The share price of Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (Nasdaq:NVMI; TASE:NVMI) rose strongly on the Tel Aviv Stock Exchange (TASE), after the company reported record results for the first quarter of 2014, beating the company's profit guidance.
Revenue rose 26% to $34.7 million for the first quarter from $27.4 million for the corresponding quarter of 2013. GAAP-based net profit rose 167% to $6.4 million ($0.23 per share) for the first quarter from $2.4 million for the corresponding quarter, and non-GAAP net profit nearly doubled to $6.9 million ($0.25 per share) from $3.6 million. The company beat the analysts' consensus of $0.22 earnings per share on $34.2 million revenue.
The share price rose 5.2% by early afternoon on the TASE to NIS 36.35, following the announcement, despite falling 0.7% on Nasdaq yesterday to $9.76, giving a market cap of $260 million.
Nova reduced its R&D spending to $6.9 million in the first quarter from $7.5 million in the corresponding quarter. The company had $113.2 million in cash reserves at the end of March, and no debt.
"We posted record sales revenue for the first quarter, meeting the high end of our quarterly revenue guidance, due to market share gains and strong demand for our Optical Metrology solutions. Moreover, our net income significantly increased and exceeded our quarterly guidance," said Nova president and CEO Eitan Oppenhaim. "The use of Optical Metrology is expanding rapidly as the semiconductor industry continues its challenging technical transition to advanced 3D structures, thus broadening the opportunity available to us, as we continue to increase our market share and expand our presence."
Oppenhaim added, "We've started to receive orders for our newly introduced software products. We view these orders as clear evidence that our strategic decision to add software products to our offering is paying off."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on April 30, 2014
© Copyright of Globes Publisher Itonut (1983) Ltd. 2014