Conferencia de resultados del T3 de 2026 de Universal Display (OLED): aumentan los ingresos, las previsiones se sitúan cerca del límite inferior

Puntos clave

• Universal Display Corporation registró ingresos de 160 millones de dólares en el tercer trimestre de 2026, frente a los 140 millones de dólares del tercer trimestre de 2025, impulsados por mayores ingresos por cánones y licencias.
• El beneficio neto según GAAP aumentó a 79 millones de dólares, o 1,72 dólares por acción diluida. Excluyendo una ganancia no monetaria de UDC Ventures, el beneficio neto ajustado fue de aproximadamente 56 millones de dólares, o 1,23 dólares por acción diluida.
• Las ventas de materiales disminuyeron a 80 millones de dólares desde los 83 millones de dólares debido al mix de clientes y a una variación interanual desfavorable de 4,8 millones de dólares en los ajustes acumulativos de regularización, compensadas en parte por un mayor volumen de unidades.
• La dirección sigue esperando que los ingresos de todo el año se sitúen en el extremo inferior de su rango anterior de 630 a 670 millones de dólares. Se prevé que el margen bruto de todo el año también se sitúe cerca del extremo inferior del rango del 74% al 76%.
• Los dispositivos plegables y las aplicaciones de TI con pantallas OLED siguen siendo motores clave de crecimiento. Omdia prevé que los envíos de teléfonos inteligentes plegables alcancen los 45 millones de unidades y los de TI con pantallas OLED los 89 millones de unidades para 2030.
• Universal Display sigue avanzando en el azul fosforescente, OLEDX y NovaJet, aunque el calendario de comercialización del azul continúa dependiendo de los planes de desarrollo de los clientes.

Resultados financieros principales

Otros ingresos fueron de 37 millones de dólares, en comparación con el millón de dólares del año anterior. Esto reflejó principalmente una ganancia no monetaria no realizada de 29 millones de dólares en una inversión de UDC Ventures y una ganancia por tipo de cambio de 7 millones de dólares relacionada con un impuesto por cobrar en wones coreanos.

Universal Display cerró el trimestre con aproximadamente 828 millones de dólares en efectivo, equivalentes de efectivo e inversiones. Recompró alrededor de 963.000 acciones por aproximadamente 79 millones de dólares durante el 3T y cerca de 2,1 millones de acciones por 193 millones de dólares durante los primeros nueve meses de 2026. El consejo de administración declaró un dividendo para el cuarto trimestre de 0,50 dólares por acción.

Rendimiento comercial y operativo

Los dispositivos plegables y las pantallas para TI siguen siendo las principales áreas de expansión destacadas por la dirección. Omdia prevé que los envíos de teléfonos inteligentes plegables aumenten de 18 millones de unidades en 2025 a 45 millones en 2030. Se proyecta que los envíos de pantallas OLED para TI aumenten de 27 a 89 millones durante el mismo periodo.

Según la dirección, los fabricantes de pantallas han destinado colectivamente aproximadamente 20.000 millones de dólares a la capacidad OLED de Generación 8,6. Samsung Display, BOE, Visionox y TCL China Star se encuentran entre las empresas que invierten en esta capacidad.

Universal Display presentó OLEDX, una plataforma propietaria destinada a aumentar la cantidad de luz que llega al usuario. La empresa señaló que OLEDX podría ofrecer una mayor eficiencia, una mejor fidelidad de imagen y un mayor control sobre la experiencia de visualización.

El azul fosforescente sigue siendo una prioridad central de investigación. La empresa está utilizando inteligencia artificial, aprendizaje automático y herramientas computacionales para acelerar el descubrimiento de materiales. Su plataforma ha generado más de 1.000 millones de diseños moleculares virtuales y ha evaluado aproximadamente 50 millones de candidatos.

UVJC lanzó NovaJet, su primer sistema comercial. La herramienta inicial de diseño compacto está dirigida a investigadores y tecnólogos que exploran aplicaciones de impresión en seco en semiconductores, empaquetado de semiconductores, energía fotovoltaica, baterías de estado sólido, electrónica orgánica y ciencias de la vida.

