Nova - Q2 2023

Transcript

Operator (participant)

Good day. Welcome to Nova's second quarter 2023 results conference call and webcast. Today's conference is being recorded. At this time, I would like to turn the conference over to Miri Segal of MS-IR. Please, go ahead.

Miri Segal (Founder and CEO)

Thank you, operator, and good day to everybody. I would like to welcome all of you to Nova's second quarter 2023 financial results conference call. With us on the line today are Mr. Gabi Weissman, President and CEO, and Mr. Dror David, CFO. Before we begin, may I remind our listeners that certain information provided on this call may contain forward-looking statements, and the safe harbor statement outlined in today's earnings release also pertains to this call.

If you have not received a copy of the release, please view it in the investor relations section of the company's website. Gabi will begin the call with a business update, followed by Dror with an overview of the financials. We will then open the call for the question-and-answer session. I'll now turn the call over to Mr. Gabi Weissman, Nova's President and CEO. Gabi, please go ahead.

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

Thank you, all, for joining our second quarter financial results conference call. I will start the call by speaking about our quarterly results and performance highlights. Following my commentary, Dror will review the quarter's financial results in detail, and then conclude with a guidance for the first quarter of 2023.

Nova's results for the quarter met our expectations, highlighting the resilience of our portfolio, our wide exposure to new advanced applications, and a well-maintained operational model, which effectively combines customers' focus and our roadmap for continuous investment in every division.

The value of our broad materials and dimensional portfolio helps us drive increased traction with several notable achievements this quarter, including new penetrations and additional orders following successful evaluations of our new products. These opportunities will allow us to broaden our position and capitalize on larger opportunities once the industry fully recovers.

We are taking necessary steps to ensure Nova's near-term, healthy business performance and profitability for the remainder of 2023. Just as we performed in the first half, we are also confident about our long-term strategy and ability to deliver going forward. We are committed to executing our strategic plan towards $1 billion in revenue, and we aim to resume our accelerated growth path.

We are building our business, our infrastructure, and technology offerings to be ready for the industry when it resumes growth. This quarter, we diversified revenue streams in each of our product divisions with a continued proliferation of advanced materials and dimensional products adopted by existing and new customers.

First, our newest integrated metrology platform just completed a successful evaluation with the world's leading foundry in their most advanced node, presenting significant performance enhancements and addressing the customer's need for cutting-edge productivity and accuracy, with a faster time to market and high yields. Second, our Nova PRISM standalone OCD platform is transferring to high-volume manufacturing in a leading foundry and recently penetrated a new memory manufacturer.

The value of PRISM for advanced nodes front-end processes in both logic and memory is becoming increasingly clear, buoyed further by significant interest in the platform's unique technology in advanced packaging, and more specifically, in what we can do in hybrid bonding process steps. Third, we just delivered another ELIPSON tool to a leading IDM, and we have additional evaluations in progress as our ability to bring Raman technology to the fab garners a lot of interest, and not just in the leading edge.

The Veriflex platform secured several new customers and continued proliferation within our existing customer base. Our chemical metrology division is already inherently embedded in packaging and advanced packaging processes, and benefits from a recent increase in demand for high-bandwidth memory. The division is breaking ground with several new customers this quarter, a strategic new evaluation at the leading IDM, and our front-end annuity solution gaining traction across nodes.

We are successfully leveraging Nova's exposure to front-end processes to open the door for our chemical metrology portfolio, while also leveraging our strong customer relationships to ramp up sales and explore opportunities in the back end of line. Our revenues are derived from multiple territories, with China generating approximately a third of our sales, driven by greenfield customers and significant capacity expansions in mature and trailing nodes.

Other regions where we see great potential are the European and US territories, propelled by government incentives and global players building capacity outside their homeland. Beyond regionalization, Nova benefits from its broad exposure to the foundry logic sector and to the majority of semiconductor CapEx. Nearly 80% of our revenue this quarter was generated by foundry logic customers, and approximately 50% of that stemmed from mature and trailing nodes.

This is the result of our ability to leverage the shift from a market predominantly ruled by the leading edge, towards the growing investment in more mature nodes. At the same time, driven by our unique technology-enabling value, we achieved significant traction with a leading memory customer this quarter, making Korea our second-largest territory.

