Inspection unit helps Tencor top out in 4Q

Electronic News, Feb 13, 1995

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CALIF.--Tencor Instruments reported 4Q94 net rocketed to $10.3 million from $2.1 million in 4Q93. Revenues climbed 92.5 percent to $58.8 million from $30.5 million.

For the year ended Dec. 31, 1994, net shot up to $24.3 million from $7.2 million last year. Revenues jumped to $182.3 million from $107.9 million.

Excluding a one-time charge of $2.3 million, or 10 cents per share, linked to the Prometrix acquisition, yearly earnings per share (EPS) jumped to $1.89 from 61 cents a year ago.

For 4Q94, EPS reached 71 cents versus 17 cents in 4Q93. This occurred despite a 20 percent gain in weighted average shares outstanding, which resulted in part from a stock offering of 1,200,000 shares completed in September 1994.

All figures were tallied on a fully combined company basis, reflecting the acquisition of Prometrix Corp. in February 1994.

Gross profit margins for the quarter reached 62 percent versus 56 percent in the same quarter last year, due primarily to a shift in product mix toward higher-end products.

"Our business during the quarter continued to be driven by rapid growth in the wafer inspection division, where sales grew 158 percent, compared with the same quarter in 1993. Our order rate also continued to be strong, particularly for our advanced systems for patterned wafer inspection," said CEO Jon D. Tompkins.

"Throughout 1994 we saw an increase in multiple system orders, which included systems from across all product lines. This trend fits well with our long-term strategy to provide our customers with a single source for a broad range of measurement systems," he added.

Sales were especially strong in the Pacific Rim during the year, particularly in Korea, where sales rose to 13 percent of total 1994 revenues, up from 6.9 percent the previous year; also in Japan, where sales reached 22.8 percent of revenues compared with 16.2 percent in 1993. The increase in Korean sales was driven by a number of large multiple system orders, including $3 million from Hyundai and $6 million from Goldstar.