National Instruments Reports Record Q2 Revenue and Operating Income

AUSTIN, Texas, July 27, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- National Instruments (Nasdaq: NATI) reported quarterly revenue for Q2 2010 of $212 million, representing a 39 percent year-over-year increase and an 11 percent sequential increase. For the first half of 2010, the company reported a 30 percent increase in revenue and a 15 percent increase in non-GAAP operating expenses, compared to the first half of 2009. GAAP operating expenses grew by 14 percent in the first half of 2010, compared to the first half of 2009. Growing non-GAAP expenses at half the rate of revenue delivers on the goal expressed by the company at the 2009 NIWeek Investor Conference.

Net income for Q2 2010 was $24.6 million, with GAAP fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) of $0.31. Non-GAAP net income was $28.3 million, with non-GAAP fully diluted EPS of $0.36. Operating income set a record for a second quarter, and operating margins improved significantly over last year. Included in both GAAP and non-GAAP earnings for Q2 is a net loss on foreign exchange of $2.2 million, or $0.02 per share, as a result of the dramatic weakening of European currencies in May and June. The company had not anticipated this loss when giving guidance in April. The company's non-GAAP results exclude the impact of both stock-based compensation and the amortization of acquisition-related intangibles. Reconciliations of the company's GAAP and non-GAAP results are included as part of this news release.

In Q2, GAAP gross margin increased 3.6 percentage points year-over-year to 77.0 percent. Non-GAAP gross margin increased by 3.4 percentage points year-over-year to 77.6 percent.

"While the economy remains uncertain, our outstanding performance in the first half of the year and our strong Q3 guidance give us confidence that we will be able to deliver record annual revenue and record annual profitability in 2010," said Dr. James Truchard, co-founder, president, and CEO. "We plan to maintain a disciplined approach to expense management as we increase our investments to drive long-term profitable growth through strategic R&D and sales initiatives."

NI virtual instrumentation and graphical system design product sales were up 38 percent year-over-year. NI instrument control product sales were up 54 percent year-over-year but remain 17 percent below Q2 2008 levels. Product revenue was $195 million, up 39 percent from Q2 2009, and software maintenance revenue was $17 million, up 37 percent year-over-year. Geographically, revenue in U.S. dollar terms for Q2 2010 compared to Q2 2009 was up 32 percent in the Americas, up 28 percent in Europe and up 66 percent in Asia. In local currency terms, revenue was up 19 percent in Europe and up 52 percent in Asia.

As of June 30, NI had a record $316 million in net cash and short-term investments, up $21 million from March 31, 2010. During Q2 2010, the company paid $10 million in dividends. National Instruments announced that its board of directors declared a dividend of $0.13 per share on its common stock payable on Aug. 30, 2010, to shareholders of record on Aug. 9, 2010.

Outlook

The trends of the global Purchasing Managers Index (PMI) continued to be strong in Q2, averaging 56.7 for the quarter, but it appears likely that the global PMI reached its peak for this cycle in Q2. The profit and investment plans the company laid out at the 2009 NIWeek Investor Conference anticipated this strong recovery by the global PMI followed by the necessary moderation toward its historical mean. The company's discipline in growing non-GAAP expenses at half the rate of revenue has resulted in a dramatic rebound in profitability with non-GAAP operating margins increasing from 4 percent in the first half of 2009 to 15 percent in the first half of 2010.

"At our 2009 NIWeek Investor Conference we set the goal of increasing expenses at 50 percent of revenue growth, until we returned record revenue," said Alex Davern, CFO. "Given that we are back to record revenue and profitability, we will be presenting a more balanced investment plan at our investor conference next week.  Going forward we will be increasing our strategic investments and plan to increase expenses at a rate closer to that of revenue growth, while continuing to drive towards our long-term operating profit goal."

NI expects strong Q3 year-over-year revenue growth, with revenue expected to be between $206 million and $220 million. The company expects fully diluted EPS between $0.27 and $0.37, with non-GAAP fully diluted EPS expected to be between $0.32 and $0.42.

