STMicroelectronics Reports 2021 First Quarter Financial Results

STMicroelectronics (NYSE: STM), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, reported U.S. GAAP financial results for the first quarter ended April 3, 2021. This press release also contains non-U.S. GAAP measures (see Appendix for additional information).

ST reported first quarter net revenues of $3.02 billion, gross margin of 39.0%, operating margin of 14.6%, and net income of $364 million or $0.39 diluted earnings per share.

Jean-Marc Chery, STMicroelectronics President & CEO, commented:

• “In the first quarter of 2021, net revenues increased 35.2% year-over-year. All product groups contributed to this growth, on continued acceleration of demand globally. Operating margin improved 420 basis points to 14.6% and net income increased 89.6% to $364 million.
• “On a sequential basis, net revenues decreased 6.8%, 270 basis points above the mid-point of our outlook. Automotive and Power Discrete products and Microcontrollers increased sequentially, partially offset by Personal Electronics products.
• “ST’s second quarter outlook, at the mid-point, is for net revenues of $2.9 billion, increasing year-over-year by 39%, and decreasing sequentially by 3.8% due to usual seasonality in Personal Electronics; gross margin is expected to be about 39.5%.
• “We will drive the Company based on a plan for FY21 revenues of $12.1 billion, plus or minus $150 million, a year-over-year increase of 18.4% at the mid-point. This growth is expected to be driven by strong dynamics in all end markets we address and our engaged customer programs.
• “For 2021, we now plan to invest about $2.0 billion in CAPEX to support the strong market demand and our strategic initiatives.”

Quarterly Financial Summary (U.S. GAAP)

1. Non-U.S. GAAP. See Appendix for reconciliation to U.S. GAAP and information explaining why the Company believes these measures are important.

Net revenues totaled $3.02 billion, a year-over-year increase of 35.2%. On a year-over-year basis, the Company recorded higher net sales in all product groups except the RF Communications (former “Digital”) sub-group. Year-over-year net sales to OEMs and Distribution increased 21.4% and 76.2%, respectively. On a sequential basis, net revenues decreased 6.8%, 270 basis points above the mid-point of the Company’s guidance. ADG and MDG reported increases in net revenues on a sequential basis while AMS decreased.

Gross profit totaled $1.18 billion, a year-over-year increase of 38.9%. Gross margin of 39.0% increased 110 basis points year-over-year, mainly due to lower unloading charges, manufacturing efficiencies and improved mix partially offset by negative currency effects, net of hedging. First quarter gross margin was 50 basis points above the mid-point of the Company’s guidance mainly due to better product mix.

Operating income increased 90.3% to $440 million, compared to $231 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company’s operating margin increased 420 basis points on a year-over-year basis to 14.6% of net revenues, compared to 10.4% in the 2020 first quarter.

By product group, compared with the year-ago quarter:

Automotive and Discrete Group (ADG):

• Revenue increased in both Automotive and in Power Discrete.
• Operating profit increased by 280.4% to $85 million. Operating margin was 8.2% compared to 3.0%.

Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group (AMS):

• Revenue increased in Analog, MEMS and Imaging.
• Operating profit increased by 5.4% to $187 million. Operating margin was 17.2% compared to 20.8%.

Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group (MDG):

• Revenue increased in Microcontrollers and decreased in RF Communications.
• Operating profit increased by 140.5% to $172 million. Operating margin was 19.4% compared to 11.5%.

Net income and diluted earnings per share increased to $364 million and $0.39, respectively, compared to $192 million and $0.21, respectively, in the year-ago quarter.

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet Highlights

Capital expenditure payments, net of proceeds from sales, were $405 million in the first quarter. In the year-ago quarter, capital expenditures, net, were $266 million.

Inventory at the end of the first quarter was $1.84 billion, compared to $1.77 billion in the year-ago quarter. Day sales of inventory at quarter-end was 91 days compared to 118 days in the year-ago quarter.

Free cash flow (non-U.S. GAAP) was $261 million in the first quarter, up from $113 million in the year-ago quarter.

In the first quarter, the Company paid cash dividends to its shareholders totaling $38 million and executed a $156 million share buy-back as part of its previously announced share repurchase program.

ST’s net financial position (non-U.S. GAAP) was $1.19 billion at April 3, 2021 compared to $1.10 billion at December 31, 2020 and reflected total liquidity of $4.16 billion and total financial debt of $2.97 billion.

Business Outlook

The Company’s guidance, at the mid-point, for the 2021 second quarter is:

• Net revenues are expected to be $2.9 billion, a decrease of 3.8% sequentially, plus or minus 350 basis points;
• Gross margin of about 39.5%, plus or minus 200 basis points;
• This outlook is based on an assumed effective currency exchange rate of approximately $1.18 = €1.00 for the 2021 second quarter and includes the impact of existing hedging contracts.
• The second quarter will close on July 3, 2021.

