InvenSense (INVN +0.00%) just turned in a better-than-expected fiscal first quarter of 2015, but the market doesn't seem particularly impressed. Even after declining 6.6% in Tuesday's regular session, shares of the motion-sensor specialist rose a modest 1% in after-hours trading.
That doesn't mean InvenSense's results weren't impressive. Quarterly revenue rose 59% year over year to $106.3 million, which is $1.3 million above the high end of InvenSense's previous guidance range. That translated to 10.5% growth in adjusted net income to $12.6 million, or $0.14 per diluted share. Analysts were less optimistic on both fronts, with consensus estimates calling for revenue of $102.4 million and earnings of $0.12 per share.
"This was a solid quarter for us," added InvenSense CEO Behrooz Abdi, "with both revenue and profits slightly higher than expected. Our performance reflects strong market position in our core motion products across the majority of OEMs, as well as the continued adoption of gyro-enabled optical image stabilization technology by major OEMs worldwide."
On new verticals/diversification
As per usual during the subsequent conference call, InvenSense provided a breakdown of revenue by market segment. Here are its latest numbers compared with the previous quarter:
| Segment | % of Q1 2016 Revenue | % of Q4 2015 Revenue |
|---|---|---|
| Smartphones and Tablets | 72% | 71% |
| Optical Image Stabilization | 16% | 18% |
| Other (including Internet of Things) | 12% | 11% |
Of particular note is the relative strength in both Smartphones and Tablets and InvenSense's "Other" segment, each of which gained ground as a percentage of total revenue during the quarter. But that's not to say InvenSense's exciting Optical Image Stabilization platform is losing steam. To the contrary, Abdi elaborated during the call that OIS is continuing to build momentum. Particularly in South Korea, InvenSense's OIS solutions have been adopted in all major flagship smartphones. And even though OEMs in the region are aggressively driving cost reductions, OIS still enjoys the potential for incremental revenue by continuing to push its way further down into lower-tier smartphones down the road.
Abdi also pointed to "exciting design win traction" for InvenSense's new FireFly family of products, which is an integrated three-processor system-on-a-chip using InvenSense's proprietary software architecture. Most notably, InvenSense anticipates that Firefly will aid Chinese smartphone makers in their quest for increasing technological sophistication, differentiation, and faster product times to market by alleviating them of the burden of designing and building their own high-tech sensor packages. All told, InvenSense expects its newest portfolio of motion, audio, and software solutions to meaningfully contribute to revenue by the end of this fiscal year.
A big new customer
Keeping in mind InvenSense had only two customers last quarter comprise at least 10% of total sales -- namely Apple (AAPL 0.50%) at 32%, and Samsung (NASDAQOTH: SSNLF) at 29% -- this quarter it added another large, unnamed OEM to the mix. As it stood in fiscal Q1, InvenSense's top three customers comprised 38%, 23%, and 10% of total revenue, respectively.
Geographically, InvenSense also continued to gain share in the United States, where it derived 41% of total sales, up from 36% last quarter. Trailing a distant second was South Korea, whose share of total revenue fell to 27% in fiscal Q1 from 34% last quarter, while China increased to 23% from 18% over the same period. Meanwhile Japan stayed roughly even at 4%, Taiwan fell to 3% from 6%, and the Rest of World segment stayed even sequentially at around 2%.
Moving forward
On guidance, InvenSense didn't provide any updates to its full-year growth expectations. But for the current quarter, management did tell investors to expect revenue in the range of $106 million to $114 million, and adjusted net income per share of $0.13 to $0.15. By contrast, Wall Street was expecting slightly higher fiscal second-quarter revenue of $115.5 million, and adjusted earnings of $0.17 per share.
When unsurprisingly pressed for details during the Q&A portion of the call, CFO Mark Detinger elaborated, "We are a little concerned with the macro issues we are hearing about -- some of it is China growth, some with the consumer sentiment coming out of the United States." Even so, he also pointed out the mid-point of InvenSense's top line guidance represents relatively healthy 22% year-over-year growth.
To a lesser extent, an impending shift in the mix toward larger OEMs also played a role. Specifically, Detinger says, while InvenSense's pricing environment remains roughly stable, "our successes with large customers also come with a price. And that is that they do get volume discounts, and that's certainly a factor creeping into guidance."
With that in mind, the market's initial muted reaction to InvenSense's quarterly beat makes more sense. Nonetheless, investors should be encouraged that InvenSense is continuing to make progress in its key growth initiatives, while simultaneously reaffirming its market leadership position by securing additional large customers. With its growth story firmly intact and the stock down more than 20% so far in 2015 as of this writing, I'll be holding tight to my own InvenSense shares.
