FORM 10-K
x | ANNUAL REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016
or
¨ | TRANSITION REPORT PURSUANT TO SECTION 13 OR 15(d) OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934 |
For the transition period from ___ to ___
Commission File Number 001-36632
EMCORE Corporation
(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)
New Jersey (State or other jurisdiction of incorporation or organization) | 22-2746503 (I.R.S. Employer Identification No.) |
2015 W. Chestnut Street, Alhambra, California, 91803 (Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code) | |
Registrant's telephone number, including area code: (626) 293-3400
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(B) of the Act:
Title of Each Class | Name of Each Exchange on Which Registered |
Common stock, no par value | The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (NASDAQ Global Market) |
Rights to Purchase Series A Junior Participating Preferred Stock | The NASDAQ Stock Market LLC (NASDAQ Global Market) |
Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act ¨ Yes x No
Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or 15(d) of the Act. ¨ Yes x No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days. þ Yes ¨ No
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically and posted on its corporate website, if any, every Interactive Data File required to be submitted and posted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit and post such files). x Yes ¨ No
Indicate by check mark if disclosure of delinquent filers pursuant to Item 405 of Regulation S-K is not contained herein, and will not be contained, to the best of the registrant's knowledge, in definitive proxy or information statements incorporated by reference in Part III of this Form 10-K or any amendment to this Form 10-K. ¨
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, or a smaller reporting company. See the definition of “large accelerated filer”, “accelerated filer”, and “smaller reporting company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. ¨ Large accelerated filer x Accelerated filer ¨ Non-accelerated filer ¨ Smaller reporting company
Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Act). ¨ Yes x No
The aggregate market value of our common stock held by non-affiliates as of March 31, 2016 (the last business day of our most recently completed second fiscal quarter) was approximately $129.3 million, based on the closing sale price of $5.00 per share of common stock as reported on the NASDAQ Global Market. For purposes of this disclosure, shares of common stock held by officers and directors and by each person known by us to own 5% or more of our outstanding common stock have been excluded.
As of November 30, 2016, the number of shares outstanding of our no par value common stock totaled 26,245,113.
DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE
In accordance with General Instruction G(3) of Form 10-K, certain information required by Part III hereof will either be incorporated into this Form 10-K by reference to our Definitive Proxy Statement for our Annual Meeting of Shareholders filed within 120 days of September 30, 2016 or will be included in an amendment to this Form 10-K filed within 120 days of September 30, 2016.
CAUTIONARY STATEMENT
REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS
This Annual Report on Form 10-K includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended (the Securities Act), and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”). These forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements are based on our current expectations and projections about future events and financial trends affecting the financial condition of our business. Such forward-looking statements include, in particular, projections about our future results included in our Exchange Act reports and statements about our plans, strategies, business prospects, changes and trends in our business and the markets in which we operate. These forward-looking statements may be identified by the use of terms and phrases such as “anticipates,” “believes,” “can,” “could,” “estimates,” “expects,” “forecasts,” “intends,” “may,” “plans,” “projects,” “should,” “targets,” “will,” “would,” and similar expressions or variations of these terms and similar phrases. Additionally, statements concerning future matters such as our expected liquidity, development of new products, enhancements or technologies, sales levels, expense levels, expectations regarding the outcome of legal proceedings and other statements regarding matters that are not historical are forward-looking statements. Management cautions that these forward-looking statements relate to future events or our future financial performance and are subject to business, economic, and other risks and uncertainties, both known and unknown, that may cause actual results, levels of activity, performance, or achievements of our business or our industry to be materially different from those expressed or implied by any forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to such differences in results and outcomes include without limitation the following: (a) the rapidly evolving markets for the Company's products and uncertainty regarding the development of these markets; (b) the Company's historical dependence on sales to a limited number of customers and fluctuations in the mix of products and customers in any period; (c) delays and other difficulties in commercializing new products; (d) the failure of new products: (i) to perform as expected without material defects, (ii) to be manufactured at acceptable volumes, yields, and cost, (iii) to be qualified and accepted by our customers, and (iv) to successfully compete with products offered by our competitors; (e) uncertainties concerning the availability and cost of commodity materials and specialized product components that we do not make internally; (f) actions by competitors; and (g) other risks and uncertainties discussed in Part I, Item 1A, Risk Factors in this Annual Report as well as those discussed elsewhere in this Annual Report. These cautionary statements apply to all forward-looking statements wherever they appear in this Annual Report.