The Company expects its 2021 CAPEX to be about $2 billion.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

STMicroelectronics will conduct a conference call with analysts, investors and reporters to discuss its first quarter 2021 financial results and current business outlook today at 9:30 a.m. Central European Time (CET) / 3:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (ET). A live webcast (listen-only mode) of the conference call will be accessible at ST’s website, http://investors.st.com, and will be available for replay until May 14, 2021.

Use of Supplemental Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Information

This press release contains supplemental non-U.S. GAAP financial information.

Readers are cautioned that these measures are unaudited and not prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and should not be considered as a substitute for U.S. GAAP financial measures. In addition, such non-U.S. GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled information from other companies. To compensate for these limitations, the supplemental non-U.S. GAAP financial information should not be read in isolation, but only in conjunction with the Company’s consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.

See the Appendix of this press release for a reconciliation of the Company’s non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to their corresponding U.S. GAAP financial measures.

Forward-looking Information

Some of the statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 or Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended) that are based on management’s current views and assumptions, and are conditioned upon and also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those anticipated by such statements, due to, among other factors:

• changes in global trade policies, including the adoption and expansion of tariffs and trade barriers, that could affect the macro-economic environment and adversely impact the demand for our products;
• uncertain macro-economic and industry trends, which may impact end-market demand for our products;
• customer demand that differs from projections;
• the ability to design, manufacture and sell innovative products in a rapidly changing technological environment;
• changes in economic, social, public health, labor, political, or infrastructure conditions in the locations where we, our customers, or our suppliers operate, including as a result of macroeconomic or regional events, military conflicts, social unrest, labor actions, or terrorist activities;
• unanticipated events or circumstances, which may impact our ability to execute our plans and/or meet the objectives of our R&D and manufacturing programs, which benefit from public funding;
• legal, political and economic uncertainty surrounding Brexit may be a continued source of instability in international markets and currency exchange rate volatility and may adversely affect business activity, political stability and economic conditions and while we do not have material operations in the U.K. and have not experienced any material impact from Brexit on our underlying business to date, we cannot predict its future implications;
• financial difficulties with any of our major distributors or significant curtailment of purchases by key customers;
• the loading, product mix, and manufacturing performance of our production facilities and/or our required volume to fulfill capacity reserved with suppliers or third party manufacturing providers;
• availability and costs of equipment, raw materials, utilities, third-party manufacturing services and technology, or other supplies required by our operations;
• the functionalities and performance of our IT systems, which are subject to cybersecurity threats and which support our critical operational activities including manufacturing, finance and sales, and any breaches of our IT systems or those of our customers or suppliers;
• theft, loss, or misuse of personal data about our employees, customers, or other third parties, and breaches of global and local privacy legislation, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (“GDPR”);
• the impact of intellectual property (“IP”) claims by our competitors or other third parties, and our ability to obtain required licenses on reasonable terms and conditions;
• changes in our overall tax position as a result of changes in tax rules, new or revised legislation, the outcome of tax audits or changes in international tax treaties which may impact our results of operations as well as our ability to accurately estimate tax credits, benefits, deductions and provisions and to realize deferred tax assets;
• variations in the foreign exchange markets and, more particularly, the U.S. dollar exchange rate as compared to the Euro and the other major currencies we use for our operations;
• the outcome of ongoing litigation as well as the impact of any new litigation to which we may become a defendant;
• product liability or warranty claims, claims based on epidemic or delivery failure, or other claims relating to our products, or recalls by our customers for products containing our parts;
• natural events such as severe weather, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions or other acts of nature, the effects of climate change, health risks and epidemics such as the COVID-19 in locations where we, our customers or our suppliers operate;
• the duration and the severity of the global outbreak of COVID-19 may continue to negatively impact the global economy in a significant manner for an extended period of time, and also could materially adversely affect our business and operating results;
• industry changes resulting from vertical and horizontal consolidation among our suppliers, competitors, and customers; and
• the ability to successfully ramp up new programs that could be impacted by factors beyond our control, including the availability of critical third party components and performance of subcontractors in line with our expectations.

Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results and performance of our business to differ materially and adversely from the forward-looking statements. Certain forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “are expected to,” “should,” “would be,” “seeks” or “anticipates” or similar expressions or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions.

Some of these risk factors are set forth and are discussed in more detail in “Item 3. Key Information — Risk Factors” included in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2020, as filed with the SEC on February 24, 2021. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this release as anticipated, believed, or expected. We do not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update any industry information or forward-looking statements set forth in this release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

Further information can be found at www.st.com