DEVENS, Mass., Feb 01, 2011 (BUSINESS WIRE) -- American Superconductor Corporation (NASDAQ: AMSC), a global power technologies company, today reported record financial results for the third quarter of its fiscal year 2010 ended December 31, 2010.

Revenues for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 increased 42 percent to $114.2 million from $80.7 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2009. Gross margin for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 was 40.7 percent, which compares with 37.5 percent for the third quarter of fiscal 2009.

AMSC generated net income of $16.0 million, or $0.33 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2010. This compares with net income for the third quarter of fiscal 2009 of $5.2 million, or $0.11 per share. The company generated non-GAAP net income of $19.8 million, or $0.40 per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2010. This compares with non-GAAP net income of $9.1 million, or $0.20 per share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2009. Please refer to the financial table included below for a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results.

Cash, cash equivalents, marketable securities and restricted cash at December 31, 2010 were $260.5 million. This compares with $131.2 million as of September 30, 2010 and $155.1 million as of March 31, 2010. The sequential and year-over-year increase was driven by the company's November 2010 follow-on stock offering.

The company reported backlog as of December 31, 2010 of approximately $883 million compared with $956 million as of September 30, 2010 and $546 million as of December 31, 2009.

"In the third quarter - our sixteenth consecutive quarter of sequential revenue growth - we generated record power grid-related revenues of approximately $20 million," said Greg Yurek, AMSC's founder and chief executive officer. "Sales in the wind energy market, particularly in Asia, are expected to continue to be the growth engine for our company in the near term. At the same time, sales of our grid-related products, including D-VAR, D-VAR RT, SolarTie, Amperium wire and superconductor cable projects, are expected to become a much bigger contributor to our growth going forward."

"Until recently, our longer term plan has been to achieve $1 billion in total revenues with operating margins in excess of 20 percent in our fiscal year 2015," Yurek said. "However, with the capital we raised in our November 2010 equity offering, the strong global business and technology platforms we have built in the wind energy and power grid sectors, and the new growth strategies we are implementing, we believe we will be able to accelerate achievement of this objective by at least one year."

Fiscal 2010 Financial Forecasts

"We expect to end our fiscal 2010 with another quarter of sequential revenue growth and strong profitability," said David Henry, AMSC's senior vice president and chief financial officer. "For the full year, we continue to expect revenues in the range of $430 million to $440 million. However, we are raising our net income forecast for the full fiscal year, which we expect will enable us to more than offset the dilutive effect of our recent stock offering on our earnings per share. Our net income forecast is being increased from a range of $44.0 million to $46.5 million, or $0.95 to $1.00 per diluted share, to a range of $48.0 million to $50.0 million, or $0.99 to $1.04 per diluted share. We also are increasing our non-GAAP net income guidance from a range of $60.5 million to $63.0 million, or $1.30 to $1.35 per diluted share, to a range of $64.5 million to $66.5 million, or $1.33 to $1.38 per diluted share."

Please refer to the financial table included below for a reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP forecasts.

Conference Call Reminder

In conjunction with this announcement, AMSC management will participate in a conference call with investors beginning at 10:00 a.m. ET today to discuss the company's results and its business outlook. Those who wish to listen to the live conference call webcast should visit the "Investors" section of the company's website at www.amsc.com/investors. The live call also can be accessed by dialing 913-312-0407 and using conference ID 7785477. A telephonic playback of the call will be available from 1:00 p.m. ET on February 1, 2011 through 1:00 p.m. ET on February 6, 2011. Please call 719-457-0820 and refer to conference ID 7785477 to access the playback.

About American Superconductor (NASDAQ: AMSC)

AMSC offers an array of proprietary technologies and solutions spanning the electric power infrastructure - from generation to delivery to end use. The company is a leader in renewable energy, providing proven, megawatt-scale wind turbine designs and electrical control systems. The company also offers a host of Smart Grid technologies for power grid operators that enhance the reliability, efficiency and capacity of the grid, and seamlessly integrate renewable energy sources into the power infrastructure. These include superconductor power cable systems, grid-level surge protectors and power electronics-based voltage stabilization systems. AMSC's technologies are protected by a broad and deep intellectual property portfolio consisting of hundreds of patents and licenses worldwide. More information is available at www.amsc.com.

American Superconductor and design, Revolutionizing the Way the World Uses Electricity, AMSC, Powered by AMSC, Amperium, D-VAR, dSVC, FaultBlocker, PowerModule, PowerPipelines, PQ-IVR, PQ-SVC, SeaTitan, SuperGEAR and Windtec and design are trademarks or registered trademarks of American Superconductor Corporation or its subsidiaries. All other brand names, product names or trademarks belong to their respective holders.

Any statements in this release about future expectations, plans and prospects for the company, including our expectations regarding the future financial performance of the company and other statements containing the words "believes," "anticipates," "plans," "expects," "will" and similar expressions, constitute forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. There are a number of important factors that could materially impact the value of our common stock or cause actual results to differ materially from those indicated by such forward-looking statements. Such factors include: we have a history of operating losses, and we may incur losses in the future; our operating results may fluctuate significantly from quarter to quarter and may fall below expectations in any particular fiscal quarter; a significant portion of our revenues are derived from a single customer and revenues from this customer may decline in future periods; adverse changes in domestic and global economic conditions could adversely affect our business; changes in exchange rates could adversely affect our financial results; we may not realize all of the sales expected from our backlog of orders and contracts; we rely upon third party suppliers for the components and subassemblies of many of our products, making us vulnerable to supply shortages and price fluctuations; we have not manufactured our Amperium wire in commercial quantities, and a failure to manufacture our Amperium wire in commercial quantities at acceptable cost and quality levels would substantially limit our future revenue and profit potential; and our patents may not provide meaningful protection for our technology, which could result in us losing some or all of our market position. Reference is made to these and other factors discussed in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's most recent quarterly or annual report filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. In addition, any forward-looking statements included in this press release represent the company's views as of the date of this release. While the company anticipates that subsequent events and developments may cause the company's views to change, the company specifically disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements should not be relied upon as representing the company's views as of any date subsequent to the date this press release is issued.