Previsiones de la dirección

La dirección prevé que los ingresos de todo el año 2026 se orienten hacia el extremo inferior del rango anterior de 630 a 670 millones de dólares. La empresa prevé que el impulso de los lanzamientos de productos de la segunda mitad del año continúe en el 4T, junto con las compras de materiales y la producción para productos que habitualmente se lanzan en el primer trimestre.

Se prevé que el margen bruto para todo el año se sitúe cerca del extremo inferior del rango orientativo del 74% al 76% debido a la combinación de productos y clientes. La proporción esperada para todo el año entre ventas de materiales e ingresos por cánones y licencias es de aproximadamente 1,1:1.

Se prevé que las previsiones oficiales para 2027 se publiquen en febrero. La dirección citó previsiones de terceros de un crecimiento en el rango medio de un solo dígito en la superficie de dispositivos OLED el próximo año, al tiempo que subrayó la persistente incertidumbre macroeconómica y las estrechas condiciones del mercado de memoria.

Riesgos y puntos a vigilar

• El mix de clientes y productos está presionando los precios de los materiales y el margen bruto.
• Se prevén mayores costes de los insumos en 2027, aunque la escala de fabricación y las mejoras en los procesos podrían ofrecer una compensación parcial.
• La dirección prevé que la incertidumbre macroeconómica y los elevados costes de los componentes, en particular los precios de las memorias, se prolonguen hasta 2027.
• La comercialización del azul fosforescente depende de los planes de desarrollo de productos de los clientes, y se espera que los ingresos por desarrollo del azul se mantengan más bajos durante la transición tecnológica actual.
• OLEDX, NovaJet y otras plataformas emergentes siguen dependiendo de una mayor adopción por parte de los clientes y del progreso en su comercialización.

Aspectos destacados de la sesión de preguntas y respuestas con analistas

En cuanto al margen bruto, la dirección afirmó que las perspectivas habían evolucionado debido al mix de clientes y productos. La empresa sigue esperando que el margen bruto para todo el año se sitúe dentro de su rango del 74% al 76%, pero cerca del extremo inferior.

Con respecto a los márgenes para 2027, la dirección señaló el aumento de los costes de los insumos como un viento en contra. Las eficiencias de fabricación, las ventajas de escala y las mejoras en los procesos de las plantas podrían compensar parte de esa presión, pero la empresa prevé múltiples desafíos para los márgenes.

Sobre el azul fosforescente, la dirección declaró que sigue alineando el trabajo de desarrollo con los requisitos de los clientes y ampliando el uso de la IA en el descubrimiento molecular. No se especificó el calendario de comercialización, y se prevé que los ingresos por desarrollo del azul se mantengan en niveles más bajos durante la transición a los materiales de próxima generación.

En relación con la PSF, o arquitectura OLED fluorescente sensibilizada por fosforescencia, la dirección comentó que el valor económico actualmente parece situarse en un rango similar al de la tecnología fosforescente convencional, incluyendo porcentajes de dopado y potencial de ingresos comparables.

En cuanto a las ventas de materiales, la dirección atribuyó la diferencia entre el crecimiento del volumen de unidades y la evolución de los ingresos al mix de clientes y a una variación interanual de 4,8 millones de dólares en los ajustes acumulativos de regularización.

Transcripción completa de la llamada de resultados

Transcripción completa de la conferencia de resultados

Comentarios de la dirección

Operator

Good day, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to Universal Display Corporation's Third Quarter 2026 Earnings Conference Call. My name is Sherry, and I will be your conference moderator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this conference call is being recorded for replay purposes.

I would now like to turn the call over to Darice Liu, Senior Director of Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Darice Liu

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. Welcome to Universal Display's Third Quarter Earnings Conference Call.

Joining me on the call today are Steve Abramson, President and Chief Executive Officer; and Brian Millard, Chief Financial Officer and Treasurer.

Before Steve begins, let me remind you today's call is the property of Universal Display. Any redistribution, retransmission or rebroadcast of any portion of this call in any form without the express written consent of Universal Display is strictly prohibited. Further, this call is being webcast live and will be made available for a period of time on Universal Display's website.

