Universal Display Corporation (UDC) - Page 9

Universal Display announced that Visionox (GVO) signed an OLED evaluation agreement. Under this agreement, UDC will supply GVO with its phosphorescent OLED materials for display applications. UDC did not provide any more details or financial terms.

Visionox started mass producing AMOLED panels in June 2015, at the company's Gen-5.5 AMOLED line in Kunshan. Visionox is also constructing a $4.5 billion 6-Gen production line in Hebei that will have a monthly capacity of 30,000 substrates, and will be mainly used to produce flexible AMOLEDs. Production should begin in mid-2018.

Universal Display announced today that Sharp has signed an extended and updated evaluation agreement. Under this new agreement, UDC will supply its phosphorescent OLED materials and technology to Sharp Corporation for use in the Company’s OLED displays. Details and financial terms of the agreement have not been disclosed.

Sharp recently confirmed that the company aims to start commercial OLED production in Q1 2018 in its Osaka fab and will introduce new smartphones with its own OLED in June or July of 2018. In October 2016 Sharp announced that it will invest $570 million and build OLED pilot lines at its plants in Osaka and in the Mie Prefecture.

In August 2011 Samsung signed a long-term license agreement with Universal Display which allowed Samsung to acquire and use UDC's patented phosphorescent OLED materials. That important agreement (which generated hundreds of millions in revenues for UDC over the years) expired on December 31, 2017.

UDC announced yesterday that it is in on-going discussions regarding a formal long-term extension of these agreements (the patent license agreement and the OLED material purchase agreement). UDC expects SDC to continue buying materials during these discussions. No time frame has been established for the completion of these discussions.

Universal Display announced today that Royole has signed an OLED evaluation agreement. UDC will collaborate with Royole and supply its proprietary UniversalPHOLED phosphorescent OLED materials and technology for Royole’s display applications.

UDC did not disclose any more details or the financial terms of the agreement. Royole is constructing a 5.5-Gen (Royole calls it a Quasi-6-Gen) flexible OLED production facility in Shenzhen, China. The new fab is scheduled to begin operation in 2018 and will have a monthly capacity of 45,000 substrates.

Universal Display announced that it has signed long-term OLED agreements with BOE Technology Group. Under these agreements, UDC will supply phosphorescent OLED materials to BOE. UDC and BOE signed their first agreement in 2014 and it is great to see these evolve into long-term agreements.

BOE started to produce flexible OLED displays at its Chengdu B7 6-Gen fab in October 2017. BOE's B7 fab is the company's first flexible AMOLED line and actual real mass production will probably begin at about Q1 2018. The full capacity is 48,000 substrates per month, but this will only be achieved in the first half of 2019.

Universal Display reported its financial results for Q3 2017. Revenues in the quarter reached $61.7 million, up 104% from Q3 2016 ($30.2 million) driven by strong material sales and also increased royalty and license fees. Net income in the quarter was $13.5 million (up $15 million from a $1.5 million loss in Q2 2016).

UDC's material sales increased 100% from Q3 2016 to reach $12 million, while royalties and license fees increased 131% to reach $12 million. UDC increased its revenue guidance for the full year 2017 to $310 million to $320 million. Revenues in the first nine months were $219.8 million.

In February 2017 Universal Display announced that the company will invest $15 million in PPG Industries' OLED facility in Barberton, Ohio. PPG will double its commercial production capacity of UDC's phosphorescent OLED emitter materials. The capacity expansion was scheduled to be completed in the third quarter 2017, and indeed today UDC announced that the expansion project is complete.

PPG Industries and UDC established a strategic relationship in 2000, and PPG is the exclusive producer of UDC's PHOLED emitter materials. In 2013, the two companies opened this OLED production plant in Barbertron as demand for OLED materials increased.

The phosphorescent OLED emitter market is currently dominated by Universal Display who owns the basic patents to phosphorescent OLED emitters. All the major OLED makers (including Samsung and LGD) are using UDC's materials in order to achieve higher display efficiencies, beyond what is available from fluorescent emitters.

Universal Display holds over 4,000 issued and pending patents, but some of its basic phosphorescent patents are set to expire by the end of 2017. Honestly, it is very difficult to know exactly what effect this will have on the market - some analysts believe that it will carry very little effect while others say that this will open the door for other companies to sell competing phosphorescent emitters.

Universal Display announced that China-based AMOLED producer Everdisplay (EDO) has signed an OLED evaluation agreement. As per the agreement, UDC will supply EDO with phosphorescent OLED materials to be used in EDO's displays.

Everdisplay actually started mass producing AMOLED displays towards the end of 2014 in a 4.5-Gen line with a monthly capacity of 20,000 substrates. The company is currently producing both small AMOLEDs for wearable devices and larger smartphone displays. EDO is also developing flexible OLEDs, transparent OLEDs and OLEDs for VR and automotive applications. EDO's current OLED displays can be found in the OLED Marketplace.

Universal Display reported excellent financial results for Q2 2017. Revenues increased 59% (compared to Q2 2016) to $102.5 million, with material sales increasing 110% to $46.8 million. Net income increased $25.4 million to $47.2 million.

UDC has $380 million in cash and equivalents, and is on the lookout for opportunities to use this money. UDC also increased its guidance for 2017 to be in the range of $285 million to $300 million.