Cohu Reports Fourth Quarter 2024 Results

• Full year 2024 revenue of $401.8 million
• Full year 2024 gross margin of 44.9%; non-GAAP gross margin of 45.0%
• Fourth quarter revenue $94.1 million, approximately 62% recurring
• Fourth quarter gross margin of 41.9% impacted by an inventory reserve charge of $2.1 million; non-GAAP gross margin of 41.8%
• Acquired Tignis, Inc. a provider of artificial intelligence process control and analytics software

Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU), a global supplier of equipment and services optimizing semiconductor manufacturing yield and productivity, today reported fiscal 2024 fourth quarter net sales of $94.1 million and GAAP loss of $21.4 million or $0.46 per share. Net sales for full year 2024 were $401.8 million with GAAP loss of $69.8 million or $1.49 per share.

The Company also reported non-GAAP results, with fourth quarter 2024 loss of $7.1 million or $0.15 per share and loss of $10.9 million or $0.23 per share for full year 2024.

Total cash and investments at the end of fourth quarter 2024 were $262.1 million. Cohu did not repurchase any shares of its common stock during fourth quarter 2024.

"Systems revenue increased sequentially in Computing, Industrial and Consumer segments in a seasonally slow period" said Cohu President and CEO Luis Müller. "We are expanding our analytics offering with Tignis, creating the opportunity to potentially grow software revenue at an annual rate of 50% or more over the next three years as the industry seeks solutions to optimize yield and productivity."

Cohu expects first quarter 2025 sales to be in a range of $97 million +/- $7 million.

Conference Call Information:

The Company will host a live conference call and webcast with slides to discuss fourth quarter 2024 results at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time/4:30 p.m. Eastern Time on February 13, 2025. Interested parties may listen live via webcast on Cohu's investor relations website at https://edge.media-server.com/mmc/p/qwe68cs8

To participate via telephone and join the call live, please register in advance at https://register.vevent.com/register/BI703c7d889b924f599887f8386232fc79 to receive the dial-in number along with a unique PIN number that can be used to access the call.

About Cohu:

Cohu (NASDAQ:COHU) is a global technology leader supplying test, automation, inspection and metrology products and services to the semiconductor industry. Cohu's differentiated and broad product portfolio enables optimized yield and productivity, accelerating customers' manufacturing time-to-market. Additional information can be found at www.cohu.com.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information:

Included within this press release and accompanying materials are non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP Gross Margin/Profit, Income and Income (adjusted earnings) per share, Operating Income, Operating Expense, effective tax rate, net cash per share and Adjusted EBITDA that supplement the Company's Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations prepared under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These non-GAAP financial measures adjust the Company's actual results prepared under GAAP to exclude charges and the related income tax effect for: share-based compensation, the amortization of purchased intangible assets, restructuring costs, manufacturing transition and severance costs, acquisition-related costs and associated professional fees, impairments, inventory step-up, reduction of indemnification receivable, depreciation of purchase accounting adjustments to property, plant and equipment, amortization of cloud-based software implementation costs (Adjusted EBITDA only) and loss on extinguishment of debt (Adjusted EBITDA only). Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP amounts for the periods presented herein are provided in schedules accompanying this release and should be considered together with the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations. With respect to any forward-looking non-GAAP figures, we are unable to provide without unreasonable efforts, at this time, a GAAP to non-GAAP reconciliation of any forward-looking figures due to their inherent uncertainty.

These non-GAAP measures are not meant as a substitute for GAAP, but are included solely for informational and comparative purposes. The Company's management believes that this information can assist investors in evaluating the Company's operational trends, financial performance, and cash generating capacity. Management uses non-GAAP measures for a variety of reasons, including to make operational decisions, to determine executive compensation in part, to forecast future operational results, and for comparison to our annual operating plan. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for (or superior to) corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures.

Forward Looking Statements:

Certain statements contained in this release and accompanying materials may be considered forward-looking statements within the meaning of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements regarding effects of near-term growth in revenue in certain vertical markets and corresponding financial impacts; expectations related to our FY2025 outlook, including quarterly projections; success or contribution of M&A transactions; new market entries, product introductions or customer adoptions and corresponding performance metrics or financial impacts; product market projected growth and market sizes and related revenue opportunities for the semiconductor process control market; and any other statements that are predictive in nature and depend upon or refer to future events or conditions; and/or include words such as "may," "will," "should," "would," "expect," "anticipate," "plan," "likely," "believe," "estimate," "project," "intend;" and/or other similar expressions among others. Statements that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on current beliefs and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties and are not guarantees of future performance. Any third-party industry analyst forecasts quoted are for reference only and Cohu does not adopt or affirm any such forecasts.