This call contains time-sensitive information that is accurate only as of the date of the live webcast of this call, October 28, 2026. During this call, we may make forward-looking statements based on current expectations. These statements are subject to a number of significant risks and uncertainties, and our actual results may differ materially.

These risks and uncertainties are discussed in the company's periodic reports filed with the SEC and should be referenced by anyone considering making any investments in the company's securities. Universal Display disclaims any obligation to update any of these statements.

Now I'd like to turn the call over to Steve Abramson.

Steven V. Abramson

Thanks, Darice, and good afternoon, everyone. The OLED industry continues to build towards its next phase of growth. The past few months have highlighted both the expanding reach of OLED and the industry's continued investment in innovation and adoption. We saw continued momentum in foldables, new OLED capacity announcements, growing efforts to expand OLED TV share and important advancements in several key areas of our technology road map.

We also introduced our groundbreaking OLEDX platform and reached a major commercialization milestone through the launch of NovaJet by Universal Vapor Jet Corporation, or UVJC. Together, these developments reinforce our confidence in OLED's long-term trajectory and UDC's leadership role in helping shape that future.

Let me begin with foldables, where we are seeing meaningful innovation, investment and adoption across the industry. Foldables reached an important milestone with Apple's launch of the iPhone Duo, their first foldable smartphone. Initial production allocations sold out within minutes of preorders opening with delivery estimates now extending into 2027 due to strong demand and limited early supply.

The foldables are not just an Apple story. The race to establish leadership in foldables is accelerating. Ahead of the iPhone Duo launch, Samsung released its Galaxy Z8 series, Xiaomi introduced its new 18 Fold and Huawei unveiled its third-generation tri-fold, the Mate XT 2. These launches, together with broader industry activity, underscore the growing importance of foldables as a strategic category for leading smartphone makers.

Foldable smartphones are becoming one of the industry's most compelling growth stories. While the broader smartphone market continues to face macroeconomic uncertainty, premium devices have remained relatively resilient and foldables are emerging as one of the fastest-growing segments. Omdia forecasts foldable smartphone shipments will reach 45 million units by 2030, up approximately 150% from 18 million units in 2025.

Foldables deliver big screen versatility in a pocket-sized device, combining the convenience and portability of a smartphone with the immersive experience and added functionality of a much larger display. With nearly 2 to 3x the square inches of a traditional smartphone, foldables showcase what OLED's do uniquely well, enabling thin, lightweight, flexible and power-efficient displays that conventional technologies simply cannot match.

Another major area of expansion is IT, where OLED adoption is accelerating across notebooks, tablets and monitors. As new capacity comes online, Omdia expects OLED IT shipments to reach 89 million units in 2030, more than tripling from 27 million units in 2025. Industry investment continues to support that growth outlook. Display makers have collectively committed approximately $20 billion toward Gen 8.6 OLED capacity, including investments by Samsung Display, BOE, Visionox and TCL China Star.

Most recently, Samsung Display announced plans to restart construction of a new greenfield OLED facility focused on foldables and IT applications, while LG Display is expanding Gen-6 capacity and evaluating future Gen-8 investments. We are also seeing encouraging developments in TVs. New OLED TV models from LG, Sony and Panasonic are using LG Display's lower-cost SE architecture, helping broaden OLED's addressable market while preserving its premium picture quality.

Beyond consumer electronics, we continue to see attractive prospects in the automotive market. OLED's design flexibility, image quality and ability to support immersive digital interiors position the technology well for next-generation vehicle platforms. OLED's impact in automotive also extends beyond the cockpit. This month marks 10 years of OLED lighting in Audi production vehicles, highlighting how OLED technology continues to expand its role in automotive design, functionality and communication.

Foldables, IT, TVs and automotive each address different markets. And together, they are expanding OLED's reach across a broader set of products, applications and customers. As OLED continues to evolve, so does the opportunity to push the boundaries of performance, efficiency and visual experience. That is where UDC's technology leadership matters.

At IMID, a major Korean display conference in August, we introduced OLEDX, a proprietary technology platform designed to extract more light out of an OLED display and deliver it to the user. Our phosphorescent technologies revolutionize OLED efficiency by maximizing light generation. But currently, not all of that light reaches the user. OLEDX is designed to dramatically increase the amount of light that reaches the user. Put simply, phosphorescence creates the photons and OLEDX helps make every photon count.

