STMicroelectronics N.V. (“ST”), a global semiconductor leader serving customers across the spectrum of electronics applications, reported U.S. GAAP financial results for the third quarter ended September 30, 2023. This press release also contains non-U.S. GAAP measures (see Appendix for additional information).
ST reported third quarter net revenues of $4.43 billion, gross margin of 47.6%, operating margin of 28.0%, and net income of $1.09 billion or $1.16 diluted earnings per share.
Jean-Marc Chery, ST President & CEO, commented:
- “Q3 net revenues of $4.43 billion came in above the midpoint of our business outlook range, and Q3 gross margin of 47.6% was slightly above guidance.”
- “Q3 net revenues increased 2.5% year-over-year. As expected, the revenue performance was driven mainly by continued growth in Automotive, partially offset by lower revenues in Personal Electronics.”
- “On a year-over-year basis, gross margin remained stable at 47.6%, while, as expected, operating margin decreased to 28.0% from 29.4% and net income was stable at $1.09 billion.”
- “First nine months net revenues increased 11.1% year-over-year, driven by growth in ADG and MDG Product Groups, partially offset by a decline of AMS Product Group. Operating margin was 27.6% and net income was $3.14 billion.”
- “Our fourth quarter business outlook, at the mid-point, is for net revenues of $4.30 billion, declining year-over-year and sequentially by about 3%; gross margin is expected to be about 46%.”
- “The midpoint of this outlook translates into full year 2023 revenues of about $17.3 billion, representing 7.3% year-over-year growth and a gross margin of about 48.1%.”
Quarterly Financial Summary (U.S. GAAP)
| (US$ m, except per share data) | Q3 2023 | Q2 2023 | Q3 2022 | Q/Q | Y/Y |
| Net Revenues | $4,431 | $4,326 | $4,321 | 2.4% | 2.5% |
| Gross Profit | $2,109 | $2,119 | $2,059 | -0.5% | 2.4% |
| Gross Margin | 47.6% | 49.0% | 47.6% | -140 bps | – |
| Operating Income | $1,241 | $1,146 | $1,272 | 8.2% | -2.4% |
| Operating Margin | 28.0% | 26.5% | 29.4% | 150 bps | -140 bps |
| Net Income | $1,090 | $1,001 | $1,099 | 8.9% | -0.8% |
| Diluted Earnings Per Share | $1.16 | $1.06 | $1.16 | 9.4% | – |
Third Quarter 2023 Summary Review
Net Revenues By Product Group (US$ m)
Q3 2023
Q2 2023
Q3 2022
Q/Q
Y/Y
Automotive and Discrete Group (ADG)
2,025
1,955
1,563
3.6%
29.6%
Analog, MEMS and Sensors Group (AMS)
990
940
1,380
5.3%
-28.3%
Microcontrollers and Digital ICs Group (MDG)
1,412
1,427
1,374
-1.0%
2.8%
Others
4
4
4
–
–
Total Net Revenues
4,431
4,326
4,321
2.4%
2.5%
Net revenues totaled $4.43 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 2.5%. On a year-over-year basis, ADG and MDG revenues increased 29.6% and 2.8% respectively, while AMS decreased 28.3%. Year-over-year net sales to OEMs and Distribution increased 2.1% and 3.4%, respectively. On a sequential basis, net revenues increased 2.4%, 130 basis points better than the mid-point of ST’s guidance. ADG and AMS both reported an increase in net revenues on a sequential basis, and MDG slightly decreased, as expected.
Gross profit totaled $2.11 billion, representing a year-over-year increase of 2.4%. Gross margin of 47.6% was stable year-over-year, as improved product mix was offset by higher manufacturing costs and unused capacity charges.
Operating income decreased 2.4% to $1.24 billion, compared to $1.27 billion in the year-ago quarter. ST’s operating margin decreased 140 basis points on a year-over-year basis to 28.0% of net revenues, compared to 29.4% in the 2022 third quarter
Corporate developments
On September 19, 2023, the ST Supervisory Board announced that it would propose for shareholder approval at ST’s 2024 Annual General Meeting of Shareholders, the reappointment of Jean-Marc Chery for a three-year mandate as the sole member of the Company’s Managing Board and its President and Chief Executive Officer, and that Mr. Chery had accepted the proposal.
Business Outlook
ST’s guidance, at the mid-point, for the 2023 fourth quarter is:
Net revenues are expected to be $4.30 billion, a decrease of about 3% sequentially, plus or minus 350 basis points.
Gross margin of 46%, plus or minus 200 basis points.
This outlook is based on an assumed effective currency exchange rate of approximately $1.08 = €1.00 for the 2023 fourth quarter and includes the impact of existing hedging contracts.
The fourth quarter will close on December 31, 2023.
Conference Call and Webcast Information
ST will conduct a conference call with analysts, investors and reporters to discuss its third quarter 2023 financial results and current business outlook today at 9:30 a.m. Central European Time (CET) / 3:30 a.m. U.S. Eastern Time (ET). A live webcast (listen-only mode) of the conference call will be accessible at ST’s website, https://investors.st.com, and will be available for replay until November 10, 2023.
