ARMH Beats Estimates, Offers Bullish Outlook

For the quarter, the semiconductor design and licensing firm posted adjusted diluted earnings per American depositary share (ADS) of $0.199 on revenues of $262.8 million. In the same period a year ago, the company reported earnings per ADS of $0.173 on revenues of $207.0 million. Fourth-quarter results also compare to the Thomson Reuters consensus estimates for earnings per ADS of about $0.122 and about $239.5 million in revenues. One ADS is equal to three ordinary shares.

For the full year, the company posted adjusted earnings per ADS of about $0.70 on revenues of $913.1 million, compared with earnings per ADS of about $0.59 on revenues of $785 million in 2011. The consensus estimate called for earnings per ADS of $0.67 on revenues of $890.34 million.

The company’s CEO said:

ARM has seen good revenue and earnings growth throughout 2012. Customers are developing products to meet the needs of the post PC era and are driving demand for ARM’s most advanced technology. In Q4 we again saw influential market-leaders demonstrating their commitment to ARM technology by licensing our latest products. Royalty revenue has also grown strongly during Q4 underpinned by ARM’s market share gains and an increased royalty percentage from Cortex-A class processors being deployed into smartphones and tablets.

Here is what the company had to say about the outlook for 2013:

ARM enters 2013 with a robust opportunity pipeline for licensing and a record order backlog. Market share gains in long-term growth sectors look set to continue as our partners introduce new chips based on ARM technology. The global macro-economic environment continues to be characterised by uncertainty and the prospect of low growth for some time. The ongoing influence on consumer and enterprise spending inevitably impacts semiconductor revenues and industry confidence. However, assuming the macroeconomic situation does not deteriorate significantly, we expect group dollar revenues for the full-year to be at least in line with current market expectations.

Those current expectations call for annual revenues of around $1.03 billion and earnings per ADS of about $0.85.

ARM’s shares are up about 4.7% in premarket trading at $43.91, a new 52-week high if it holds. The current 52-week range of $21.64 to $42.78. Thomson Reuters had a consensus analyst price target of around $37.50 before today’s report.