Together, these complementary technologies can unlock the next level of OLED performance, enabling higher efficiency, enhanced image fidelity and greater control over the viewing experience. Phosphorescent blue remains a central element of our innovation road map, and we continue to make advancements across key performance metrics, including efficiency, color, lifetime and manufacturability. We are also expanding our work into a broader range of materials and device architectures to accelerate commercialization.

While commercialization timing remains depending on customer road maps, we believe phosphorescent blue represents a significant opportunity for both UDC and the OLED industry. Our materials portfolio is also expanding through next-generation red and green emitters designed to support broader color gamut and emerging architectures such as PSF or phosphor-sensitized fluorescent OLED's.

To further accelerate progress, we are leveraging artificial intelligence, machine learning and advanced computational tools through our innovation pipeline. Our AI-enabled discovery platform has generated a virtual library of more than 1 billion molecular designs and evaluated approximately 50 million candidates using proprietary models, enabling us to explore a broader molecular design space more quickly and efficiently.

From that effort, we have already identified hundreds of promising innovative molecular cores, synthesized new candidates and generated leads to advance our commercial blue program. These capabilities are accelerating progress of phosphorescent blue and enhancing our ability to discover and optimize next-generation OLED materials across our broader portfolio.

Beyond our core business, our equipment subsidiary, UVJC, recently launched NovaJet, the first commercial system and a significant milestone for a technology platform UDC has spent years developing. With the potential applications spanning multiple large end markets, including semiconductors, photovoltaics, solid-state batteries, organic electronics and life sciences, we believe UVJC can create new long-term avenues for value creation.

The industry continues to navigate macroeconomic uncertainty and elevated component costs, particularly memory pricing. Display makers and brands continue to invest in OLED capacity, technology and new products. We believe those investments reinforce the industry's long-term growth outlook.

And with that, Brian, I'll turn the call over to you.

Brian Millard

Thanks, Steve. Revenue for the third quarter of 2026 was $160 million compared to $140 million last year. We continue to expect full year revenue to track toward the lower end of our prior guidance range of $630 million to $670 million. Total material sales in the third quarter were $80 million compared to $83 million in the third quarter of 2025.

The decrease in material sales primarily reflected customer mix and a $4.8 million unfavorable year-over-year change in cumulative catch-up adjustments related to estimated product mix, partially offset by higher unit material volume. Green emitter sales, which include our yellow green emitters, were $61 million compared to $65 million in the third quarter of last year. Red emitter sales were $19 million compared to $17 million in the third quarter of 2025.

Revenue from royalty and license fees was $75 million in the third quarter compared to $53 million in the prior year period. The increase was primarily due to higher unit material volume, customer mix and the absence of the $9.5 million out-of-period adjustment that reduced royalty and license revenue in the third quarter of 2025.

The ratio of material sales to royalty and license revenue was approximately 1.1:1 in both the third quarter and the first 9 months of this year, which is now our full year ratio expectation as a result of customer and product mix changes. Adesis, our contract development and manufacturing subsidiary, generated $5.2 million of revenue during the quarter compared to $3.7 million in the third quarter of 2025.

Cost of sales was $43 million for the quarter. Total gross margin was 73% compared to 75% in the prior year period. We expect total gross margins for the full year to trend toward the lower end of the 74% to 76% guidance range due to product mix and customer mix. Operating expenses, excluding cost of sales, were $64 million compared to $61 million in the prior year period.

Operating income was $54 million, representing an operating margin of 33% compared to $43 million and 31% in the prior year period. Other income was $37 million compared to $1 million in the prior year period, primarily reflecting a $29 million unrealized noncash gain on a UDC Ventures investment and a $7 million foreign exchange gain on our Korean won tax receivable. The effective tax rate for the quarter was approximately 20%.

GAAP net income was $79 million or $1.72 per diluted share compared to net income of $44 million or $0.92 per diluted share in the third quarter of 2025. Excluding the UDC Ventures gain, net of tax, adjusted net income was approximately $56 million or $1.23 per diluted share. Because the gain was noncash and unrelated to our core business, we believe adjusted results better reflect operating performance. A reconciliation of GAAP to non-GAAP results is included in today's earnings materials.

