It is a challenge to determine how an emerging industry like printed electronics (PE) is faring financially. Many of the companies are privately held start-ups, possibly funded by venture capital. It is hard to know how these companies are doing financially unless the company is sold or closes down.

Meanwhile, major multi-nationals’ sales in the PE space are small, and not likely to be broken down specifically. For example, BASF, Samsung, Merck and DuPont, to name four multi-billion dollar companies, don’t categorize their sales in the PE and solar markets, although it would be interesting to know the details.

We can, however, look at a few publicly held companies that are in the segments where flexible and printed electronics areas are emerging, and get an idea of what is occurring. There are two companies in the flexible OLED space (Universal Display and eMagin), RFID (ASSA ABLOY and Gemalto) and one in solar (First Solar) to examine.

In the solar market, First Solar is the largest cell manufacturer.. First Solar produces cadmium telluride (CdTe) thin film solar cells; these are not flexible. I believe that screenprinting is one of the technologies used in manufacturing, although it is not the primary process.

To date, First Solar has more than 8 gigawatts installed globally. In 2013, they acquired General Electric’s CdTe operations, and are partnering with GE. First Solar recently announced that it has reached 17.0% module efficiency, certified by NREL.

So how did First Solar do in 2013? The company recorded net sales of $3.31 billion for the full year, slightly lower than 2012’s $3.37 billion, as some large-scale projects were completed. Gross profit was $863 million, slightly higher than $853 million in 2012. Net income was $353 million in 2013; by contrast, the company lost $96 million in 2012.

“For the year completed we delivered on several key objectives, including additional bookings of approximately 1.7 GW, significant reductions to our module manufacturing cost and a strong financial performance,” said First Solar CEO Jim Hughes.

The primary PE solar technology, organic photovoltaics (OPV), has not come close to the lab efficiency or cost of manufacturing per watt of First Solar and other solar technologies, and is aiming for niche markets.

In the RFID market, Gemalto is in the field of electronic documents, smart cards and payment security, among others. For 2013, Gemalto’s sales were €2.39 billion ($3.15 billion). The company noted that since beginning its 2010-2013 long-term development plan, revenue increased 44% from €1,654 in 2009 ($2.37 billion). Gross profit for the company was up 8% to €936 million.

“Gemalto closed its 2010-2013 development plan with €348 million in profit from operations, surpassing the plan’s profit expansion objective by close to 40%,” said Olivier Piou, CEO.

ASSA ABLOY is a specialist in intelligent locks and security solutions, including a sizable position in RFID. The company recorded 4% sales growth to SEK 48,481 billion ($7.5 billion) in 2013, with operating income of SEK 7.923 billion ($1.22 billion), up 6%. Net income rose $6% to SEK 5.496 billion ($848 million).

“Operating income for the full year 2013 improved by a gratifying 6% in spite of the very challenging market,” said Johan Molin, ASSA ABLOY president and CEO. “My judgment is that the world economy is slowly on the way to improving, although still affected by the budget cutbacks that many countries are making. Our strategy therefore remains unchanged, to reduce our dependence on mature markets and to expand strongly in the emerging markets, which are expected to go on growing well. Another continuing priority will be investments in new products, especially in the growth area of electromechanics.”

In the flexible OLED display field, eMagin, focuses on active matrix organic light emitting diodes (AMOLED), which have a backplane made of a silicon chip rather than glass, and are engineered to handle harsh environments such as military applications; the U.S. military is one of their major customers.

In 2013, eMagin recorded sales of $28.0 million, down from $30.6 million in 2012. Gross profit for 2013 was $8.4 million, compared to $14.9 million for 2012. However, eMagin’s operating loss for 2013 was $5.2 million; the company recorded operating income of $1.6 million in 2012. The company anticipates that adding a new manufacturing tool will improve productivity, although it is working on some technical problems with its products.

“Recent improvements to our manufacturing processes have resulted in greater up time on the new SNU OLED deposition tool and improving yield,” said Andrew Sculley, president and CEO. “We are optimistic that we will see a return to revenue growth this year as a result of the improvement in our operations. However, first quarter revenue will be similar to our fourth quarter 2013 revenue as we have temporarily stopped shipment of certain displays to three customers to address a possible bonding problem in a microdisplay that was brought to our attention. We are actively addressing this and hope to resolve the situation quickly.”

Universal Display specializes in manufacturing and licensing OLED materials, which can be used to print OLEDs via inkjet. It has major contracts with Samsung and Kaneka. In 2013, Universal Display reported revenues of $146.6 million, up 76% from $83.2 million in 2012. Operating income increased to $38.2 million for 2013, a 180% gain from $13.7 million in 2012; its net income was $74.1 million in 2013, compared to $9.7 million in 2012.

“Universal Display delivered another strong quarter of profitability and ended 2013 with superior year-over-year growth, translating into record revenues and earnings,” said Sidney Rosenblatt, executive vice president and CFO of Universal Display. “We continue to expand our IP and materials portfolio, while also pursuing new avenues of opportunity including single layer barrier encapsulation and organic vapor jet printing (OVJP) technologies. These long-term projects are in their early stages, but we believe they hold promise.”

In judging how the PE industry is faring financially is a difficult project, as there is little data to work with from the companies in the field. Seeing how First Solar, Gemalto, ASSA ABLOY, eMagin and Universal Display and doing financially in their respective fields offers a small idea of what is happening in thesemarkets.