Himax has reported net revenues of US$175.5 million for the first quarter of 2010, representing a 39.7% increase from US$125.7 million in the first quarter of 2009, and a 1.8% decrease from US$178.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.
Gross margin was 19.8% in the first quarter of 2010, down 110 basis points year on year, and down 20 basis points sequentially. Net income attributable to Himax stockholders for the first quarter of 2010 was US$9.1 million or US$0.05 per diluted ADS, up from US$4.4 million or US$0.02 per diluted ADS in the first quarter of 2009.
Excluding share-based compensation and acquisition-related charges, non-GAAP operating income for the first quarter of 2010 was US$12.5 million, up from US$7.7 million in the same period last year, and down from US$15.4 million in the previous quarter.
The small- and medium-sized applications accounted for 26.4% of total revenues for the first quarter, as compared to 23% for the same period last year, and 21.1% in the previous quarter, said company president and CEO Jordan Wu.
The strong sequential growth was driven by the company's share gain in the global handset display driver market, Wu added.
"For our LCoS pico-projector line, our 0.28-inch embedded solution for handset applications has been well-received by a number of optical engine makers and end customers, especially in the Chinese market," Wu revealed.
Wu continued, "Revenues from our analog IC lines grew more than 50% sequentially, primary due to the ramp of our WLED drivers. In addition to small-and-medium panels and notebooks, we also started to ship WLED drivers for TV applications, where multiple LED drivers are required per panel."
"We are seeing capacity tightness throughout the entire driver IC supply chain. This has led to severe shortage in driver IC across the board. The unfulfilled demands are at levels far above what we have experienced. The shortage has resulted in an increase in our cost of revenues and we are raising our selling prices to offset such impacts," Wu said.
The capacity tightness may have become a mid- to long-term trend. This is because, while the TFT LCD industry is aggressively expanding capacity again after several quarters of slowing down, the driver IC industry's overall capacity growth now appears limited.
For the second quarter 2010 guidance, Himax expects revenues to grow by 10% to 15% and gross margin to remain flat. Second quarter 2010 GAAP earnings per ADS is expected to be in the range of US$0.06-0.08.
Regarding the Taiwan listing plan, Wu commented, "The application is still under review by the authorities; however, we recently started to assess a potential alternative, which is to have a secondary listing in Taiwan by way of Taiwan depository receipts (TDRs)."