FREMONT, Calif., March 30, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Aehr Test Systems (NASDAQ: AEHR), a worldwide supplier of semiconductor test and reliability qualification equipment, today announced financial results for its third quarter of fiscal 2023 ended February 28, 2023.

Fiscal Third Quarter Financial Results:

• Net sales were $17.2 million, up 13% from $15.3 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2022.
• GAAP net income was $4.1 million, or $0.14 per diluted share, up 84% compared to GAAP net income of $2.2 million, or $0.08 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2022, which includes the impact of a $1.0 million adjustment for excess and obsolete inventory related to legacy products.
• Non-GAAP net income, which excludes the impact of stock-based compensation, was $4.7 million, or $0.16 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $3.1 million, or $0.11 per diluted share, in the third quarter of fiscal 2022.
• Bookings were $33.3 million, the highest quarterly bookings in the Company’s history.
• Backlog as of February 28, 2023, was $31.6 million. Effective backlog which includes all orders received since the end of the third quarter is $41 million.
  

Fiscal First Nine Months Financial Results:

• Net sales were $42.7 million, up 40% from $30.5 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2022.
• GAAP net income was $8.4 million, or $0.29 per diluted share, compared to GAAP net income of $3.7 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, in the first nine months of fiscal 2022, which includes the impact of a $1.7 million gain from the forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program loan and a $1.0 million excess and obsolete inventory adjustment related to legacy products.
• Non-GAAP net income was $10.5 million, or $0.36 per diluted share, which excludes the impact of stock-based compensation, compared to non-GAAP net income of $4.1 million, or $0.15 per diluted share, in the first nine months of fiscal 2022, which excludes the impact of stock-based compensation, and forgiveness of the Paycheck Protection Program loan.
  

An explanation of the use of non-GAAP financial measures and a reconciliation of Aehr’s non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures can be found in the accompanying tables.

Gayn Erickson, President and CEO of Aehr Test Systems, commented:

“Aehr had another great quarter, with revenue and net income ahead of consensus estimates. We finished the quarter with record bookings for a single quarter of $33.3 million and a strong backlog of $31.6 million. Our effective backlog which includes all orders received since the end of the third quarter is $41 million. Total bookings for the fiscal year to date including over $9 million in bookings received in March is $72.5 million.

“Our momentum in silicon carbide wafer level burn-in continues to grow. During the quarter, our second major silicon carbide semiconductor customer moved from an initial FOX-NP™ dual wafer system for engineering and qualification to purchasing their first production FOX-XP™ multi-wafer test and burn-in systems including our new high voltage option with high voltage arc suppression technology. These systems will be upgraded to include our new fully integrated and automated WaferPak™ Aligner that we are beginning shipments of this quarter. Last week, we announced a follow-on order from this customer for production quantities of our WaferPak full wafer Contactors that will be used with these systems. We believe that this major silicon carbide customer will purchase a large number of our FOX-XP systems to meet their publicly announced significant increase in planned capacity and revenue growth over the next several years and through the end of the decade.

“In addition, our lead silicon carbide customer continued to ramp up their production and their use of our FOX-XP production systems and WaferPak Contactors. During the quarter, we received a $25 million order for a significant number of additional FOX-XP wafer level test and burn-in systems scheduled to ship over the next six to seven months to meet their increased capacity needs for producing silicon carbide devices for electric vehicles, chargers, and electrification infrastructure. Earlier this month, we also announced a $6.7 million follow-on order for WaferPaks from the same customer, representing about half of the total WaferPak full wafer Contactors needed for these FOX-XP systems that each have the capacity to test and burn-in 18 full wafers of devices at a time. 

“We also continue to make great progress with our previously announced benchmarks and engagements with prospective new customers. We continue to work closely with one of the largest silicon carbide players in the world on a large wafer level benchmark and qualification. We are excited that this large wafer level benchmark and qualification continues toward success as the silicon carbide supplier finishes their internal processes to complete the qualification. As with our other large silicon carbide customers, we expect this silicon carbide supplier to require significant capacity of wafer level test and burn-in systems to meet the fast-growing demand for silicon carbide devices and electric vehicles over the next decade.

“We also had a very productive quarter in terms of new customer engagements, which has continued into this quarter. With essentially all Covid-related restrictions behind us throughout the world, our customer-facing meetings and our progress on new customer opportunities have grown substantially. Since last quarter’s conference call, we have added commitments from three additional companies currently making silicon carbide to move forward with full wafer level evaluations and/or directly to purchase our systems.

“In addition to our momentum in silicon carbide, we are also now engaged with several gallium nitride semiconductor suppliers ranging from Radio Frequency (RF) to power devices. Since our last call, we also received a commitment from a very large multinational semiconductor supplier to move forward with a full wafer level evaluation of gallium nitride devices. This evaluation includes our new high voltage option for doing the critical High Temperature Reverse Bias stress test needed for gallium nitride MOSFETs and amplifiers. We believe gallium nitride will be a significant market, driven by some very high-volume applications such as RF amplifiers, consumer electronic power converters and chargers, solar power inverters, and charger and converter applications in standard and electric vehicles. Feedback from companies has been that several of these applications will require production burn-in to meet the applications’ critical quality and reliability needs. With our proven FOX-XP wafer level burn-in solution and its cost-effective ability to test thousands of devices in parallel and up to nine wafers at a time with high voltage capability, we believe we are well positioned to capitalize on this opportunity and believe gallium nitride can expand our total addressable market in a meaningful way.

“We also continue to be enthusiastic about the silicon photonics market, especially as it looks to expand its use beyond fiber optic transceivers to become an embedded application that integrates fiber optic technology into the chipsets. Multiple market leaders have publicly discussed their investments to integrate silicon photonics transceivers into their microprocessors, graphics processors, and chipsets. While we believe this transition is still several years out, we also believe the silicon photonics test and burn-in market can become significant and could grow to be as large or larger than the silicon carbide market later in this decade.

“We are very encouraged by the continued positive momentum and expanding growth opportunities we see with our current and prospective customers. We remain confident that our bookings will grow faster than revenue this fiscal year as the ramp in demand for silicon carbide and electric vehicles increases, setting us up with strong momentum heading into our fiscal 2024 that begins in June.”

Update on ATM Offering

Aehr Test Systems is also providing an update today on its previously announced offer to sell up to $25 million of the Company’s common stock on the open market via an At-The-Market (ATM) offering. During the quarter, the Company received gross proceeds totaling $7.3 million on the sale of 208,917 shares at an average price of $34.78 per share, and $17.7 million remains available under this ATM. Under the terms of the ATM equity distribution agreement, the company may not sell shares during the Company’s closed trading windows when it is deemed the company may be in possession of material non-public information. The Company only plans on selling shares against the ATM during open trading windows and when it believes it would provide the best source of capital with minimal dilution to existing shareholders.