Five Stars for Veeco Instruments: Fool by Numbers

On Feb. 12, nanoscale instrument maker Veeco Instruments (Nasdaq: VECO  ) released fourth-quarter earnings for the period ended Dec. 31.

• Revenues increased by 9%, while bookings were up by 6%.
• The company expects first-quarter revenues to be in the range of $95 million-$105 million, with EPS around negative $0.10 to $0.03.
• Veeco carries a sterling five-star rating in Motley Fool CAPS.

(Figures in millions, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Sales	$123.1	$112.8	9.1%
Net Profit	$7.6	$2.7	183.7%
EPS	$0.24	$0.09	166.7%
Diluted Shares	31.2	30.3	3.0%

Get back to basics with a look at the income statement.

Margin Checkup

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change*
Gross Margin	44.5%	43.3%	1.2
Operating Margin	8.3%	5.9%	2.4
Net Margin	6.2%	2.4%	3.8

*Expressed in percentage points.

Margins are the earnings engine. See how they work.

Balance Sheet Highlights

Assets	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Cash + ST Invest.	$147.0	$124.5	18.1%
Accounts Rec.	$86.6	$89.2	(3.0%)
Inventory	$100.4	$88.9	12.9%

Liabilities	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Accounts Payable	$40.6	$31.3	29.7%
Long-Term Debt	$203.6	$229.2	(11.2%)

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

Management disappoints us by not providing a cash flow statement with earnings.

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Companies:

• Zygo (Nasdaq: ZIGO  )
• KLA-Tencor (Nasdaq: KLAC  )
• Nanometrics (Nasdaq: NANO  )

Related Foolishness:

• Veeco's Small Setback
• Veeco and FEI Give It the Old College Try
• Unbelievable Growth Is Just Beginning

Fool by Numbers is designed to give you the raw earnings information in a timely fashion, putting all the numbers you need in one easy-to-read place. But at The Motley Fool, we believe numbers tell only part of the story, so check Fool.com for more of our in-depth discussion of what the numbers mean. This data has been provided by Netscribes. To provide feedback on this article, please click on the "feedback" button below.