Latest news with #Balakrishnan
Yahoo
9 hours ago
- Automotive
- Yahoo
POWI Q1 Earnings Call: Automotive and Industrial Design Wins Offset Consumer Volatility
Semiconductor designer Power Integrations (NASDAQ:POWI) missed Wall Street's revenue expectations in Q1 CY2025, but sales rose 15.1% year on year to $105.5 million. Its non-GAAP EPS of $0.31 per share was 8.9% above analysts' consensus estimates. Is now the time to buy POWI? Find out in our full research report (it's free). Revenue: $105.5 million (15.1% year-on-year growth) Adjusted EPS: $0.31 vs analyst estimates of $0.28 (8.9% beat) Adjusted Operating Income: $15.55 million vs analyst estimates of $13.67 million (14.7% margin, 13.8% beat) Revenue Guidance for Q2 CY2025 is $115 million at the midpoint, roughly in line with what analysts were expecting Operating Margin: 6.4%, up from 0.5% in the same quarter last year Inventory Days Outstanding: 325, up from 314 in the previous quarter Market Capitalization: $2.87 billion Power Integrations' first quarter results were shaped by growth across each of its end markets, with management highlighting particular strength in the Consumer and Computer categories. CEO Balu Balakrishnan pointed to robust appliance sales and air conditioning demand, along with notable design wins in TVs and game consoles, as contributors to the Consumer segment's performance. In the Computer segment, he emphasized the adoption of GaN (gallium nitride) products for high-density server applications supporting artificial intelligence workloads. The company also attributed some of the quarter's outperformance in Consumer to appliance shipments being pulled forward ahead of anticipated tariffs, referencing commentary from a major appliance customer. Looking ahead, Power Integrations expects second quarter revenue growth to be driven by continued strength in Industrial, Computer, and Communications categories, while anticipating a normalization in Consumer after the tariff-related pull-forward. Management cautioned that the outlook for the rest of the year will depend heavily on evolving trade policy, with Balakrishnan stating, 'the outlook for the second half of the year is highly dependent on the course of trade policy, and we would not expect to be immune from any reduction in end demand related to tariffs.' The company remains focused on leveraging long-term trends like energy efficiency and electrification, while noting that a favorable outcome on tariffs could prompt inventory replenishment and additional upside. Management attributed quarterly growth to a mix of end-market strength, new design wins, and external factors like tariff-related demand shifts, while emphasizing the durability of ongoing efficiency and electrification trends. Appliance demand and tariff pull-forward: The Consumer segment benefited from higher appliance and air conditioning sales, with some demand pulled forward as U.S. customers accelerated shipments ahead of tariffs. Management estimated this effect accounted for several million dollars in additional revenue. AI-driven server growth: The Computer category saw increased adoption of Power Integrations' GaN components for servers, particularly those designed for artificial intelligence applications that require higher power density and efficiency. Industrial market momentum: Growth in the Industrial segment was underpinned by high-voltage design wins in DC transmission, renewables, and electric locomotives, especially in India. The company added new locomotive and metering projects, positioning itself for sustained expansion in these areas. Automotive design wins expanding: Power Integrations reported its first high-voltage GaN design win in automotive for a U.S. electric vehicle customer, as well as new production shipments to Japanese and European automakers. These initiatives are expected to diversify future revenue streams. Inventory and channel health: Channel inventories remained at normal levels, with Consumer inventories below average. Management said this should help cushion any negative effects from demand fluctuations or trade policy changes in upcoming quarters. Management anticipates that growth in Industrial, Computer, and Communications segments, combined with ongoing design wins and evolving trade policy, will drive near-term performance and shape the outlook for the rest of the year. Industrial and automotive ramp: The company expects Industrial to be its fastest-growing segment in 2025, supported by new high-voltage projects in transmission, renewables, and further automotive design wins in the U.S., Japan, and Europe. Consumer normalization post-tariff: After a first quarter boost from tariff-related shipment timing in appliances, management predicts a sequential decline in Consumer revenues but sees a return to typical seasonal patterns by the second half of the year, assuming stable trade conditions. Trade policy uncertainty: Management highlighted that changes in global trade policy remain a significant risk factor for revenue and demand in the second half of 2025. However, low channel inventory levels could soften the impact of any adverse policy developments. Over the coming quarters, the StockStory team will be watching (1) progress in ramping high-voltage industrial and automotive design wins, (2) the impact of trade policy developments on demand and inventory management, and (3) ongoing adoption of GaN products in AI-related server applications. Execution in these areas will be critical to sustaining growth and navigating external risks. Power Integrations currently trades at a forward P/E ratio of 29.6×. In the wake of earnings, is it a buy or sell? See for yourself in our full