Speaker #1: I'm Pete Eames, NVE's president and CEO, with me on the call is Daniel Nelson, our principal financial officer. This call is being webcast live on YouTube and Google Meet, and being recorded.
Speaker #1: Replay is available through our website, nve.com, and our YouTube channel, youtube.com/nveCorporation. All participants are currently in a listen-only mode. After our presentation, there will be a Q&A session.
Speaker #1: After my opening comments, Daniel Nelson will present our financial results, then I'll cover the business. I'll also cover the recent leadership transition and board expansion, and then we'll open the call to questions.
Speaker #1: We issued our press release with summary financial results and filed our quarterly report on Form 10-Q in the past hour, following the close of market.
Speaker #1: Links to the press release and 10-Q are available through our website, the SEC's website, and X, formerly known as Twitter. Please refer to the Safe Harbor statement on your screen.
Speaker #1: Comments we may make that relate to future plans, events, financial results, or performance are forward-looking statements that are subject to certain risks and uncertainties, including: among others, such factors as: our reliance on several large customers for a significant percentage of revenue; uncertainties related to the economic environments and the industries we serve; uncertainties related to future sales and revenues; as well as risk factors listed from time to time in our filings with the SEC, including: our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended March 31, 2026; actual results could differ materially from the information provided; and we undertake no obligation to update forward-looking statements we may make.
Speaker #1: We're pleased to report solid revenue and earnings for the quarter, driven by a 67% increase in distributor sales. Net margins increased to 54% due to decrease in our effective tax rate.
Speaker #1: Daniel Nelson will cover the details of the financials. Daniel?
Speaker #2: Thanks, Pete. Total revenue for the quarter decreased 8% compared to the prior-year quarter. The decrease was due to a 9% decrease in product sales partially offset by a 25% increase in contract R&D revenue.
Speaker #2: The decrease in product sales was due to a short-term inventory adjustment at one of our large medical device customers. And a 95% decrease in defense product sales.
Speaker #2: Inventory adjustments by medical device customers can create short-term order volatility for us. Defense product sales can be highly variable because of government procurement cycles.
Speaker #2: Looking forward, we expect medical device and defense sales to recover in the current quarter, and we expect revenues in the second half of the fiscal year to be consistent with the first half.
Speaker #2: Aside from the short-term order flow adjustments in medical, we saw a 67% increase in distributor sales due to strengthening industry conditions and strong demand for our new and legacy commercial products.
Speaker #2: The increase in contract R&D revenue in the past quarter was due to progress on existing contracts. Total operating expenses increased 4% for the second quarter of fiscal 2027, compared to the second quarter of fiscal 2026, due to a 44% increase in selling general and administrative expense partially offset by a 17% decrease in R&D expense.
Speaker #2: The decrease in R&D was due to staffing redeployment. The increase in SG&A was due to higher director option grant date stock prices. Our effective tax rate—which is the provision for income taxes as a percentage of income before taxes—decreased to 14% from 20% in the prior-year quarter.
Speaker #2: Primarily due to favorable tax law changes. The decrease is consistent with our previous estimates, and we expect our effective tax rate to be between 14% and 16% for at least the remainder of the fiscal year.
Speaker #2: Net income for the second quarter of fiscal 2027 was 3.17 million, or 65 cents per diluted share, compared to 3.31 million, or 68 cents per share in the prior-year quarter.
Speaker #2: Our profitability metrics for the quarter remain strong. In addition to the 54% net margin, Pete mentioned previously, gross margin was 78%. Operating margin was 55%, and pre-tax margin was 63%.
Speaker #2: For the first 6 months of fiscal 2027, total revenue was 16.9 million, up 36% over the same period in fiscal 2026. The increase in revenue was due to strong sales across our product portfolio, as well as increases in both direct and distributor sales.
Speaker #2: Net income was 9.57 million, or $1.97 per diluted share for the first 2 quarters of fiscal 2027. Turning to cash flow items: cash flows from operations were 11.1 million for the first 6 months of fiscal 2027, compared to 8 million for the first 6 months of fiscal 2026.
Speaker #2: Cash plus marketable securities increased from 43.5 million to 44.4 million, as operating cash flow more than covered our dividends and purchases of fixed assets for the first half of the fiscal year.
Speaker #2: Receivables decreased 12% due to timing of customers' payments. Inventories decreased 3% due to increased product sales in the first half of the fiscal year.
