Camtek Ltd Q3 FY2025 Earnings Call

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for being here. Welcome to Camtek's Results Zoom Webinar. My name is Kenny Green, and I'm a part of the Investor Relations team at Camtek. I want to remind everyone that this conference call is being recorded, and the recording will be available via the link in the earnings press release and on Camtek's website starting tomorrow. You should have received the company's press release by now. If not, please check the company's website. Joining me on the call today are Mr. Rafi Amit, CEO; Mr. Moshe Eisenberg, CFO; and Mr. Ramy Langer, COO. Rafi will begin with an overview of Camtek's results and discuss recent market trends. Moshe will then summarize the financial results for the quarter. After that, Rafi, Moshe, and Ramy will be available to answer your questions. Before we start, I want to remind everyone that the statements made by management on this call may include forward-looking statements as defined by federal securities laws. These statements are subject to various changes, risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ significantly. For more details on risk factors that may affect Camtek's results, please refer to Camtek's earnings release and SEC filings, particularly the forward-looking statements and risk factors noted in the recent press release issued today, along with other risk factors mentioned in Camtek's latest annual report on SEC Form 20-F. Camtek is not obligated to update these forward-looking statements based on new information or future events. Our discussion of financial results today will be on a non-GAAP financial basis unless stated otherwise. A detailed reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial results is included in today's earnings release. Now, I will turn the call over to Rafi Amit, Camtek's CEO. Rafi, please proceed.

Thanks, Kenny. Hello, everyone. Camtek concluded the third quarter with record performance. Q3 revenues reached a record $126 million, reflecting over 12% growth year-over-year. We also maintained a solid gross margin of 51.5%, contributing to a record operating income of over $37.6 million. Our strong cash position of approximately $800 million, including the additional cash generated by our successful $500 million convertible notes offering in Q3, provides us with the financial flexibility to drive growth organically as well as to explore potential opportunities for inorganic growth across our market. Revenue distribution remained in line with our expectations and closely matched last quarter's result. High-performance computing applications contributed approximately 45% of total revenue, while other advanced packaging applications accounted for about 25%. The balance came from CMOS image sensors, compound semiconductor front-end applications, and other general applications. We continue to see a shift of CoWoS-like production toward OSATs, a trend that is favorable for our business, given our strong position within this segment. We've received significant orders for installation this year from two Tier 1 OSATs for CoWoS and CoWoS-like applications. We have also received significant orders from several OSATs for fan-out application. Regarding the HBM market, we maintain our leadership position with all the manufacturers. Our tools are not only qualified but actually are the tools of reference for 3D metrology steps for HBM4 at all the HBM players. We have installed tools for HBM this quarter and through the entire year for both 3D and 2D steps and have orders on hand for HBM shipment for the next quarter. Regarding our guidance for Q4, based on our current orders, our sales pipeline, and ongoing customer engagement, we expect Q4 2025 revenue to be around $125 million, representing annual revenue of $495 million, a record year for Camtek with strong growth of 15% over 2024. Let me share some of our recent technological development and business highlights. We continue to enhance our technological capabilities and strengthen our competitive edge. The next generation of devices that will power the future of HPC will require cutting-edge inspection and advanced 3D metrology solutions, areas in which Camtek is strongly positioned and continues to innovate. Our new product, Eagle G5, and Hawk, were designed to meet the most demanding new requirements and at the same time, perform at very high throughput. These models have been very well received by the market and are expected to contribute approximately 30% of our revenue in 2025 with an even larger share expected next year. The Eagle G5 has been recently selected for 2D applications over our main competitor at a major IDM, and we have received multiple orders for installation this year and into '26. We have also won significant business at two Tier 1 OSATs after an evaluation of multiple vendors, including our main competitors. Regarding the Hawk, we have already received repeat orders from a major Tier 1 player for shipment in 2026 and 2027 after multiple Hawk systems were used flawlessly in production for several months. The Hawk provides the most advanced 3D performance in terms of throughput and accuracy. This is our ninth generation of white light triangulation that provides superior coverage for different bump types and process steps compared with laser triangulation technology used by our competitors. We are planning to introduce an enhanced version of the Hawk early next year, featuring significant improvement in throughput and overall performance across both 3D metrology and 2D inspection. This advancement will further strengthen the Hawk's position as the most advanced tool in the segment. Regarding the 2D inspection domain, we have made significant investments over the past year to expand our capabilities for both the Hawk and Eagle G5 in the 2D inspection applications. We have implemented breakthrough HI driving algorithms into our detection technologies. We are currently evaluating these innovations with key customers, and we are confident that these new cutting-edge inspection solutions will enable us to further grow our market share in this segment. I would now like to share some insights regarding the HPC market. With the accelerated adoption of AI and the recent announcement of a major data center investment by leading industry players, it is clear that the industry is heading toward a significant expansion of manufacturing capacity. Only the HBM portion is expected to more than double itself in the next three years. That said, we expect a natural time lag between those investment announcements and the actual purchase of equipment to support this new capacity. Turning to our preliminary outlook for 2026. This industry development, which points to sustained growth and continued investment in wafer fab equipment, strengthens our expectation that 2026 will be another year of growth for Camtek. At this stage, we expect our 2026 revenue to be weighted toward the second half of the year with a somewhat slower start, as the market continues to absorb existing capacity before the next wave of expansion begins. In summary, the massive investment in data centers and the accelerating adoption of AI-driven applications are expected to translate into increasing demand for advanced semiconductor manufacturing equipment. With Camtek's strong market position and the cutting-edge capabilities we have recently added, we are well positioned to capitalize on this trend and deliver significant growth while further expanding our market share in the coming years. And now Moshe will review the financial results.