The increasing interest in Nova's unique technology offerings for front-end, back-end, and advanced packaging applications, as a potential new addressable markets, are more building blocks for our future growth. Nova's rich and differentiated portfolio is built to meet the challenges of next-generation device fabrication.

Our complementary offering for 3D architecture devices allow customers to gain a better insight into the most complicated semiconductor structures, through a wider view of geometrical dimensions, physical material properties, and chemical analytics.

One example of that is our Veriflex platform, that has become a technology enabler and it therefore exerts higher resilience to demand fluctuations. If you want to successfully run high-k metal gate processes, Veriflex is a requirement in the fab from first silicon to correctly characterize composition and measure ultra-thin film thickness. It is true for FinFET, FinFET processes and even more so for gate-all-around and 3D memory.

Another example is the Nova ELIPSON, with a field-proven crucial ability to successfully characterize nanosheets. Of course, PRISM, which I mentioned earlier, brings unique abilities to the table, adding new information inaccessible by current optical CD methods. I want to take a minute to also highlight the opportunity we see in 3D stacking and heterogeneous integration in advanced packaging.

It is essentially a way to maintain Moore's Law and to achieve higher bandwidth, lower latency and power, along with higher yield. Integration case, cases abound from CMOS sensors to 3D NAND and 3D DRAM. Furthermore, advanced packaging allows mid-range and mature node manufacturers an alternative scaling route to EUV, expanding the opportunity beyond gate-all-around.

These new advanced packaging schemes necessitate process steps such as through-silicon via, backside power delivery, hybrid bonding, and wafer edge CMP. They demand tighter process control on smaller, denser interconnects, as well as tall, highly complex, multilayered structures, requiring more measurements to ensure package integrity. The Nova PRISM has a proven advantage over our competitors in some of the applications I mentioned.

Our market-leading portfolio allows manufacturers to utilize optical CD technology for advanced packaging in completely new ways. You can see why we are encouraged by the interest from existing and new customers in previously untapped processes and market segments across multiple territories.

To conclude my prepared comments, we are working on multiple fronts to ensure that Nova is ready for the turn of the tide. We're expanding the range of applications our solutions address, broadening our customer base, increasing our market share, and enhancing our relationships with the world's leading manufacturers. We're investing in infrastructure, technology, and in building long-term capacity.

We are confident in our ability to deliver constant performance in the coming quarters and to leverage new opportunities when the market rebounds. Let me hand over the call to Dror to review our financial results in detail. Dror?

Dror David (CFO)

Thanks, Gabi. Good day, everyone, and thank you for joining our 2023 second quarter conference call. Total revenues in the second quarter of 2023 were $122.7 million, above the midpoint of our guidance and down 13% year-over-year, reflecting the current lower investment levels in memory and in leading logic and foundry.

Product revenue distribution was approximately 80% from logic and foundry, and approximately 20% from memory. Product revenues included three customers in four main territories, contributing each more than 10% to product revenues. The wider territory distribution reflects an improved territorial diversification w- relative to previous periods, driven by the increase in investments in the Western territories of the US and Europe.

Blended gross margin in the second quarter was 57% on a GAAP basis and 59% on a non-GAAP basis, at the high end of the company non-GAAP target model of 57%-59%. Operating expenses remained stable in the second quarter and came in at $41 million on a GAAP basis and $38 million on a non-GAAP basis, reflecting management focus on restraining costs in the current business environment.

Operating margins in the second quarter were 23% on a GAAP basis and 28% on a non-GAAP basis, within the company non-GAAP target model of 27%-31%. This excellent result was driven by the healthy gross margins and the prudent cost control initiatives implemented by the management. Financial income for the quarter increased to approximately $5.6 million, driven by higher yields on cash reserves.

The effective tax rate in the second quarter was approximately 13%, slightly lower than our target model of 14%-15%. Earnings per share in the second quarter on a GAAP basis were $0.94 per diluted share, and earnings per share on a non-GAAP basis were $1.06 per diluted share, at the high end of our second quarter guidance.