I would like to briefly highlight UDC Ventures, which we launched a few years ago to complement our long-standing commitment to innovation and technology leadership. Today, the portfolio includes about a dozen investments and approximately $80 million in assets under management. Our focus is on 3 areas: innovations across the display ecosystem that support our core technologies, AI and machine learning initiatives that advance materials discovery and disruptive technologies with the potential to create new markets and transform industries.

We are already seeing strategic benefits from the companies technologies and relationships fostered through UDC Ventures, and we believe the platform will continue to strengthen our innovation ecosystem, expand our technology pipeline and create long-term value.

Turning to capital allocation. During the third quarter, we repurchased approximately 963,000 shares for approximately $79 million. For the first 9 months of this year, we repurchased approximately 2.1 million shares for approximately $193 million. Over the last 12 months, we returned more than $340 million to shareholders through dividends and share repurchases and reduced our outstanding share count by more than 5%.

And today, we announced that our Board of Directors declared a fourth quarter cash dividend of $0.50 per share. We ended the quarter with approximately $828 million in cash, cash equivalents and investments. Our strong balance sheet and cash generation provides substantial flexibility to invest in innovation, pursue growth opportunities and continue returning capital to shareholders.

With that, I'll turn the call back to Steve.

Steven V. Abramson

Thanks, Brian. Foldables and IT are helping drive the next wave of OLED adoption, while OLEDX, phosphorescent blue and our broader innovation pipeline continues to push the boundaries of OLED performance. Through UVJC, UDC Ventures and Adesis, we are also extending our reach and creating additional avenues for long-term growth.

As we look ahead, we are excited about the opportunities before us and our ability to create value across a growing range of technologies, markets and applications through innovation, technology leadership and disciplined execution. I would like to thank each of our employees for their drive, desire, dedication and heart in elevating and shaping Universal Display's accomplishments and advancements.

We are committed to being a leader in the OLED ecosystem, achieving superior long-term growth and delivering cutting-edge technologies and materials for the industry, for our customers and for our shareholders.

And with that, operator, let's start the Q&A.

Operator

Thank you, Mr. Abramson. [Operator Instructions] Our first question is from Brian Lee with Goldman Sachs.

Preguntas y respuestas

Brian Lee

Maybe first one for you, Brian. On the gross margin on materials, it's 50% second straight quarter. Can you kind of just walk through the puts and takes, the path to recovery? I think you had talked about getting back to the historical normal of 60% or so by the second half of the year. Is that still on pace for 4Q here? Or is there kind of a different trajectory we should be expecting?

Brian Millard

Brian, there has been a little bit of an evolution over the last few months in terms of the customer and product mix this year. So as you heard in my remarks, we are now expecting still to be within the range of our total gross margin guidance of 74% to 76%, but toward the lower end of that range. So that's really just a function of changes that we've seen in the mix of customers this year as well as the products that they're purchasing.

Brian Lee

Okay. Fair enough. I mean do you anticipate there's normalization as you move into next year? Is there visibility on that? Or is this potentially the new normal?

Brian Millard

Yes. I mean, looking to next year, we'll give formal guidance in February. But as you know, looking at the top line, there's certainly macro uncertainty that we do expect is going to continue into next year. So if you look at -- based on that, especially the memory environment expected to continue to be tight and challenging into 2027.

So if you look at that, the third-party research firms seem to be indicating on the top line roughly mid-single-digit growth expecting next year in terms of square area of OLED devices. And on the gross margin side, there are a number of moving pieces as we look to next year. There are some higher input costs that we do expect to materialize next year.

However, as we continue to grow, there are efficiencies and scale that we can generate through our manufacturing processes. We're also looking at some manufacturing process improvements for the plants that we do think will provide somewhat of an offset, but there are a number of pressures that we're facing on the gross margin side heading into '27.

Brian Lee

Okay. Fair enough. Last question for me, I'll pass it on. Just bigger picture, two of the maybe medium- to longer-term opportunities for you guys, if you could update us on them. One, blue phosphorescent material commercialization, kind of where are you on that? And then two, on the NovaJet, congrats on the progress there. Kind of next milestones? Do you need an equipment partner? Kind of what should we be thinking in terms of how close you are to commercializing and seeing real orders on that technology?

