Kopin posts record $2.59M profit

TAUNTON – Transistor and microdisplay maker Kopin Corp. (Nasdaq: KOPN) posted a $2.59 million profit for 2008, a $9.14 million improvement from its fiscal 2007 loss of $6.56 million, on annual revenue that rose 16.97 percent to a record $144.80 million.
Earnings per diluted share amounted to 4 cents last year, compared with the 10 cent-per-share loss the company posted for FY 2007. (READ MORE) Product sales rose 14.22 percent year over year to $107.58 million while production costs dipped 0.82 percent to $77.98 million, the company said, boosting Kopin’s gross margin to 27.5 percent of net product revenue last year from 16.5 percent the year before. Research and development revenue rose 82.52 percent compared with 2007 to $7.22 million last year. R&D expenses increased less than half that quickly, rising 39.42 percent to $15.97 million.
“Despite the global economic slowdown, we are delighted that we achieved many of our 2008 objectives,” John C.C. Fan, Kopin’s president and chief executive, said in yesterday’s after-market report. “We posted record top-line results in 2008, paced by strong sales of military display products.
“Display revenues from military applications increased more than 130 percent for the year and 150 percent in the fourth quarter, compared with 2007’s fourth quarter, driven by our participation in programs to produce advanced soldier systems including Thermal Weapon Sights and Enhanced Night Vision Goggles,” the CEO said. “We are continuing to ramp up production of these systems in 2009.”
A decision to emphasize the military market – and de-emphasize lower-margin digital still and video cameras – was cited by Kopin in October as a contributor to its strong third-quarter results. (READ MORE)
Meanwhile, “our III-V [integrated-circuit] product line grew modestly in 2008 despite the effects of the economic downturn on the wireless-handset market,” Fan said. “An unyielding focus on high-quality manufacturing and technology innovation has enabled Kopin to extend its reputation as the world’s leading supplier of III-V products to the wireless integrated circuit market. We are continuing to raise the bar with new performance standards and advanced technologies that we believe will serve us well in the quarters ahead.”
For the fiscal quarter ended Dec. 29, the company posted a profit of $1.81 million, nearly six and a half times its year-ago profit of $281,509, on fourth-quarter revenue that rose 1.01 percent to $29.09 million. Earnings per diluted share rose to 3 cents from the 2007 fourth quarters 0 cents.
Those results included a fourth-quarter charge of $1.2 million related to the impairment of loans to KTC, a company in which Kopin is a stakeholder; a non-cash impairment charge of about $800,000 on corporate debt securities; and a gain of about $400,000 related to favorable currency exchange rates.
Highlight of the quarter included the Kopin board of directors’ December authorization of a share-repurchase program. The authorization allows the company to buy back up to $15 million in common stock. No buybacks are required, however, and purchases will be subject to market conditions and other factors, the company said.
“Coming off a year of record revenue, we remain optimistic about the opportunities ahead, despite the challenging environment,” Fan said. “Our military-display product line has achieved both operational and financial success, and we look forward to building on those accomplishments in the quarters ahead.
“The mark of an outstanding company is its ability to turn an economic challenge into an advantage, by continuing its focus on innovation and new product development. We are confident that we can use our established manufacturing expertise, solid base of top-tier customers, strong cash position and relentless technology and product innovation to emerge from this downturn as an even stronger leader in the markets we serve.”
Kopin Corp. (Nasdaq: KOPN) is a maker of lightweight, power-efficient, ultra-small liquid crystal displays (LCDs) and heterojunction bipolar transistors (HBTs) for a variety of applications, under trademarks including CyberDisplay and The NanoSemiconductor Co. Its technologies are protected by more than 200 global patents and patents pending. For additional information, visit www.kopin.com.