One Year After Finisar Acquisition, II-VI Eyes Power Market Growth

II-VI reported $728.1 million in revenue and earnings per share (EPS) of 84 cents (GAAP EPS of 38 cents) for its first quarter, ending Sept. 30. Operating income for the quarter exceeded $138 million and $100 million (GAAP).

EPS surpassed the Zacks consensus estimate by nearly 30 cents. The company narrowly fell short of Zacks’ projected revenue total, by less than $1 million.

The quarterly revenue total more than doubles that which the company achieved in the three-month period ending Sept. 30 in 2019, in which II-VI reported quarterly revenue of $340.4 million. The total is down from the $746.2 revenue total that concluded the company’s previous (fourth) quarter. EPS dropped for the quarter by 34 cents. II-VI announced last quarter that it had agreed to acquire outstanding shares of Ascatron AB, a producer of silicon carbide (SiC) epitaxial wafers and devices for power electronics, and outstanding interests of the owners of the parent of INNOViON Corp. INNOViON, implanters support semiconductor materials processing for up to 300-mm wafers, and the company develops ion implantation technology for silicon and compound semiconductor devices. The company, in its, quarterly release, also noted that the one year anniversary of the largest acquisition in its history, of optical communications firm Finisar, fell in the course of the now-concluded quarter.

“I am pleased that we have achieved increased revenues, delivered synergies ahead of schedule, made significant progress in the margin delivery, and re-engaged a number of customers that were on the sidelines before the [Finisar] transaction was approved,” II-VI CEO Vincent “Chuck” Mattera Jr. said. “Given the demand we are seeing for our datacom and telecom products, this timely acquisition was and continues to be consistent with our strategy to count on some of the world’s greatest megatrends such as 5G and cloud computing to deliver a sustainable growth.

“In the midst of the Finisar integration, we continued to position II-VI for incremental growth opportunities as we closed both the Ascatron and INNOViON acquisitions, to expand our SiC materials expertise into modules and devices to serve the anticipated growth in demand of the power market as the electrification of transportation accelerates,” Mattera said.

II-VI, which breaks down its revenue totals into amounts generated by photonics solutions, by compound semiconductors, and by unallocated and other contributors, reported $498 million from photonics solutions, down from last quarter. An increase in sales in compound semiconductors was less than $1 million growth.

Mattera said the company grew more than 200% year over year in its 3D sensing share(s), and, after recording record cash flow from operations for the full year at the end of the company’s previous quarter, recorded $134.3 million in cash flow from operating activities for the most recent quarter. The total represents more than three quarters of net cash flow from operations that the company achieved for the year ending June 30, 2019, and more than 45% of what the company reported for the full year ending June 30, 2020.

The company also grew its cash balance by $190 million sequentially, an $85 million improvement from last year’s third-to-fourth quarter.

II-VI’s outlook for the second fiscal quarter ending Dec. 31 is revenue of $750 million to $780 million and EPS of 86 to 95 cents.

About Coherent Corp.