This result coincides with management commitment to generate quarterly earnings per share of $1 or more, or the equivalent $4 or more in annual earnings per share on annual revenues of approximately $500 million a year. Finally, I would like to share the details of our guidance for the third quarter of 2023. Currently, we expect revenues to be between $119 million and $126 million.

GAAP earnings per diluted share are expected to range from $0.83-$0.94. Non-GAAP earnings per diluted share are expected to range from $1.02-$1.13. At the midpoint of the third quarter 2023 estimate, we anticipate the following: gross margins to be approximately 56% on a GAAP basis and approximately 58% on a non-GAAP basis, within the company non-GAAP target model. Operating expenses on a GAAP basis are expected to decrease to approximately $40 million.

Operating expenses on a non-GAAP basis are expected to decrease to approximately $36 million. This reduction reflects management determination to restrain expenses in the current environment. Looking forward, we do expect operating expenses to gradually increase towards the end of the year and into 2024. Financial income and tax rate are expected to be similar to the second quarter.

To conclude my remarks, I want to mention the company's cash and working capital management. In the first half of 2023, the company generated operating cash flow of approximately $50 million or 19% of revenues. In parallel, we continue to aggressively invest in manufacturing capacity expansions, in IT infrastructure, and in additional offices to support sales and services at new sites.

As a result, we expect elevated capital investments throughout the remainder of 2023 and throughout 2024. In addition, as Gaby mentioned, we continue to expand our investment in product evaluations at customer sites to meet the heightened customer interest and the growing application space of our most advanced product portfolio.

Finally, I would like to highlight the cash reserves of the company, which increased to approximately $570 million, and provide the required flexibility to pursue organic and non-organic business development activities towards executing the $1 billion strategic plan. With that, I will turn the call back over to Gabi. Gabi?

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

Yes, I would like to open the session for Q&A.

Operator (participant)

Thank you very much. We will now begin the question and answer session. To ask a question, you may press star, then 1 on your touchtone phone. If you are using a speakerphone, please pick up your handset before pressing the keys.

If at any time your question has been addressed and you would like to withdraw your question, please press star, then 2. At this time, we will pause momentarily to assemble our roster. Again, it's star 1 to ask a question. Our first question comes from Vivek Arya from Bank of America. Vivek, please go ahead.

Daxa Patel (Banking Relationship Manager)

No question. This is Daksa on behalf of Vivek. I just want to touch on the trailing edge portion that you talked about, so it's about 50% of foundry and logic. A lot of your peers are seeing strength here, and they see this to continue into next year. I'm curious if you're seeing similar things, and if so, what kind of visibility do you have to support that view? Thank you.

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

We share this, we said we share this notion, and we do expect it to continue towards 2024. I do expect some of the advanced nodes to kick in at some point of time, elevating the share of advanced relative to the trailing and mid-range during 2024.

Daxa Patel (Banking Relationship Manager)

Got it. Got it. Then in terms of just trailing edge specifically, is it the, the new products that you're ramping where you see the strengths from, or, or is it any other kind of, views that you have?

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

It's a combination of investing in, areas such as in, automotive, analog power, IoT, and, of course, some expansions into advanced packaging, and other areas. It's actually the mix between different customers, geographies and, focused areas of investment that drive those, specific nodes.

Daxa Patel (Banking Relationship Manager)

Got it. Just 1 on memory. I think you said you had a significant traction at your memory customers, and Korea was the second largest geography. How much is this related to the HBM kind of ramp that we're seeing in the industry versus non-HBM? Thank you.

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

It's still not related to it, but as I mentioned during the call, we do expect high-bandwidth memory to increase even further towards the second half of the year.

Daxa Patel (Banking Relationship Manager)

Thank you.

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

It currently relates to other capabilities that we have presented in offering us a unique advantage of our portfolio, both dimensional and materials, for these kinds of memory customers.

Daxa Patel (Banking Relationship Manager)

Understood. Thanks.

Operator (participant)

Our next question comes from Quinn Bolton, from Needham and Company. Quinn, please go ahead.

Darren Lynn (Analyst)

Hey, Gabby and Dror, this is Darren Lynn on for Quinn Bolton. Thanks for letting me ask the question today. I have a couple questions. The first being, in the press release, you mentioned an increasing number of tool evaluations for advanced packaging applications.