research report (it's free). Donald Trump's victory in the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election sent major indices to all-time highs, but stocks have retraced as investors debate the health of the economy and the potential impact of tariffs. While this leaves much uncertainty around 2025, a few companies are poised for long-term gains regardless of the political or macroeconomic climate, like our Top 9 Market-Beating Stocks. This is a curated list of our High Quality stocks that have generated a market-beating return of 183% over the last five years (as of March 31st 2025). Stocks that made our list in 2020 include now familiar names such as Nvidia (+1,545% between March 2020 and March 2025) as well as under-the-radar businesses like the once-small-cap company Comfort Systems (+782% five-year return). Find your next big winner with StockStory today. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
The Hindu
15 hours ago
- Business
- The Hindu
Bringing down costs, making our economic costs better to help drive profitability, Apollo HealthCo CEO
Excerpts: Medical inflation is often being mentioned about in the industry. In this paradigm, which product serves better – a co-branding card or insurance, considering you have also forayed into insurance recently? Mr. Balakrishnan: I do not see it as a conflict. A credit card is an emergency and convenience-driven device whereas insurance is a purely emergency device for which you have been paying for over a period. It is complementary and one of the reasons why Apollo 24|7 got into both is because card as a payment mechanism and insurance as a protective mechanism are very mandatory, and core to my business. They are not extra-curricular. In fact, they cover my proposition. Our aspiration is to bring in both the provider (hospitals, pharmacy, diagnostics and wellness) and payer (cards, UPI and insurance) under one umbrella. Thus, providing our customers both affordability and best possible services. That is how we endeavour to build our circle of health. How do you look at insurance and co-branding ensuring profitability for Apollo? Mr. Balakrishnan: Our pharmacy business is the primary driver. We do about 59,000-60,000 deliveries every day which touches 1,00,000 if you consider home deliveries utilising through our digital platforms. With respect to diagnostics, we test around 80,000 to 1,00,000 samples every month primarily from our pharmacy customers as well as independent customers. Finally, we do about 3,000 consultations every day. All of it pertains to our digital platforms and not the offline centres. So, this business is growing slowly and steadily unlike quick commerce - we are not growth on steroids. Our growth is built on a sustainable model. We start by focussing on top six cities, then the next ten cities and so forth. While we are servicing 19,000 pin codes, a big chunk of our business is derived from these markets. For me, growing my pharmacy, diagnostics and consult business is core. With credit card or an insurance ensure, I get more repeat business and thereby the core business continue to grow. The insurance customers also become my primary customers. In the sense that we would be able to give them a much better experience within the Apollo ecosystem and other hospitals outside it as well. While we earn some margins from the insurance business, for it is viable as a standalone business, we might not make too much money with credit card business. However, it is imperative to note that we do not lose money with the latter, for the credit card customers become a driver of growth for the three core businesses, that is, pharmacy, diagnostics, and consultations. What is the outlook for profitability? Mr. Balakrishnan: We hope to break profitability between the five units of business, that is, pharmacy, diagnostics, consultations, insurance and cards, by the end of this financial year. We have been bringing down costs dramatically and making our unit economics better. I believe this would help drive profitability much faster. Hopefully, by the third or fourth quarter we should be able to turn this around. As an entity we are positive but as a pure digital line, we are still burning cash. We should be able to eliminate that by the end of this year. How do you see the evolving landscape with quick commerce? Mr. Balakrishnan: We are typically compared with quick commerce entities experiencing breakneck growth and spending a lot of money. Although we would want to build a sustainable model because we feel healthcare is a long-term business and build a much stronger proposition. Although, consumer behaviour is changing with quicker ten-minute deliveries, and we do not live in a vacuum. Thus, we brought in the 19-minute delivery model. However, ours is also a much more complicated and regulated product. It requires validating prescriptions alongside adhering to rules for disbursing medicines. At this point, we have the 19-minute delivery service in top 6 cities and intend to roll it out selectively in others. This has genuinely helped us get better propositions. While it may not be economically viable at this point of time, but it helps get customers. Our focus has been to ensure that deliveries are either within 19 minutes, especially emergencies, or 90% within the same day. Thus, our underlined objectives now also entail quick turnaround time alongside authenticity, discount and accessibility. The faster I can deliver, I become more efficient, and it becomes a better paradigm. What purpose would the recently introduced SBI co-branding credit serve? Mr. Balakrishnan: A typical patient in SEC-A (top socio-economic class in India) would be