Thank you, Rafi. In my financial summary, I will present the results on a non-GAAP basis. The reconciliation between the GAAP results and the non-GAAP results is provided in the table at the end of the press release issued earlier today. Third-quarter revenues reached a record $126 million, reflecting a 12% increase compared to the third quarter of 2024. The geographic revenue breakdown for the quarter was as follows: Asia represented 93%, while the rest of the world accounted for 7%. Gross profit for the quarter was $65 million, resulting in a gross margin of 51.5%, which is similar to the previous quarter and an improvement from the same quarter last year. Operating expenses for the quarter were $27.2 million, up from $22.9 million in the third quarter of last year and $26.6 million in the previous quarter, primarily due to increased R&D expenses. Operating profit for the quarter was $37.6 million, compared to $34.2 million in the third quarter of last year and $37.4 million in the second quarter. The improvement over last year is attributed to the rise in gross profit, partially offset by higher operating expenses. The operating margin was 30%, consistent with last year and the previous quarter. Financial income for the quarter was $6.5 million, compared to $6.4 million last year and $4.9 million in the previous quarter. Within that, interest income saw a slight increase due to a higher cash balance from operating profits, as well as from the convertible notes issued toward the end of the quarter. Net income for the third quarter of 2025 stood at $40.9 million or $0.82 per diluted share, compared to a net income of $30 million or $0.75 per share in the third quarter of last year. The total diluted shares by the end of the third quarter were $50.3 million, with the number expected to rise to around 51 million shares in the next quarter due to the full-quarter impact of the convertible notes. Regarding our balance sheet and cash flow metrics, cash and cash equivalents, including both short- and long-term deposits and marketable securities, totaled $794 million as of September 30, 2025, compared to $543.9 million at the end of the second quarter. We generated $34.3 million in cash from operations during the quarter. During this period, we successfully completed a $500 million offering of new convertible notes while repurchasing $267 million of existing convertible notes valued at $167 million, which was a more cost-effective option. This activity resulted in the creation of a tax asset amounting to $12.3 million, leading to a one-time GAAP loss of $89 million net. The positive net cash flow from these activities was $219 million. Inventory levels decreased to $142 million from $149 million due to improved planning efficiencies. Accounts receivable stayed stable at $112 million, representing 81 days outstanding. As Rafi mentioned earlier, we anticipate revenues of approximately $127 million in the fourth quarter. With that, Rafi, Ramy, and I are now available to take your questions.

Rafi, you mentioned the timing lag between announcement and implementation. I'm curious if there's a similar timing lag between DRAM front-end equipment investment and packaging. How should we consider this in light of your comments about the second half being more significant next year? Is that largely due to that timing lag? Also, can you elaborate on the expected moderation in the first half? What are your thoughts on how large the second half could be based on orders and customer engagement?

