins to be in a range of 59%-63% in the remaining quarters of 2004, and we expect that the higher gross margins will be somewhat offset by taxes at the higher end of our 20-25% guidance, so we are maintaining our earlier forecast for net income at $0.71-$0.86 per diluted share.

The Company also announced that it will begin to issue all of its non- financial product-related press releases to its financial press release distribution list. Interested investors can view previous product-related press releases at the Company`s website at: http://www.faro.com/Newsroom/Press_Releases.asp

"We are doing this to allow investors to stay abreast of our new product and other non-financial developments as they occur, and to help them understand the dynamics and specifics of the CAM2 market," said Raab.

A conference call reviewing the first quarter of 2004 will be held Friday, May 7, 2004 beginning at 11:00 AM (Eastern)/ 8:00 AM (Pacific). To participate please dial 800.795.1259 five minutes prior to start time. International callers should dial 785.832.1508. The Conference ID is "FARO." A recording of the call will be available until August 7, 2004 by dialing 800.934.7776. International callers should dial 402.220.6983. No access code is needed for the replay. The call will be simultaneously broadcast over the Internet at: http://www.firstcallevents.com/service/ajwz405723578gf12.htm…
 
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