Earnings Call Excerpt
Applied Signal Technology, Inc. (APSG)
F4Q08 Earnings Call
December 16, 2008 5:00 pm ET
Executives
William B. Van Vleet, III - President, Chief Executive Officer, Chief Operating Officer and Director
James E. Doyle - Chief Financial Officer and Vice President, Finance
Analysts
James McIlree – Collins Stewart LLC
Chris Donaghey – Suntrust Robinson Humphrey
Patrick McCarthy – FBR Capital Markets
Elizabeth [V] – Stifel Nicolaus & Company
Michael Lewis – BB&T Capital Markets
[Wren Dicing] – [Neuberger]
Presentation
Operator
Welcome to the Applied Signal Technology fiscal year 2008 fourth quarter earnings conference call. (Operator Instructions)
It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Mr. Bill Van Vleet, CEO for Applied Signal Technology.
Thank you. Mr. Van Vleet, you may begin.
William Van Vleet
Good afternoon everyone and thank you for joining us to review our performance for fiscal year 2008. Before we begin I’d like to start with our Safe Harbor statement and it is as follows: Our presentation today may contain forward-looking statements which reflect the company’s current judgment on future events. Because these statements deal with future events they are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause the actual results to differ materially. In addition to factors that may be discussed in this call, important factors which could cause actual results to differ materially are contained in our company’s recent 10Q and 10K.
For 2008 our financial results for the full year were very good. We grew our sales 9.4% to a record level of $186.3 million. The trends in our particular niche of defense expenditures remains strong and we continue to have significant organic growth opportunities.
We also successfully hired over 100 additional staff members and we anticipate similar growth in fiscal 2009. Our bottom line performance was even stronger and diluted earnings per share increased 14.5% to $0.63. Our mix of business has shifted to carry more favorable margins, contributing to profitability improvement.
Potentially more important than the financial results was the shift in our strategic direction. We believe that fiscal 2008 will come to be known as a pivotal year in our company’s history. We are extending upon the outstanding competitive, strategic and financial position that Gary Yancy and our other founders established with this company. Our competitive position is as a high value solution provider. We provide a higher quality team particularly at the customer level with greater customer intimacy than most of our competitors.
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