Universal Display Corporation Saw Strong Revenue in First Quarter for OLED

Universal Display Corporation reported financial results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2014.

For the first quarter of 2014, the Company reported net income of US $4.0 million, or US $0.09 per diluted share, on revenues of US $37.8 million. For the first quarter of 2013, the Company reported a net loss of US $4.8 million, or US $(0.10) per diluted share, on revenues of US $15.0 million.

"Our solid execution in delivering high performance, quality assured, proprietary phosphorescent emitters and hosts to our growing list of OLED customers, coupled with increasing production activity, resulted in strong revenues, operating income and earnings in the first quarter," said Sidney D. Rosenblatt, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of Universal Display. "In recent months, we were very pleased to see new products, including flagship launches, showcasing our phosphorescent OLED materials and technologies. Looking forward, we are excited about new growth opportunities in the mobile, wearable, TV and lighting markets as we continue to fortify and expand our IP and materials portfolio for long-term growth.”

First Quarter 2014 Results

Revenues for the first quarter of 2014 were US $37.8 million compared to revenues of US $15.0 million in the same quarter of 2013. Growth in first quarter revenues was led by a 177 percent increase in material sales, which rose to US $35.3 million, up from US $12.8 million in the first quarter of 2013, reflecting robust volume growth in sales of red emitter, green emitter and green host materials. Royalty and license fees were US $1.8 million in the first quarter of 2014, up from US $1.3 million in the same quarter of 2013. Technology development and support revenue was US $0.7 million in the first quarter of 2014 compared to US $0.9 million in the same quarter of 2013.

No revenue was recognized under the Samsung Display Co., Ltd. (SDC) licensing agreement in the first quarter, as SDC is obligated to make licensing payments in the second and fourth quarters of the year. For 2014, the Company expects to recognize US $50 million in SDC licensing revenues for the full year.

Operating expenses for the first quarter of 2014 were US $31.2 million compared to US $22.1 million in the same quarter of 2013. Cost of materials for the quarter were $9.9 million compared to US $3.1 million in the first quarter of 2013, reflecting an increase in the quantity of material shipped and changes in product mix.

The Company reported operating income of US $6.6 million for the first quarter of 2014, compared to an operating loss of US $7.2 million for the first quarter of 2013.

The Company’s balance sheet remained strong, with cash and cash equivalents and short-term investments of US $267 million as of March 31, 2014. During the quarter, accounts receivables and inventories increased, while accrued expenses declined. This resulted in working capital increasing to US $318 million at the end of the quarter.

2014 Guidance

Although the OLED industry is still at a stage where many variables can have a material impact on its growth, the Company now expects 2014 revenues to reach the high end of its US $190 million to US $205 million guidance range.

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Ahead of Lightfair 2014

Will you be going to Las Vegas June 3-5? What's on your must-see list?

I will be there Tuesday and Wednesday. My calendar is filling up with plans to speak with vendors. Here are some of the vendors and issues that I will be visiting and covering.

Tubes

The billions of T5 and T8 fluorescent tubes worldwide awaiting replacement with LEDs represent the second lowest-hanging fruit in the SSL market. (Residential incandescent replacement is bigger, by most accounts.) After the recent announcements by a couple of big players about easy-install, compatible LED tubes, I'm curious to see who else steps into the competition at Lightfair.

ROI

I'll be asking the companies selling LED tubes for fluorescent replacement, in particular, if they are willing to share any customer stories with details of how the ROI was calculated. What are they quoting now for commercial and office retrofit projects? Two or three years? More? How is that going down with prospects?

Efficacy

The chip makers will all be there, of course, and Lightfair is the kind of show that impels them to reach for bragging rights of one sort or another. Will Osram Opto, Nichia, or Philips Lumileds claim laboratory proof of a higher luminous efficacy than the 303 lm/W that Cree announced in March (5,150K CCT, 350 mA at 25°K)?

Controls

The number of entrants in the industrial/building controls space is mushrooming. Some of the companies traditionally involved with HVAC, power monitoring, security, and fire systems have been broadening product lines to include lighting. I'm interested to see how many of them show up at a large, lighting-focused conference and exposition.

Also, the players that started out from the lighting end, such as Digital Lumens, may be moving in the other direction to encroach on the broader space of building automation. Let's see what they have to say about it.

I'll also be looking at emerging standards in the controls area. How has the Connected Lighting Alliance's effort progressed? What vendors of multi-protocol translation and management systems will be at Lightfair, and what do they see emerging as a dominant commercial standard, if any?

How about you? Will I see you in the desert next month? What's on top of your list?

