Veeco Instruments Inc. (Nasdaq: VECO) announced its financial results for the second quarter ended June 30, 2012. Veeco reports its results on a U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) basis, and also provides results excluding certain items.

Second Quarter 2012 Results
John R. Peeler, Veeco’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Veeco continues to deliver solid results in a soft market. Second quarter revenue was $137 million, and adjusted EBITA and non-GAAP earnings per share were $20 million and $0.37, respectively, with gross margins of 45%. Veeco generated about $19 million in cash flow from operations, ending the quarter with $540 million in cash and short term investments.” Second quarter LED & Solar revenues were $87 million, including $75 million in MOCVD and $12 million in MBE. Data Storage revenues were $50 million.

“As anticipated, we experienced a challenging bookings environment in Q2, with total orders of approximately $103 million,” continued Mr. Peeler. “Across our markets, macro-economic concerns and weakness in TV, PC and consumer electronics sales are delaying customers’ capex purchases.” Veeco’s LED & Solar orders totaled $77 million, with MOCVD flat sequentially at $70 million and MBE declining 50% to $7 million. Data Storage bookings remained weak at $25 million. Veeco’s book-to-bill ratio was 0.75 to 1 and quarter-end backlog, after a $30 million adjustment, was $241 million.

Third Quarter 2012 Guidance & Outlook
Veeco’s third quarter 2012 revenue is currently forecasted to be between $120 million and $140 million. Earnings per share are currently forecasted to be between $0.12 to $0.29 on a GAAP basis, and $0.22 to $0.38 on a non-GAAP basis. Please refer to the attached financial table for more details.

Mr. Peeler commented, “We are executing on our plan to deliver solid profitability in a down revenue year while investing for future growth. At the mid-point of the year, we are tightening our 2012 revenue guidance to between $520 and $560 million. Assuming macro-economic conditions do not worsen, we currently anticipate a gradual order recovery in the second half of 2012.”

Mr. Peeler continued, “MOCVD orders appear to be bumping along the bottom and we have not yet seen a meaningful inflection in customer buying. However, utilization rates are up at key customer facilities in China, Taiwan and Korea, and we have seen a pick-up in quoting activity as customers plan future capacity expansions to ensure their position in LED lighting for 2013 and beyond. We continue to win in the market due to our low cost of ownership solutions that drive customers’ yield and productivity, most recently through our new TurboDisc® ‘M’ and ‘HP’ product suite.”