Use of Supplemental Non-U.S. GAAP Financial Information
This press release contains supplemental non-U.S. GAAP financial information.
Readers are cautioned that these measures are unaudited and not prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP and should not be considered as a substitute for U.S. GAAP financial measures. In addition, such non-U.S. GAAP financial measures may not be comparable to similarly titled information from other companies. To compensate for these limitations, the supplemental non-U.S. GAAP financial information should not be read in isolation, but only in conjunction with ST’s consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with U.S. GAAP.
See the Appendix of this press release for a reconciliation of ST’s non-U.S. GAAP financial measures to their corresponding U.S. GAAP financial measures.
Forward-looking Information
Some of the statements contained in this release that are not historical facts are statements of future expectations and other forward-looking statements (within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 or Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, each as amended) that are based on management’s current views and assumptions, and are conditioned upon and also involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results, performance, or events to differ materially from those anticipated by such statements, due to, among other factors:
- changes in global trade policies, including the adoption and expansion of tariffs and trade barriers, that could affect the macro-economic environment and adversely impact the demand for our products;
- uncertain macro-economic and industry trends (such as inflation and fluctuations in supply chains), which may impact production capacity and end-market demand for our products;
- customer demand that differs from projections;
- the ability to design, manufacture and sell innovative products in a rapidly changing technological environment;
- changes in economic, social, public health, labor, political, or infrastructure conditions in the locations where we, our customers, or our suppliers operate, including as a result of macroeconomic or regional events, geopolitical and military conflicts (including the ongoing conflict between Russia and Ukraine), social unrest, labor actions, or terrorist activities;
- unanticipated events or circumstances, which may impact our ability to execute our plans and/or meet the objectives of our R&D and manufacturing programs, which benefit from public funding;
- financial difficulties with any of our major distributors or significant curtailment of purchases by key customers;
- the loading, product mix, and manufacturing performance of our production facilities and/or our required volume to fulfill capacity reserved with suppliers or third-party manufacturing providers;
- availability and costs of equipment, raw materials, utilities, third-party manufacturing services and technology, or other supplies required by our operations (including increasing costs resulting from inflation);
- the functionalities and performance of our information technology (“IT”) systems, which are subject to cybersecurity threats and which support our critical operational activities including manufacturing, finance and sales, and any breaches of our IT systems or those of our customers, suppliers, partners and providers of third-party licensed technology;
- theft, loss, or misuse of personal data about our employees, customers, or other third parties, and breaches of data privacy legislation;
- the impact of intellectual property claims by our competitors or other third parties, and our ability to obtain required licenses on reasonable terms and conditions;
- changes in our overall tax position as a result of changes in tax rules, new or revised legislation, the outcome of tax audits or changes in international tax treaties which may impact our results of operations as well as our ability to accurately estimate tax credits, benefits, deductions and provisions and to realize deferred tax assets;
- variations in the foreign exchange markets and, more particularly, the U.S. dollar exchange rate as compared to the Euro and the other major currencies we use for our operations;
- the outcome of ongoing litigation as well as the impact of any new litigation to which we may become a defendant;
- product liability or warranty claims, claims based on epidemic or delivery failure, or other claims relating to our products, or recalls by our customers for products containing our parts;
- natural events such as severe weather, earthquakes, tsunamis, volcano eruptions or other acts of nature, the effects of climate change, health risks and epidemics or pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic in locations where we, our customers or our suppliers operate;
- increased regulation and initiatives in our industry, including those concerning climate change and sustainability matters and our goal to become carbon neutral on scope 1 and 2 and partially scope 3 by 2027;
- potential loss of key employees and potential inability to recruit and retain qualified employees as a result of epidemics or pandemics such as the COVID-19 pandemic, remote-working arrangements and the corresponding limitation on social and professional interaction;
- the duration and the severity of the global outbreak of COVID-19 may continue to negatively impact the global economy in a significant manner for an extended period of time, and also could materially adversely affect our business and operating results;
- industry changes resulting from vertical and horizontal consolidation among our suppliers, competitors, and customers; and
- the ability to successfully ramp up new programs that could be impacted by factors beyond our control, including the availability of critical third-party components and performance of subcontractors in line with our expectations.
Such forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties, which may cause actual results and performance of our business to differ materially and adversely from the forward-looking statements. Certain forward-looking statements can be identified by the use of forward looking terminology, such as “believes,” “expects,” “may,” “are expected to,” “should,” “would be,” “seeks” or “anticipates” or similar expressions or the negative thereof or other variations thereof or comparable terminology, or by discussions of strategy, plans or intentions.
Some of these risks are set forth and are discussed in more detail in “Item 3. Key Information — Risk Factors” included in our Annual Report on Form 20-F for the year ended December 31, 2022 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (“SEC”) on February 23, 2023. Should one or more of these risks or uncertainties materialize, or should underlying assumptions prove incorrect, actual results may vary materially from those described in this press release as anticipated, believed, or expected. We do not intend, and do not assume any obligation, to update any industry information or forward-looking statements set forth in this release to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.
Unfavorable changes in the above or other risks or uncertainties listed under “Item 3. Key Information — Risk Factors”
from time to time in our SEC filings, could have a material adverse effect on our business and/or financial condition.