Non-GAAP Presentation

In addition to disclosing results determined in accordance with GAAP, NI discloses certain non-GAAP operating results and non-GAAP information that exclude certain charges. In this news release, the company has presented its gross profit, operating expenses, operating income, net income, provision for taxes and EPS for the three and six month periods ending June 30, 2010 and 2009, on a GAAP and non-GAAP basis. When presenting non-GAAP information, the company includes a reconciliation of the non-GAAP results to the GAAP results.

Management believes that including the non-GAAP results assists investors in assessing the company's operational performance and its performance relative to its competitors. The company presents these non-GAAP results as a complement to results provided in accordance with GAAP, and these results should not be regarded as a substitute for GAAP. Management uses these non-GAAP measures to manage and assess the profitability and performance of its business and does not consider stock-based compensation expense or amortization of acquired intangibles that are non-cash charges in managing its operations. Specifically, management uses non-GAAP measures to plan and forecast future periods, to establish operational goals, to compare with its business plan and individual operating budgets, to measure management performance for purposes of executive compensation including payments to be made under bonus plans, to assist the public in measuring the company's performance relative to the company's long-term public performance goals, to allocate resources and, relative to the company's historical financial performance, to enable comparability between periods. Management also considers such non-GAAP results to be an important supplemental measure of its performance.

This news release also discloses NI earnings before interest, taxes, depreciation and amortization (EBITDA) and EBITDA diluted EPS for the three and six month periods ended June 30, 2010 and 2009. Management also believes that including the EBITDA results assists investors in assessing the company's operational performance relative to its competitors. A reconciliation of EBITDA and EBITDA diluted EPS to GAAP net income and GAAP diluted EPS is included with this news release.

Conference Call Information

Interested parties can listen to the Q2 2010 conference call today, July 27, beginning at 4:00 p.m. CDT, at www.ni.com/call. Replay information is available by calling (888) 203-1112, confirmation code # 9955054, from July 27 at 7:00 p.m. CDT through Aug. 3 at midnight CDT.

Forward-Looking Statements

This release contains "forward-looking statements," including statements related to delivering record annual revenue and record annual profitability in 2010, driving long-term profitable growth through strategic R&D and sales initiatives focused at new large opportunity areas, plan to maintain a disciplined approach to expense management, likely that the global PMI peaked for this cycle, maintaining tight budget discipline, expenses increasing at a rate closer to revenue growth, continuing to improve the company's profitability and outlook for Q3 revenue and Q3 GAAP and non-GAAP EPS. These statements are subject to a number of risks and uncertainties, including the risk of further adverse changes or fluctuations in the global economy, disruption of European logistics, component shortages, delays in the release of new products, fluctuations in customer demand for NI products, the company's ability to continue to control its operating expenses, manufacturing inefficiencies and foreign exchange fluctuations. Actual results may differ materially from the expected results. The company directs readers to its Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended Dec. 31, 2009, its Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010, and the other documents it files with the SEC for other risks associated with the company's future performance.

About National Instruments

National Instruments (www.ni.com) is transforming the way engineers and scientists design, prototype and deploy systems for measurement, automation and embedded applications. NI empowers customers with off-the-shelf software such as NI LabVIEW and modular cost-effective hardware, and sells to a broad base of more than 30,000 different companies worldwide, with no one customer representing more than 3 percent of revenue and no one industry representing more than 15 percent of revenue. Headquartered in Austin, Texas, NI has more than 5,000 employees and direct operations in more than 40 countries. For the past 11 years, FORTUNE magazine has named NI one of the 100 best companies to work for in America. Readers can obtain investment information from the company's investor relations department by calling (512) 683-5090, e-mailing [email protected] or visiting www.ni.com/nati. (NATI-F)

LabVIEW, National Instruments, NI, ni.com and NIWeek are trademarks of National Instruments. Other product and company names listed are trademarks or trade names of their respective companies.

SOURCE National Instruments

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