Orders from three major customers will help Nova Measuring Instruments Ltd. (Nasdaq:NVMI; TASE:NVMI) report record orders for stand-alone measuring tools in its second quarter financial report.
Market sources estimate that the orders reached $8 million, a figure higher than Nova's total first quarter sales.
Rehovot-based Nova did not release the names of the customers. The company is expected to supply and set up the tools ordered in the second and third quarters of this year.
Nova shares leaped over 90% in mid-day trading, and were up as much as 140% earlier in the day. The shares closed on Nasdaq at $0.77 on Friday, giving a market cap of $14.92 million.
The tools will be used for optical CD and thin film measurements in several development and manufacturing stages for technology as thin as 45-nanometers.
Nova's measuring tools are often integrated into the actual production machines, but these orders represent its recent move into stand alone systems. Nova president and CEO Gabi Seligsohn told "Globes" today, "Stand alone systems are more profitable for us (between $750,000 and $1 million per system, compared with $250-350,000 for integrated systems).
Globes: What effect will the orders forecast have on the financial results? Will you return to profitability?
Seligsohn: We don't supply a forecast, but in terms of profits, it can be remembered that we moved to a 4-day week, and we are after the wave of layoffs in November. Our estimate is that the breakeven point is $6.5-7 million. (That means the current orders should push Nova into profitability - EW)
Seligsohn said that the orders are a milestone for Nova. "The stand-alone market represents a meaningful growth engine for Nova, especially in light of the average selling prices, which are significantly higher than in the integrated metrology segment. The diversity of customers, as well as the deployment at different process steps both in production and in R&D, demonstrates that we are well positioned to grow our stand-alone market share as the industry continues to recover from the current downturn."
Nova develops, produces, and markets advanced integrated and stand-alone metrology solutions for the semiconductor manufacturing industry. Nova customers include Samsung, IBM, and Tower Semiconductor Ltd. (Nasdaq: TSEM; TASE: TSEM).
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on June 22, 2009
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