We are currently in the process of preparing next year's budget. As we gather all relevant information and discussions with customers, we have a strong pipeline that suggests we can be quite confident about the second half of the year and somewhat for the first half. Our delivery time typically spans about three to four months at most, making it challenging to make predictions beyond that timeframe. Based on the information we've compiled, we are more assured about the second half, and Ramy can provide additional details on this.

Charles, we feel very comfortable that 2026 is going to be a growth year. We feel comfortable. But speaking with customers and seeing all the announcements, there is no doubt that it's going to be growth. We have the pipelines, and we feel very comfortable about next year. I think at this stage, we cannot anticipate exactly the numbers, and we don't usually give any indications about one quarter after the next one. So at this stage, we cannot provide solid guidance about the first quarter. So we are very, very comfortable about 2026. It will be a growth year. We feel that the second half will be better than the first half, although the numbers and exactly how will be the details, it's too early to comment at this stage.

Got it. Yes. Moshe, maybe a question for you. The OpEx looks like Q3, there's a good amount of R&D expense increase, maybe offset by a slight moderation in SG&A. I think based on all the commentary you talked about Eagle G5, Hawk, it's probably not a surprise R&D expense come up a little bit. But still would like to see if you can provide any more color on the R&D expense. And let's say, going forward, do you expect this level of R&D will continue? And how should we think about a little bit of that in Q4 and beyond Q4? How do you plan for OpEx?

Definitely, Charles. So definitely, the one area within the OpEx that we continue to increase and spend more resources on is R&D. We see that as an investment for our future growth. We are continuously adding capabilities, as you heard from Rafi in his prepared remarks. So we do not expect any major decline in R&D, but it could vary from quarter to quarter based on certain activities, but it will remain at this level and should increase as a percentage of revenue as we grow the revenue, sorry.

Maybe firstly, China has clearly been a very strong geography for Camtek this year. Can you comment on what has driven the strength? And off a strong 2025, do you expect China to grow in 2026 and also more second half weighted?

We feel comfortable with what's happening in China. We see continued investments. As you know, a lot of the business in China is more OSATs related, and there is a lot of room to continue and invest in this space. We are seeing also investments, by the way, from other OSATs in the world. So all in all, I think the OSAT segment is pretty healthy. I think Rafi mentioned in his prepared remarks that we have won business in a couple of OSATs, significant orders. So we definitely expect China to continue and be healthy in 2026.

Okay. Great. Reflecting again also on your commentary about a slower start to next year. It sounds like the preliminary outlook might be for Q1 revenue to decline relative to Q4 levels. Is this more tied to HPC or China? And would you expect Q1 revenue to still improve on a year-over-year basis?

So I think at this stage, we've said that it's too early for us to comment on accurate numbers. We're not in a position to state them. And I think Rafi mentioned it and we talked about in the prepared remarks. I think what is important that we see 2026 as a growth year. There are lots of opportunities. Definitely, the HPC continues to be very strong. If you take the HBM, the HBM business is growing at over 30% a year. It's going to double in the next 3 years. And we see a lot of investments there. Our market position, as we mentioned, is very strong at all the HBM manufacturers. We are the tool of reference for the HBM4 at each of these locations. So we feel comfortable. And I think in 3 months, we'll be in a much better position to comment.

First, just maybe a little more detail on that first half versus second half weighting. Any areas of your business or end markets that are seeing this dynamic more pronounced? And then what's giving you that confidence in the second half balance? Is that actual orders on the books today? Or is that more just generally what you're seeing in terms of those industry trends and customer conversations?

So the way we work with our customers, we hold a lot of discussions with them. We build a very detailed, what we call, a pipeline that is per customer, per the requirements that he's doing. And then we correlate it with what we see on the market. So all in all, and I think you have seen from previous years that we were able to understand the market and more or less be on target with the discussion that we had with you guys. So I think that from those discussions, understanding the market, understanding the HPC market is a market that is going to grow. But I think that what you see from the things that we are seeing around there, as we said, there is a certain time lag. And we don't think it's going to be very long. It's probably going to be pretty short. And therefore, we are very confident with the second half while for the first half, we will be able to comment in 3 months. We have expanded our business in 2024 and 2025, and we certainly anticipate similar growth in 2026. High-performance computing represents about 50% of our operations, and looking forward, we are confident this segment will continue to expand. The growth of HBM and the contributions from CoWoS will be significant. We are observing increasing applications, and the NVIDIA applications with the servers are a notable example. By the end of 2026 and into 2027, we expect substantial growth in the density of HBM memory that will be used for these applications.

