OCZ Revenue Drops, Company Examines Options - Printer Friendly version without Comments

Appeared on: Tuesday, October 15, 2013
OCZ Revenue Drops, Company Examines Options

OCZ Technology Group today reported its second quarter (Q2'14) results which ended on August 31, 2013.

Revenue for the second quarter of 2014 was $33.5 million compared to revenue of $55.3 million for the first quarter of 2014 and revenue of $88.6 million for the second quarter of 2013.

"Revenue and gross margins declined in the second quarter as revenue for our client SSD products continued to be impacted by our challenges in procuring flash. Revenue from our enterprise solutions accounted for roughly half of our SSD revenue, compared to about 60% in the first quarter, as a major data center customer completed its installation during the quarter," said Ralph Schmitt, CEO of OCZ Technology. "This has been a difficult quarter as demand for our products continues to be greater than our ability to supply, given our capital constraints."

"Over the course of the quarter we continued to add strategic channel partners that help extend the reach of both our high-end client products and enterprise solutions worldwide. During the second fiscal quarter we also announced the general availability of our PCIe-based ZD-XL SQL accelerator which is a new way for OCZ to go to market with a total solution consisting of both our enterprise solid state storage and virtualization software. This innovative product is primarily targeted at our channel partners and offers an optimized plug-and-play storage system solution for enterprise customers," added Schmitt.

Gross margin for the second quarter of 2014 was 4.2% compared to a gross margin of 14.7% for the first quarter of 2014 and a gross margin loss of (4.6%) for the second quarter of 2013. Gross margins declined on a sequential basis primarily due to increased costs and decreasing sales prices in our mainstream client business. Enterprise margins remained consistent in the quarter.

"Due to uncertainties in being able to procure forecasted flash amounts and credit constraints, we will not be providing guidance for the fiscal third quarter of 2014, ending November 30, 2013. It is our belief that at this point we cannot accurately predict the outcome of our efforts to resolve these issues," stated Schmitt. "We continue to engage with interested parties in the various strategic options available to the company, including additional financing initiatives and strategic alternatives and plan on providing an update to discuss progress regarding flash availability, credit, and our strategic activities when appropriate."