Can you sort of discuss where Nova plays in the advanced packaging market, specifically, you know, what tools are under evaluation? Also, could you discuss Nova's opportunity in hybrid bonding and how large the TAM could be in hybrid bonding for Nova? Thank you.

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

We're currently focusing on our dimensional metrology portfolio in positioning in both advanced packaging as well as the hybrid bonding. This is related to capabilities on the wafer edge as well as the through-silicon via, where we are seeing our technology capable of delivering better cost of ownership, and of course, better performance. In terms of the TAM, we expect this, the TAM for these particular products to reach about $200 million in 2027.

Darren Lynn (Analyst)

Great. Thank you for the color. If I could just squeeze one more in. You mentioned the additional placements for the Veriflex tool. How do you see the TAM for Veriflex, and do you see it continuing to, continuing to expand going forward?

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

The Veriflex platform is gaining traction in both existing and new customers. We see that accelerating with the new generation of our tools that are offering an even better cost of ownership and definitely addressing the most challenging requirements from these customers. We expect the TAM of these tools to reach about $400 million in 2027.

Darren Lynn (Analyst)

Great. Understood. Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

I would like to remind everyone that if you would like to pose a question, please press star one. Now we follow with a question from Vedrati Chaudhary from Jefferies. Vedrati, please go ahead.

Vedrati Chaudhary (Analyst)

Yeah, thanks for taking my question. The first one I had is, could you talk about the timelines you're seeing for, gate-all-around ramp? Have they shifted or come in, in the recent quarters?

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

They have not shifted in a significant way. I think that our customers are definitely driving forward with the plans for gate-all-around. We expect we expect the timeline to remain as anticipated previously throughout throughout the coming 2 years.

Vedrati Chaudhary (Analyst)

Got it. If you're, like, if I, if I think about the penetration with your materials portfolio, right? The Veriflex, the ELIPSON, and your positioning with gate-all-around, is. Do you think there's kind of more room for adoption, that, that, that, you know, you're still in that evaluation process? How do you gauge, like, what percentage adoption is there and what, what would go in as you start ramping these technologies?

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

We, as I mentioned already, delivered the 2nd ELIPSON tool to a leading IBM in the 2nd quarter of the year, and we have delivered additional tools for evaluations. We definitely see the great potential that this tool has, sorry, for both strain, stress, and crystallinity.

Not only in advanced nodes, by the way, which is becoming very interesting, but definitely the take-up rate is going to be determined after the evaluation or after some of those evaluations, considering the specific layers and applications that this tool is going to become a product tool of record for.

We definitely believe in the potential of this tool to cover a myriad of such layers and applications. We've started with a few. We see that growing, and I believe it will continue to grow as customers become more acquainted with the capabilities of this tool.

Vedrati Chaudhary (Analyst)

Got it. I guess a last one. Have you characterized recently your contribution from the chemical metrology products? You mentioned that that's benefiting from the growth in HBM. Can you give us a sense of what % of your revenue that lines up to?

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

You mean the chemical, How much is the chemical metrology from our business?

Vedrati Chaudhary (Analyst)

Yes.

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

When we acquired, this new technology, we said that it's, more or less around 5%, and we hope to grow, the annual contribution from this product line in the coming quarters to around 10%. This product line is actually growing its, portion of the revenues, and we, we want to, reach around 10% in the coming quarters.

Vedrati Chaudhary (Analyst)

Is that more HBM-driven?

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

It's not only HBM-driven, but HBM definitely propels the business specifically in the second half of this year. We see a lot of potential in the adoption of those tools in HBM, which is becoming a crucial component in driving some of the AI new business that is coming.

Vedrati Chaudhary (Analyst)

Right. That's helpful. Thank you.

Operator (participant)

This concludes our question and answer session. I would like to turn the conference back over to Gaby Waisman, Nova's President and CEO, for some closing remarks.

Gaby Waisman (President and CEO)

Thank you all for taking the time to join our call today. We look forward to meeting many of you in person in the upcoming investor conferences. Thank you very much.

Operator (participant)

This concludes the conference. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.