I wanted to start, Ramy, with one for you that just goes a little bit deeper into some of the things that have come up so far. So as we think about second half weighted calendar '26 growth, can you help us understand how Camtek is positioned for that from a manufacturing capacity standpoint currently? Do you have what you need? Do you need to add? And when will you need to start bringing in working capital? Because I think everything we all see suggests, this will be one of the bigger capacity ramps we've seen in a long time. And then since shipping costs have been an issue at times in the past, in the middle of the income statement, how will we manage shipping costs for a potentially significant surge in shipments in the back half of the year?

So general form the manufacturing capacity, and I think we discussed in previous meetings, we already about a year ago, added a significant portion of capacity. We are also going to add some capacity in Europe, as we discussed, in order to have another buffer just in case that we need more capacity. So from a capacity point of view, we have enough clean room space. We have enough employees. And therefore, from that point of view, we feel very comfortable. Currently, we are running at 2 shifts. We can always extend it to a third shift. But from that point of view, we feel very comfortable. From a material point of view, we're running, as Moshe mentioned, we're more efficient about the material flow. As a result, we were able to reduce the inventory. But all in all, we have enough material on hand to start the ramp, and we have excellent relationship with our subcontractors and other suppliers if we need to expedite material of any kind. Regarding the shipping cost, yes, we had a surge in the shipping cost in the past year. I think we overcame all of these issues. Shipping costs are back to normal. And hopefully, we do not see any issues regarding that. Did I answer your question, Craig?

We have hired our Chairman, Lior Aviram, to dedicate 1% of his time specifically for M&A activities, and we have also brought on another individual for this purpose. They function as a team and are doing an excellent job. We've mapped the industry and identified various segments such as inspection, metrology, software, and more that could integrate well with Camtek. Currently, we have around 40 potential customers or companies that we believe would be very interesting for us. We engage in discussions with them on a weekly basis, including visits to meet and talk with them. I'm optimistic that by 2026, we will see significantly better results from these efforts.

Can I just add a little bit that may be misunderstood? So Lior, our Executive Chairman, is 100%. Most of his time goes to just the M&A activities. And I think we are very comfortable with the progress that we are making and there are quite a few opportunities, but that's something that we will speak in future calls once we have more material information and we can share it.

Could you provide more details on the conversations regarding the supply chain in relation to AI announcements? Is there any expansion in discussions with leading-edge players, especially considering the increased conversations with OSATs?

There are many discussions happening with relevant manufacturers and customers related to high-performance computing. It’s challenging to quantify these conversations in a short time frame. This is why we feel confident that 2026 will be a growth year; there is a positive outlook about the future. The main focus now is on the timing and how quickly the ramp-up will occur. Overall, the activities are promising, and Rafi mentioned the progress and improvements being made across the industry. While we are seeing movement in the right direction, it will take some time to turn these announcements into immediate manufacturing plans. We expect to have more detailed discussions about this in about a quarter.

This is Ezra Weener on for Blayne. Can you discuss the differences between CoWos and HBM, specifically what is performing well and what is not, in relation to Q3 and the guidance for Q4, as well as the anticipated weakness early next year?

We bundle it all together as we call it high-performance computing because the reason is basically what is it? It's the CoWos, there is the chiplet and the chiplet is surrounded by stacks of HBMs. So it really is one business. And the orders can shift by quarter here and there per the different vendor. And today, it's a little bit more complex because you get the OSATs and the OSATs are also participating in the CoWos and CoWos-like business. And therefore, it's a little bit harder to tell you what is stronger versus the CoWos because we sometimes don't know what the OSATs are doing. So again, what I can tell you is that the business, the HPC continues to be strong. It will be strong also in the fourth quarter. It also will be strong in the range of 50% in 2026. We don't see any change in the pattern. I want to be careful because more detailed information is confidential. What I can share from our prepared remarks is that after a year since the introduction of the Hawk, we have identified potential to enhance performance and create a larger market gap. We will improve the throughput for both 3D metrology and inspection, and these changes will occur soon. We are in close communication with our customers, who are aware of what is coming. The key message I want to convey is that the Hawk will be the best equipment in its segment, and we take pride in its excellent performance and customer acceptance. It is already in successful production at multiple locations. We believe that with the improved version, our market position will strengthen even further once we implement these enhancements, which will happen very soon.

