What’s Driving Ambarella Forward in 2019

By Chris Lange Updated Jan 30, 11:51PM EST · Published Mar 6, 9:55AM EST

Follow 24/7 Wall St. on Google

This post may contain links from our sponsors and affiliates, and Flywheel Publishing may receive compensation for actions taken through them.

What’s Driving Ambarella Forward in 2019 — © Thinkstock

When Ambarella Inc. (NASDAQ: AMBA) reported its most recent quarterly results after the markets closed on Tuesday, the firm said that it had $0.14 in earnings per share (EPS) and $51.1 million in revenue. That compares with consensus estimates of $0.04 in EPS and $50.9 million in revenue, as well as the $0.47 per share and $56.94 million posted in the same period of last year.

Gross margin for the latest quarter was 60.6%, compared with 64.7% for the same period of last year.

In the fourth quarter, Ambarella repurchased a total of 104,160 shares for total consideration of roughly $3.5 million. Under the $100 million repurchase program that began on June 5, 2018, the company has repurchased a total of 1,792,156 shares for total cash consideration of about $68.1 million through the end of this quarter.

Looking ahead to the fiscal first quarter, the company expects to see gross margin in the range of 59% to 60% and revenues of $47 million, give or take 3%. Consensus estimates call for breakeven earnings and $50.22 million in revenue for the quarter.

[nativounit]

Fermi Wang, president and CEO, commented:

Strategically, fiscal 2019 was one of the most important years in Ambarella’s 15 year history as the company continued to execute on its transformation from a pure video processing company to a computer vision company. We taped-out and sampled three 10nm computer vision system-on-a-chip devices and commenced mass production of one of the devices, all in the fiscal year. Despite the decline in our consumer electronics business, and the geopolitical and macroeconomic headwinds, we have and will continue to focus our investment on computer vision. While it is early in the computer vision adoption cycle, we are excited about expanding our portfolio and having more customers enter mass production.

Shares of Ambarella were last seen up 10% at $44.66 on Wednesday, in a 52-week range of $43.36 to $44.99. The stock has a consensus price target of $44.56.

[recirclink id=532308]

[wallst_email_signup]

About the Author Chris Lange →

Chris Lange is a writer for 24/7 Wall St., based in Houston. He has covered financial markets over the past decade with an emphasis on healthcare, tech, and IPOs. During this time, he has published thousands of articles with insightful analysis across these complex fields. Currently, Lange's focus is on military and geopolitical topics.

Lange's work has been quoted or mentioned in Forbes, The New York Times, Business Insider, USA Today, MSN, Yahoo, The Verge, Vice, The Intelligencer, Quartz, Nasdaq, The Motley Fool, Fox Business, International Business Times, The Street, Seeking Alpha, Barron’s, Benzinga, and many other major publications.

A graduate of Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, Lange majored in business with a particular focus on investments. He has previous experience in the banking industry and startups.