PORTLAND, OR -- Electro Scientific Industries’s fiscal third-quarter revenue slipped 1% from a year ago.

The laser drill maker said sales for the period ended Jan. 2 were $43.3 million, down 6.9% from the fiscal second quarter. The firm cut its GAAP net loss to $4.6 million from $6.38 million in the year ago quarter.

The just-completed quarter comprised 14 weeks, compared to 13 weeks in the prior and year-ago quarters.

“In the third quarter we continued to deliver on our turnaround plan as we grew our orders, increased gross margin, reduced adjusted operating expenses, and generated positive non-GAAP earnings. For the third consecutive quarter we generated positive cash from operations and grew our cash balance,” stated Ed Grady, president and CEO of ESI. “Further, the company took another step forward in our market expansion strategy as we announced nViant, a laser system designed for via drilling high-density interconnect circuit boards.”

Bookings in the quarter were $52.6 million, boosted by higher demand for flex drilling machines, compared to $51.5 million in the prior quarter and $40.6 million last year. “Flex via drilling had another strong quarter, with growth coming from our new GemStone system," Grady said. "Micromachining also saw solid demand, with a follow-on order for our Lumen series system. Perhaps most important strategically, we were selected as plan of record and received our first order for the CornerStone Series 2 laser drilling system from a large semiconductor manufacturer. We believe this selection positions us well in the high-performance IC package via drilling market with industry leading cost of ownership and capability."

GAAP gross margin was 40.9%. Operating expenses rose to $22.2 million from $21.4 million in the prior quarter.

ESI guided for fiscal fourth quarter revenues of $47 million to $53 million. "With the introduction of GemStone, CornerStone, and now nViant, ESI has more than tripled its addressable market in PCB laser processing," Grady said. "In addition, the trend in these markets is transitioning toward requiring the level of precision, accuracy, and speed that are the strengths of ESI. With these new products we believe there is significant opportunity to grow our share of this large market."

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