Speaker #2: And we paid our $1 per share quarterly dividend the past quarter, and declared another dividend to be paid at the end of November. Now I'll turn a call back over to Pete?
Speaker #1: Thanks, Daniel. Our R&D strategy is to transition the world's best technology into the world's best products for high-value markets such as advanced automation and robotics, data centers, and highly automated fourth-wave factories using the artificial intelligence of things.
Speaker #1: This quarter we announced 2 new products: the first is a new design in our series of wafer-level chip-scale sensors, the new sensor provides analog information such as position from the motion or changes of external magnetic fields.
Speaker #1: These sensors are the smallest products we've ever made at NVE, measuring just 0.55 millimeters square. Combined with a small size is an extremely high sensitivity, this combination enables unmatched spatial sensitivity for precision motion applications, including medical devices, industrial automation, and robotics.
Speaker #1: We are promoting our new products on YouTube with videos showing the sensor detecting tiny motions of minute magnets. And you can view these videos on our website.
Speaker #1: We also released a family of gear sensors in the past quarter for precise motion, speed, and position sensing in industrial automation and robotics. These sensors are biased by a small magnet and detect the motion of gear teeth as they pass the sensor.
Speaker #1: Seven different versions of these sensors match common gear sizes in a newly available sensor form factor. The new sensors provide large, low-distortion signals, allowing more precise control and linear and rotational encoders, and closed-loop servo systems that are ubiquitous in factory automation and robotics, we have videos of these new products on our website and YouTube channel showing the incredible small size, high precision, and versatility of our new sensors.
Speaker #1: In addition to these new product launches, we're developing several new products, including even more precise sensors for robotics, and more power-efficient isolators and power conversion.
Speaker #1: Next, I'll cover our recent leadership transition and board expansion. I was elected director and appointed president and CEO at our annual shareholders meeting in August.
Speaker #1: Former CEO Dan Baker replaced Terry Glarner as chairman. We also elected a new director, Carolyn Valentine, expanding the board from 5 to 7 directors.
Speaker #1: The larger board strengthens our governance. I'm honored to lead NVE as CEO. We have a talented team, strong customer relationships, and many exciting opportunities ahead.
Speaker #1: I look forward to building on our momentum to create long-term value for our shareholders through profitable growth and expansion in attractive markets. We see significant opportunities in robotics, power conversion, and the artificial intelligence of things.
Speaker #1: Now we'd like to open the call for questions via Google Meet. To ask a question from Google Meet, click "Raise my hand" icon at the bottom of the screen, and unmute yourself to speak.
Speaker #1: From a phone, press star 6 to unmute. Please state your name and affiliation before your question, and to prevent background noise, please mute your line after asking your question.
Speaker #3: I'd love if you can give some more color on the rescheduled orders here. You guys attribute the decline to customer rescheduling orders. Were those pushed out into H2 and not necessarily into next fiscal year?
Speaker #3: Were they roughly the size of the shortfall or smaller?
Speaker #1: Order variability was primarily from orders being pulled in to quarter 1 from quarter 2. So we don't see any further disruptions looking forward. And as Daniel said in the prepared remarks, it's a relatively short-term effect.
Speaker #3: Okay. And following up there, it seems just like from your AR, shipments look weighted toward September. Would you say that September was the strongest month of the quarter, and do you guys have any other commentary around H2's velocity versus H1?
Speaker #2: Yeah. So in response to that question, we did see revenue increase towards the end of the September quarter. And yes, we did see increase in September.
Speaker #2: Compared to the immediate month, which was August.
Speaker #3: Would you guys give some color around the growth you're seeing in the automation market, and then as well as the power conversion markets versus your core medical sales?
Speaker #3: In H1, and could you also give commentary about how that's looking into H2?
Speaker #1: We're definitely seeing strong growth in both power conversion and in robotics applications. We highlighted some important products in the prepared remarks especially focused on automation and new sensors that go into robotics applications.
Speaker #1: So the spatial sensitivity that we're providing with those devices is unmatched in the industry. And we're optimistic partly because of that. We also have high level of inventory, and we think the market is timed right for robotics applications and power conversion applications.
Speaker #1: So it's a driving overall optimism on our part.
Speaker #3: Would you give some color on maybe any design wins or design ins that you have that could be driving the growth through H2 and even into the next fiscal year?