Steven V. Abramson

Brian, so on blue, we're continuing to work with all our customers to align development efforts with future requirements. We're continuing to expand our team. And as we talked in the prepared remarks, we're integrating even more as AI grows, it's helping us invent new molecules and accelerate the growth of that area. So we're very excited about the future, and it's still a story to be told.

On UVJC, this is pretty exciting because you may remember the old OVJP technology. Well, we pivoted on that, moved it to Singapore and are focusing on a number of other areas such as life sciences, semiconductor, semiconductor packaging, photovoltaics, even solid-state batteries. And this is -- the initial product is going to be a small footprint tool that will enable researchers and technologists to work with the technology because it's a really exciting technology of dry printing to see how it can apply in these myriad opportunities. So we're going to continue to evolve the UVJC platform, and we'll keep you posted from time to time.

Brian Lee

Okay.

Operator

Our next question is from Mehdi Hosseini with SIG.

Mehdi Hosseini

A couple of follow-ups for me. Brian, to hit your low end of revenue target for calendar '26 suggests that there's a big ramp coming in Q4, sequential growth in Q4 higher -- much higher than Q3. Should we assume that that's a reflection of the current sell-through and there's minimal downside risk to this?

Brian Millard

Yes. I mean, Mehdi, so there's a handful of products that launched in the second half of the year that we typically see strength from. So we expect that momentum to continue into the fourth quarter. And there's also a handful of products that launch typically in the first quarter of each year, and we see material buying and some production for that -- those launches happening in the fourth quarter. So we do believe it's achievable, and that's our plan at this point is to achieve that low end of the prior range, which is consistent with what we had thought back at the end of July.

Mehdi Hosseini

Sure. Okay. And I know there was a question on blue already addressed with your customers. But I'm kind of surprised there is no development revenue capture. How can I reconcile like the development revenue on blue with your continued engagement with customers?

Steven V. Abramson

Well, our customers still have some blue materials that they're working on. But I think it also -- and this is important, reflects the continued strategic transition as we advance the next generation of phosphorescent blue materials. So during this -- these transitions can affect development revenue from quarter-to-quarter, and we do expect the blue revenue to remain lower during this time period.

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Our next question is from Martin Yang with Oppenheimer & Company.

Martin Yang

I have one question on PSF. On these new architectures when your role takes on a sensitizer as opposed to emitter, can you maybe comment on how should we think about the economic value for UDC either on a per panel or per color basis relative to more conventional architecture? Do you see more opportunity for you, equal, less? Any comment is appreciated.

Steven V. Abramson

Martin, at this point, we're kind of seeing it in the same range of pure phosphorescence. I mean PSF is just starting out. We'll have to see how that works. The phosphorescence is obviously essential for PSF. And right now, it does seem as though it's occupying in the same range of doping percentage in revenues.

Martin Yang

Got it. A second question on volume versus pricing. So we've seen volume growth relative to revenue decline in the past 2 quarters or which implies the pricing is seeing some pressure on a year-over-year basis. Can you help us understand what is attributing to that decline?

Brian Millard

Yes. Martin, it's Brian. So there's 2 factors driving that. The first is just customer mix. We have different arrangements with each of our customers in that regard. And obviously, customers that have more volume, you would expect to have better pricing. As well as we did have a cumulative catch-up change. It was about a $4.8 million swing from Q3 of '25 to Q3 this year. And so -- and a significant portion of that hit the materials line. So if you normalize for that, you still have a little bit of a discrepancy, but lesser of one, and that's really due to the customer mix changes.

Martin Yang

Got it.

Brian Millard

Thanks, Martin.

Operator

There are no further questions at this time. I would like to turn the floor back over to Brian Millard for some closing remarks.

Brian Millard

Thank you for joining us today. We remain confident in the long-term drivers for the company and the industry and including the continued adoption across new products, applications and form factors. We appreciate your continued interest and look forward to speaking with you next quarter.

Operator

Thank you. This does conclude our conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time.