Ceradyne See Sharp Decline In Profits

Ceradyne, Inc. reports sales for the first quarter 2012 as $106.3 million, compared with $150.1 million in the first quarter 2011. Nett income for the first quarter 2012 decreased to $3.8 million,  compared to a net income of $23.6 million in 2011.

Gross profit margin was 27.4% of net sales in the first quarter 2012, compared to 38.7% in the same period in 2011.

New orders for the three months ended March 31, 2012 were $80.8 million, compared to $231.7 million for the same period last year.

Total backlog as of March 31, 2012 was $259.5 million, compared to total backlog at March 31, 2011 of $267.4 million.

Total cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments were $270.1 million at March 31, 2012 compared to $275.0 million at December 31, 2011.

Joel P. Moskowitz, Ceradyne president, chief executive officer and chairman of the board, commented: "Ceradyne's practice is not to provide quarterly guidance but to provide its best outlook for full-year performance. Although we had previously stated an expected soft first quarter, we are disappointed with the above reported results.

"The unusually sharp decline in solar photovoltaic crucible shipments to levels less than 20% of Q1 2011 was a substantial reason for the Q1 2012 results. This decline flies in the face of increasing global solar installation demand from 2010's 22 gigawatts to 2011's estimated 26.7 gigawatts. We believe the problem is the significant over capacity and excessive inventory build by our customers, the Chinese solar module manufacturers. As our customers 'work off' their inventory of silicon wafers and require our ceramic crucibles for new silicon ingot melting, we anticipate very gradual improvement of this market later in 2012.

"Furthermore, the final government approval (after successful First Article Testing) for shipping our large ESAPI body armor sustainment award was not received until very late in March, pushing scheduled ESAPI shipments into Q2.

"We believe our financial performance will improve for the balance of 2012 beginning in Q2."

Mr. Moskowitz further stated: "In February this year, we issued our initial guidance for 2012 of sales ranging from $590 million to $625 million with earnings of $2.30 to $2.65 per fully diluted share. We now feel that the weaker than expected Q1 and the uncertainty of the solar market recovery may result in reduced operating performance and, thus, we are revising the above guidance to a sales range of $540 million to $565 million and fully diluted earnings per share of $1.40 to $1.65. This guidance assumes a very gradual improvement in the solar market later this year, a 'catch up' on our delayed Q1 ESAPI shipments, but reduced helmet revenues due to the delays in receiving the initial low rate production orders."

Mr. Moskowitz continued: "We are continuing to focus on our longer term 'Ceradyne $1 Billion' revenue strategy. Recent positive events in our early stage product introduction should be noted. The Ceradyne/ESK Petro Ceram® ceramic sand screens, which are in place since 2010, continue to perform well above expectations and recent quoting activities from potential new accounts in South America and Europe give us further confidence as to our future in the oil and gas business. Also, in the energy sector, Ceradyne Boron Products continues to establish relationships and partnering opportunities for nuclear reactor related materials for China, as well as with large nuclear reactor companies such as Westinghouse/Toshiba and France's Areva.

"Furthermore, we are currently evaluating several acquisition opportunities in Europe and the U.S.A. Our balance sheet puts us in a strong negotiating position as we look at potential acquisitions. Additionally, our cash position is expected to allow us to increase shareholder value through quarterly dividends, opportunistic share buybacks, as well as expanding our capacity internally with targeted capital expenditures."