EZchip Announces Record First Quarter 2010 Results; First Quarter Revenues Increase 38% Year-Over-Year to $13.6 Million

YOKNEAM, Israel, May 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- EZchip Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: EZCH), a leader in Ethernet network processors, today announced its results for the first quarter ended March 31, 2010.

First Quarter 2010 Highlights:

• First quarter revenues increased 38% year-over-year and 6% sequentially, reaching $13.6 million
• Gross margin for the quarter reached 69.1% on a GAAP basis and 73.1% on a non-GAAP basis
• Net income for the quarter was $2.9 million on a GAAP basis and $6.0 million on a non-GAAP basis
• Operating cash flow for the quarter was $5.5 million
• End of quarter net cash was $75 million

First Quarter 2010 Results

Total revenues in the first quarter of 2010 were $13.6 million, an increase of 38% compared to $9.8 million in the first quarter of 2009, and an increase of 6% compared to $12.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Net income, on a GAAP basis, for the first quarter of 2010 was $2.9 million (after a provision for taxes of $1.1 million), or $0.11 per share (diluted), compared to net income of $1.4 million, or $0.05 per share (diluted), in the first quarter of 2009, and net income of $14.9 million (which included a tax benefit of $11.7 million), or $0.58 per share (diluted), in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Net income, on a non-GAAP basis, for the first quarter of 2010 was $6.0 million, or $0.23 per share (diluted), compared to non-GAAP net income of $3.3 million, or $0.13 per share (diluted), in the first quarter of 2009, and non-GAAP net income of $5.5 million, or $0.22 per share (diluted), in the fourth quarter of 2009.

Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities as of March 31, 2010, totaled $75.0 million, compared to $67.2 million as of December 31, 2009.  Cash generated from operations during the first quarter was $5.5 million, cash used in investing activities was $0.2 million and cash provided by financing activities was $2.6 million.

Eli Fruchter, CEO of EZchip commented, "The first quarter of 2010 continues our growth trend and was another record quarter for EZchip. We continued to enhance our market position, broaden our customer base and grow our revenues and profitability.  We made substantial progress with our next generation NP-4 and NPA network processors, as we shipped NP-4 samples to our customers, including four of the six leading CESR vendors, and we initiated the process of releasing NPA to production. We also announced our product roadmap for our high-speed and access network processors.  Looking ahead, we believe we have the product offering, customer base, leading market position and roadmap to continue to grow our business."  

Conference Call

The Company will be hosting a conference call later today, May 6, 2010, at 10:00am ET, 7:00am PT, 3:00pm UK time and 5:00pm Israel time. On the call, management will review and discuss the results, and will be available to answer investor questions.

To participate through live webcast, please access the corporate website, http://www.ezchip.com, at least 5 minutes before the conference call commences.

To participate through dial-in, please call one of the following teleconferencing numbers. Please begin placing your calls at least 10-15 minutes before the conference call commences. If you are unable to connect using the toll-free numbers, please try the international dial-in number.

US Dial-in Number: 1 888 668 9141

UK Dial-in Number: 0 800 917 5108

International Dial-in Number (Israel): +972 3 918 0610

Israel Dial-in Number: 03 918 0610

For those unable to listen to the live call, a replay of the call will be available the day after the call under the 'Investor Relations' section of the website.  

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information

In addition to disclosing financial results calculated in accordance with United States generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP), this release of operating results also contains non-GAAP financial measures, which EZchip Semiconductor believes are the principal indicators of the operating and financial performance of its business.  The non-GAAP financial measures exclude the effects of stock-based compensation expenses recorded in accordance with ASC 718 (originally issued as SFAS 123R), amortization of intangible assets, in-process research and development charge, benefit from (provision for) taxes on income, and net loss (income) attributable to noncontrolling interest.  Management believes the non-GAAP financial measures provided are useful to investors' understanding and assessment of the Company's on-going core operations and prospects for the future, as the charges eliminated are not part of the day-to-day business or reflective of the core operational activities of the Company.  Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures as a basis for strategic decisions, forecasting future results and evaluating the Company's current performance.  However, such measures should not be considered in isolation or as substitutes for results prepared in accordance with GAAP.  Reconciliation of the non-GAAP measures to the most comparable GAAP measures are provided in the schedules attached to this release.  

About EZchip

EZchip is a fabless semiconductor company that provides Ethernet network processors for networking equipment.  EZchip provides its customers with solutions that scale from 1-Gigabit to 200-Gigabits per second with a common architecture and software across all products.  EZchip's network processors provide the flexibility and integration that enable triple-play data, voice and video services in systems that make up the new Carrier Ethernet networks.  Flexibility and integration make EZchip's solutions ideal for building systems for a wide range of applications in telecom networks, enterprise backbones and data centers.  For more information on our company, visit the web site at http://www.ezchip.com.

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended.  Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and may include financial projections and estimates and their underlying assumptions, statements regarding plans, objectives and expectations with respect to future operations, products and services, and statements regarding future performance.  These statements are only predictions based on EZchip's current expectations and projections about future events.  There are important factors that could cause EZchip's actual results, level of activity, performance or achievements to differ materially from the results, level of activity, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements.  Those factors include, but are not limited to, the impact of general economic conditions, competitive products, product demand and market acceptance risks, customer order cancellations, reliance on key strategic alliances, fluctuations in operating results, delays in development of highly-complex products and other factors indicated in EZchip's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).  For more details, refer to EZchip's SEC filings and the amendments thereto, including its Annual Report on Form 20-F filed on March 25, 2010 and its Current Reports on Form 6-K. EZchip undertakes no obligation to update forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent occurring events or circumstances, or to changes in our expectations, except as may be required by law.

-- Financial Tables Follow --

SOURCE EZchip Semiconductor Ltd.