Mentor Graphics Reports Fiscal Third Quarter Results

Mentor Graphics Corporation (NASDAQ: MENT) today announced financial results for the company’s fiscal third quarter ended October 31, 2014. The company reported revenues of $292.7 million, non-GAAP earnings per share of $0.34, and GAAP earnings per share of $0.18.

“We had revenue and non-GAAP earnings per share that were both records for a third quarter,” said Walden C. Rhines, chairman and CEO of Mentor Graphics. “Strength in automotive products and services continued in the quarter and expanded into the broader transportation market, as aerospace and commercial vehicles also transition from mechanical to electronic systems. We are pleased with our momentum heading into the fourth quarter, with continued strength in transportation, high demand for design-to-silicon products and a growing pipeline of emulation customers.”

During the quarter Mentor Graphics announced its newest offering and key building block in the Xpedition® platform, the Xpedition Systems Designer product for multi-board systems connectivity. The company also announced an integration with Lumerical’s INTERCONNECT to enable new silicon photonics design methodologies that leverage the Mentor Graphics® Pyxis™ and Calibre® platforms.

TSMC certified the Mentor® Analog FastSPICE (AFS™) Platform for 16nm FinFET processes during the quarter. Mentor also announced that the Olympus-SoC™ digital design system, the Analog FastSPICE Platform and the Calibre® signoff solution now meet TSMC’s 10nm FinFET process requirements for early customers’ test chip and IP design starts.

“Mentor had another successful quarter which again demonstrated strong leverage. A 6% revenue upside to guidance drove an over 60% increase in non-GAAP earnings per share,” said Gregory K. Hinckley, president of Mentor Graphics. “Renewals in our top ten bookings were up 55%, driven by strong transportation cabling demand and competitive replacement. We have also seen strong growth in services – particularly automotive. This is not surprising as new products and new customers need services to adopt new design methodologies. Service strength is typically a good leading indicator of future demand.”

Outlook

For the fourth quarter of fiscal 2015, the company expects revenues of about $425 million, non-GAAP earnings per share of about $1.07 and GAAP earnings per share of approximately $1.01. For the full year fiscal 2015, the company expects revenues of about $1.230 billion, non-GAAP earnings per share of about $1.75, and GAAP earnings per share of approximately $1.31.

Dividend

The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.05 per share. The dividend is payable on January 2, 2015 to shareholders of record at the close of business on December 10, 2014.

Fiscal Year Definition

Mentor Graphics Corporation’s fiscal year runs from February 1 to January 31. The fiscal year is dated by the calendar year in which the fiscal year ends. As a result, the first three fiscal quarters of any fiscal year will be dated with the next calendar year, rather than the current calendar year.

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 profit, operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share which we refer to as non-GAAP gross profit, operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share, 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 intangible assets, special charges, equity plan-related compensation expenses, interest expense associated with the amortization of original issuance debt discount on convertible debt, the equity in earnings or losses of unconsolidated entities (except Frontline PCB Solutions Limited Partnership (Frontline)), and the impact on basic and diluted earnings per share of changes in the calculated redemption value of noncontrolling interests, which management does not consider reflective of our core operating business.

Management excludes from our non-GAAP measures certain recurring items to facilitate its review of the comparability of our core operating performance on a period-to-period basis because such items are not related to our 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 our operating performance for purposes of comparison with our 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:

• Identified intangible assets consist primarily of purchased technology, backlog, trade names, and customer relationships. Amortization charges for our intangible assets can vary in frequency and amount due to the timing and magnitude of acquisition transactions. We consider our operating results without these charges when evaluating our core performance due to the variability. Generally, the most significant impact to inter-period comparability of our net income is in the first twelve months following an acquisition.
• Special charges may include expenses related to certain litigation costs, employee severance, acquisitions, excess facility costs, and other asset related charges. Special charges are incurred based on particular facts and circumstances and can vary in size and frequency. Litigation costs classified as special charges consist of professional service fees related to patent litigation involving us, EVE S.A., and Synopsys, Inc. These costs are included in special charges because of their unusual nature due to the significance in variability of timing and amount. Restructuring costs included in special charges include costs incurred for employee terminations, including severance and benefits, driven by modification of business strategy or business emphasis. Special charges are not ordinarily included in our annual operating plan and related budget due to unpredictability, driven in part by rapidly changing technology and the competitive environment in our industry. We therefore exclude them when evaluating our managers’ performance internally.
• Equity plan-related compensation expenses represent the fair value of all share-based payments to employees, including grants of employee stock options and restricted stock units, and purchases made as a result of the employee stock purchase plan. We do not consider equity plan-related compensation expense in evaluating our managers’ performance internally or our core operations in any given period.
• Interest expense attributable to amortization of the original issuance debt discount on convertible debt is excluded. Management does not consider this charge as a part of our core operating performance. We do not consider the amortization of the original issuance debt discount on convertible debt to be a direct cost of operations.
• Equity in earnings or losses of unconsolidated entities represents our equity in the net income (loss) of common stock investments accounted for under the equity method. The carrying amounts of our investments are adjusted for our share of earnings or losses of the investee. We report our equity in the earnings or losses of investments in other income (expense), net (with the exception of our investment in Frontline as discussed below). The amounts are excluded from our non-GAAP results as we do not control the results of operations for the investments and we do not participate in regular and periodic operating activities; therefore, management does not consider these investments as a part of our core operating performance.
• The Company maintains a 50% interest in Frontline, a joint venture. We report our equity in the earnings or losses of Frontline within operating income. Although we do not exert control, we actively participate in regular and periodic activities such as budgeting, business planning, marketing and direction of research and development projects. Accordingly, we do not exclude our share of Frontline’s earnings or losses from our non-GAAP results as management considers the joint venture to be core to our operating performance.
• Income tax expense 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 our long-term tax structure. We use a normalized effective tax rate of 17%, which reflects the weighted average tax rate applicable under the various jurisdictions in which we operate. This non-GAAP tax rate eliminates the effects of non-recurring and period specific items which are often attributable to acquisition decisions and can vary in size and frequency and considers our U.S. loss carryforwards that have not been previously benefited. This rate is subject to change over time for various reasons, including changes in the geographic business mix and changes in statutory tax rates. Our GAAP tax rate for the nine months ended October 31, 2014 is 6% after consideration of period specific items. Without period specific items of ($2.4 million), our GAAP tax rate is 13%. Our full fiscal year 2015 GAAP tax rate, inclusive of period specific items recognized through October 31, 2014, is projected to be 11%. The GAAP tax rate considers certain mandatory and other non-scalable tax costs which may adversely or beneficially affect our tax rate depending upon our level of profitability in various jurisdictions.
• Our agreement with the owners of noncontrolling interests in one of our subsidiaries gives them a right to require us to purchase their interests for a price based on a formula defined in the agreement. Under GAAP, increases (or decreases to the extent they offset previous increases) in the calculated redemption value of the noncontrolling interests are recorded directly to retained earnings and therefore do not affect net income. However, as required by GAAP, these amounts are applied to increase or decrease the numerator in the calculation of basic and diluted earnings per share. Management does not consider fluctuations in the calculated redemption value of noncontrolling interests to be relevant to our core operating performance.

