Atmel Q1 Reverses Loss

Atmel^® Corporation (Nasdaq: ATML), a leader in microcontroller and touch solutions, today announced financial results for its first quarter ended March 31, 2014.

Revenue for the first quarter of 2014 was $337.4 million, a 4% decrease compared to $353.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2013, and 2% higher compared to $329.1 million for the first quarter of 2013.

GAAP net income totaled $2.2 million or $0.01 per diluted share for the first quarter of 2014. This compares to $7.2 million or $0.02 per diluted share for the fourth quarter of 2013, and a loss of $(47.7) million or $(0.11) per diluted share for the first quarter of 2013.

GAAP gross margin was 41.5% in the first quarter of 2014, which included a $7.1 million loss related to the manufacturing facility damage and unplanned shutdown at our Colorado Springs plant that occurred in December 2013. This compares to 42.7% in the fourth quarter of 2013 and 39.9% in the first quarter of 2013.

Non-GAAP net income for the first quarter of 2014 totaled $29.1 million or $0.07 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $43.6 million or $0.10 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2013, and $13.6 million or $0.03 per diluted share for the year-ago quarter. Refer to the non-GAAP reconciliation table included in this release for more details.

Non-GAAP gross margin was 44.0% in the first quarter of 2014 compared to 43.7% in the immediately preceding quarter and 40.5% in the first quarter of 2013. Refer to the non-GAAP reconciliation table included in this release for more details.

"Our microcontroller business performed better than seasonal and continues to benefit from the investments in new product introductions including devices related to the Internet of Things which are driving increasing revenue as the number of microcontrollers connected to the Internet grows extensively," said Steve Laub, Atmel's President and Chief Executive Officer. "We are confident that our ongoing operational initiatives will significantly enhance our profitability throughout the remainder of the year."

Cash provided by operations totaled approximately $46.2 million for the first quarter of 2014, compared to $50.4 million for the fourth quarter of 2013 and cash used in operations of $12.0 million for the first quarter of 2013. Combined cash balances (cash and cash equivalents plus short-term investments) totaled $255.5 million at the end of the first quarter of 2014, a decrease of $23.6 million from the immediately preceding quarter resulting principally from the repurchase of $54.9 million in common stock during the first quarter.

Company Highlights

Introduced SmartConnect, a breakthrough new product family which integrates Atmel's ultra-low power microcontrollers and wireless connectivity solutions into turnkey solutions for the Internet of Things
Expanded family of low-power ARM Cortex M0+ microcontrollers with new products featuring Atmel's innovative event system, support for capacitive touch button, slider and wheel user interfaces, multiple serial communications modules, along with a full-speed USB interface, and additional pin and memory combinations
Introduced new low-cost Xplained mini development board based on Atmel 8-bit AVR® technology
Announced new evaluation kit with Newark element14 based on the ARM Cortex-A5 microprocessor
Launched new smart metering modem for power line communications market
Announced Atmel Studio 6.2, the latest version of the popular integrated development environment supporting both Atmel AVR and ARM based microcontrollers
Collaboration with Mentor Graphics on real-time operating system and tools to accelerate development of next generation IoT devices using Atmel's ARM Cortex M3 and M4 based microcontrollers
Extended product leadership in the large screen capacitive touch market with the launch of the maXTouch® 1066T and 1068T for 7" to 8.9" high performance tablets
Introduced new automotive-qualified maXTouch S Series controller family for touchscreens up to 14" in center consoles, navigation systems, radio interfaces and rear-seat entertainment systems
New smartphone introductions featuring maXTouch include LG's G Pro 2, G2 Mini, and L Series 3 L90, Verizon's Lucid 3, Xiaomi's RedRice 5.5", Gionee's Elife S5.5, and ZTE's Grand S Lite
Android and Windows 8 tablets featuring maXTouch include Samsung's Galaxy Tab 4 10.1", Galaxy Tab 12.2", Galaxy Note 12.2", and HP's EliteBook 1000 G2
Collaboration with Corning on developing ultra-thin, next-generation capacitive touchscreens using Gorilla Glass and featuring XSense®
Extended automotive in-vehicle networking leadership position with the launch of a new generation of low-power local interconnect networking (LIN) systems