STMicroelectronics Reports 2021 Second Quarter Financial Results

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

ST reported second-quarter net revenues of $2.99 billion, gross margin of 40.5%, operating margin of 16.3%, and net income of $412 million or $0.44 diluted earnings per share.

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

• “Q2 net revenues and gross margin came in at the high-end of our business outlook range driven by continued strong demand globally.
• “On a year-over-year basis, Q2 net revenues increased 43.4%. Q2 gross margin of 40.5% and operating margin of 16.3% improved 550 and 1,120 basis points, respectively, and net income increased 357.2% to $412 million.
• “First half net revenues increased 39.1% year-over-year, driven by growth in all product groups, except the RF Communications sub-group. Operating margin was 15.5% and net income $776 million.
• “ST’s third quarter outlook, at the mid-point, is for net revenues of $3.20 billion, increasing year-over-year and sequentially by 20.0% and 7.0%, respectively; gross margin is expected to be about 41.0%.
• “We will now drive the Company based on a plan for FY21 revenues of $12.5 billion, plus or minus $100 million, a year-over-year increase of 22.3% at the mid-point. This growth is expected to be driven by strong dynamics in all the end markets we address and our engaged customer programs. Our CAPEX plan will now be about $2.1 billion for 2021.” 

Quarterly Financial Summary (U.S. GAAP)

Second Quarter 2021 Summary Review

Net revenues totaled $2.99 billion, a year-over-year increase of 43.4%. On a year-over-year basis, the Company recorded higher net sales in all product groups except the RF Communications sub-group. Year-over-year net sales to OEMs and Distribution increased 38.4% and 53.1%, respectively. On a sequential basis, net revenues decreased 0.8% but were 300 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 $1.21 billion, a year-over-year increase of 66.1%. Gross margin of 40.5% increased 550 basis points year-over-year, mainly driven by lower unloading charges, manufacturing efficiencies, favorable pricing and improved product mix partially offset by negative currency effects, net of hedging. Second quarter gross margin was 100 basis points above the mid-point of the Company’s guidance mainly due to more favorable pricing and improved product mix.

Operating income increased 358.8% to $489 million, compared to $106 million in the year-ago quarter. The Company’s operating margin increased 1,120 basis points on a year-over-year basis to 16.3% of net revenues, compared to 5.1% in the 2020 second 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 523.8% to $102 million. Operating margin was 9.5% compared to 2.3%.

Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group (AMS):

• Revenue increased in Analog, MEMS and Imaging.
• Operating profit increased by 234.2% to $189 million. Operating margin was 18.6% compared to 9.0%.

Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group (MDG):

• Revenue increased in Microcontrollers and decreased in RF Communications.
• Operating profit increased by 76.5% to $206 million. Operating margin was 22.9% compared to 15.9%.

Net income and diluted earnings per share increased to $412 million and $0.44, respectively, compared to $90 million and $0.10, respectively, in the year-ago quarter.

Cash Flow and Balance Sheet Highlights

Capital expenditure payments, net of proceeds from sales, were $438 million in the second quarter. In the year-ago quarter, capital expenditures, net, were $312 million.

Inventory at the end of the second quarter was $1.97 billion, compared to $1.96 billion in the year-ago quarter. Day sales of inventory at quarter-end was 101 days compared to 130 days in the year-ago quarter.

Free cash flow (non-U.S. GAAP) was $125 million in the second quarter, up from $28 million in the year-ago quarter.

In the second quarter, the Company paid cash dividends to its shareholders totaling $52 million and executed a $156 million share buy-back, completing its $750 million share repurchase program launched on November 5, 2018. On July 1, 2021, the Company announced the launch of a new share buy-back program of up to $1,040 million to be executed within a 3-year period.

ST’s net financial position (non-U.S. GAAP) was $1.08 billion at July 3, 2021 compared to $1.19 billion at April 3, 2021 and reflected total liquidity of $4.25 billion and total financial debt of $3.17 billion.

During the second quarter, ST exercised the call option for the early redemption of its 2024 Tranche B of the convertible bond issued in 2017. The settlement of the $750 million principal amount bond is expected to be completed in the third quarter.

Business Outlook

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

• Net revenues are expected to be $3.20 billion, an increase of 7.0% sequentially, plus or minus 350 basis points;
• Gross margin of about 41.0%, plus or minus 200 basis points;
• This outlook is based on an assumed effective currency exchange rate of approximately $1.19 = €1.00 for the 2021 third quarter and includes the impact of existing hedging contracts.
• The third quarter will close on October 2, 2021.

Conference Call and Webcast Information

STMicroelectronics will conduct a conference call with analysts, investors and reporters to discuss its second 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 August 13, 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.

For more information, visit www.st.com