Daktronics, Inc. Announces Third Quarter Fiscal 2011 Results

• Net sales increase 38% compared to fiscal 2010 third quarter
• Backlog increases to $128 million compared to $100 million one year ago

BROOKINGS, S.D., Feb. 22, 2011 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Daktronics, Inc. (Nasdaq:DAKT) today reported fiscal 2011 third quarter net sales of $99.9 million and net income of $1.8 million, or $0.04 per diluted share, compared to net sales of $72.4 million and a net loss of ($8.4 million), or ($0.20) per diluted share, for the third quarter of fiscal 2010. Backlog at the end of the fiscal 2011 third quarter was approximately $128 million, compared with a backlog of approximately $100 million a year earlier and $121 million at the end of the second quarter of fiscal 2011.

Net sales, net income and earnings per share for the nine months ended January 29, 2011 were $327.3 million, $11.3 million and $0.27 per diluted share, respectively. This compares to $301.2 million, ($2.1 million) and ($0.05) per diluted share, respectively, for the same period in fiscal 2010.

Free cash flow, defined as cash provided by operations less net purchases of property and equipment, was $32.1 million through the third quarter of fiscal 2011, compared to $25.7 million through the same period one year ago. Cash and marketable securities at the end of the third quarter of fiscal 2011 were $75.8 million.

"Our financial results reflect a significant improvement over the third quarter of fiscal 2010, which was a very difficult quarter for us," said Jim Morgan, president and chief executive officer. "The third quarter is typically our weakest quarter of the fiscal year due to the seasonality of our business and the holidays, and our goal was to be profitable this quarter, which we achieved."

Morgan added, "Our order activity was reasonably balanced across our business units. There are a few orders that we expected to book in the third quarter that we now expect to book in fourth quarter, so that should help orders in the fourth quarter, but put pressure on sales due to the delay. There are two areas that are noticeably different from last year.  First, we booked four large system projects totaling more than $18 million for major league baseball facilities, whereas last year all large major league baseball projects were postponed due to the economy. Second, our digital billboard business more than doubled in the third quarter of fiscal 2011 as compared to last year's third quarter."