spending anything between ₹30,000-45,000 on an annualised basis. If we were to take Apollo 24|7 as a yardstick, 27% of the pharmacy transactions happen on a credit card. Further, it is not more than 6-7% at the physical outlets. We observed more people are using digital means to make payments because it convenient and effective. Additionally, with credit cards one can push the expenses to the end of the month. Thus, the first objective was to consolidate the mechanism of payment for purchasers in a more organised way. Secondly, giving value to customers. Partnering with SBI drives better value for our customers. This would be by pooling in our (respective) resources and offering customers up to 25% cash back as savings. This can only be done through a credit card and not a debit card. With UPI as well, the economics would be sustainable neither for the bank nor for us. Furthermore, we are ascertaining that the savings, which is not just at the pharmacy outlet but overall spend, can be ploughed back. Imagine availing cash back and/or points on the entire spending and investing it back for health needs itself. The final objective relates to testing. This is to facilitate pro-active care especially in a market like ours bearing considerable potentiality for non-communicable diseases. We are putting in some annual tests free of cost as part of the proposition. How does the co-branding card help the overall business? Mr. Balakrishnan: We hope to spur the 27% figure on pharmacy transactions through credit cards to about 35-40% because this would help enhance our efficiencies. As for numbers, it would be a steady growth because credit card business also entails underwriting, that is, not everybody gets a card. We hope to touch anything between 7,50,000 to 1 million cards over the next 18 months as we build it slowly and steadily. We intend to target it to our existing customers and are not exploring anybody coming up. The objective is to reach out to our huge (customer) base and rewarding those who engage with us by providing a product that enhances value (for them) and present a loyalty tool for offering them better. Finally, you would also be able to build further value propositions by building a strong core. With respect to co-branding cards in general, does the proposition of deep discounting not affect the unit economics of a company? Mr. Balakrishnan: When this industry started, discount was the only product-market fit. Why would anyone want to learn a new mechanism of buying (medicines) digitally. While the coronavirus pandemic did serve as a catalyst, the paradigm was retained for the (assured) availability of trusted medicines, because the industry is unfortunately plagued by a lot of counterfeit and duplicate medicines. The Apollo brand affirmed trustworthiness. Further, the digital proposition ensured greater reach and trusted medicines were available at any point of time. What is also essential to note is that an offline store can hold 6,000-7,000 SKUs at a given point of time, compared to online where it could be about 60,000. About discounting, it used to be as high at 20-22% when it started off. There has been a constant winding down since then. At present, it hovers at around 14-16% in the digital space at least depending on varied retailers. The sustainability of the model however, according to me, would be in the range of around 13% weighted average. The co-branding card (referring to SBI) ensures a more seamless experience and efficiency. The cost of collecting cash (for deliveries) is very high. Thus, the uptake effectively brings down the cost of operation. It should also not affect unit economics if I am able to grow 30-40% with more repeating customers, instead, the unit economics would start looking better. However, beyond 13-14% in the industry, it will start eating into the unit economics.
New Indian Express
a day ago
- Business
- New Indian Express
‘No upkeep', NHAI can't levy toll on Thoothukudi NH: Madras HC
MADURAI: The Madurai Bench of Madras High Court on Tuesday directed National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) not to collect toll fee from motorists on the Madurai-Thoothukudi national highway (NH-38), till maintenance works are carried out. A bench of justices SM Subramaniam and AD Maria Clete passed the order on a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) petition filed by a retired Tangedco employee, V Balakrishnan of Thoothukudi. Balakrishnan contended that the contract for the road was awarded to Madurai-Tuticorin Expressways Limited (MTEL) of the Madhucon Projects Limited in 2006 and the road was brought to use in 2011. Though the estimated cost of the project was Rs 920 crore, the company had received around Rs 932.44 crore, without even fully completing the sapling plantation work on the roadside and the median, Balakrishnan alleged. The company collected fee from public on two toll plazas in the stretch, but failed to maintain the road surface, due to which many portions of the road became non-motorable, he added. As a result, NHAI terminated its contract with the company in 2023 and took control of the stretch but NHAI too began collecting toll fee, without carrying out repair and plantation works, Balakrishnan said and requested the court to direct NHAI to collect only 30% of toll fee till it undertakes maintenance work. Also, he sought action against the MTEL for its mismanagement. During the hearing on Tuesday, the government counsel submitted that arbitration proceedings are pending between NHAI and the company. Recording this, the judges passed the order and disposed of the petition. The matter was posted on June 18 for reporting compliance.
