DSP core for mobile devices and consumer electronics developer Ceva Inc. (Nasdaq:CEVA); LSE:CVA) posted fourth quarter growth, beating analysts' revenue and profit forecasts, and predicts growth in 2010. The company published its financial report for the fourth quarter and full-year of 2009 and guidance for 2010 today.
Ceva posted $10.2 million revenue for the fourth quarter, 2% more than the $10 million revenue for the corresponding quarter of 2008. Licensing revenue rose 2% to $4.7 million, and royalties revenue rose 13% to a record $4.8 million. Services revenue, however, fell 41% to $700,000. The company beat the analysts' consensus forecast of $10 million revenue.
GAAP-based net profit tripled to $2.9 million ($0.14 per share) for the fourth quarter from $1 million for the corresponding quarter.
Non-GAAP net profit rose 53% to $2.4 million ($0.11 per share) from $1.6 million for the corresponding quarter. The company beat the analysts' earnings per share consensus of $0.10 by $0.01. The company attributed the difference between the GAAP and non-GAAP results to the handling of the capital gain on the sale of its stake in GloNav Inc., as well as the sale of fixed assets and restructuring costs.
In its guidance for the first quarter 2010, Ceva predicts $9.9-10.9 million revenue, 4-15% growth in the corresponding quarter of 2009. It predicts earnings per share of $0.10-0.12, similar to the corresponding quarter. For the year as a whole, the company predicts earnings per share of $0.43-0.49, 2-17% higher than in 2009, on $41-44 million revenue, 6-14% more than in 2009.
For the year as a whole, Ceva posted $38.5 million revenue, down 5% from the $40.4 million in 2008. Royalty revenue rose 13% to a record $16.2 million, but licensing revenue fell 14% to $18.8 million, compared with 2008.
GAAP-based net profit fell 3% to $8.3 million ($0.41 per share) in 2009 from $8.6 million in 2008. Non-GAAP net profit rose 29% to $8.7 million ($0.42 per share) from $6.7 million in 2008.
Ceva's cash flow from operations was $16 million in 2009, which boosted the company's cash and cash equivalents to $100.6 million at the end of the year.
Ceva CEO Gideon Wertheizer noted that the company won three design wins during the fourth quarter for 4G long term evolution (LTE), including an agreement with a Tier-1 original equipment manufacturer (OEM). Another LTE agreement was for the company's newest CEVA-XC DSP core adopted by a leading 4G cellular company.
Ceva's target applications for its products are 4G LTE, 3G data cards, handsets, wireless machine-to-machine applications, broadband residential gateways, solid-state drives (SSDs), and SAS-based storage equipment.
Ceva's share closed at $11.73 on Nasdaq yesterday, giving a market cap of $234 million. The share was unchanged in London at ₤6.50.
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on January 28, 2010
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