Astera Labs Announces Financial Results for the First Quarter of Fiscal Year 2025

Published: 2025-05-06 16:06:04 ET ALAB

Published on 05/06/2025 at 16:06

SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 06, 2025 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Astera Labs, Inc. (Nasdaq: ALAB), a global leader in semiconductor-based connectivity solutions for cloud and AI infrastructure, today announced preliminary financial results for the first quarter of fiscal year 2025, ended March 31, 2025.

“Astera Labs started the year strong, with Q1 revenue growing 13% sequentially and 144% year-over-year, and exceeding our first quarter guidance for gross margin and earnings per share,” said Jitendra Mohan, Astera Labs’ Chief Executive Officer. “Our design wins across AI platforms, expanding portfolio with increasing value for customers, and significant traction with Scorpio fabric solutions strategically position us as a critical connectivity supplier for the entire AI rack. During the quarter, we saw strong demand for PCIe scale-up and Ethernet scale-out connectivity solutions in custom ASIC platforms, along with initial shipments for Scorpio P-Series and Aries 6 Retimers for merchant GPU-based platforms. These factors and new opportunities for scale-up interconnects boost our confidence in accelerating R&D development to further strengthen our connectivity platform and to deliver results that outpace industry growth.”

First Quarter 2025 Financial Highlights

GAAP Financial Results:

Non-GAAP Financial Results (excluding the impact of stock-based compensation expense and the income tax effects of non-GAAP adjustments):

Q1 2025 and Recent Business Highlights

Second Quarter of Fiscal 2025 Financial Outlook

Based on current business trends and conditions, Astera Labs estimates the following:

GAAP Financial Outlook:

Non-GAAP Financial Outlook (excluding the impact of stock-based compensation expense and the income tax effects of non-GAAP adjustments):

Earnings Webcast and Conference CallAstera Labs will host a conference call to review its financial results for the first quarter of fiscal 2025 and to discuss our financial outlook today at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time. Interested parties may join the conference call by dialing 1-800-715-9871 and using conference ID 5908687. The call will also be webcast and can be accessed at the Astera Labs website at https://ir.asteralabs.com/. The webcast will be recorded and available for replay on the company’s website for the next six months.

Discussion of Non-GAAP Financial MeasuresWe use certain non-GAAP financial measures, including those concerning our financial outlook, to supplement the performance measures in our consolidated financial statements, which are presented in accordance with GAAP. A reconciliation of these non-GAAP measures to the closest GAAP measure can be found later in this release. The timing and impact of any adjustments to arrive at the corresponding GAAP financial measures concerning our financial outlook are inherently dependent on future events that are typically uncertain or that may be outside of our control. These non-GAAP financial measures include non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP tax rate, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP pro forma diluted earnings per share, and non-GAAP pro forma weighted-average share count. We use these non-GAAP financial measures for financial and operational decision-making and as a means to assist us in evaluating period-to-period comparisons. By excluding certain items that may not be indicative of our recurring core operating results, we believe that, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP operating income, non-GAAP operating margin, non-GAAP tax rate, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP pro forma diluted earnings per share, and non-GAAP pro forma weighted-average share count provide meaningful supplemental information regarding our performance. Accordingly, we believe these non-GAAP financial measures are useful to investors and others because they allow for additional information with respect to financial measures used by management in its financial and operational decision-making and they may be used by our institutional investors and the analyst community to help them analyze the health of our business. However, there are a number of limitations related to the use of non-GAAP financial measures, and these non-GAAP measures should be considered in addition to, not as a substitute for or in isolation from, our financial results prepared in accordance with GAAP. Other companies, including companies in our industry, may calculate these non-GAAP financial measures differently or not at all, which reduces their usefulness as comparative measures.

We adjust the following items from one or more of our non-GAAP financial measures:

Stock-based compensation expenseWe exclude stock-based compensation expense, which is a non-cash expense, from certain of our non-GAAP financial measures because we believe that excluding this item provides meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance. In particular, companies calculate non-cash stock-based compensation expense using a variety of valuation methodologies and subjective assumptions. Moreover, stock-based compensation expense is a non-cash charge that can vary significantly from period to period for reasons that are unrelated to our core operating performance, and therefore excluding this item provides investors and other users of our financial information with information that allows meaningful comparisons of our business performance across periods.

