Dolby Laboratories Reports Fourth Quarter and Fiscal 2018 Financial Results

SAN FRANCISCO, Oct. 24, 2018 -- Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (NYSE:DLB) today announced the Company's financial results for the fourth quarter (Q4) and fiscal year that ended September 28, 2018. For the fourth quarter, Dolby reported total revenue of $265.3 million, compared to $242.0 million for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. For fiscal 2018, Dolby reported total revenue of $1.17 billion, compared to $1.08 billion for fiscal 2017.

“2018 was a strong year for Dolby, especially the momentum we built for the combined Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos experience,” said Kevin Yeaman, President and CEO, Dolby Laboratories. “We started the year with OLED TVs from LG that had both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, and then we added devices and content throughout the year from many key partners including Apple, Amazon, Microsoft, Netflix, and Tencent, just to name a few.”

In 2018, Dolby recorded a discrete tax expense of $121.4 million related to the enactment of the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Reform). Dolby's 2018 provision for income taxes on a GAAP basis of $190.1 million includes this charge which is comprised of the deemed repatriation tax on unremitted earnings of foreign subsidiaries and the re-measurement of deferred tax assets and liabilities.  In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2018 Dolby recorded a $33.2 million true-up to the tax expense originally recorded in Q1, resulting in a tax benefit for the quarter of $8.3 million.

Fourth quarter GAAP net income was $50.1 million, or $0.47 per diluted share, compared to net income of $21.8 million, or $0.21 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. On a non-GAAP basis, fourth quarter net income was $46.8 million, or $0.44 per diluted share, compared to $46.6 million, or $0.45 per diluted share, for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2017. Dolby's non-GAAP measures are described and reconciled to the corresponding GAAP measures at the end of this release.

Fiscal 2018 GAAP net income was $122.2 million, or $1.14 per diluted share, compared to $201.8 million, or $1.95 per diluted share for fiscal 2017. On a non-GAAP basis, fiscal 2018 net income was $313.2 million, or $2.93 per diluted share, compared to $269.7 million, or $2.61 per diluted share, for fiscal 2017.

Today, Dolby announced a cash dividend of $0.19 per share of Class A and Class B common stock, payable on November 14, 2018, to stockholders of record as of the close of business on November 5, 2018.

In light of the company's transition to ASC 606 beginning Q1 2019, Dolby will provide FY19 guidance during the call as well as additional information related to the new accounting standard.  Additionally, following the conference call, Dolby will post supplemental information describing Dolby's transition to accounting standard ASC 606 and the fiscal 2019 outlook on Dolby's investor relations website, http://investor.dolby.com/.

Conference Call Information

Members of Dolby management will lead a conference call open to all interested parties to discuss Q4 and fiscal 2018 financial results for Dolby Laboratories at 2:00 p.m. PT (5:00 p.m. ET) on Wednesday, October 24, 2018. Access to the teleconference will be available over the Internet from http://investor.dolby.com/events.cfm or by dialing 1-866-548-4713. International callers can access the conference call at 1-323-794-2093.

A replay of the call will be available from 5:00 p.m. PT on Wednesday, October 24, 2018, until 9:00 p.m. PT on Wednesday, October 31, 2018, by dialing 1-844-512-2921 (international callers can access the replay by dialing 1-412-317-6671) and entering the confirmation code 8636587. An archived version of the teleconference will also be available on the Dolby Laboratories website, http://investor.dolby.com/events.cfm.

To supplement Dolby's financial statements presented on a GAAP basis, Dolby provides certain non-GAAP financial measures to provide investors with an additional tool to evaluate Dolby's operating results in a manner that focuses on what Dolby's management believes to be its ongoing business operations. Specifically, we exclude the following as adjustments from one or more of our non-GAAP financial measures:

Stock-based compensation expense:  Stock-based compensation, unlike cash-based compensation, utilizes subjective and complex assumptions in the methodologies used to value the various stock-based award types that we grant. These assumptions may differ from those used by other companies. To facilitate more meaningful comparisons between our underlying operating results and those of other companies, we exclude stock-based compensation expense.

Amortization of acquisition-related intangibles:  We amortize intangible assets acquired in connection with acquisitions. These intangible assets consist of patents and technology, customer relationships, and other intangibles. We record amortization charges relating to these intangible assets in our GAAP financial statements, and we view these charges as items arising from pre-acquisition activities that are determined by the timing and valuation of our acquisitions. As these amortization charges do not directly correlate to our operations during any particular period, and often remain unchanged between reporting periods, we exclude these charges to facilitate an evaluation of our current operating results and comparisons to our past operating performance.

Restructuring charges:  Restructuring charges are costs associated with a formal restructuring plan and primarily relate to employee severance benefits and asset impairments. We exclude restructuring costs, including any adjustments to charges recorded in prior periods, as we believe that these costs are not representative of our normal operating activities and therefore, excluding these amounts enables a more effective comparison to our past operating performance.

Income tax adjustments:  We believe that excluding the income tax effect of the aforementioned non-GAAP adjustments provides a more accurate view of our underlying operating results to management and investors.

Impact from U.S Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (Tax Reform):  The enactment of Tax Reform requires estimates based on Dolby's current understanding of the new tax laws. These charges are the result of a discrete and infrequent event that are not representative of current operating results and therefore, excluding these amounts enables a more effective comparison to our past operating performance.

Using the aforementioned adjustments, Dolby provides various non-GAAP financial measures including, but not limited to: non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating margin, and non-GAAP effective tax rate. Dolby's management believes it is useful for itself and investors to review both GAAP and non-GAAP measures to assess the performance of Dolby's business. Dolby's management does not itself, nor does it suggest that investors should, consider non-GAAP financial measures in isolation from, or as a substitute for, financial information prepared in accordance with GAAP. Whenever Dolby uses non-GAAP financial measures, it provides a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measures to the most closely applicable GAAP financial measures. Investors are encouraged to review the related GAAP financial measures and the reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most directly comparable GAAP financial measures as detailed above. Investors are also encouraged to review Dolby's GAAP financial statements as reported in its US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) filings. A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures is provided at the end of this press release and on the Dolby Laboratories investor relations website, http://investor.dolby.com/.