subject: Logitech Beats Estimates [print this page] Logitech International SA (LOGI) posted first-quarter 2011 revenues of $479 million, up 47% from the prior-year quarter. Earnings per share were 11 cents, exceeding the Zacks Consensus Estimate of 3 cents.
Logitech faced continued improvement in sell-through across Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), the Americas and Asia-Pacific, with the strongest growth in EMEA and sell-through of products improving in the Americas and Asia-Pacific. Remotes were the fastest growing retail product category, delivering an eightfold improvement in sales year over year. Pointing devices was the second fastest growing retail category, with growth of 46%, led by strong demand for cordless mice.
Gross margin at 35.3% was a significant improvement from the 23.9% posted in the first quarter of fiscal 2010.
Logitech's retail sales and units grew by 39%. Looking at regional sales in local currency, EMEA climbed by 31% and Asia by 22% compared with the U.S. dollar growth of 21% in EMEA and 24% in Asia. This was due to a stronger dollar versus other currencies. Units were up by 33% in the Americas, by 42% in EMEA and by 45% in Asia-Pacific. Overall, retail average selling price in the quarter was essentially unchanged from the prior-year quarter.
Sales of products priced above $100 represented 15% of retail sales in the first quarter, up from 12% in the prior-year quarter and unchanged from the prior quarter.
The remote category was the best performing product family in the quarter with sales over eight times higher than the prior year and units up by over three times.
Growth was led by the Harmony One with notable contributions from both the Harmony 300. It was a robust quarter in the pointing device category, with sales up 46% and units up 60%. The growth was achieved in all regions and was driven by cordless mice with sales up 57%. Logitech achieved triple-digit sales and unit growth in both the high-end and the low-end of the major cordless mice price bands.
In keyboard and desktop category sales rose by 31% and by double digits in all regions. The growth was driven entirely by cordless offerings. Cordless desktop sales were up by 50% with growth in both the high-end and the low-end of the cordless desktop category.
Logitech's sales in the video category grew by 10%, but units were up by 41%. The significantly stronger unit growth primarily reflects the phase out of several older products, for new, high definition webcams.
In the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) category there was double-digit growth for the first time in seven quarters, with sales up by 38% and units by 35%. The growth was led primarily by OEM mice, with sales up by 22% and units by 27%, as well as microphones for console singing games.
The cash position at the quarter end was $317 million, down by $250 million compared to the prior-year quarter. Logitech used $382 million for the acquisition of LifeSize in December 2009, and another $126 million for share repurchases over the past 12 months.
Logitech's cash flow from operations for the quarter was $6 million, a decrease of $69 million compared with the same quarter last year. The primary cause for the year-over-year decline was the sequential investment in inventory and receivables in the most recent quarter.
For fiscal 2011, Logitech is targeting sales of between $2.3 billion and $2.35 billion. The company anticipates gross margin at around 34%35%, and anticipates operating income of roughly $160$170 million.
We currently have a Neutral recommendation on Logitech.