— Keith Dawson , Editor-in-Chief, All LED Lighting

Related posts:

• Monday Roundup: Tap to Connect


• 3 From Cree


• Connected Lighting Alliance Branches Out

Smart Vision Lights Introduces High-Speed Strobe Lights for Industrial and Machine Vision Applications

Smart Vision Lights — a designer and manufacturer of high-brightness LED lights for industrial applications, including machine vision — is pleased to introduce the XR256 Series High-Speed Strobe Lights for industrial and machine vision applications requiring high-speed, high-power, pulse initiated, or pulse following strobe lights.

Smart Vision Lights XR256 Series High-Speed Strobe Lights. (LEDinside/ Smart Vision Lights)

The XR256 Series High-Speed Strobe Lights are capable of up to 5,000 strobes per second (SPS) and have a pulsed energy rating of 2,000 watts when LEDs are active. XR256 lights have a 256 mm squared area of LED die running at up to 2,000 watts in comparison to a standard LED light for machine vision which has on average a 3-12 mm squared area of LED die running at 3 to 12 watts. The XR256 series lights also feature SafeStrobe Technology that ensures the LEDs are protected from overheating and premature degradation. This unique technology applies safe working parameters to ensure the LEDs are not damaged by driving them beyond their limits. This is especially beneficial for overdriving today's new high-current LEDs.

The features and benefits of XP256 series lights include:

• Up to 5,000 SPS (strobes per second)


• Pulse-following or pulse-initiated operation


• High-output, high-speed light


• Pulsed energy of 2,000 watts


• OverDrive – strobe operation only


• SafeStrobe Technology for protected operation of LEDs


• Internal storage of power drive energy


• 20 µS - 1 mS settable strobe pulse

As with all Smart Vision Lights products, the XR256 series comes with a universal, internal driver for simplified wiring, fully complies with IEC eye safety standards, and has a 10-year manufacturer’s warranty with product registration. Visit http://ift.tt/1j8BO4g for more details.

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1.4 The accuracy, completeness, or timeliness, or security of any information that you download from the website

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Rectangular, Low-Profile LED Opens Up Design Options

The Synios E4014 LED from Osram Opto Semiconductor features a rectangular and low profile [0.57mm] shape so that, with the design, light is easily injected into light guides and uniformly distributed. The result is that a broad range of designs can be created. The mid-power LED also feature a robust plastic package, with a footprint of 4mm x 1.5mm.

(Source: Osram Opto)

Designed for low profile, elongated luminaires and lighting designs, including display backlighting, the LEDs do not have a lens. The low profile means that they can be integrated into glass shelving in white goods, car interiors, and transportation strip lighting.

Read the rest of the story at EDN.

— Keith Dawson , Editor-in-Chief, All LED Lighting

Turtle-Centric Lighting

Florida seacoast residents, spurred by state and local laws, are installing specialized LED lighting so as not to interfere with the migration of threatened and endangered baby sea turtles.

We had a quick look at Florida's turtles last June, after Lighting Science Group promoted their turtle-friendly lighting at Lightfair. Now a blog post in Scientific American, at the beginning of the annual sea-turtle nesting season, brings a new spotlight on this expanding story.

Biology

Florida is home to five species of sea turtles (out of six worldwide), and 90% of the turtles in the US. Four of those species are threatened and one is endangered, under the terms of the Endangered Species Act. The state of Florida, its coastal counties, and municipalities along the coast have all enacted laws and regulations protecting sea turtles in ways that go beyond the federal law.

The largest threat that human civilization poses to sea turtles, once it became illegal to harm or molest them directly, comes from lighting. Baby turtles hatch from eggs laid on beaches and need to get to the sea quickly. In the absence of man, they are guided there by moonlight and starlight reflecting off the water. In populated areas, artificial light draws the baby turtles like moths to a flame, where they are picked off by predators, run over by vehicles, or die of dehydration.

Click for a larger version.

(Source: Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission)

Turtles' vision is in a higher frequency range than that of humans. It extends from about 580 nm up into the ultraviolet, peaking in the blue-green. So light at 590 nm and below -- amber, orange, red -- is invisible to the turtles.

Until this science was well understood, early attempts at providing turtle-friendly light weren't successful, because a sodium light (for example) that looks amber to human eyes still packs energy in the shorter wavelengths. The ability to tune LEDs' spectra to pretty much any desired curve makes them ideal as a source for turtle-safe lights.

