Netlist Reports Second Quarter 2014 Results

IRVINE, CA -- (Marketwired) -- 08/12/14 -- Netlist, Inc. (NASDAQ: NLST), a leading provider of high performance memory solutions for the cloud computing and storage markets, today reported financial results for the second quarter ended June 28, 2014.

Revenues for the three months ended June 28, 2014, were $4.9 million, compared to revenues of $5.1 million for the second quarter ended June 29, 2013. Gross profit for the three months ended June 28, 2014, was $1.0 million, or 20.0 percent of revenues, compared to a gross profit of $0.2 million, or 4.9 percent of revenues for the second quarter ended June 29, 2013.

The adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization) loss was ($2.3) million for the second quarter ended June 28, 2014, compared to an adjusted EBITDA loss of ($2.0) million for the prior year period.

Net loss for the second quarter ended June 28, 2014, was ($3.5) million, or ($0.08) loss per share, compared to a net loss in the prior year period of ($2.9) million, or ($0.09) loss per share. These results include stock-based compensation expense of $515,000 for the second quarter of 2014, compared to $369,000 for the second quarter of 2013.

Commenting on the results, C.K. Hong, Netlist's Chief Executive Officer, stated, "During the second quarter, we continued to focus on executing our strategic plan. We made significant progress in qualifying our newest NVvault™ product at one of the world's largest hyperscale customers and showcased that product as the industry's best performing NVDIMM running at 2DPC 1600 at the recent Flash Memory Summit. We are also pleased with the progress made in the trade secrets litigation against the ULLtraDIMM product from SanDisk, which it produced in partnership with Diablo, a former contractor to Netlist. In fact, Diablo acknowledged in recent court filings that earlier versions of the ULLtraDIMM did use actual Netlist chips, though they have taken the position that they were allowed to do so -- a position with which we obviously disagree. This admission and the evidence we have reviewed so far supports our assertions in the case and we intend to vigorously pursue every remedy available to us."

Revenues for the six months ended June 28, 2014, were $11.9 million, compared to revenues of $11.0 million for the six months ended June 29, 2013. Gross profit for the six months ended June 28, 2014, was $3.0 million, or 24.9 percent of revenues, compared to a gross profit of $0.8 million, or 7.4 percent of revenues, for the six months ended June 29, 2013.

Net loss for the six months ended June 28, 2014, was ($5.5) million, or ($0.14) loss per share, compared to a net loss in the prior year period of ($6.0) million, or ($0.20) loss per share. These results include stock-based compensation expense of $1,046,000 and $803,000 for the six month periods ended June 28, 2014 and June 29, 2013, respectively.

As of June 28, 2014, cash and cash equivalents and restricted cash were $17.3 million, total assets were $24.4 million, working capital was $17.4 million, total debt, net of debt discounts, was $5.4 million, and stockholders' equity was $13.6 million.

Conference Call Information
C.K. Hong, Chief Executive Officer, and Gail Sasaki, Chief Financial Officer, will host an investor conference call today, August 12, 2014 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time to review the company's results for the second quarter and first half of the year ended June 28, 2014. The dial-in number for the call is 1-412-858-4600. The live webcast and archived replay of the call can be accessed in the Investors section of Netlist's website at www.netlist.com.

Note Regarding Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
Certain of the information set forth herein, including EBITDA and adjusted EBITDA (Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization), may be considered non-GAAP financial measures. Netlist believes this information is useful to investors because it provides a basis for measuring Netlist's available capital resources, the operating performance of Netlist's business and Netlist's cash flow, excluding net interest expense, provisions for income taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation and net other expense that would normally be included in the most directly comparable measures calculated and presented in accordance with Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"). Netlist's management uses these non-GAAP financial measures along with the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in evaluating Netlist's operating performance, capital resources and cash flow. Non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information presented in compliance with GAAP, and non-financial measures as reported by Netlist may not be comparable to similarly titled amounts reported by other companies.

