Revenue during the quarter grew 20.09 percent to $119.18 million from $99.24 million in the previous year period. Gross margin for the quarter expanded 312 basis points over the previous year period to 50.37 percent. Total expenses were 79.88 percent of quarterly revenues, down from 87.60 percent for the same period last year. This has led to an improvement of 772 basis points in operating margin to 20.12 percent.

Operating income for the quarter was $23.97 million, compared with $12.30 million in the previous year period.

"Our results represent another quarter of strong financial performance for our company, reflecting continued strong semiconductor industry demand and successful execution of our strategic initiatives," said David Li, president and chief executive officer of Cabot Microelectronics. "During the quarter, we continued to support our customers' production ramp of 3D NAND and FinFET technologies, and advanced customer adoption of our high-performing colloidal silica-based dielectrics slurries for advanced memory applications. In CMP pads, we won new business with three of our technology-leading customers, and we added to our rich pipeline of new business opportunities across a wide range of customers and applications. In addition, we earned several awards from customers this quarter in recognition for successfully delivering innovative, high-quality, high-performing, and reliable CMP slurries and polishing pads, including Intel's prestigious Supplier Continuous Quality Improvement Award for the fifth consecutive year. We also declared an increase to our quarterly cash dividend, which we believe demonstrates both confidence in our ongoing cash generation and our continued commitment to delivering value to our shareholders."