Exar: Fiscal 4Q13 Financial Results

Exar Corporation announced financial results for the company’s fourth quarter of fiscal year ended March 31, 2013.

The company reported revenue of $31.2 million, compared to $31.0 million in the prior quarter. Fourth quarter revenue increased 12% from $27.8 million in the same quarter a year ago.

On a non-GAAP basis, gross margin was 53%, up four percentage points from 49% in the prior quarter, and an increase of thirteen%age points from 40% in the same quarter a year ago. Non-GAAP net income of $4.8 million was up 18% versus $4.0 million in the prior quarter, an improvement of $9.4 million from a loss of $4.6 million in the same quarter a year ago. Non-GAAP earnings per fully diluted share were $0.10, compared to $0.09 in the prior quarter, an improvement of $0.20 compared to a loss of $0.10 in the same quarter a year ago.

On a GAAP basis, gross margin was 49%, compared to 46% in the prior quarter and 32% in the same quarter a year ago. Net income was $1.7 million in the fourth quarter, compared to $1.5 million in the prior quarter and a net loss of $20.8 million in the same quarter a year ago. Earnings per fully diluted share were $0.04 in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2013, compared to $0.03 in the prior quarter and a net loss per share of $0.46 in the same quarter a year ago.

Exar president and CEO Louis DiNardo commented: "We continue to execute well in a difficult end market environment. We maintained focus on high-value requirements for our differentiated products. The improved product mix and continuing effort to reduce manufacturing cost both contributed to an excellent increase in gross margin and profitability. Fourth quarter non-GAAP operating income represented 14% of revenue and non-GAAP net income was over 15% of revenue."

"As we end our first full year of operation after a major restructuring it is clear that our efforts have yielded significant favorable results as non-GAAP operating income increased $17.9 million from a loss of $6.9 million in fiscal year 2012 to a profit of $11.0 million in fiscal year 2013. We ended the year with 53% non-GAAP gross margin in our fourth quarter versus 40% in the fourth quarter of last year. We generated strong free cash flow of $3.7 million for the quarter, slightly up from last quarter, and an improvement of $8.8 million as compared to a year ago. Most importantly we have hired outstanding engineering talent, increased the pace of new product development and completed an acquisition that provides new products and capabilities to support our existing presence in the big data analytics market," concluded Mr. DiNardo.

For the first quarter of fiscal year 2014, the company expects revenue to grow sequentially 2% to 4% and non-GAAP gross margin to be in the range of 51% to 53%.