Daktronics, Inc. : Announces Third Quarter Fiscal 2012 Results

BROOKINGS, S.D., Feb. 21, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Daktronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:DAKT) today reported fiscal 2012 third quarter net sales of $122.9 million and net income of $1.7 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $99.9 million and net income of $1.8 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2011. Backlog at the end of the fiscal 2012 third quarter was approximately $121 million, compared with a backlog of approximately $128 million a year earlier and $137 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2012.
Net sales, net income and earnings per share for the nine months ended January 28, 2012 were $377.5 million, $9.0 million and $0.21 per diluted share, respectively. This compares to $327.3 million, $11.3 million and $0.27 per diluted share, respectively, for the same period in fiscal 2011.
Free cash flow, defined as cash provided by operations less net purchases of property and equipment, was $(4.1) million through the third quarter of fiscal 2012 compared to $32.0 million through the same period one year ago. Cash and marketable securities at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2012 were $50.6 million.
"The third quarter is typically a challenge for us due to the number of holidays that fall in the quarter and the seasonality of our business. However, we had a good backlog going into the quarter, and we executed well on delivering against that backlog," said Jim Morgan, president and chief executive officer. "In the third quarter of each fiscal year, gross profit margin can
decrease sequentially due to the typically lower sales levels. During each fiscal third quarter, we also have costs related to the holidays, and we attempt to estimate the impact of these factors in our gross profit margin. Costs that exceeded our estimates included a benefit cost increase over the previous quarter which translated into approximately a 1% decrease in gross profit margin, and various other costs in excess of our estimates which accumulated to another 1%."
Morgan added, "We also had a weaker quarter for order bookings compared to one year ago, in part due to the decline in professional baseball orders, which was expected, and some delays in booking orders in our International business unit."