Hutchinson Technology Inc. (HTCH, Financial) filed Annual Report for the period ended 2009-09-27.
Hutchinson Technology Incorporated is an acknowledged world leader in precision manufacturing. Hutchinson Technology specialize in design and manufacture of close-tolerance products that require chemical, mechanical and electronic technologies. Its primary products, suspension assemblies, hold magnetic read-write heads at microscopic distances above the disks in rigid disk drives. The Company is strongly positioned as a provider of technology that our customers value for its ability to help them differentiate their products on performance and value attributes. . Hutchinson Technology Inc. has a market cap of $185.7 million; its shares were traded at around $7.95 with and P/S ratio of 0.5.
We generally make our sales pursuant to purchase orders rather than long-term contracts. Our backlog of purchase orders was approximately $43,800,000 at September 27, 2009, as compared to $96,900,000 at September 28, 2008. This year-over-year reduction was due to the significant decrease in demand for our suspension assemblies during 2009 and some customers had not yet provided their purchase order requirements as of September 27, 2009. Our purchase orders may be changed or cancelled by customers on short notice. In addition, we believe that it is a common practice for disk drive manufacturers to place orders in excess of their needs during growth periods. Accordingly, we do not believe that backlog should be considered indicative of sales for any future period.
We have conducted, and continue to conduct, clinical studies to demonstrate the effectiveness and value of our technology for patients who are in or may be about to go into shock, as well as for other clinical applications. We also devote research and engineering resources to ongoing product development focused on addressing shock resuscitation. We have conducted research into the potential application of near infrared spectroscopy to the monitoring of hemorrhagic, septic, cardiogenic and pulmonary shock, all of which involve insufficient tissue perfusion. For 2009, 2008 and 2007, research and development expenses for the BioMeasurement Division were approximately $4,265,000, $4,767,000 and $4,207,000, respectively.
Read the The complete ReportHTCH is in the portfolios of Arnold Van Den Berg of Century Management, Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates, Chuck Royce of ROYCE & ASSOCIATES.
Hutchinson Technology Incorporated is an acknowledged world leader in precision manufacturing. Hutchinson Technology specialize in design and manufacture of close-tolerance products that require chemical, mechanical and electronic technologies. Its primary products, suspension assemblies, hold magnetic read-write heads at microscopic distances above the disks in rigid disk drives. The Company is strongly positioned as a provider of technology that our customers value for its ability to help them differentiate their products on performance and value attributes. . Hutchinson Technology Inc. has a market cap of $185.7 million; its shares were traded at around $7.95 with and P/S ratio of 0.5.
Highlight of Business Operations:
The disk drive industry is subject to rapid technological change, and our ability to remain competitive depends on, among other things, our ability to anticipate and respond to changes and to continue our close working relationships with the engineering staffs of our customers. As a result, we have devoted and will continue to devote substantial resources to research and development efforts. Our research and development expenses for the Disk Drive Components Division were approximately $22,511,000, $34,944,000 and $51,038,000, in 2009, 2008 and 2007, respectively. In 2008 and 2007, we continued development of the additive processes required for our TSA+ flexures and development of new process technologies for next-generation suspension assembly products and equipment. In the fourth quarter of 2007, we began classifying all of the costs of running our TSA+ suspension manufacturing lines as cost of sales, whereas we had previously classified a portion of these costs as research and development expense. This change, along with cost reduction measures that occurred during 2008, resulted in reduced research and development expenses in 2008. The reduction in research and development expenses from 2008 to 2009 was primarily related to lower labor expenses due to reduced headcount.We generally make our sales pursuant to purchase orders rather than long-term contracts. Our backlog of purchase orders was approximately $43,800,000 at September 27, 2009, as compared to $96,900,000 at September 28, 2008. This year-over-year reduction was due to the significant decrease in demand for our suspension assemblies during 2009 and some customers had not yet provided their purchase order requirements as of September 27, 2009. Our purchase orders may be changed or cancelled by customers on short notice. In addition, we believe that it is a common practice for disk drive manufacturers to place orders in excess of their needs during growth periods. Accordingly, we do not believe that backlog should be considered indicative of sales for any future period.
We have conducted, and continue to conduct, clinical studies to demonstrate the effectiveness and value of our technology for patients who are in or may be about to go into shock, as well as for other clinical applications. We also devote research and engineering resources to ongoing product development focused on addressing shock resuscitation. We have conducted research into the potential application of near infrared spectroscopy to the monitoring of hemorrhagic, septic, cardiogenic and pulmonary shock, all of which involve insufficient tissue perfusion. For 2009, 2008 and 2007, research and development expenses for the BioMeasurement Division were approximately $4,265,000, $4,767,000 and $4,207,000, respectively.
Read the The complete ReportHTCH is in the portfolios of Arnold Van Den Berg of Century Management, Bruce Kovner of Caxton Associates, Chuck Royce of ROYCE & ASSOCIATES.
