CIMdata PLM Industry Summary Online Archive
13 April 2007
Financial News
Mentor Graphics Issues First Quarter Fiscal Year 2008 Guidance: Raises Annual Guidance
Mentor Graphics Corporation announced guidance for fiscal quarter ending April 30, 2007, the first quarter of Fiscal 2008. At the beginning of calendar 2007, the company changed its fiscal year to the twelve months ending January 31 and, accordingly, had a one-month 2007 transition period. At that time, the company stated that until completion of the accounting close for that period, the company would not provide quarterly guidance. The company has now substantially completed its accounting close for the one-month period ended January 31, 2007 and is in a position to provide guidance for first quarter and full fiscal year 2008.
The company expects revenue of about $187 million, GAAP earnings per share of approximately $.01 to $.03 and non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately $.08 to $.10 for the fiscal quarter ending April 30, 2008. Based on the strong bookings growth through the first quarter, the company is also raising its full fiscal year 2008 revenue guidance to approximately $844 million, with GAAP earnings per share of approximately $.75 and non-GAAP earnings per share of approximately $1.01.
Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Mentor Graphics management evaluates and makes operating decisions using various performance measures. In addition to our GAAP results, we also consider adjusted gross margin, operating margin and net income (loss), which we refer to as non-GAAP gross margin, operating margin and net income (loss), respectively. These non-GAAP measures are derived from the revenues of our product, maintenance and services business operations and the costs directly related to the generation of those revenues, such as cost of revenue, research and development, sales and marketing and general and administrative expenses, that management considers in evaluating our ongoing core operating performance. These non-GAAP measures exclude amortization of purchased intangible assets, merger and acquisition charges, special charges, equity plan-related compensation expenses and charges and gains which management does not consider reflective of our core operating business.
Purchased intangible assets consist primarily of purchased technology, backlog, trade names, customer relationships and employment agreements. Merger and acquisition charges represent in-process research and development charges related to products in development that had not reached technological feasibility at the time of acquisition. Special charges consist of post-acquisition rebalance costs including severance and benefits, excess facilities and asset-related charges, and also include strategic reallocations or reductions of personnel resources. Equity plan-related compensation expenses represent the fair value of all share-based payments to employees, including grants of employee stock options, as required under SFAS No. 123 (revised 2004), "Share-Based Payment" (SFAS 123R). For purposes of comparability across other periods and against other companies in our industry, non-GAAP net income (loss) is adjusted by the amount of additional taxes or tax benefit that the company would accrue using a normalized effective tax rate applied to the non-GAAP results.
In certain instances our GAAP results of operations may not be profitable when our corresponding non-GAAP results are profitable or vice versa. The number of shares on which our non-GAAP EPS is calculated may therefore differ from the GAAP presentation due to the anti-dilutive effect of stock options in a loss situation.
Non-GAAP gross margin, operating margin and net income (loss) are supplemental measures of our performance that are not required by, or presented in accordance with, GAAP. Moreover, they should not be considered as an alternative to any performance measure derived in accordance with GAAP, or as an alternative to cash flow from operating activities or as a measure of our liquidity. We present non-GAAP gross margin, operating margin and net income (loss) because we consider them to be important supplemental measures of our operating performance and profitability trends, and because we believe they give investors useful information on period-to-period performance as evaluated by management.
Management excludes from its non-GAAP measures certain recurring items to facilitate its review of the comparability of the company's core operating performance on a period-to-period basis because such items are not related to the company's ongoing core operating performance as viewed by management.
Management considers our core operating performance to be that which can be affected by our managers in any particular period through their management of the resources that affect our underlying revenue and profit generating operations during that period. Management uses this view of its operating performance for purposes of comparison with its business plan and individual operating budgets and allocation of resources. Additionally, when evaluating potential acquisitions, management excludes the items described above from its consideration of target performance and valuation. More specifically management adjusts for the excluded items for the following reasons:
Amortization charges for our purchased intangible assets are inconsistent in amount and frequency and are significantly impacted by the timing and magnitude of the company's acquisition transactions. We therefore consider our operating results without these charges when evaluating our core performance. Generally, the most significant impact to inter-period comparability of the company's net income (loss) is in the first twelve months following the acquisition.
Special charges are primarily severance related and are due to the company's reallocation or reduction of personnel resources driven by modifications of business strategy or business emphasis and by assimilation of acquired businesses. These costs are originated based on the particular facts and circumstances of business decisions and can vary in size. Special charges also include excess facility and asset-related restructuring charges. These charges are not specifically included in the company's annual operating plan and related budget due to the rapidly changing technology and competitive environment in our industry. We therefore exclude them when evaluating our managers' performance internally.
Merger and acquisition charges are in-process R&D charges, which are largely disregarded as acquisition decisions are made and which often result in charges that vary significantly in size and amount. Management excludes these charges when evaluating the impact of an acquisition transaction and our ongoing performance.
Management supplementally considers performance without the impact of stock-based compensation charges and believes this information is useful to investors to compare our performance to prior periods before SFAS 123R and to the performance of other companies in our industry who present non-GAAP results adjusted to exclude stock compensation expense. We view stock-based compensation as a key element of our employee retention and long-term incentives, not as an expense that should be an element of evaluating core operations in any given period. We therefore exclude these charges for purposes of evaluating our core performance.
Income tax expense (benefit) is adjusted by the amount of additional tax expense or benefit that we would accrue if we used non-GAAP results instead of GAAP results in the calculation of our tax liability, taking into consideration the company's long-term tax structure. We use a normalized effective tax rate of 17%, which reflects the weighted average tax rate applicable under the various tax jurisdictions in which the company operates. This non-GAAP weighted average tax rate is subject to change over time for various reasons, including changes in the geographic business mix and changes in statutory tax rates.
Non-GAAP net income (loss) also facilitates comparison with other companies in our industry, which use similar financial measures to supplement their GAAP results. However, non-GAAP net income (loss) has limitations as an analytical tool, and you should not consider this measure in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. In the future the company expects to continue to incur expenses similar to the non-GAAP adjustments described above and exclusion of these items in our non-GAAP presentation should not be construed as an inference that these costs are unusual, infrequent or non-recurring. Some of the limitations in relying on non-GAAP net income (loss) are:
Amortization of purchased intangibles, though not directly affecting our current cash position, represents the loss in value as the technology in our industry evolves, is advanced or is replaced over time. The expense associated with this loss in value is not included in the non-GAAP net income (loss) presentation and therefore does not reflect the full economic effect of the ongoing cost of maintaining our current technological position in our competitive industry, which is addressed through our research and development program.
The company regularly engages in acquisition and assimilation activities as part of its ongoing business and therefore we will continue to experience special charges and merger and acquisition charges on a regular basis. These costs also directly impact available funds of the company.
The company's stock option and stock purchase plans are important components of our incentive compensation arrangements and will be reflected as expenses in our GAAP results for the foreseeable future under SFAS 123R.
The company's income tax expense (benefit) will be ultimately based on its GAAP taxable income and actual tax rates in effect, which often differ significantly from the 17% rate assumed in our non-GAAP presentation.
Other companies, including other companies in our industry, may calculate non-GAAP net income (loss) differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.
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