Global supplier of semiconductor test and reliability qualification equipment Aehr Test Systems (AEHR:NASDAQ), this week announced financial results for Q1/22 ended August 31, 2021. The company further reported that it secured record bookings in Q1/22 and that it is raising its full-year 2022 revenue guidance by approximately 80% to at least $50 million due to strength of semiconductor test and burn-in sales for electric vehicles (EVs).
Aehr Test Systems advised that in Q1/22 Net sales increased by 181% to $5.646 million, compared to $2.012 million in Q1/21.
The company stated that it posted GAAP net income of $696,000, or $0.03 per diluted share in Q1/22, versus GAAP net income of $107,000, or $0.00 per diluted share in Q1/21. The firm advised that Q1/22 included the adjustments for $1.7 million in loan forgiveness from the Paycheck Protection Program and that the Q1/21 results included an extraordinary gain of $2.4 million which was related to the closure of Aehr's Japan subsidiary in Q1/21.
"Deloitte estimates that the total electric vehicle industry will reach 31.1 million units annually by 2030."
The firm indicated that its backlog as of August 31, 2021 was $16.6 million, which was up from $1.6 million as of the end of Q4/21. The company added that its "effective backlog" is now over $36 million.
The company's President and CEO Gayn Erickson commented, "We are off to a strong start for FY/22, finishing Q1/22 with record bookings for a single quarter of $20.7 million. Since the end of the quarter, we have announced an additional $19.4 million in bookings, bringing our total bookings for the fiscal year to over $40 million as of today's date…Our strong bookings include several sizable orders received over the past few months from our lead silicon carbide test and burn-in customer for our FOX-XP™ systems and WaferPak™ Contactors to support testing of silicon carbide power devices for electric vehicles."
CEO Erickson explained that it added Aehr is working closely with a Fortune 500 major automotive semiconductor supplier and that "each of these silicon carbide-focused FOX-XP systems is configured to test eighteen silicon carbide wafers in parallel in the footprint of a typical single wafer test solution, while contacting and testing 100% of the devices in parallel on each wafer." Incorporating input from its supplier partner, the firm believes it will continue to receive increases in the number of orders for FOX systems and WaferPaks over the next several years due to high demand for semiconductor test and burn-in demand for EVs.
"We believe silicon carbide power semiconductors have emerged as the preferred technology for the electric power conversion and control of the electric engines in what are called traction inverters as well as the on-board electric vehicle battery chargers," Erickson added.
"The energy infrastructure market also offers significant potential for uses in charging stations, wind farms and solar panels."
The report listed that Yole Research forecasts that the silicon carbide power semiconductor device market is expected to grow 36% annually to $4.5 billion in 2026 and a report from Deloitte estimates that the total electric vehicle industry will reach 31.1 million units annually by 2030.
In addition to increased demand for devices used in EVs, the energy infrastructure market also offers significant potential for uses in charging stations, wind farms and solar panels for individual homes and in agriculture and other business and industrial uses.
The company indicated that it is also seeing opportunities for helping customers in the silicon photonics market looking to increase capacity. The firm advised that "silicon photonics devices address the 5G and data center infrastructure industry as well as several other key markets."
The company provided some forward guidance and stated that for FY/22 it is raising its prior guidance for revenues by about 80% from $28 million to at least $50 million, which it pointed out represents a greater than 200% increase over the $16.6 million in revenue posted during FY/21. The firm advised that it at these higher anticipated revenue levels it expects to achieve profitability in FY/22 under its current operating model.
Aehr Test Systems is based in Freemont, Calif. and describes it business as "a worldwide provider of test systems for burning-in and testing logic, optical and memory integrated circuits and has installed over 2,500 systems worldwide." The transition to higher use of computerized circuitry in vehicles of all type has served to increase the need for quality, reliability and mobility in the automotive industry. The company stated that "Mobility integrated circuit markets are driving additional test requirements, incremental capacity needs and new opportunities for Aehr Test products in package, wafer level and singulated die/module level tests."
Aehr Test Systems started Friday with a market cap of around $285.0 million with approximately 24.2 million shares outstanding and a short interest of about 5.7%. AEHR shares opened almost 19% higher today at $14.00 (+$2.22, +18.85%) over Thursday's $11.78 closing price and reached a new 52-week high price in the morning of $16.75. The stock traded between $13.54 to $16.75 per share and closed at $15.82 (+$4.04, +34.30%).
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