EBITDA.  Qorvo defines EBITDA as earnings before interest expense and interest income, income tax expense (benefit), depreciation and intangible amortization.  Management believes that this measure is useful to evaluate our ongoing operations and as a general indicator of our operating cash flow (in conjunction with a cash flow statement which also includes among other items, changes in working capital and the effect of non-cash charges).

Non-GAAP ROIC.  Return on invested capital (ROIC) is a non-GAAP financial measure that management believes provides useful supplemental information for management and the investor by measuring the effectiveness of our operations' use of invested capital to generate profits.  We use ROIC to track how much value we are creating for our shareholders.  Non-GAAP ROIC is calculated by dividing annualized non-GAAP operating income, net of an adjustment for income taxes (as described above), by average invested capital.  Average invested capital is calculated by subtracting the average of the beginning balance and the ending balance of current liabilities (excluding the current portion of long-term debt and other short-term financings) from the average of the beginning balance and the ending balance of net accounts receivable, inventories, other current assets, net property and equipment and a cash amount equal to seven days of quarterly revenue.

Net debt or positive net cash.  Net debt or positive net cash is defined as unrestricted cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments minus any borrowings under our credit facility and the principal balance of our senior unsecured notes.  Management believes that net debt or positive net cash provides useful information regarding the level of Qorvo's indebtedness by reflecting cash and investments that could be used to repay debt.

Forward-looking non-GAAP measures. Our earnings release contains forward-looking gross margin, income tax rate and diluted earnings per share.  We provide these non-GAAP measures to investors on a prospective basis for the same reasons (set forth above) that we provide them to investors on a historical basis.  We are unable to provide a reconciliation of the forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable forward-looking GAAP financial measures without unreasonable effort due to variability and difficulty in making accurate projections for items that would be required to be included in the GAAP measures, such as stock-based compensation, integration related costs, restructuring costs and the provision for income taxes. We believe such reconciliations would imply a degree of precision that would be confusing or misleading to investors.

Limitations of non-GAAP financial measures.  The primary material limitations associated with the use of non-GAAP financial measures as an analytical tool compared to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures are these non-GAAP financial measures (i) may not be comparable to similarly titled measures used by other companies in our industry, and (ii) exclude financial information that some may consider important in evaluating our performance, thus limiting their usefulness as a comparative tool.  We compensate for these limitations by providing full disclosure of the differences between these non-GAAP financial measures and the corresponding GAAP financial measures, including a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the corresponding GAAP financial measures, to enable investors to perform their own analysis of our gross profit and gross margin, operating expenses, operating income, net income, net income per diluted share and net cash provided by operating activities. We further compensate for the limitations of our use of non-GAAP financial measures by presenting the corresponding GAAP measures more prominently.

Qorvo will conduct a conference call at 5:00 p.m. EST today to discuss today’s press release.  The conference call will be broadcast live over the Internet and can be accessed by any interested party at www.qorvo.com (under “Investors”).  A telephone playback of the conference call will be available approximately two hours after the call’s completion and can be accessed by dialing 719-457-0820 and using the passcode 9710671.  The playback will be available through the close of business February 14, 2019.

About Qorvo

Qorvo (NASDAQ:QRVO) makes a better world possible by providing innovative Radio Frequency (RF) solutions at the center of connectivity. We combine product and technology leadership, systems-level expertise and global manufacturing scale to quickly solve our customers’ most complex technical challenges. Qorvo serves diverse high-growth segments of large global markets, including advanced wireless devices, wired and wireless networks and defense radar and communications. We also leverage unique competitive strengths to advance 5G networks, cloud computing, the Internet of Things, and other emerging applications that expand the global framework interconnecting people, places and things. Visit www.qorvo.com to learn how Qorvo connects the world.

Qorvo is a registered trademark of Qorvo, Inc. in the U.S. and in other countries. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

This press release includes "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.  These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements about our plans, objectives, representations and contentions and are not historical facts and typically are identified by use of terms such as "may," "will," "should," "could," "expect," "plan," "anticipate," "believe," "estimate," "predict," "potential," "continue" and similar words, although some forward-looking statements are expressed differently.  You should be aware that the forward-looking statements included herein represent management's current judgment and expectations, but our actual results, events and performance could differ materially from those expressed or implied by forward-looking statements.  We do not intend to update any of these forward-looking statements or publicly announce the results of any revisions to these forward-looking statements, other than as is required under U.S. federal securities laws.  Our business is subject to numerous risks and uncertainties, including those relating to fluctuations in our operating results, our dependence on a few large customers for a substantial portion of our revenue, a loss of revenue if contracts with the U.S. government or defense and aerospace contractors are canceled or delayed, our ability to implement innovative technologies, our ability to bring new products to market and achieve design wins, the efficient and successful operation of our wafer fabrication and other facilities, our ability to adjust production capacity in a timely fashion in response to changes in demand for our products, variability in manufacturing yields, industry overcapacity, inaccurate product forecasts and corresponding inventory and manufacturing costs, dependence on third parties, our dependence on international sales and operations, our ability to attract and retain skilled personnel and develop leaders, the possibility that future acquisitions may dilute our stockholders' ownership and cause us to incur debt and assume contingent liabilities, fluctuations in the price of our common stock, our ability to protect our intellectual property, claims of intellectual property infringement and other lawsuits, security breaches and other similar disruptions compromising our information, and the impact of government and stringent environmental regulations.  These and other risks and uncertainties, which are described in more detail in Qorvo's most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K and in other reports and statements filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission, could cause actual results and developments to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any of these forward-looking statements.

Financial Tables to Follow

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