ACADEMIA

Super Micro Computer announced second quarter fiscal 2012 financial results for the quarter ended December 31, 2011. The final results are in line with the preliminary results announced by the Company on January 10, 2012.

Fiscal 2nd Quarter Highlights

-- Quarterly net sales of $249.9 million, up 0.8% from the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 and up 3.8% from the same quarter of last year.

-- Net income of $8.8 million, up 3.3% from the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 and down 24.2% from the same quarter of last year.

-- Gross margin of 17.1%, up from 16.0% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 and up 0.4% from the same quarter of last year.

-- Server Solutions accounted for 44.0% of net sales compared with 39.4% in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 and 40.5% in the same quarter of last year.

Net sales for the second quarter ended December 31, 2011 totaled $249.9 million, up 0.8% from $247.9 million in the first quarter of fiscal year 2012. No customer accounted for more than 10% of net sales during the quarter ended December 31, 2011.

Net income for the second quarter of fiscal year 2012 was $8.8 million or $0.20 per diluted share, a decrease of 24.2% from the net income of $11.6 million, or $0.27 per diluted share in the same period a year ago. Included in net income for the quarter is $2.5 million of stock-based compensation expense (pre-tax). Excluding this item and the related tax effect, non-GAAP net income for the second quarter was $11.2 million, or $0.25 per diluted share, compared to non-GAAP net income of $13.3 million, or $0.31 per diluted share, in the same quarter of the prior year. On a sequential basis, non-GAAP net income increased from the first quarter of fiscal year 2012 by $0.7 million or $0.01 per diluted share.

Gross margin for the second quarter was 17.1% compared to 16.7% in the same period a year ago. Non-GAAP gross margin for the second quarter was 17.1% compared to 16.8% in the same period a year ago. Non-GAAP gross margin was 16.1% for the first quarter of fiscal year 2012.

The Company's cash and cash equivalents and short and long term investments at December 31, 2011 were $106.1 million compared to $75.2 million at June 30, 2011. Free cash flow in the six months ended December 31, 2011 was $21.5 million.

Business Outlook & Management Commentary

The Company expects net sales of $240 million to $270 million for the third quarter of fiscal year 2012 ending March 31, 2012. The Company expects non-GAAP earnings per diluted share of approximately $0.19 to $0.27 for the third quarter.

"We've previously said that the third fiscal quarter was challenging principally due to impact on the hard disk drive supply chain resulting from the flooding in Thailand. We are continuing to work with our vendors to recover hard disk drive supplies that will help us meet the strong growing demand for our products," said Charles Liang, CEO of Supermicro. "2012 will be a significant year to us due to the coming launch of Sandy Bridge. During the quarter, we continued our R&D investment to be able to offer the broadest product offering in the industry for the Sandybridge launch. Also, we opened our new Taiwan facility which will increase our efficiency and lower the cost to deliver products to our customers. Backlog for our products is high. We are confident that our new product architectures including Fat Twin and full digital power subsystem and expansion of our production will provide broad opportunity for us in the coming quarters."

It is currently expected that the outlook will not be updated until the Company's next quarterly earnings announcement, notwithstanding subsequent developments. However, the Company may update the outlook or any portion thereof at any time. Such updates will take place only by way of a news release or other broadly disseminated disclosure available to all interested parties in accordance with Regulation FD.

Conference Call Information

Super Micro Computer will discuss these financial results in a conference call at 2:00 p.m. PT, today. To participate the conference, please call 1-888-812-8589 (international callers dial 1-913-312-0407) 10 minutes prior. A recording of the conference will be available until 11:59 pm ET on Tuesday, February 7, 2012 by dialing 1-877-870-5176 (international callers dial 1-858-384-5517) and entering replay PIN 4396394. The live web cast and recording of the call will be available on the Investor Relations section at www.supermicro.com two hours after the conference conclusion. They will remain available until the Company's next earnings call.

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward Looking Statements

Statements contained in this press release that are not historical fact may be forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements may relate, among other things, to our expected financial and operating results, our ability to build and grow Super Micro Computer, the benefits of our products and our ability to achieve our goals, plans and objectives. Such forward-looking statements do not constitute guarantees of future performance and are subject to a variety of risks and uncertainties that could cause our actual results to differ materially from those anticipated. These include, but are not limited to: our dependence on continued growth in the markets for X86 based servers, blade servers and embedded applications, increased competition, difficulties of predicting timing of new product introductions, and customer acceptance of new products, poor product sales, difficulties in establishing and maintaining successful relationships with our distributors and vendors, shortages or price fluctuations in our supply chain, our ability to protect our intellectual property rights, our ability to control the rate of expansion domestically and internationally, difficulty managing rapid growth and general political, economic and market conditions and events. Additional factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or suggested in any forward-looking statements are contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those factors discussed under the caption "Risk Factors" in such filings.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

Non-GAAP gross margin discussed in this press release excludes stock-based compensation expense and accrued customs fee for prior periods. Non-GAAP net income and net income per share discussed in this press release exclude stock-based compensation expense, accrued customs fee for prior periods, a provision for litigation costs and the related tax effect of the applicable items. Management presents non-GAAP financial measures because it considers them to be important supplemental measures of performance. Management uses the non-GAAP financial measures for planning purposes, including analysis of the Company's performance against prior periods, the preparation of operating budgets and to determine appropriate levels of operating and capital investments. Management also believes that the non-GAAP financial measures provide additional insight for analysts and investors in evaluating the Company's financial and operational performance. However, these non-GAAP financial measures have limitations as an analytical tool, and are not intended to be an alternative to financial measures prepared in accordance with GAAP. Pursuant to the requirements of SEC Regulation G, detailed reconciliations between the Company's GAAP and non-GAAP financial results is provided at the end of this press release. Investors are advised to carefully review and consider this information as well as the GAAP financial results that are disclosed in the Company's SEC filings.