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Advanced Energy Announces Improved Margins and Accelerated Revenues

February 02, 2014 by Jeff Shepard

Advanced Energy Industries, Inc. (AEIS) announced financial results for the fourth quarter ended December 31, 2013, including fourth quarter sales of $152.6 million compared with $142.9 million in the third quarter of 2013 and $113.0 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Income from continuing operations was $34.4 million or $0.83 per diluted share. On a non-GAAP basis, income from continuing operations was $27.8 million or $0.67 per diluted share. A reconciliation of non-GAAP income from continuing operations and earnings per share is provided in the tables below. Based on our current mix of profits between thin films and solar, the effective tax rate excluding restructuring was approximately 0%. The company ended the quarter with $149.7 million in cash and marketable securities, a sequential increase of $45.0 million.

"Two years into our strategic plan, we have increased our global presence, completed our restructuring, improved margins, accelerated revenues and effectively utilized our cash for acquisitions and share repurchases, all in order to return value to our shareholders," said Garry Rogerson, CEO of Advanced Energy. "Our highly efficient engine is now in place, with R&D centers throughout the world and our manufacturing centralized through Shenzhen. Entering the new year, our opportunities span applications and geographies. With a variety of new thin films products, growing demand for our revamped inverter product line and a strong pipeline of opportunities in both existing and new applications, we believe we are poised for a strong 2014."

Thin Films sales were $87.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, a 16.2% increase from $75.4 million in the third quarter of 2013 and a 64.4% increase from $53.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Growth this quarter was particularly strong as our OEM customers prepared for first quarter shipments to their customers and the company's multitude of new products continue to enable expansion into new applications.

Solar Energy sales were $64.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2013, down 4% from $67.5 million in the third quarter of 2013 and an increase of 8.9% from $59.6 million in the fourth quarter of 2012. Backlog for our new 1 megawatt inverter remained strong as the company began to ramp production in the fourth quarter to meet demand.

Income from continuing operations for the fourth quarter was $34.4 million or $0.83 per diluted share, compared with $687,000 or $0.02 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2013, and $4.9 million or $0.13 per diluted share in the same period last year. On a non-GAAP basis, net of tax and excluding the restructuring charges, income from continuing operations this quarter grew to $27.8 million or $0.67 per diluted share from $21.7 million or $0.53 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2013.

During the fourth quarter, the company recorded a pre-tax restructuring charge of $2.3 million, $405,000 of which was non-cash. The company has now completed all of its restructuring actions and expects to report future charges only as related to inorganic activity. The total charges related to the restructuring activities over the last 2 years were $53.9 million, of which $37.9 million was non-cash. These cost savings activities are expected to deliver annual savings of approximately $80 million by the end of 2014.

The company anticipates first quarter 2014 results from continuing operations to continue our trend of significant year-over-year increases. This guidance reflects some Solar seasonality partially offset by demand for new products and the resulting impact of last quarter's strong OEM sales in Thin Films. Guidance is within the following ranges: Sales of $138 million to $146 million ($112 million in Q1 2013); Earnings per share of $0.36 to $0.42 ($0.17 in Q1 2013); and Non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.41 to $0.47 ($0.29 in Q1 2013).