Axcelis Technologies, Inc. (NASDAQ:ACLS) Q4 2022 Earnings Conference Call February 9, 2023 8:30 AM ET

Company Participants

Mary Puma - CEO, President & Director

Kevin Brewer - EVP & CFO

Douglas Lawson - EVP, Corporate Marketing & Strategy

Conference Call Participants

Nathaniel Bolton - Needham & Company

Craig Ellis - B. Riley Securities

Mark Miller - The Benchmark Company

David Duley - Steelhead Securities

Christian Schwab - Craig-Hallum

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to Axcelis Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2022 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions].

I would now like to hand the conference over to Mary Puma, President and CEO of Axcelis Technologies. Please go ahead.

Mary Puma

Thank you, . With me today is Kevin Brewer, Executive Vice President and CFO; and Doug Lawson, Executive Vice President of Corporate Marketing and Strategy. We are all participating in this call remotely, so I would like to apologize in advance for any technical difficulties. If you have not seen a copy of our press release issued yesterday, it is available on our website. Playback service will also be available on our website as described in our press release.

Please note that comments made today about our expectations for future revenues, profits and other results are forward-looking statements under the SEC safe harbor provision. These forward-looking statements are based on management's current expectations and are subject to the risks inherent in our business. These risks are described in detail in our Form 10-K annual report and other SEC filings, which we urge you to review. Our actual results may differ materially from our current expectations, we do not assume any obligation to update these forward-looking statements.

Good morning, and thank you for joining us for our fourth quarter and year-end 2022 earnings call. As a result of strong execution by the Axcelis team and robust demand for the Purion product family, we are pleased to announce record quarterly and annual revenues. Revenue for the fourth quarter was $266.1 million, with earnings per share of $1.71. Revenue for the full year 2022 was $920 million with record annual earnings per share of $5.46. As a result of a record backlog of over $1.1 billion, continued solid bookings and strong customer demand in the power device market, we expect both revenue and earnings to grow in 2023.

For the first quarter of 2023, we expect revenue of approximately $240 million, gross margin of roughly 41.5% and operating profit of around $48 million and earnings per share of approximately $1.25. For the full year 2023, Axcelis revenues are expected to exceed $1 billion. This represents revenue growth of over 8% in a year in which overall wafer fab equipment is expected to decrease by over 20%.