Regulation

Florida's Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission oversees preservation efforts at the state level. The commission long ago drafted model regulations for counties and municipalities to adopt. A summary with links is here. One of the regulated areas is lighting. The illustration shows the 17 out of 31 coastal counties that had enacted such regulations as of last summer. Here is a sample, the lighting-related rules for Flagler County.

The rules state that lighting visible from beach areas must be of low enough frequency so as not to attract the turtles, and additionally it must be cut off so as not to shine directly on the beach wherever possible.

Turtle-safe lighting products and supplies are available at many outlets in Florida. Here is a sample from the web.

Deepwater Horizon connection

Many seacoast communities have now been more or less fully retrofitted with turtle-safe lighting. The state is able to offer matching grants to offset some of the cost to landowners by tapping a fund that originated in the massive Deepwater Horizon oil spill in 2010. The spill killed an estimated 100,000 sea turtles, and part of the reparation and penally money British Petroleum paid is going toward the installation of LED lighting around the Gulf and Atlantic coasts. Still, tens of thousands of hatchlings each year walk toward civilization instead of toward the ocean. Much work remains to be done.

— Keith Dawson , Editor-in-Chief, All LED Lighting

Related post:

• Monday Roundup: Light Emitting Integrated Circuits

Veeco Appoints Shubham Maheshwari as Chief Financial Officer

Veeco Instruments Inc. has appointed Shubham Maheshwari, 42, as its new Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer (CFO). Mr. Maheshwari replaces David D. Glass, who announced his retirement from Veeco last December.

Veeco has appointed Shubham Maheshwari as its new Executive Vice President, Finance and Chief Financial Officer (photo courtesy of Veeco)

Mr. Maheshwari brings more than 20 years of experience in engineering and finance to Veeco. He most recently served as Chief Financial Officer of OnCore, a global manufacturer of electronic products in the medical, aerospace, defense and industrial markets. Prior to this role, he held various finance roles including Senior Vice President Finance, Treasury, Tax and Investor Relations at Spansion, a global leader in Flash memory based embedded system solutions. Mr. Maheshwari helped lead Spansion’s emergence from bankruptcy to become a successful public company. Prior to Spansion, he spent over ten years at KLA-Tencor, a global semiconductor capital equipment manufacturing company, in various senior level corporate development and finance roles, including Vice President of Corporate Development and Corporate Controller. During his tenure at KLA-Tencor, he worked on over $1 billion in acquisition transactions.

He holds a B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology in Delhi, India, an M.S. in Chemical Engineering from Kansas State University, and an MBA from the Wharton Business School, University of Pennsylvania.

John Peeler, Veeco’s Chairman and Chief Executive Officer, commented, “Shubham brings an ideal mix of highly relevant financial leadership experience to Veeco. I am confident he will hit the ground running to help take Veeco to the next level of performance. I’m extremely pleased that Shubham has joined our leadership team.”

“Veeco is a great match for me and I’m excited to come on board,” commented Mr. Maheshwari. “Veeco has done an impressive job managing through an extended downturn, but I think the best is still in front of the Company. I look forward to helping to strengthen the business and capitalizing on the significant growth opportunities ahead.”

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Jasco Partners with DC Comics to Releases Super Hero LED Night Lights

Jasco Products Company today announced a new line of DC Comics branded Projectables LED Night Lights and other night light models. The DC Comics branded Projectables LED Night Lights have been developed under license from Warner Bros. Consumer Products, on behalf of DC Entertainment.

“We are excited to add iconic DC Comics Super Heroes to our growing portfolio of fun characters,” says Cameron Trice, Jasco’s Co-CEO. “The multi-year licensing agreement enables us to cultivate our night light creations to appeal to the loyal fan base of comic book readers as well as the new generation of Super Hero movie fans.”

Bring your nighttime to life with the Projectables LED Night Light featuring everyone’s favorite DC Comics Super Heroes! The Projectables LED Night Light provides a soothing guide light while projecting an action-packed image on the wall or ceiling from up to 10 feet away. The cool-to-the-touch night lights are great for a child’s room and feature automatic light sensing technology, which means each night light is on at dusk and off at dawn. Choose between one or six image Projectables Night Lights, available in plug-in or battery-operated models. Perfect for kids of all ages!

Jasco’s new line of DC Comics Projectables will feature the following characters:

Batman™

Superman™

Justice League

Green Lantern

Wonder Woman

DC Super Friends

Super Girl

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1.4 The accuracy, completeness, or timeliness, or security of any information that you download from the website

2. The services provided by the website is intended for your reference only. The website shall be not be responsible for investment decisions, damages, or other losses resulting from use of the website or the information contained therein<

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