OCTOBER 16--Mercury Computer Systems Inc. (Chelmsford, MA; www.mc.com) reported results for the first quarter FY2003, ended September 30, 2002. Posting its 47th consecutive quarter of profitable company performance, in the first quarter: revenues were $39.4 million, operating income was $4.0 million, representing 10% of revenues, net income was $4.1 million, and earnings per share (diluted) were $0.19.
"We are generally pleased with our first-quarter results, achieving the high end of our expected performance range of $37 million to $40 million in revenues and $0.16 to $0.20 in EPS," said Jay Bertelli, president and CEO of Mercury Computer Systems. "Improving the consistency and predictability of the business is a major objective of the management team. It is encouraging to complete our second consecutive quarter of meeting or exceeding our business objectives, particularly in light of the very challenging economic environment."
In August, Mercury announced its next-generation fiberoptic interface cards, the RINOJ Series, for its RACE++ systems. The new high-performance I/O interface is specifically designed for streaming data applications where low latency and point-to-point speed are paramount, increasing by nearly five times the bandwidth previously available in the same physical space.
In September, Mercury announced its RACE++ Series VantageRTHCD (high compute density) system that provides the embedded computing industry with the most powerful and scalable PCI-based solutions yet available for digital signal and image processing. Scaling up to 256 GFLOPS, VantageRT HCD systems double the processing power previously available in a PCI-based system. Originally designed for medical imaging applications, VantageRT systems now meet application requirements of additional markets, including semiconductor wafer inspection, ground-based radar, and image exploitation.
The company expects second-quarter FY2003 revenues to range from $40 million to $43 million, representing an 11% year-over-year growth at the mid-point of the range. At these revenue levels, quarterly operating income should approximate 10% of revenues. Second-quarter earnings per share (diluted) should be in the range of $0.18 to $0.22, representing a 25% increase at the mid-point of the range over second quarter FY2002. The company continues to expect FY2003 revenues to be in the range of $170 million to $175 million, and earnings per share (diluted) to be in the $0.90 to $1.00 range.
Bertelli concluded, "As many of my counterparts within the technology industry have lamented, this continues to be an extremely tough economic climate to deal with. It is within this difficult market environment, however, that the strength of Mercury's business model is most apparent. We remain cautiously optimistic that the company is going to report very respectable top-line growth for the year. Our operating plan allows us to continue to invest in critical programs for the future while achieving a solid financial return."