Adjusted EBITDA loss is a non-GAAP measure in which the net interest expense, provision for income taxes, depreciation, amortization, stock-based compensation and net other expense are added back to the GAAP basis loss. The non-GAAP measures are described above and are reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measure in the condensed consolidated financial statements portion of this release under the heading "Unaudited Schedule Reconciling GAAP Net Loss to Non-GAAP EBITDA and Adjusted EBITDA."

About Netlist:
Netlist, Inc. designs and manufactures high-performance, logic-based memory subsystems for server and storage applications for cloud computing. Netlist's flagship products include NVvault™ and EXPRESSvault™ family of products that significantly accelerate system performance and provide mission critical fault tolerance, HyperCloud®, a patented memory technology that breaks traditional performance barriers, and a broad portfolio of industrial Flash and specialty memory subsystems including VLP (very low profile) DIMMs and Planar-X RDIMMs. Netlist has steadily invested in and grown its worldwide IP portfolio, which now includes 51 issued or granted patents and more than 30 U.S. and foreign pending patent applications in the areas of high performance memory and hybrid memory technologies.

Netlist develops technology solutions for customer applications in which high-speed, high-capacity, small form factor and efficient heat dissipation are key requirements for system memory. These customers include OEMs, hyperscale datacenter operators and storage vendors that design and build tower, rack-mounted, and blade servers, high-performance computing clusters, engineering workstations and telecommunications equipment. Founded in 2000, Netlist is headquartered in Irvine, CA with manufacturing facilities in Suzhou, People's Republic of China. Learn more at www.netlist.com.

Safe Harbor Statement:
This news release contains forward-looking statements regarding future events and the future performance of Netlist. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expected or projected. These risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with the launch and commercial success of our products, programs and technologies; the success of product partnerships; continuing development, qualification and volume production of EXPRESSvault™, NVvault™, HyperCloud® and VLP Planar-X RDIMM; the timing and magnitude of the anticipated decrease in sales to our key customer; our ability to leverage our NVvault™ technology in a more diverse customer base; the rapidly-changing nature of technology; risks associated with intellectual property, including patent infringement litigation against us as well as the costs and unpredictability of litigation over infringement of our intellectual property and the possibility of our patents being reexamined by the United States Patent and Trademark office; volatility in the pricing of DRAM ICs and NAND; changes in and uncertainty of customer acceptance of, and demand for, our existing products and products under development, including uncertainty of and/or delays in product orders and product qualifications; delays in the Company's and its customers' product releases and development; introductions of new products by competitors; changes in end-user demand for technology solutions; the Company's ability to attract and retain skilled personnel; the Company's reliance on suppliers of critical components and vendors in the supply chain; fluctuations in the market price of critical components; evolving industry standards; and the political and regulatory environment in the People's Republic of China. Other risks and uncertainties are described in the Company's annual report on Form 10-K filed on March 18, 2014, and subsequent filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission made by the Company from time to time. Except as required by law, Netlist undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.

(Tables Follow)



                       Netlist, Inc. and Subsidiaries
                   Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
                      (in thousands, except par value)

                                                (unaudited)     (audited)
                                                  June 28,     December 28,
                                                    2014           2013
                                               -------------  -------------

ASSETS
Current assets:
  Cash and cash equivalents                    $      16,184  $       6,701
  Restricted cash                                      1,100          1,100
  Accounts receivable, net                             2,981          4,866
  Inventories                                          2,463          2,620
  Prepaid expenses and other current assets              715            823
                                               -------------  -------------
    Total current assets                              23,443         16,110

  Property and equipment, net                            678          1,143
  Other assets                                           255            422
                                               -------------  -------------
    Total assets                               $      24,376  $      17,675
                                               =============  =============

LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Current liabilities:
  Accounts payable                             $       3,361  $       3,795
  Accrued payroll and related liabilities                760            635
  Accrued expenses and other current
   liabilities                                           488            533
  Accrued engineering charges                            500            500
  Current portion of long-term debt, net of
   debt discount                                         919              -
                                               -------------  -------------
    Total current liabilities                          6,028          5,463
Long-term debt, net of current portion and
 debt discount                                         4,635          5,099
Other liabilities                                         98            100
                                               -------------  -------------
    Total liabilities                                 10,761         10,662
                                               -------------  -------------

Commitments and contingencies

Stockholders' equity:
  Common stock, $0.001 par value - 90,000
   shares authorized; 41,480 (2014) and 31,776
   (2013) shares issued and outstanding                   41             31
  Additional paid-in capital                         116,572        104,469
  Accumulated deficit                               (102,998)       (97,487)
                                               -------------  -------------
    Total stockholders' equity                        13,615          7,013
                                               -------------  -------------
    Total liabilities and stockholders' equity $      24,376  $      17,675
                                               =============  =============



                       Netlist, Inc. and Subsidiaries
         Unaudited Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
                  (in thousands, except per share amounts)

                               Three Months Ended       Six Months Ended
                             ----------------------  ----------------------
                              June 28,    June 29,    June 28,    June 29,
                                2014        2013        2014        2013
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------

Net sales                    $    4,887  $    5,065  $   11,888  $   11,029
Cost of sales(1)                  3,908       4,818       8,924      10,216
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Gross profit                        979         247       2,964         813
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Operating expenses:
  Research and
   development(1)                 2,302       1,457       4,277       3,299
  Selling, general and
   administrative(1)              1,781       1,571       3,403       3,327
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
    Total operating expenses      4,083       3,028       7,680       6,626
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Operating loss                   (3,104)     (2,781)     (4,716)     (5,813)
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Other income (expense), net:
  Interest expense, net            (393)        (88)       (788)       (218)
  Other income (expense),
   net                                6           7          (5)          1
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
    Total other expense, net       (387)        (81)       (793)       (217)
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Loss before provision for
 income taxes                    (3,491)     (2,862)     (5,509)     (6,030)
Provision for income taxes            2           1           2           3
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Net loss                     $   (3,493) $   (2,863) $   (5,511) $   (6,033)
                             ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========
Net loss per common share:
  Basic and diluted          $    (0.08) $    (0.09) $    (0.14) $    (0.20)

Weighted-average common
 shares outstanding:
  Basic and diluted              41,472      30,320      39,134      30,263

(1) Amounts include stock-
 based compensation expense
 as follows:

  Cost of sales              $       14  $       11  $       29  $       23
  Research and development          181         118         369         278
  Selling, general and
   administrative                   320         240         648         502



                       Netlist, Inc. and Subsidiaries
  Unaudited Schedule Reconciling GAAP Net Loss to Non-GAAP EBITDA Loss and
                            Adjusted EBITDA Loss
                               (in thousands)

                               Three Months Ended       Six Months Ended
                             ----------------------  ----------------------
                              June 28,    June 29,    June 28,    June 29,
                                2014        2013        2014        2013
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------

GAAP net loss                $   (3,493) $   (2,863) $   (5,511) $   (6,033)

Interest expense, net               393          88         788         218
Provision for income taxes            2           1           2           3
Depreciation and
 amortization                       253         395         535         813
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
EBITDA loss                      (2,845)     (2,379)     (4,186)     (4,999)

Stock-based compensation            515         369       1,046         803
Other income (expense), net          (6)         (7)          5          (1)
                             ----------  ----------  ----------  ----------
Adjusted EBITDA loss         $   (2,336) $   (2,017) $   (3,135) $   (4,197)
                             ==========  ==========  ==========  ==========


For more information, please contact:

Brainerd Communicators, Inc.
Mike Smargiassi or Corey Kinger
NLST@braincomm.com
(212) 986-6667

Netlist, Inc.
Gail M. Sasaki
Chief Financial Officer
(949) 435-0025

Source: Netlist, Inc.


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