Speaker #1: For the wafer-level chip-scale parts, that we talked about in the prepared remarks and on the previous investor calls as well, we do have some important small design wins for those products.
Speaker #1: So it's still early there, but I think the feedback from the industry has been very positive. And we're expecting a growth long-term from those parts and those technologies in general.
Speaker #3: When you say small design wins, is that small in terms of revenue, or is that can you maybe describe the size of the customers?
Speaker #1: It's a mix. So when we say small design wins, it's usually in markets that start small with samples and then later move into low-thousand-type quantity purchases while they work out system-level integration challenges.
Speaker #1: That can take some time, sometimes it takes a couple quarters, sometimes less, for those to then translate into larger orders that factors of 10, larger than the sample orders I described.
Speaker #1: So it does take some time to ramp up, and I would say that we're certainly within that cycle with several products. And that's why we're that's why we're optimistic.
Speaker #3: Okay. So those cost when you say small, it's simply given that it's more sampling and prototyping volumes? Would you give any color on customer size, like who these customers are?
Speaker #3: Is there any directional understanding of on the robotics side, are these top 5 OEMs? On the maybe factory arms or humanoid side? Do you have any additional color you can give on the size of these potential customers?
Speaker #1: Yeah. It's an unusual for us to comment specifically on customers, but I can say that there's a variety of customers interested in the technology.
Speaker #1: It spans. Customers in the robotics space, of course, but also spanning beyond that. And we like the potential for very high volumes there.
Speaker #3: On the power conversion side, on the 800-volt you've discussed that step-ups in voltage kind of raise your dollar content. And many of the PSUs if you look, you'd see NVEs parts to some degree.
Speaker #3: Would you be able to give more color on the power conversion side on the progress as data centers are transitioning to 800-volt and you're progress and with your customers there?
Speaker #1: Well, happy to. And happy to highlight the advantages that NVE provides as the application voltages continue to increase. We provide the highest isolation in the industry, and as voltages increase in power supplies and power conversion applications, that continues to favor NVEs products and we're continually optimistic for that reason.
Speaker #1: So we see the trends favoring NVEs technology, and we're expecting continued growth there as well.
Speaker #2: Hi, Pete. This is Pete Previtt calling from Florida. Great job on your continued success there. My question is this. Are NVE sensors applicable to gears for humanoid robots?
Speaker #1: Definitely. The new gear sensors that I talked about on the call are especially intended towards robotics, both industrial and humanoid robotics. They're intended for advanced encoders and servo systems and those are exactly what are being used in humanoid robotics and elsewhere.
Speaker #1: So we think that the timing of that introduction is perfect with the growth in the humanoid robotics industry and we're seeing some strong interest there already.
Speaker #1: So we're.
Speaker #2: Great. Thank you very much. Appreciate it.
Speaker #1: Thanks, Pete. This is Ittai Eden from Principal. Hi, Ittai.
Speaker #4: I just wanted to ask, just so I heard you right, you basically said that the second half in terms of top line should be similar to the first half of the year.
Speaker #4: Is that correct?
Speaker #1: That's correct. That's what we said in the prepared remarks. We do see the order disruptions as a temporary situation, and we expect to return to growth in the next quarter.
Speaker #4: How do these new products and the secular growth market fit into those expectations, if you will? Is this are you guys forecasting a back half based on existing orders, or is there still orders to go get from these new products?
Speaker #4: And new use cases?
Speaker #1: Yeah. We're definitely seeing more orders come in. And as Daniel said in the prepared remarks, the growth is across our product portfolio, including distributors and direct sales and legacy products and also our new products.
Speaker #4: What would be upside to those internal expectations of a similar second half? What are some things you think could drive upside there?
Speaker #1: Well, generally, I think the market we're seeing is continuing to accelerate. We just got Abbott's numbers this morning, for example, and they project a 10% year-over-year increase.
Speaker #1: So short-term, we're not seeing any further disruptions in our current sales, and I think long-term, we have impressive products and important customers. And long-term growth.
Speaker #4: Got it. Thank you. And is there any color you can give on backlog or backlog coverage or any metrics you could share there that would be helpful?
Speaker #1: Yeah. We typically don't track backlog. I'd say we typically have a strong order flow, and we have plenty of inventory to satisfy those expected orders.
Speaker #1: And I think we're in good shape there.
