GAAP-basis net income in the fiscal 2015 third quarter was $4.0 million or $0.11 per diluted share compared to net income of $4.2 million or $0.12 per diluted share in the third quarter of last year.
While the company’s GAAP-basis effective tax rate approximates the combined US federal and state statutory tax rate, the company’s pretax income is still largely sheltered from taxation by NOL and research and development tax credit carry-forwards and is expected to remain so for the next several years.
Our non-GAAP net income for the fiscal 2015 third quarter was $9.2 million or $0.25 per diluted share compared to non-GAAP net income of $8.2 million or $0.23 per diluted share for the same quarter last year. Non-GAAP earnings excludes the impact of intangible asset amortization, stock-based compensation expense and acquisition-related expenses and includes an income tax provision for cash taxes paid or payable for the period. For a reconciliation of the GAAP and non-GAAP financial results, please see our third quarter earnings press release that was issued today which is available on our website.
Now, moving onto the balance sheet. At the end of the fiscal 2015 third quarter, the company had total cash, cash equivalents, and marketable securities of $40 million with no bank debt outstanding. The consolidated accounts receivable balance was $45.4 million at the end of the third quarter. This represents an average collection period of 57 days compared to the receivables collection period of 51 days at the end of the preceding quarter.
The increase in the average collection period in the third quarter is primarily attributable to the fact that a significant portion of third quarter sales were made in the latter part of the quarter which had the effect of skewing the collection period upward as a result of the formula used to calculate this metric.
Our total inventory at the end of the third quarter was $19.6 million, a decrease of $0.6 million compared to the previous quarter representing annualized inventory turns of approximately eight times.
Our GAAP-basis effective income tax rate was 37.4% in both the third quarter and the current nine-month year-to-date period. However as a result of the recent congressional action to extend the federal R&D tax credit program by one year through the end of calendar 2014, our GAAP-basis effective income tax rate in the fiscal 2015 fourth quarter is expected to be approximately 26% due to R&D tax credits of approximately $900,000 that will be realizable in the fourth quarter.
With that, I will now turn the call back over to Michael for our guidance and some final comments.
