Record revenues for NI

National Instruments has reported second quarter revenue of $127 million, an increase of 27% compared with the second quarter of 2003.

National Instruments has reported second quarter revenue of $127 million, an increase of 27% compared with the second quarter of 2003.

Operating income was up 70 %from Q2 2003 and fully diluted earnings per share (EPS) for Q2 were 14 cents with net income of $11.4 million, up 53% from Q2 2003.

The company had strong growth in all regions with sales growth of 23% in Asia, 27% in the Americas and 30% in Europe.

This represents the company's third consecutive quarter of record revenues.

The company has also announced a quarterly dividend of 5 cents per share on its common stock payable on 30th August 2004, to shareholders of record on 9th August 2004.

As of 30th June 2004 the company had $192 million of cash and short-term investments.

"I am very pleased with our new product execution in Q2, highlighted by record new product output from R and D", said Dr James Truchard, NI CEO.

"These new products, combined with the success of our strategic platforms including LabView, PXI and Compact FieldPoint, are taking virtual instrumentation deeper into test, design and control".

"Customer response to our products continues to be strong worldwide with revenue growth across all product areas", added Truchard.

"We are on track to deliver record revenues for the second half of the year as well as the full fiscal year, and we are focused on improving our operating leverage during Q3 and Q4".

"In Q2 we had outstanding revenue growth", said Alex Davern, NI CFO.

"While we delivered excellent operating income growth of 70%, we did not deliver the full operating leverage expected".

"The strengthening of the US dollar caused us to incur a $743,000 foreign exchange loss during Q2".

"For the second half of the year, we will be focused on continuing to grow the top line while moderating the growth in expenses to move our operating margins toward our goal of 18% in Q4".

Geographically, the growth of revenue in US dollar terms for Q2 2004 compared with Q2 2003 was as follows: up 27% in the Americas, up 30% in Europe and up 23% in Asia, giving overall growth of 27%.

In local currency terms, revenue was up 12% in Europe, up 19% in Asia and up 27% in the Americas for an overall local currency growth of 20%.

The company is expecting revenue in Q3 2004 to increase sequentially to between $127 million and $131 million.

This would represent an increase of between 21 to 25% over Q3 2003.

In Q3 2004, the company expects to report total operating expenses of approximately $81 million and fully diluted EPS of between $0.13 and $0.16, up from $0.10 in Q3 2003.

NI is currently expecting to report record revenue for Q4 2004 and fully diluted EPS of between $0.23 and $0.26, up from $0.14 in Q4 2003.

National Instruments will hold its 10th annual NIWeek conference from 17th to 19th August 2004 in Austin, Texas.

NIWeek is a key event for launching new products and meeting with customers and strategic partners.

The event will kick off with a keynote address by Tim Dehne, Senior Vice President of Research and Development, where the company will introduce and demonstrate major new products that expand NI's market opportunity.

Early registration is at record levels, with nearly 30% growth compared with last year.

Back to top