Start, could you talk about the utilization of your tools across your main customers, maybe particularly focusing on some of the HBM customers. Is there anywhere where you might be seeing a little more idle capacity given the amount of shipments over the last couple of years? And is that a headwind in the near term and partially explaining maybe the softer first half of the outlook?

First of all, we don't really know the utilization of our machines at our customers. We sometimes see pressure on us to fix the machines, but we don't really know these numbers. They keep them very close to their vest. So this is something that, unfortunately, I cannot comment on. What I can tell you is that all the machines that we are shipping are being installed and are being taken into production. I don't see any machines that are held that don't require immediate installation or are not used. From that point of view, I think the industry is healthy. People are using the equipment, and people want service and people are pushing us to do things and deliver our commitments as fast as possible. So from that point of view, I don't see any slowdown in the industry.

Michael, this is Moshe speaking. Yes, gross margin should gradually improve over the next few quarters as we ship more and more products from our new tools, the Hawk and the Gen 5, which have higher gross margin. Obviously, if there is a slower quarter, this may have an impact on the overall gross margin. But again, in general, the gross margin should improve over the current levels.

Can we revisit the competitive environment and market share dynamics? It appears that you gained some share in 2D, while a competitor mentioned 3D. Is it accurate to say that the overall situation is relatively stable with some fluctuations?

We have not lost any market share to our competitors. We believe that our new technologies and upcoming capabilities will likely help us increase our market share. While there may be a perception that gaining in 2D could mean a loss in 3D, that is not accurate. Our position in the 3D market is very strong, as we are the reference tool for all 3D metrology steps among HBM vendors and throughout the industry in OSATs, with very few exceptions. We are indeed in a strong position. The technologies we are implementing now and the new products we introduced a year ago are beginning to significantly impact our revenues, allowing us to gain market share and explore new applications. We can now perform tasks that were not possible a year ago, and with our enhanced capabilities, I expect we will be able to tackle even more applications. Our goal is to increase our market share in both 3D and 2D applications. If I consider advanced packaging as a whole, it's about 70% for us, with 50% coming from high-performance computing and another 20% from what we refer to as conventional advanced packaging. The primary application we see today is fan-out. While some of this is used in mobile, it has a range of applications. It’s challenging for me to pinpoint the end products, but fan-out is definitely a key application, and it's increasingly prominent in advanced packaging. I anticipate that this trend will continue into 2026.

There's been a lot of inquiry and very helpful color understandably on HBM and CoWoS. But my understanding is that the company is positioned quite well for hybrid bonding. And we do expect that to be very important as leading-edge foundry moves to backside power delivery. Can you talk about specific product traction, breadth of exposure there? And how we should think about hybrid bonding contributing to calendar '26 year-on-year growth?

So look, in general, hybrid bonding, we see it as an additional opportunity. I think in '26 from a revenues point of view, it's still going to be moderate. What we are seeing is more, I would say, the volumes are still. And we have a few machines at customer sites, major customer sites that are being used for the hybrid bonding, I would say, for the pilot lines or for the initial preproduction that they are doing. So definitely, there is a very nice opportunity there on the 2D inspection side. We see a lot of potential also on the metrology side. And this is something that we've been working on developing capabilities, and I believe this will contribute also in the long run. I think the volumes from hybrid bonding will come more into '27. I think in '26, it's not going to be so significant.

So that ends our question-and-answer session. Before I hand over back to Rafi for his closing statement, in the coming hours, we will upload the recording of this call to the IR section of Camtek's website. I'd like to thank everybody for joining this call and hand back to Rafi for your closing statement. Rafi, please.

Okay. I would like to sincerely thank all of you for your continued interest in Camtek. A special note of appreciation goes to our dedicated employees and exceptional management team for the outstanding performance and commitment. To our investors, I am truly grateful for your trust and long-term support. I look forward to updating you on our continued progress in the next quarter. Thank you very much, and goodbye.

Thanks, everyone. You may go ahead and disconnect.