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 earnings per share is calculated may therefore differ from the GAAP presentation due to the anti-dilutive effect of stock options, restricted stock units, and employee stock purchase plan shares in a loss situation.

Non-GAAP gross profit, operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share are supplemental measures of our performance that are not 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 as a measure of our liquidity. We present non-GAAP gross profit, operating income, operating margin, net income, and earnings per share 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. Non-GAAP net income also facilitates comparison with other companies in our industry, which use similar financial measures to supplement their GAAP results. Non-GAAP net income has limitations as an analytical tool, and therefore should not be considered in isolation or as a substitute for analysis of our results as reported under GAAP. In the future, we expect 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 are:

• Amortization of intangible assets 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 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.
• We regularly evaluate our business to determine whether any operations should be eliminated or curtailed. Additionally, as part of our ongoing business, we engage in acquisition and assimilation activities and patent litigation. We therefore will continue to experience special charges on a regular basis. These costs also directly impact our available funds.
• Our stock incentive and stock purchase plans are important components of our incentive compensation arrangements and will be reflected as expenses in our GAAP results.
• Our income tax expense will be ultimately based on our GAAP taxable income and actual tax rates in effect, which often differ significantly from the 17% rate assumed in our non-GAAP presentation. In addition, if we have a GAAP loss and non-GAAP net income, our non-GAAP results will not reflect any projected GAAP tax benefits. Similarly, in the event we were to have GAAP net income and a non-GAAP loss, our GAAP tax expense would be replaced by a credit in our non-GAAP presentation.
• Other companies, including other companies in our industry, calculate non-GAAP net income differently than we do, limiting its usefulness as a comparative measure.

About Mentor Graphics

Mentor Graphics Corporation is a world leader in electronic hardware and software design solutions, providing products, consulting services and award-winning support for the world’s most successful electronic, semiconductor and systems companies. Established in 1981, the company reported revenues in the last fiscal year in excess of $1.15 billion. Corporate headquarters are located at 8005 S.W. Boeckman Road, Wilsonville, Oregon 97070-7777. World Wide Web site: http://www.mentor.com/.

(Mentor Graphics, Mentor, Calibre, and Xpedition are registered trademarks and Pyxis, AFS and Olympus-SoC are trademarks of Mentor Graphics Corporation. All other company and/or product names are the trademarks and/or registered trademarks of their respective owners.)

Statements in this press release regarding the company’s guidance for future periods constitute “forward-looking” statements based on current expectations within the meaning of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Such forward- looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other factors that may cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company or industry results to be materially different from any results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include, among others, the following: (i) weakness in the European Union, China, Japan or other international economies, and the potential adverse impact of such weakness on the semiconductor and electronics industries; (ii) the company’s ability to successfully offer products and services that compete in the highly competitive EDA industry, including the risk of obsolescence for our hardware products; (iii) product bundling or discounting of products and services by competitors, which could force the company to lower its prices or offer other more favorable terms to customers;(iv) effects of the volatility of foreign currency fluctuations on the company’s business and operating results; (v) litigation, including the company’s ongoing patent litigation with EVE and Synopsys, Inc.; (vi) changes in accounting or reporting rules or interpretations, including new rules affecting revenue recognition; (vii) the impact of tax audits by the IRS or other taxing authorities, or changes in applicable tax laws, regulations or enforcement practices; (viii) effects of unanticipated shifts in product mix on gross margin; and (ix) effects of customer mergers or divestitures, customer seasonal purchasing patterns and the timing of significant orders which may negatively or positively impact the company’s quarterly results of operations; all as may be discussed in more detail under the heading “Risk Factors” in the company’s most recent Form 10-K or Form 10-Q. Given these uncertainties, prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements. In addition, statements regarding guidance do not reflect potential impacts of mergers or acquisitions that have not been announced or closed as of the time the statements are made. Mentor Graphics disclaims any obligation to update any such factors or to publicly announce the results of any revisions to any of the forward-looking statements to reflect future events or developments.