Universal Display Corporation (NASDAQ:OLED) Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

Brian Lee: Okay, fair enough. I will pass it on.

Operator: Our next question is from Krish Sankar with TD Cowen. Please proceed.

Unidentififed Analyst: Hey, guys. This is Eddie for Krish. I have a question on the OLED tablet ramp. I’m wondering if you can take our hand and guide us through the linearity of revenues coming from that product next year. Like, will it be back halfway dead or more evenly spread out? And wondering if you can give us any color about the incremental revenue opportunity from that product next year?

Brian Millard: Yeah, I think certainly, we’ve been saying for a number of quarters now that we think 2024 is a pivotal year for the IT market. Certainly, tablets are a key part of that segment. So, we expect a positive trend heading into next year in that area. Hard to put an exact percentage or dollar figure to it at this point, but we know there’s positive momentum behind the IT segment as we go into 2024.

Unidentififed Analyst: Got it. And I understand you won’t be guiding for 2024, but wondering whether you think consensus estimates of up high teens for revenues is reasonable given the tablet and the blue product ramp next year?

Brian Millard: Yeah, I mean, I think, we’ll give full guide on ’24 when we get into February and do our year-end call with you guys. So, but – and we’ll give full guidance at that point. I think at this stage, the best information we can say is that we expect 2024 to be a growth year and to be up relative to ’23, but we’ll give more info in February on that.

Unidentififed Analyst: I understand. That’s helpful. And just last thing, looking at deferred revenues, it seems they were up $37 million quarter-over-quarter, like they more than doubled. Can you share some reasons behind that? Is it related to blue or the tablet or is there any other reason? That’s it for me. Thank you.

Brian Millard: Thanks. Yeah, we had an increase in both accounts receivable and deferred revenue in the period, and that’s due to a milestone that we hit on one of our contracts. So, that was a billing milestone. So, we increased AR and increased deferred revenue as that amount was uncollected as of the end of the period.

Operator: Our next question is from Jim Ricchiuti with Needham and Company. Please proceed.

Chris Grenga: Hi. Good afternoon. This is Chris Grenga for Jim. You had mentioned that one of the tailwinds for material sales was the product mix for new generation. I’m just curious, are new generation materials a majority of material sales at this point? And then, do you have any visibility into whether those types or that generation of emitters is going to be used in IT and automotive applications, or will that be one of the former generations? Any insights that you could provide there would be helpful. Thank you.

Brian Millard: Hi, Chris. Yeah. So, we have, I guess, the comment we were making was more about as we introduced next generation materials, as our customers introduced new materials into their product portfolios, that tends to start at a higher price once it’s commercially launched and then work its way down as they purchase additional volumes. So, I think that was more just a matter of – and that’s across a variety of applications, not unique to one particular segment.

Chris Grenga: Got it. And I guess it was reported recently that one of your larger customers is looking to adopt a maskless process in the production of panels. I’m just curious, does maskless have any meaningful impact on the amount of material consumed versus existing processes? And is OVJP technology something that could potentially fit that description for a maskless process? Thank you.

Steven Abramson: Well, when a new manufacturing technology is introduced, we’d have to take a look and see what the effect would be on the material consumption. And so, we’ll have to see how that plays out. In general, everybody wants to use our materials, whatever their production technology is. OVJP is a printing technology, so yes, it would be maskless.