Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ: COHU), a leading supplier of semiconductor equipment, today reported fiscal 2017 fourth quarter net sales of $84.1 million and GAAP income of $6.9 million or $0.23 per share. Net sales for full year 2017 were $352.7 million and GAAP income was $33.1 million or $1.15 per share. GAAP provision for income taxes for the fourth quarter and full year 2017 includes the Company’s provisional estimate of the impact of U.S. tax reform. (1) (2)

The Company also reported non-GAAP results, with fourth quarter 2017 income of $8.1 million or $0.28 per share and income of $44.4 million or $1.54 per share for full year 2017. (1)

Total cash and investments at the end of the year were $155.6 million.

Luis Müller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cohu, stated, “We delivered another year of solid sales and profitability growth in fiscal 2017, coupled with market share gains in test handlers and accelerating growth in the test contactor market. Orders were at record levels with the full year increasing 41% over 2016. We ended the year with repeat handler orders for an automated factory in Korea and captured two new customers in China for power management device test.”

Müller further commented, “We started 2018 with a strong backlog, share gain momentum and customer traction, as evidenced by our recently announced design win of a major European automotive customer for the MATRiX handler combined with our multi-beam test contactors. Additionally, we have been making excellent progress with a major Korean customer, who continues to provide repeat orders for a new handler model. As a result, we have been increasing our investments to support the business prospects with this customer, which is expected to be an important contributor to meeting current growth projections for the first half of 2018 over the same period last year.”

Cohu expects first quarter 2018 sales to be approximately $89 million. Cohu's Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share payable on April 13, 2018 to shareholders of record on February 27, 2018.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information:

Included within this press release are non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP gross margin, Income and Income (earnings) per share, that supplement the Company's Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income prepared under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These non-GAAP financial measures adjust the Company's actual results prepared under GAAP to exclude charges and the related income tax effect for share-based compensation, the amortization of acquired intangible assets, manufacturing transition costs, employee severance costs, acquisition related costs, fair value adjustment to contingent consideration, purchase accounting inventory step-up included in cost of sales, the reduction of an uncertain tax position liability and related indemnification receivable and U.S. Tax Reform. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP amounts for the periods presented herein are provided in schedules accompanying this release and should be considered together with the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.

These non-GAAP measures are not meant as a substitute for GAAP, but are included solely for informational and comparative purposes. The Company's management believes that this information can assist investors in evaluating the Company’s operational trends, financial performance, and cash generating capacity. Management believes these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate Cohu’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for (or superior to) corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures.

Forward-Looking Statements:

Certain matters discussed in this release, including statements regarding new customers; test handler and contactor share gains, including on PANTHER and Solstice products; accelerating growth in test contactors; business momentum and customer traction entering 2018; increasing investment, business prospects, growth and revenue recognition with a major Korean customer; meeting first half 2018 year-over-year growth projections; Cohu500 mid-term model and associated goals; specific share gain goals; and Cohu’s first quarter 2018 sales forecast and guidance are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or forecasted. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with acquisitions; inventory, goodwill and other asset write-downs; our ability to convert new products into production on a timely basis and to support product development and meet customer delivery and acceptance requirements for new products; our reliance on third-party contract manufacturers and suppliers; failure to obtain customer acceptance resulting in the inability to recognize revenue and accounts receivable collection problems; revenue recognition impacts due to ASC 606; market demand and adoption of our new products; customer orders may be canceled or delayed; the concentration of our revenues from a limited number of customers; intense competition in the semiconductor equipment industry; our reliance on patents and intellectual property; compliance with U.S. export regulations; impacts from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017; geopolitical issues; ERP system implementation issues; the seasonal, volatile and unpredictable nature of capital expenditures by semiconductor manufacturers; and rapid technological change. These and other risks and uncertainties are discussed more fully in Cohu's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recently filed Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements included in this release are not assurances, and speak only as of the date of this release, and Cohu does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

About Cohu:

Cohu is a leading supplier of semiconductor test and inspection handlers, micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) test modules, test contactors and thermal sub-systems used by global semiconductor manufacturers and test subcontractors.

Cohu will be conducting our conference call on Thursday, February 15, 2018 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time/4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The call will be webcast at www.cohu.com. Replays of the call can be accessed at www.cohu.com.

For press releases and other information of interest to investors, please visit Cohu’s website at www.cohu.com.

Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company's operating performance. Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing the Company's operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods and these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management. Management views share-based compensation as an expense that is unrelated to the Company’s operational performance as it does not require cash payments and can vary in amount from period to period and the elimination of amortization charges provides better comparability of pre and post-acquisition operating results and to results of businesses utilizing internally developed intangible assets. Manufacturing transition costs relate principally to employee severance expenses incurred as a result of moving certain manufacturing activities to Asia as part of our cost reduction efforts and employee severance are costs incurred in conjunction with the termination of certain employees to streamline our operations and reduce costs. Management has excluded these costs primarily because they are not reflective of the ongoing operating results and they are not used to assess ongoing operational performance. Acquisition costs, fair value adjustment to contingent consideration and inventory step-up costs have been excluded by management as they are unrelated to the core operating activities of the Company and the frequency and variability in the nature of the charges can vary significantly from period to period. Management believes the reduction of an uncertain tax position liability and related indemnification receivable is better reflected within income tax expense rather than a charge to SG&A and credit to the income tax provision. Excluding the impact of U.S. Tax Reform provides better comparability to our historical and future tax provisions. Excluding this data provides investors with a basis to compare Cohu’s performance against the performance of other companies without this variability. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for (or superior to) corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures above may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and investors should be careful when comparing our non-GAAP financial measures to those of other companies.

Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company's operating performance. Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing the Company's operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods and these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management. Management views share-based compensation as an expense that is unrelated to the Company’s operational performance as it does not require cash payments and can vary in amount from period to period and the elimination of amortization charges provides better comparability of pre and post-acquisition operating results and to results of businesses utilizing internally developed intangible assets. Manufacturing transition costs relate principally to employee severance expenses incurred as a result of moving certain manufacturing activities to Asia as part of our cost reduction efforts and employee severance are costs incurred in conjunction with the termination of certain employees to streamline our operations and reduce costs. Management has excluded these costs primarily because they are not reflective of the ongoing operating results and they are not used to assess ongoing operational performance. Acquisition costs, fair value adjustment to contingent consideration and inventory step-up costs have been excluded by management as they are unrelated to the core operating activities of the Company and the frequency and variability in the nature of the charges can vary significantly from period to period. Management believes the reduction of an uncertain tax position liability and related indemnification receivable is better reflected within income tax expense rather than a charge to SG&A and credit to the income tax provision. Excluding the impact of U.S. Tax Reform provides better comparability to our historical and future tax provisions. Excluding this data provides investors with a basis to compare Cohu’s performance against the performance of other companies without this variability. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for (or superior to) corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures above may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and investors should be careful when comparing our non-GAAP financial measures to those of other companies.

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