Electro Scientific Industries, Inc. the renowned provider of world-class photonic and laser micro-engineering systems, today announced here the results of its fiscal 2007 third quarter ended March 3, 2007.

ESI is a frontrunner and leading supplier of world-class production laser systems having the direction of aiding its microelectronics customers to attain compelling yield and productivity gains. From its commencement in 1944 the company's industry-leading, application-specific products has been engaged in concentrating and augmenting electronic-device performance in three key sectors like semiconductors, components and electronic interconnect. The aspiration has been to enable exactitude in fine-tuning of device microfeatures in high-volume manufacturing environments.

According to the company, the third quarter sales were amounting to $59.4 million, approximately flat compared to the second quarter results of $59.3 million and up 6% compared to prior year third quarter sales of $55.9 million. The operating income for the quarter was $4.0 million when compared to $3.6 million in the second quarter and $4.9 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2006. The net income for the quarter was $5.6 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, when compared with second quarter net income of $3.8 million, or $0.13 per diluted share, and $10.4 million, or $0.35 per diluted share in the third quarter of fiscal 2006. The operating results that were included in the third quarter 2007 were $0.7 million of stock-based compensation expense, down from $0.9 million in the second quarter.

In addition, the orders for the third quarter were $73.0 million witnessing an increase of 17% compared with $62.4 million in the second quarter. It moreover amounted to an increase of 38% when compared with $53.0 million in the third quarter of fiscal 2006. In addition, the backlog of $55 million at the end of the third quarter was up from $42 million at the end of the prior quarter as a result of strong order growth.

While speaking on the event Mr. Nick Konidaris, the CEO of Electro Scientific Industries (ESI) said, "We continue to see strong fundamental market conditions that drove demand for our products during the third quarter. In addition, our investment in research and development has expanded our product portfolio with new tools. The strength of the market, coupled with the execution of our development strategy, resulted in the continuation of ESI's string of consecutive order growth on a two quarter average. Sequentially, orders for Q3 grew 17% from Q2, driven by a strong increase in demand for memory repair systems from several of our key customers in Asia and Europe."