Speaker #4: Can you speak to the capacity expansion and how that's going? I recall last quarter you mentioned it was mostly R&D for the time being.
Speaker #4: Has that moved into volume production?
Speaker #1: Yeah. There certainly has been some shift towards production capacity with the additional resources. From the expansion, I'd say the shift is relatively small now, but as I mentioned previously, there are some important design wins in our wafer-level chip-scale products and that capacity is primarily from what we've added from the expansion.
Speaker #1: So that's good news, and we'll continue to transition that capacity in that direction as the order flows increase here.
Speaker #3: I remember last quarter you mentioned that there was a bunch of new customers that start out small. I was just wondering if there was any growth in those new customers.
Speaker #1: Yeah. In general, I think the trends are definitely moving in the right direction. And as I described earlier, it's common for some of those new customers to start with a relatively small orders and grow over time.
Speaker #1: And we're definitely seeing that. And specifically, in the products that I mentioned, in the prepared remarks and in the wafer-level chip-scale products, we're seeing a continual increase in the interest and increases in order sizes.
Speaker #1: So it's definitely moving in the right direction.
Speaker #3: Got it. And these new customers are mostly in the new industries you were talking about, like robotics.
Speaker #1: Yeah. Robotics and automation and factory automation and humanoid robotics are two important areas where we're seeing that interest.
Speaker #3: Hi. I'm a relatively new independent investor, and I'm just congratulations on your new role and curious to know, in terms of the long-term horizon of the company over the next two to three years, what is your sort of vision now for the company?
Speaker #3: Is it going to defer is it going to be a little bit different from what your predecessor was doing? And how should investors think about the company going forward?
Speaker #1: Yeah. I would say the main focus for me is taking advantage of the recent expansion and leveraging that towards new products and new products and fast-growing markets.
Speaker #1: So it's a continuation of our previous efforts and my efforts on the expansion in general. But I'd say it's a continuation in the trajectory that was started under Dan's leadership and.
Speaker #3: Sounds good. And then on the medical device portion of the revenue, I know that sort of strong point percentage of that is coming from Abbott right now.
Speaker #3: Is there a focus on sort of diversifying that out, or how do you think about that?
Speaker #1: We definitely work to expand our products throughout the medical device industry. So cardiac arrhythm management and Abbott obviously is an important customer of ours, but we see growth in other areas as well.
Speaker #1: Other implantable medical devices such as neurostimulators are important. Growth areas for NVEs products as well. And it's because we have the advantages of small size and low power that makes us a perfect technology for implantable medical devices.
Speaker #3: Would you say that your humanoid robotics customers are planning to be entering production volumes in 2027 or even in 2026 as the tail end of this year?
Speaker #1: You know, it's hard to say. We talked to our robotics customers regularly and there is definitely a forecast for growth there. It's hard to speak directly to what their plans are, but we do see increasing production on our side.
Speaker #1: And we're happy to report that those are moving in to those types of applications. So automation and humanoid robotics. So generally, I think we're aligned well with the industry.
Speaker #1: And the specific needs for the robotics market will continue to see things move in that direction.
Speaker #3: Would you say most of your humanoid robotics customers are Western OEMs and would you be able to size the relative dollar content per robot that you guys are expecting, even if it's a range?
Speaker #1: Yeah. So we have global distribution network for our robotics customers and our subsystem customers in the robotics marketplace. So we're servicing both Western customers and global customers to answer the first part of your question.
Speaker #1: The second part of your question in terms of the dollar content and there a typical NV product SP is perhaps 1 to 2 dollars.
Speaker #1: Per sensor and obviously there's several sensors used in the precision motion application of human robotics. So we see the potential for several NVE sensors per robot there and that drives a significant revenue from our perspective.
Speaker #1: So I think there's a big upside.
Speaker #3: So with the short-term disruption, with respect to the second quarter, and some of that revenue getting pulled into the first, is it fair to is it really fair to say when you think about your second half estimates being kind of in line with the first half that you would normalize those first two quarters, in other words, it would be somewhere along the midpoint?
Speaker #1: Yeah. That's certainly one way to look at it. I think the year-to-date numbers are appropriate. And that's kind of where the estimates came from.
Speaker #2: Pete, this is Pete Previtt again. Do you have any more expansion plans? I mean, I remember when I was there a few years ago, the new area that you guys expanded, it sounds like you've got equipment filling that area.
