Veeco: Fiscal 3Q23 Financial Results

(in $ thousands)	3Q22	3Q23	9 mo. 22	9 mo. 23
Revenue	171.9	177.4	492.3	492.5
*Growth*		3%		0%
Net income (loss)	15.0	24.6	38.0	(52.0)

Veeco Instruments Inc. announced financial results for its third quarter ended September 30, 2023.

“Veeco reported another quarter of strong top and bottom-line results, both above the high-end of our guidance,” commented Bill Miller, CEO. “In addition, our strategic initiative to grow in the semiconductor market continues to gain traction. Veeco had several key business wins during the quarter, and we recently shipped our first Nanosecond Annealing system to a tier-1 logic customer for evaluation. We view this as an important milestone in expanding laser annealing into a broad range of new semiconductor applications.”

Guidance for 4FQ23:

Revenue in the range of $155 million to $175 million
GAAP diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.22 to $0.33
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share in the range of $0.35 to $0.45

Comments

Solid financial results were driven by continued strength in semiconductor business and sequential growth in storage business with iron beam equipment with customers using products to manufacture thin fill magnetic heads for HDDs.

Revenue to storage increased to $34 million 3FQ23 (in the range of $30 million expected at the end of former quarter), representing 19% of revenue as compared to 9% in 2FQ23. It's much better than in 2FQ23 with sales down 35% Q/Q and Y/Y. For the 9 months of FY23, it decreased by 2% from $71 to $69 million.

Demand for ion beam products is driven by cloud-based storage. HDD makers are manufacturing drives with an increasing number of magnetic heads, in addition to introducing advanced technologies requiring increased capital intensity. As reported, the HDD experienced contraction in exabyte shipments in 2022 and 2023 with uncertainty as to the timing of a recovery; however, recent analyst and industry forecasts predict nearline HDD exabyte shipments to grow at a 20% to 25% CAGR over the coming years. Despite these current industry challenges, the company continues to expect revenue growth in 2023.

Revenue from USA totaled 33% of revenue, an increase from 22% in 2FQ23 due to an increase in shipments to storage customers.

Storage is expected to grow Y/Y in FY23.

Historical revenue for storage (in $ million)

Period	Revenue
FY19	84.1
FY20	123.3
FY21	168.8
1FQ22	21.6
2FQ22	21.5
3FQ22	27.7
4FQ22	16.7
FY22	87.5
1FQ23	21.5
2FQ23	13.9
3FQ23	34.0