Exhibit 99.1

Cohu Reports Fourth Quarter 2015 Operating Results

POWAY, Calif., February 11, 2016 -- Cohu, Inc. (NASDAQ:COHU) today reported fiscal 2015 fourth quarter net sales of $63.5 million and GAAP income of $2.3 million or $0.08 per share. Net sales for the twelve months ended 2015 were $269.7 million and GAAP income was $5.8 million or $0.22 per share. Income for the fourth quarter and year ended December 26, 2015 includes a $3.2 million, pretax gain on the sale-leaseback of the Company’s Poway headquarters. ⁽¹⁾

The Company also reported non-GAAP results, with fourth quarter 2015 income of $2.4 million or $0.09 per share and income of $15.7 million or $0.58 per share for the twelve months ended 2015. ⁽¹⁾

Cash increased during the fourth quarter of 2015 and total cash and investments at the end of the year were $117.0 million.

Luis Müller, President and Chief Executive Officer of Cohu stated, “We delivered strong results in a challenging environment, and another sequential increase in orders in the fourth quarter that included the first customer order for our new wafer level package prober. Importantly, 2015 was the year we set the foundation for expansion into adjacent markets with a sole focus on the semiconductor industry.”  

Müller concluded, “We started the new year with encouraging near-term customer forecasts. Our strategy for 2016 is centered on three pillars: expand share in mobility, automotive and solid state markets; implement our growth plans in test contacting and wafer level package test; and continue executing with a strict financial discipline that is delivering results in line with our model.”  

Cohu expects first quarter 2016 sales to be approximately $64 million. Cohu's Board of Directors approved a quarterly cash dividend of $0.06 per share payable on April 15, 2016 to shareholders of record on March 1, 2016. Cohu has paid consecutive quarterly cash dividends since 1977.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Information:

Included within this press release are non-GAAP financial measures that supplement the Company's Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income prepared under generally accepted accounting principles (GAAP). These non-GAAP financial measures adjust the Company's actual results prepared under GAAP to exclude charges and the related income tax effect for share-based compensation, the amortization of acquired intangible assets, manufacturing transition costs, employee severance costs, asset impairments and the gain generated by the sale-leaseback of a facility. Reconciliations of GAAP to non-GAAP amounts for the periods presented herein are provided in schedules accompanying this release and should be considered together with the Condensed Consolidated Statements of Income.

These non-GAAP measures are not meant as a substitute for GAAP, but are included solely for informational and comparative purposes. The Company's management believes that this information can assist investors in evaluating the Company’s operational trends, financial performance, and cash generating capacity. Management believes these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate Cohu’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for (or superior to) corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures.

Forward Looking Statements:

Certain matters discussed in this release, including statements regarding expectations of business, customer forecasts and market conditions, sales, revenues, our strategy for 2016 and operating results are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected or forecasted. Such risks and uncertainties include, but are not limited to, risks associated with acquisitions, inventory, goodwill and other asset write-downs; our ability to convert new products under development into production on a timely basis, support product development and meet customer delivery and acceptance requirements for next generation equipment; our reliance on third-party contract manufacturers; failure to obtain customer acceptance resulting in the inability to recognize revenue and accounts receivable collection problems; customer orders may be canceled or delayed; the concentration of our revenues from a limited number of customers; intense competition in the semiconductor test handler industry; our reliance on patents and intellectual property; compliance with U.S. export regulations; and the cyclical and unpredictable nature of capital expenditures by semiconductor manufacturers. These and other risks and uncertainties are discussed more fully in Cohu's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the most recently filed Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. The forward-looking statements included in this release speak only as of the date hereof, and Cohu does not undertake any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect subsequent events or circumstances.

About Cohu:

Cohu is a leading supplier of semiconductor test and inspection handlers, micro-electro mechanical system (MEMS) test modules, test contactors and thermal sub-systems used by global semiconductor manufacturers and test subcontractors.

Cohu will be conducting their conference call on Thursday, February 11, 2016 at 1:30 p.m. Pacific Time/4:30 p.m. Eastern Time. The call will be webcast at www.cohu.com. Replays of the call can be accessed at www.cohu.com.

For press releases and other information of interest to investors, please visit Cohu’s website at www.cohu.com. Contact: Jeffrey D. Jones - Investor Relations (858) 848-8106

 

Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company's operating performance. Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing the Company's operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods and these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management. Management views share-based compensation as an expense that is unrelated to the Company’s operational performance as it does not require cash payments and can vary in amount from period to period and the elimination of amortization charges provides better comparability of pre and post-acquisition operating results and to results of businesses utilizing internally developed intangible assets. Manufacturing transition costs relate principally to employee severance expenses incurred as a result of moving certain manufacturing activities to Asia as part of our cost reduction efforts and employee severance are costs incurred in conjunction with the termination of certain employees to streamline our operations and reduce costs.  Management has excluded these costs primarily because they are not reflective of the ongoing operating results and they are not used to assess ongoing operational performance. Excluding this data provides investors with a basis to compare Cohu’s performance against the performance of other companies without this variability. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures above may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and investors should be careful when comparing our non-GAAP financial measures to those of other companies.

Management believes the presentation of these non-GAAP financial measures, when taken together with the corresponding GAAP financial measures, provides meaningful supplemental information regarding the Company's operating performance. Our management uses these non-GAAP financial measures in assessing the Company's operating results, as well as when planning, forecasting and analyzing future periods and these non-GAAP measures allow investors to evaluate the Company’s financial performance using some of the same measures as management. Management views share-based compensation as an expense that is unrelated to the Company’s operational performance as it does not require cash payments and can vary in amount from period to period and the elimination of amortization charges provides better comparability of pre and post-acquisition operating results and to results of businesses utilizing internally developed intangible assets. Manufacturing transition costs relate principally to employee severance expenses incurred as a result of moving certain manufacturing activities to Asia as part of our cost reduction efforts and employee severance are costs incurred in conjunction with the termination of certain employees to streamline our operations and reduce costs. Management has excluded these costs primarily because they are not reflective of the ongoing operating results and they are not used to assess ongoing operational performance. Impairments are incurred when specific assets or a reporting unit’s carrying value exceeds its fair value. Management has excluded this item because it is not reflective of the ongoing operating results and because of the infrequent and non-cash nature of this activity. Excluding this data provides investors with a basis to compare Cohu’s performance against the performance of other companies without this variability. However, the non-GAAP financial measures should not be regarded as a replacement for corresponding, similarly captioned, GAAP measures. The presentation of non-GAAP financial measures above may not be comparable to similarly titled measures reported by other companies and investors should be careful when comparing our non-GAAP financial measures to those of other companies.