Speaker #2: Is there a need for additional space? Do you have you secured any additional buildings where you moved admin into that and then you're going to use that area in existing building for production?
Speaker #1: That's right, Pete. A good memory. That is the opt-in that we evaluate we haven't discussed further expansion plans beyond the space that you saw when you visited.
Speaker #1: However, that is something obviously that we keep in mind. And we will continue to expand as needed. And we'd follow the strategy that you mentioned, which is to move some of the admin offsite and continue to expand by leveraging the infrastructure that we have here within our current building.
Speaker #1: So yeah, we definitely keep those plans fresh.
Speaker #2: And it seems like you have a phenomenal board of directors are you guys meeting quarterly? And how do you feel they are in supporting your efforts, your growth efforts, and any needs that you have in order to continue to grow the company?
Speaker #1: Yeah. We have an excellent board, as you mentioned. And we're happy to draw from experience throughout the industry. We expanded our board to seven.
Speaker #1: I think that makes them even stronger. And yeah, we meet on a quarterly basis and happy to get the feedback and direction that the board provides.
Speaker #1: It's very valuable to the company.
Speaker #2: Pete, could you just talk quickly about the distributor sales increase? Should I view this as effectively well, first of all, how has it changed?
Speaker #2: And from last quarter, and should I view that as an increase in distributor sales mix being the ability to flex revenue higher but coming at lower margin?
Speaker #1: Yeah. I think that's a safe assumption. We have a global distribution network, as I mentioned earlier. And. Covers the broadest product portfolio for us.
Speaker #1: And when we see growth there, that's a very good sign for revenue in general. And so we're very happy to see distributor sales increasing and it's a sign of continued attraction of NVE's products in general.
Speaker #2: But you're saying as a percent of mix, distributor sales had increased quarter over quarter?
Speaker #1: It does bob around a little bit and vary from a quarter to quarter, as you might expect. Certainly, when we have a lower direct customer sales, as we did in the last quarter, then our percentage of distributor sales increases.
Speaker #1: But in general, it's usually between something like one-third and two-thirds of total revenue.
Speaker #3: Yes. I had a question in regards to specifically the distributor sales growth. Year over year and how you see those trends going forward. And then a little bit more color on the first half of the year, related to non-medical sales growth, stripping out Abbott and all those medical sales growth.
Speaker #3: If you could give any color on that.
Speaker #1: Sure. Well, as I mentioned, distributor sales has a pretty broad representation of NVE's product portfolio. And when we see growth there, that's a good sign because it's sort of a more general reflection of NVE's products and sales.
Speaker #1: And we see that as a very good sign. Sure. Go ahead, Spencer.
Speaker #3: About my question earlier about, I guess, customer diversification, and then you were saying how the end of year or the second half of the year's earnings are going to be similar to the first half, is that correct?
Speaker #1: Correct. Yep.
Speaker #3: Is that mix going to be similar to the first half, where it's mostly a few large customers? Or do you believe that the growth is going to come from additional customers like the additional ones that were gained in the first half of the year?
Speaker #1: Yeah. We certainly expect revenue to increasingly come from new customers. And that's because the market is continuing to accept our new products. And we'll continue to see growth for that reason.
Speaker #1: And so I think there's some short-term optimism as our wafer-level chip-scale products new gear sensors and others that we've talked about previously continue to grow and become more representative of the total revenue numbers.
Speaker #3: NVE has very I guess you could say niche technology that isn't very easily replicated and has many applications that obviously are growing in fields like robotics and automation.
Speaker #3: What would you say is the biggest barrier to entry or I guess the biggest competitive advantage that NVE and more specifically the Spintronic technology has?
Speaker #3: And I guess why other new entrants can't come in and take over in a sense?
Speaker #1: Barriers to entry include NVE's patent portfolio and that prevents competitors from operating in our space. So we have excellent patent coverage in Spintronics and we think that provides that coverage.
Speaker #1: We also have trade secrets and expertise within the company that make it very difficult for competitors to do what NVE does. And to try to copy the advantages that NVE provides with Spintronics.
Speaker #2: We're pleased to report strong increases in distributor sales in the second quarter. An excellent growth in revenue for the first half of the year.
Speaker #2: Our next earnings call will be in January, to discuss third quarter results. A replay of this call will be available on the Investors Events page of our website, www.nve.com, and our YouTube channel, youtube.com/nveCorporation.