Employer payroll taxes related to stock-based compensation resulting from our IPOWe exclude employer payroll taxes related to the time-based vesting and net settlement of restricted stock units in connection with our initial public offering (the “IPO”), because this does not correlate to the operation of our business. We believe that excluding this item provides meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance given the amount of employer payroll tax-related items on employee stock transactions was immaterial prior to our IPO.

Income tax effectThis represents the impact of the non-GAAP adjustments on an after-tax basis and one-off discrete tax adjustments that are unrelated to our core operating performance in connection with the presentation of non-GAAP net income and non-GAAP net income per diluted share. This approach is designed to enhance investors’ ability to understand the impact of our non-GAAP tax expense on our current operations, provide improved modeling accuracy, and substantially reduce fluctuations caused by GAAP to non-GAAP adjustments.

Non-GAAP pro forma weighted-average shares to compute non-GAAP pro forma net income per shareWe present non-GAAP pro forma weighted-average shares, assuming our redeemable convertible preferred stock is converted from the beginning of each respective periods presented, to provide meaningful supplemental information regarding EPS trend on a consistent basis. All of our outstanding redeemable preferred stock converted into the equivalent number of shares of common stock in connection with our IPO.

Cautionary Note Regarding Forward-Looking StatementsThis press release contains forward-looking statements based on Astera Labs' current expectations. The words "believe," “confidence,” “continue,” “deliver,” “enable,” "estimate," "expect," "intend," “may,” “opportunities,” “provide,” "will," and similar phrases as they relate to Astera Labs are intended to identify such forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements reflect the current views and assumptions of Astera Labs as of May 6, 2025, and are subject to various assumptions, beliefs, risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. These forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to, statements regarding our future operating results, financial position and guidance, including for the second quarter of fiscal 2025; our business strategy and plans, including our ability to accelerate R&D development, expand our product offerings, increase our market opportunity, and scale our connectivity platform; our objectives for future operations; our development, delivery and/or testing (e.g., via our Cloud-Scale Interop Lab) of new or enhanced products such as our PCIe 6 connectivity solutions and our Scorpio P-Series Smart Fabric Switches and the anticipated performance and results of those products for our customers; our competitive positioning; our R&D and strategic IP plans; our board composition and the effects thereof; and macroeconomic trends in cloud and AI infrastructure. A variety of risks and factors that are beyond our control could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements including, without limitation: the competitive and cyclical nature of the semiconductor industry; the concentration of our customer base; the changes in demand for AI; the macroeconomic and/or geopolitical environment, including economic uncertainty and increased volatility in the capital markets; risks that demand for our products and the supply chain may be adversely affected, including by the imposition of tariffs by the United States or any other jurisdiction and any corresponding retaliatory tariffs, changes in political policies, military conflict (such as between Russia/Ukraine and Israel/Hamas), terrorism, sanctions or other geopolitical events globally (including conflict between Taiwan and China); quarterly fluctuations in revenues and operating results; difficulties developing new products that achieve market acceptance; risks associated with managing international activities (including trade barriers, particularly with respect to China); absence of long-term commitments from customers; risks that Astera Labs may not be able to manage strains associated with its growth; credit risks associated with its accounts receivable; stock price volatility; information technology risks, including cyber-attacks against Astera Labs' products and its networks; and other risks and uncertainties that are detailed under the caption “Risk Factors” and elsewhere in our Annual Report on 10-K, as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) on February 14, 2025, and in subsequent Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q filed with the SEC and the other SEC filings and reports Astera Labs may make from time to time. Moreover, we operate in a very competitive and rapidly changing environment, and new risks may emerge from time to time. It is not possible for our management to predict all risks, nor can we assess the impact of all factors on our business or the extent to which any factor(s) may cause actual results or outcomes to differ materially from those contained in any forward-looking statements we may make. Accordingly, you should not unduly rely on any of the forward-looking statements. Astera Labs disclaims any intention or obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

About Astera LabsOur PCIe, CXL and Ethernet semiconductor-based connectivity solutions are purpose-built to unleash the full potential of accelerated computing at cloud-scale. Inspired by trusted partnerships with hyperscalers and the data center ecosystem, we are an innovation leader of products that are customizable, interoperable, and reliable. Discover how we are transforming AI and modern data-driven applications at www.asteralabs.com.

IR CONTACT: Leslie [email protected]