Indian Express
28-05-2025
- General
- Indian Express
After cargo ship mishap, small patches of oil slick reported along Alappuzha coast
Four days after Liberian-flagged cargo ship MSC ELSA 3 capsized off Kerala coast, small patches of oil slick were Wednesday traced at Alappuzha coast. Indian National Centre for Ocean Information Services (INCOIS) director Dr T M Balakrishnan Nair Wednesday confirmed that there were traces of oil along the coast. The Liberia-flagged MSC ELSA 3, a 28-year-old vessel, was sailing from Vizhinjam port in Thiruvananthapuram to Kochi when it capsized around 25 km southwest of Alappuzha. The ship went down with more than 600 containers, some of which washed ashore Monday. 'Our six-member team has found small patches of oil slick along the coast. The oil that reached the Alappuzha coast in small quantities is bunker oil used in ships,' he said Wednesday. 'As the oil spill from the ship has been contained to a certain extent, we do not expect a massive oil slick. However, it would continue to appear in southern Kerala coast in the coming days also. Everything depends upon how much oil has leaked out from the ship.' Dr Balakrishnan said the oil slick could affect marine life, especially since monsoon is breeding time for many fish species. 'The impact would depend upon the quantity of the oil being oozing out from the ship. The direction of the wind and the current also decide on the impact and spread of oil slick,' he said. On Sunday, INCOIS, under the Ministry of Earth Sciences, had predicted the spilled oil pollutant could reach the coastal stretch of Alappuzha, Ambalapuzha, Arattupuzha and Karunagappally within 36-48 hrs of release from the capsized ship. The Indian Coast Guard had said Tuesday that efforts were underway to respond to it. This includes deploying vessels with oil spill dispersant to contain the spread of oil and mobilising a dedicated pollution control vessel, Samudra Prahari, from Mumbai.
The Hindu
27-05-2025
- Science
- The Hindu
KFRI begins Statewide macaque population study
In quiet temple courtyards, bustling market streets, and forest-fringe villages of Kerala, a familiar face is becoming a cause for growing concern. The bonnet macaque (Macaca radiata) endemic to peninsular India is now at the centre of escalating human-wildlife conflicts (HWC). In Kerala, these primates are involved in over 15% of all reported human-wildlife conflict incidents, ranging from crop damage and property destruction to aggressive encounters and health concerns. In response, the Kerala Forest Research Institute (KFRI) has launched a Statewide initiative to map the distribution and population of these macaques, aiming at understanding and managing their increasing interactions with humans. Led by Peroth Balakrishnan, Head of the Department of Wildlife Biology at the KFRI, and funded by the Kerala Forest and Wildlife Department, the project takes a comprehensive approach. 'The bonnet macaque is not just a victim of habitat loss, it's a symbol of how human-dominated landscapes are reshaping wildlife behaviour and distribution,' said Dr. Balakrishnan. 'Our study is designed to go beyond just numbers; we aim at understanding the social, ecological, and cultural dimensions of the conflict and developing actionable strategies for peaceful coexistence.' Vulnerable category Once listed as a species of Least Concern, the bonnet macaque has now been moved to the Vulnerable category on the IUCN Red List following sharp population decline and local extinctions. The project aims at mapping spatial distribution of bonnet macaques across Kerala, estimating their population size and trends, identifying conflict hotspots using field data and community input, understanding local perceptions, assessing both old and new conflict mitigation methods, and developing evidence-based policies for long-term human-macaque conflict management. Though several conflict mitigation efforts have been tried in Kerala and beyond, most had limited impact. Population control is often proposed as a solution, but experts stress that before considering measures such as culling, sterilisation, hormonal or immunocontraception, it is essential to identify high-conflict groups and carry out scientific population assessment. An estimate from 1981 suggests that Kerala has around 11,000 bonnet macaques in 500 troops across rural and urban areas. The general wildlife surveys never considered primate population outside forest areas. This study is designed to fill that critical gap, providing the scientific and ethical foundation needed for informed management decisions. Fieldwork will span both commensal habitats (urban temples, villages, towns) and semi-commensal areas (sacred groves, forest roads, canal banks), using a combination of roadside and random path surveys, stakeholder interviews, and participatory mapping with local communities and forest officials. Changes in interaction Sheheer T.A., a PhD scholar at KFRI researching bonnet macaque behaviour, pointed to worrying changes in how these monkeys interact with people. 'In many forest-edge and tourist areas, people started feeding macaques—often out of kindness or curiosity. Over time, the monkeys began to expect it, acting as if human food was their right,' he said. 'When tourists disappear and food handouts stop, they turn to raiding nearby homes. It shows just how deeply, and sometimes dangerously, human habits are shaping wildlife behaviour.' 'Kerala's human-animal conflict landscape is evolving rapidly, and solutions must be rooted in science, compassion, and cooperation and not retaliation or resentment,' added Dr. Balakrishnan. 'Through this approach, we need to set a model for managing primate-human interactions, one that can inform efforts not only in Kerala but across southern India,' he added. People can contact KFRI team at 99611 96526 if they encounter a bonnet macaque troop.
