American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC) bucked the down trend for the quarter ending March 31, 2009, reporting the first-ever quarterly profit for the company, which provides superconductor power cables, wind turbine designs and smart grid technologies.
Net income for the quarter was $1.3 million, or $0.03 per diluted share. This compares with a net loss of $1.8 million, or $0.04 per share, for the same quarter a year ago.
Revenues for the quarter were $61.2 million, a 60% increase over $38.4 million a year ago. Gross margin for the was 32.6%, which compares with 33.2% for the year-ago-quarter.
Revenues for full year fiscal 2008, which ended March 31, were $182.8 million, an increase of 63% from $112.4 million for FY2007.
The company’s net loss for FY2008 was $16.6 million, or $0.39 per share, which compares with a net loss for FY2007 of $25.4 million, or $0.65 per share.
Cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash at March 31, 2009 were $117.2 million.
The company reported backlog of approximately $558 million compared with $602 million as of December 31, 2008 and $199 million as of March 31, 2008. The year-over-year increase is due primarily to a $450 million, three-year contract for wind turbine core electrical systems the company received from Sinovel Wind Company in June 2008. The decline from December 31, 2008 in backlog is due primarily to shipments under the Sinovel contract, the company said.
"AMSC posted its strongest financial performance to date in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2008," said Greg Yurek, AMSC’s founder and CEO. "We generated record revenues and achieved our first profitable quarter. During fiscal 2008, we expanded our global workforce by 36% as we increased our revenue by 63% while also developing and introducing several new wind power and power grid solutions. We self-financed these activities, which resulted in a small net use of cash for the fiscal year. We are now sharply focused on delivering profitable growth and net cash flow positive results for full year fiscal 2009 as we continue to make the investments that will enhance our long-term growth prospects."
"For fiscal year 2009, we expect revenues to increase to a range of $225 million to $235 million," said David Henry, senior vice president and chief financial officer. "We are increasing our gross margin target for fiscal 2009 from a range of 28% to 30% to a range of 30% to 32%. We expect this will enable us to generate net income in a range of $0.2 million to $1.5 million, or $0.01 to $0.03 per diluted share, for full fiscal 2009 even as we continue to accelerate the growth of our global workforce and investments in new product development."
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