InterDigital's Interesting Q4: Fool by Numbers

On Feb. 28, wireless technology specialist InterDigital Communications (Nasdaq: IDCC  ) released earnings for the fourth quarter ended Dec. 31.

• Sales increased 61%, primarily because of recurring patent license royalties and technology solution sales. Of the $65 million in sales, $12.5 million was related to Nokia (NYSE: NOK  ) .
• The 55% drop in net income can be attributed to a large one-time income tax benefit in Q4 of 2005. Operating income zoomed up to $26.2 million from $1.5 million.
• The stock carries a top-of-the-line five-star rating in Motley Fool CAPS.

(Figures in thousands, except per-share data)

Income Statement Highlights

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Sales	$65,068.0	$40,489.0	60.7%
Net Profit	$20,263.0	$45,030.0	(55.0%)
EPS	$0.37	$0.80	(53.8%)
Diluted Shares	54,558.0	56,370.0	(3.2%)

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

Margin Checkup

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change*
Gross Margin	No data	No data	No data
Operating Margin	40.9%	3.8%	37.1
Net Margin	31.1%	111.2%	(80.1)

*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.	$263,966.0	$105,708.0	149.7%
Accounts Rec.	$131,852.0	$19,534.0	575.0%

Liabilities	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Accounts Payable*	$50,150.0	$30,129.0	66.5%
Long-Term Debt**	$6,477.0	$3,496.0	85.3%

*Accounts payable includes accrued liabilities.
**Long-term debt includes long-term liabilities.

Learn the ways of the balance sheet.

Cash Flow Highlights

	Q4 2006	Q4 2005	Change
Cash From Ops.	($1,031.0)	($3,959.0)	N/A
Capital Expenditures*	$11,335.0	$5,777.0	96.2%
Free Cash Flow	($12,366.0)	($9,736.0)	N/A

*Capital expenditures include patent additions.

Find out why Fools always follow the money.

Related Foolishness:

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• InterDigital Re-Ups, Goes Up
• Dialing InterDigital

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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.