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| Statement |
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| Total revenues in the fourth quarter of 2023 were $134 million, exceeding the company guidance for the fourth quarter and growing 4% quarter-over-quarter |
| The encouraging results of the fourth quarter and fiscal year are indicative of our aptitude in addressing the myriad needs of process control in IC manufacturing |
| Nova’s performance remains steadfast, showcasing the strengths of our diversified and agile business model |
| We persist with our long-term strategic plans to solidify our position and seize new opportunities across customers, markets and technologies |
| Nova is uniquely positioned to accelerate its market adoption in hybrid bonding, as well as high-bandwidth memory and to capitalize on the transition to gate-all-around through our strong stance in advanced logic manufacturing |
| Looking forward, we witness encouraging trends across our key growth drivers that we expect to steer us to a path of growth and outperformance in 2024 |
| So last year we saw very strong demand for trailing edge, right, and then later in the year, demand for DRAM |
| In 2024, we expect to capitalize on the opportunities created by our enhanced market position, resume our growth trajectory and outperform the market |
| Naturally, we are planning to outperform these figures, but that changes, and I think, that it’s very difficult to say whether it’s going to be a lower number or around that number, but the bottomline is that we are very confident about our plan and we have the ability to outperform the WFE in that respect |
| Gross margins to increase to approximately 57% on a GAAP basis and approximately 59% on a non-GAAP basis at the higher end of the company’s non-GAAP target model |
| We believe this result is a testimony to the company’s ability to deliver high customer value through a combination of technology leadership and superior cost of ownership |
| Finally, our service business demonstrated consistent growth, reaching another annual revenue record |
| Year-over-year, the company was able to increase gross margins by approximately 1% in a declining industry environment |
| The surge in AI-related demand also drives the need for energy-efficient computing power and accelerates demand for advanced processing nodes and memory solutions from the network to the client side |
| Nova delivered a robust quarter, exceeding the top end of our guidance for revenue and profit, with GAAP and non-GAAP EPS reaching an all-time high, concluding the fiscal year on a higher note than initially expected |
| Nova’s achievements over the past quarter, coupled with our growth guidance for the first quarter of 2024, reflect our ability to cash in on the opportunities through a strategy of diversified growth |
| Our chemical metrology division delivered on the promise, growing to a record annual revenues in 2023, fueled by the increasing demand for metrology in packaging production lines |
| And I’m very proud to say, as I mentioned before, that we were first to market and that our optical metrology product suite, including the PRISM, as well as the integrated metrology, has been adopted in both those segments |
| In summary of my prepared remarks, I believe that our well-established fundamentals will help us increase exposure to additional opportunities in adjacent markets and processes, new customers and additional critical applications |
| Finally, our service division delivered record performance and increased the share of revenue from contracts by 24%, leveraging the expansion of our install base, which surpassed 5,400 tools and cementing its importance as one of our growth engines |
| VERAFLEX 4 offers higher productivity and improved metrology performance that brings true measurable value and expanded application space to our customers |
| Nova METRION is also making strides |
| The advent of gate-all-around and advanced memory drives the need for our unique materials metrology portfolio, resulting in increased customer traction for ELIPSON and METRION, and wider adoption of our VERAFLEX platform |
| This outcome reflects the effective and agile business model of the company, combining a unique and differentiated product portfolio embedding high customer value proposition with effective and prudent operational and financial management |
| Earnings per share in the fourth quarter exceeded the company guidance, reaching an all-time record high |
| Our performance this quarter was driven by the continued proliferation of materials metrology and chemical metrology solutions across both front-end and back-end markets, and the expanding adoption of optical metrology solutions among multiple DRAM customers |
| And this mix will allow us to have a more diversified revenue stream amidst the growing business outlook |
| The one thing that stands out is this sharp rebound in gross margins to 59% |
| This proficiency plays a key role in leveraging opportunities, as evidenced by the significant expansion of our customer base |
| Vivek Arya Thank you for taking my question and good to see the strong start to the year |
| Statement |
|---|
| Moving on to the annual results for calendar year 2023, revenues decreased by 9% year-over-year, reflecting the generally lower industry investment and capacity expansions in 2023 |
| Blended gross margin reduced in the fourth quarter and came in at 55% on a GAAP basis and 57% on a non-GAAP basis |
| This result is at the lower end of the company non-GAAP target model of 57% to 59% and is related to quarterly record revenues from chemical metrology, which gross margins are lower than the company average |
| And given the fact this portion of our business is working in the packaging arena with a little bit lower gross margins, it had some negative impact in Q4, but we do expect a rebound in Q1 |
| As expected, the effective tax rate in the fourth quarter reduced to approximately 7% below the company’s 14% to 15% model due to year-end tax adjustments and statute of limitations |
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