|
|
|
ZYGO Inc.
NASDAQ: ZIGO
Laurel Brook Rd Middlefield 06455
860-347-8506
www.zygo.com
Chairman: Gary K. Willis, 54
President & CEO:
J. Bruce Robinson, 57
Revenues (FYE June 20): $87.243 million
Net profit/(loss) (FYE June 20): ($16.47 million)
Market capitalization: $725 million
Employees: 486
|
Business New Haven
10/30/2000
By: BNH
|
For Middlefield-based Zygo (NASDAQ: ZIGO), it has been quite a year. Its stock has ranged from a 52-week low of 15 3/4 to a high of 98 3/8 before settling down in the summer tech self-off to a per-share price in the mid-60s. The stock was hammered again in late October and knocked down to about $52.per share on October 26.
The stock's volatility aside, the overall market recognition the company is receiving has been a long time coming for this Connecticut technology company. Zygo was founded in 1970, with investment from Canon Inc. (its largest customer, accounting for 22 percent of sales) and Wesleyan University.
Zygo makes precision quality-control equipment, including electro-optical measuring instruments automation systems, optical components and fiber-optical modules. A principal product - and the first the company introduced - is an interferometer, which measures the physical characteristics of a product (a machine part, for example), such as surface shape and roughness, by using two beams of light (“zygo” is Greek for “pair”).
On October 18, the company reported its fiscal 2001 first quarter results. Net sales for the first quarter ended September 30 totaled $23,932,000, an increase of $5,329,000, or 29 percent, from the $18,603,000 recorded for the same period in 1999.
For the three months ending September 30, sales in the semiconductor segment were $15,090,000, or 63 percent of the toal. Sales in the industrial segment were $7,518,000 (31 percent), and sales in the telecommunications segment were $1,324,000 (six percent).
The company recorded net income of $817,000 in the three months ended September 30, an increase of 43 percent over the net income of $572,000 in the three months ended September 30, 1999. According to the company, the improvement was achieved due to sales volume increases, which led to improved gross and operating margins. Net earnings on a basic per-share basis were six cents for the quarter ending September 30, compared with five cents for the comparable prior-year period.
Sales for fiscal year 2000 (ending June 30) rose to $87.243 million, compared to $63.382 million, an increase of 38 percent over the previous year. Profits before non-recurring charges were $4.798 million, or 34 cents per share diluted, versus a loss of $3.876 million, or 33 cents per share, in the 1999 fiscal year.
Fiscal year 2000's sales momentum was in sharp contrast to 1999, which saw a drop in sales of 36 percent from 1998, attributable to weak Asian markets as well as weak semiconductor and data-storage markets.
While the company's prospects have brightened significantly, its fiscal 2000 operating profits were wiped out to a loss of $16.47 million, the result of acquisition costs and the reorganization of the company's West Coast operations. The non-recurring costs were $14 million and $10.567 million, respectively.
On May 5, the company announced the completion of its acquisition of Firefly Technologies Inc. of Holliston, Mass. Firefly is a manufacturer of metrology equipment and components for use in the telecommunications and optical data-storage markets. Zygo paid for the acquisition with 2.3 million shares of its common stock in a tax-free exchange.
On October 5, Needham & Co. recommended the company's stock with an upgrade to “strong buy” from “buy.” That recommendation followed a May 8 upgrade by ING Barings to “strong buy.” That recommendation reversed a downgrade by the same firm last January from “strong buy” to “buy.”
Zygo's recent rich evaluation is in part due to its presence in the hot semiconductor-equipment market (accounting for 65 percent of its current sales), as well as its foray into the optical networking market. Telecommunications markets accounted for only six percent of sales in the most recent quarter, but the company recently acquired Firefly, and a series of sales and partnerships point to a positive direction for the new strategy of entering the optical-telcom market.
In June, Zygo announced a major OEM contract and a month later the company gained what it hopes to be a $25 million product-development and manufacturing deal with the Salem, N.H.-based LightChip Inc. for equipment for that company's deployment of optical-networking systems in Metropolitan Area Networks.
Expansion possibilities are aided by the company's global focus, with about 45 percent of sales coming from international markets.
Through much of 2000, several directors and executive sold some 175,000 shares of its stock at prices ranging from the low $30s to about $80 a share. No insider purchases were made during that period.
Chairman Willis sold approximately 100,000 shares this past August in the mid $70s. Willis has announced his intention to step down at the end of the year.
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
