| Contact: | Paul Coghlan | 5:00 EDT | |
| | Vice President, Finance, Chief Financial Officer | Tuesday, October 14, 2008 | |
| | (408) 432-1900 | NATIONAL DISTRIBUTION | |
LINEAR TECHNOLOGY REPORTS QUARTERLY AND YEAR OVER YEAR INCREASES IN REVENUES AND EARNINGS PER SHARE.
Milpitas, California, October 14, 2008, Linear Technology Corporation (NASDAQ-LLTC), a leading, independent manufacturer of high performance linear integrated circuits, today reported financial results for the quarter ended September 28, 2008. Revenue for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 increased 1% to a quarterly record of $310.4 million compared to the previous quarter’s revenue of $307.1 million and increased 10% or $28.9 million over $281.5 million reported in the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. Diluted earnings per share (“EPS”) of $0.48 increased $0.02 per share or 4% over the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008 and increased $0.08 per share or 20% over the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. First quarter Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (“GAAP”) net income of $107.6 million increased $4.5 million or 4% over $103.1 million reported in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008. Net income for the quarter was positively impacted by a lower tax rate as a result of a discrete tax benefit. Net income increased $16.1 million or 18% over the first quarter of fiscal year 2008.
During the September quarter the Company’s cash and short-term investments balance increased $55.2 million to $1.0 billion, net of spending $23.1 million to purchase approximately 737,000 shares of its common stock. A cash dividend of $0.21 per share will be paid on November 26, 2008 to stockholders of record on November 14, 2008.
Non-GAAP diluted EPS for the first quarter of fiscal year 2009 was $0.53 per share, a $0.02 per share increase over the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008 and a $0.08 per share increase over the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. First quarter non-GAAP net income of $118.4 million increased $4.0 million over $114.4 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2008 and $17.0 million over the first quarter of fiscal year 2008. The Company’s non-GAAP measures set forth above exclude charges related to stock-based compensation. The Company’s management uses non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share to evaluate the Company’s current operating results and financial results and to compare them against historical financial results. Reconciliations of reported net income and reported net income per diluted share to non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share, respectively, are included at the end of this press release.
According to Lothar Maier, CEO, “We met our guidance set at the beginning of the quarter by growing revenues and pretax income by 1% and 3%, respectively, over the June quarter. This marks the sixth consecutive quarter that the Company has grown revenues and EPS. However, during the latter part of the September quarter and especially through early October, the Company began to see a decrease in new order bookings across all of the Company’s end-markets. We believe the current credit crisis and related economic uncertainty have begun to affect the semiconductor industry.
Looking ahead to the December quarter, given the decrease in recent orders and the softness we are currently seeing in the industry, we estimate that the Company’s revenues will decline sequentially in the 10% to 20% range from the September quarter. It is difficult to forecast what the decline in revenues will be given the uncertain state of the economy as a whole. Our results will be very dependent on our customers’ reaction to the global crisis. Nevertheless, the Company is well positioned to manage through difficult times and has a proven track record that it can maintain industry leading profitability under challenging market conditions. Many of our expenses are variable and we are taking measures to adjust those downward. Accordingly, we believe we can maintain pretax profits above 40% of sales with the lower forecasted sales range. In addition, once this global economic crisis eases, we continue to be optimistic about the Company’s long-term growth prospects.”
Except for historical information contained herein, the matters set forth in this press release are forward-looking statements. In particular, the statements regarding the demand for our products, our customers’ ordering patterns and the anticipated trends in our sales and profits are forward-looking statements. The forward-looking statements are dependent on certain risks and uncertainties, including such factors, among others, as the timing, volume and pricing of new orders received and shipped, the timely introduction of new processes and products, general conditions in the world economy and financial markets and other factors described in our 10-K for the fiscal year ended June 29, 2008.
Company officials will be discussing these results in greater detail in a conference call tomorrow, Wednesday, October 15, 2008 at 8:30 a.m. Pacific Coast Time. Those investors wishing to listen in may call (719) 325-4941, or toll free (877) 604-9675 before 8:15 a.m. to be included in the audience. There will be a live webcast of this conference call that can be accessed through www.linear.com or www.streetevents.com. A replay of the conference call will be available from October 15, 2008 through October 21, 2008.
You may access the archive by calling (719) 457-0820 and entering reservation #1454160. An archive of the webcast will also be available at www.linear.com and www.streetevents.com as of October 15, 2008 until the first quarter earnings release next year.
Linear Technology Corporation, a manufacturer of high performance linear integrated circuits, was founded in 1981, became a public company in 1986 and joined the S&P 500 index of major public companies in 2000. Linear Technology products include high performance amplifiers, comparators, voltage references, monolithic filters, linear regulators, DC-DC converters, battery chargers, data converters, communications interface circuits, RF signal conditioning circuits, uModuleTM products, and many other analog functions. Applications for Linear Technology’s high performance circuits include telecommunications, cellular telephones, networking products such as optical switches, notebook and desktop computers, computer peripherals, video/multimedia, industrial instrumentation, security monitoring devices, high-end consumer products such as digital cameras and MP3 players, complex medical devices, automotive electronics, factory automation, process control, and military and space systems. For more information, visit www.linear.com.
For further information contact Paul Coghlan at Linear Technology Corporation, 1630 McCarthy Blvd., Milpitas, California 95035-7417, (408) 432-1900.
The Company’s non-GAAP measures set forth above exclude charges related to stock-based compensation. The Company’s management uses non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share to evaluate the Company’s current operating results and financial results and to compare them against historical financial results. The Company excludes stock-based compensation expenses and the related tax effects primarily because they are significant non-cash expense estimates which management separates for consideration when evaluating and managing business operations.
In addition, the Company believes that providing investors with these non-GAAP measurements enhances their ability to compare the Company’s business against that of its many competitors who employ and disclose similar non-GAAP measures. This financial measure may be different from non-GAAP methods of accounting and reporting used by the Company’s competitors to the extent their non-GAAP measures include other items. The presentation of this additional information should not be considered a substitute for net income or net income per diluted share prepared in accordance with GAAP.