Actual results and future business conditions could differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statement as a result of various factors, including, without limitation: new product investments and product enhancements which may not be commercially successful; the semiconductor industry is seasonal, cyclical, volatile and unpredictable; recent erosion in mobile, automotive and industrial market sales; our ability to manage and deliver high quality products and services; failure of sole source contract manufacturer or our ability to manage third-party raw material, component and/or service providers; ongoing inflationary pressures on material and operational costs coupled with rising interest rates; economic recession; the semiconductor industry is intensely competitive, subject to rapid technological changes, and experiences consolidation of key customers for semiconductor test equipment; a limited number of customers account for a substantial percentage of net sales; significant exports to foreign countries with economic and political instability and competition from a number of Asia-based manufacturers; our relationships with customers may deteriorate; loss of key personnel; risks of using artificial intelligence within Cohu's product developments and business; reliance on foreign locations and geopolitical instability in such locations critical to Cohu and its customers; natural disasters, war and climate-related changes, including related economic impacts; levels of debt; access to sufficient capital on reasonable or favorable terms; foreign operations and related currency fluctuations; required or desired accounting charges and the cost or effectiveness of accounting controls; instability of financial institutions where we maintain cash deposits and potential loss of uninsured cash deposits; significant goodwill and other intangibles as percentage of our total assets; increasingly restrictive trade and export regulations impacting our ability to sell products, specifically within China; risks associated with acquisitions, investments and divestitures such as integration and synergies; constraints related to corporate governance structures; share repurchases and related impacts; financial or operating results that are below forecast or credit rating changes impacting our stock price or financing ability; law/regulatory changes and including environmental or tax law changes; significant volatility in our stock price; the risk of cybersecurity breaches; enforcing or defending intellectual property claims or other litigation.

These and other risks and uncertainties are discussed more fully in Cohu's filings with the SEC, including our most recent Form 10-K and Form 10-Q, and the other filings made by Cohu with the SEC from time to time, which are available via the SEC's website at www.sec.gov. Except as required by applicable law, Cohu does not undertake any obligation to revise or update any forward-looking statement, or to make any other forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

For press releases and other information of interest to investors, please visit Cohu's website at www.cohu.com.

Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company's operating performance. Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing the Company's operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods and these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company's financial performance using some of the same measures as management. Management views share-based compensation as an expense that is unrelated to the Company's operational performance as it does not require cash payments and can vary in amount from period to period and the elimination of amortization charges provides better comparability of pre- and post-acquisition operating results and to results of businesses utilizing internally developed intangible assets. Management initiated certain restructuring and manufacturing transition activities including employee headcount reductions and other organizational changes to align our business strategies in light of our acquisitions. Restructuring and manufacturing transition costs have been excluded because such expense is not used by Management to assess the core profitability of Cohu's business operations. Impairment charges have been excluded as these amounts are infrequent and are unrelated to the operational performance of Cohu. PP&E and inventory step-up costs have been excluded by management as they are unrelated to the core operating activities of the Company. Acquisition costs have been excluded by management as they are unrelated to the core operating activities of the Company and the frequency and variability in the nature of the charges can vary significantly from period to period. Management believes the reduction of an uncertain tax position liability and related indemnification receivable is better reflected within income tax expense rather than a charge to SG&A and credit to the income tax provision. Excluding this data provides investors with a basis to compare Cohu's performance against the performance of other companies without this variability. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for (or superior to) corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures above may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and investors should be careful when comparing our non-GAAP financial measures to those of other companies.

Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company's operating performance. Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing the Company's operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods and these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company's financial performance using some of the same measures as management. Management views share-based compensation as an expense that is unrelated to the Company's operational performance as it does not require cash payments and can vary in amount from period to period and the elimination of amortization charges provides better comparability of pre- and post-acquisition operating results and to results of businesses utilizing internally developed intangible assets. Management initiated certain restructuring and manufacturing transition activities including employee headcount reductions and other organizational changes to align our business strategies in light of our acquisitions. Restructuring and manufacturing transition costs have been excluded because such expense is not used by Management to assess the core profitability of Cohu's business operations. Impairment charges have been excluded as these amounts are infrequent and are unrelated to the operational performance of Cohu. PP&E and inventory step-up costs have been excluded by management as they are unrelated to the core operating activities of the Company. Acquisition costs have been excluded by management as they are unrelated to the core operating activities of the Company and the frequency and variability in the nature of the charges can vary significantly from period to period. Management believes the reduction of an uncertain tax position liability and related indemnification receivable is better reflected within income tax expense rather than a charge to SG&A and credit to the income tax provision. Excluding this data provides investors with a basis to compare Cohu's performance against the performance of other companies without this variability. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for (or superior to) corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures above may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and investors should be careful when comparing our non-GAAP financial measures to those of other companies.

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Cohu, Inc.

Jeffrey D. Jones - Investor Relations

858-848-8106