Mobileye Global Inc. today reported quarterly financial results for the first time since going public on the Nasdaq stock exchange in October.

The company supplies chips, software and road data that automakers use to equip their vehicles with partly automated driving features. According to the company, its technology has been implemented in more than 125 million vehicles worldwide.

Mobileye operated as a publicly traded company between 2014 and 2017 until it acquired by Intel Corp. in a $15.3 billion transaction. Late last year, Intel announced plans to return the company to public markets. It held its IPO this past October and raised $1 billion from investors at a $17 billion valuation.

The company reported today that its revenue grew 38% year-over-year in the three months ended Oct. 1, to $450 billion. Analysts polled for the Refinitiv consensus estimate expected the company to post revenues of $447 million.

“Our recently completed IPO is a major milestone for Mobileye and enhances our ability to create value for all stakeholders,” said Mobileye Chief Executive Officer Amnon Shashua. “Our time as an Intel subsidiary, operating largely in stealth, was very successful. We built upon our leadership position in ADAS while at the same time productized an advanced set of technology building blocks that support a product portfolio spanning the entire ADAS to AV spectrum.”

The strong sales growth that Mobileye achieved during the third quarter was partly the result of a 28% increase in revenue from its flagship EyeQ chip series. Automakers use EyeQ chips to power their vehicles’ advanced driver-assistance systems. Mobileye’s newest EyeQ chips include multiple types of compute modules, including central processing unit cores and machine learning accelerators.

Mobileye cited strong demand for its SuperVision platform as another factor behind its better-than-expected third quarter results. 

SuperVision is an advanced driver-assistance system that incorporates multiple hardware components. It can be installed in vehicles to provide safety features such as automatic emergency braking, as well as autonomous parking capabilities. Each SuperVision system features 2 EyeQ chips, 11 cameras for collecting road data and partly autonomous driving software. 

Also included in SuperVision is Mobileye’s Roadbook navigation service. The service aggregates data about road conditions from the millions of vehicles that feature the chipmaker’s EyeQ processors. Using the collected data, it generates maps that partly and fully autonomous driving vehicles can use to make driving decisions. 

According to Mobileye, SuperVision helped increase the average sale price of its systems during the third quarter. On average, Mobileye generated $53 in revenue per system during the three months ended Oct. 21, up from $45.70 a year earlier. 

“Our established base ADAS products continue to generate strong growth and profitability while our advanced portfolio is beginning to contribute significantly, particularly by boosting average system price,” Shashua said.

Mobileye’s earnings per share also surpassed analyst expectations. The company posted a net loss of $45 million in the third quarter, more than the $25 million loss it lost the same time 12 months earlier. But on an adjusted basis, it generates earnings of 15 cents per share, well above the Refinitv consensus estimate of 12 cents per share.

The company expects to end the current quarter with revenue of between $527 million and $545 million. That’s significantly higher than the $483.7 million analysts had projected.

Mobileye’s order backlog, a metric that tracks the number of EyeQ chips and other systems automakers plan to buy from the company, reached 54 million units in the third quarter. Mobileye expects to ship the systems to customers through 2030.

In the long term, Mobileye intends to sell not only chips and software to automakers but also lidar and radar sensors. The company detailed its plans to introduce such sensors in the regulatory filing for its October IPO. The initiative is part of a broader effort by Mobileye to develop products that automakers can use to build fully autonomous vehicles.

Photo: Mobileye