(By Balaseshan) Ultratech Inc. (NASDAQ: UTEK), a supplier of photolithography and laser thermal processing equipment, reported a 19.7% growth in quarterly earnings on higher systems sales and an increase in gross margins. Results exceeded Street's expectations.
Earnings for the fourth quarter were $13.37 million or $0.48 per share, up from $11.17 million or $0.42 per share last year.
Total net sales grew 17% to $65.59 million.
Analysts, on average, polled by Thomson Reuters had expected a profit of $0.47 per share on revenue of $62.58 million for the fourth quarter.
In the previous third quarter, the company posted earnings per share of $0.45 on net sales of $60.5 million.
Systems sales increased 12.4% to $53.37 million, while parts sales more thanb doubled to to $7.47 million. Service sales decreased 2.5%.
Gross margin for the fourth quarter rose to 56.7% from 53.0%.
Research, development and engineering expenses were 35% higher than last year, while selling, general, and administrative expenses rose 19.3%.
At December 31, 2012, Ultratech had $302.5 million in cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments. Working capital was $349.5 million and stockholders' equity was $13.85 per share based on 27.09 million total shares outstanding as of December 31, 2012.
UTEK is trading up 0.43% at $39.39 on Thursday. The stock has been trading between $25.07 and $39.99 for the past 52 weeks.