Forward-looking statements are based on certain assumptions and analysis made in light of our experience and perception of historical trends, current conditions and expected future developments as well as other factors that we believe are appropriate under the circumstances. While these statements represent our judgment on what the future may hold, and we believe these judgments are reasonable, these statements are not guarantees of any events or financial results. All forward-looking statements in this Annual Report are made as of the date hereof, based on information available to us as of the date hereof, and subsequent facts or circumstances may contradict, obviate, undermine, or otherwise fail to support or substantiate such statements. We caution you not to rely on these statements without also considering the risks and uncertainties associated with these statements and our business that are addressed in this Annual Report. Certain information included in this Annual Report may supersede or supplement forward-looking statements in our other reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. We assume no obligation to update any forward-looking statement to conform such statements to actual results or to changes in our expectations, except as required by applicable law or regulation.
EMCORE Corporation
FORM 10-K
For The Fiscal Year Ended September 30, 2016
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Page | |||
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Item 1. Business
Company Overview
EMCORE Corporation together with its subsidiaries (referred to herein as the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “EMCORE”), established in 1984 as a New Jersey corporation, designs and manufactures Indium Phosphide (InP) optical chips, components, subsystems and systems for the broadband and specialty fiber optics market. EMCORE was the pioneer in linear fiber optic transmission technology, and today, is a leading provider of optical components, as well as a provider of complete end-to-end solutions for high-speed communications network infrastructures, enabling systems and service providers to meet growing demand for bandwidth and connectivity. EMCORE’s advanced optical technologies are designed for cable television (CATV) and fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) networks, telecommunications and data centers, satellite communications, aerospace and defense, wireless networks, and broadcast and professional audio/video systems. With its world-class InP semiconductor wafer fabrication facility, EMCORE has fully vertically-integrated manufacturing capability and also provides contract design, foundry and component packaging services.
We currently have one reporting segment: Fiber Optics. Until the first quarter of 2015, we operated as two segments: Fiber Optics and Photovoltaics. EMCORE's Solar Photovoltaics business, which was sold in December 2014, provided products for space power applications including high-efficiency multi-junction solar cells, Covered Interconnect Cells and complete satellite solar panels. In addition, as further discussed below, EMCORE sold certain assets, and transferred certain liabilities, of the Company's telecommunications business, including the ITLA, micro-ITLA, T-TOSA and T-XFP product lines within the Company’s telecommunications business, in January 2015.
Our headquarters and principal executive offices are located at 2015 W. Chestnut Avenue, Alhambra, California, 91803 and our main telephone number is (626) 293-3400. For specific information about us, our products or the markets we serve, please visit our website at http://www.emcore.com. The information contained in or linked to our website is not a part of, nor incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K or a part of any other report or filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission ( the “SEC”).
We are subject to the information requirements of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 (the “Exchange Act”). We file periodic reports, current reports, proxy statements, and other information with the SEC. The SEC maintains a website at http://www.sec.gov that contains all of our information that has been filed or furnished electronically with the SEC. We make available free of charge on our website a link to our Annual Reports on Form 10-K, Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q, Current Reports on Form 8-K, and amendments to those reports filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Exchange Act, as soon as reasonably practicable, after such material is electronically filed with, or furnished to, the SEC.
Overview of Our Industry and Markets We Serve
Compound semiconductor-based products provide the foundation of components, subsystems, and systems used in a broad range of technology markets. Compound semiconductor materials are capable of providing electrical or electro-optical functions, such as emitting optical communications signals and detecting optical communications signals.
Collectively, our products serve the telecommunications, CATV, FTTP, defense and homeland security, satellite communications and broadcast and professional audio/video markets.
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Fiber Optics Products
Our fiber optics products enable information that is modulated on light signals to be transmitted, routed (switched) and received in communication systems and networks. EMCORE primarily offers the following product lines:
▪ | Laser, Receiver and Photodetector Component Products - We believe that we are a leading provider of optical components including lasers, photodetectors, and various forms of packaged subassemblies. Our products include bare die (or chip), distributed feedback (DFB) lasers, positive-intrinsic-negative (PIN) and avalanche photodiode (APD) components for 40 Gb/s Ethernet, InfiniBand, FTTP, and telecom applications. We provide component products to the global fiber optics industry, and we also leverage the benefits of our vertically-integrated infrastructure through low-cost manufacturing and early access to newly developed internally-produced components. |
▪ | Cable Television (CATV) Products - We believe that we are a market leader in providing radio frequency (RF) over fiber products for the CATV industry. Our products are used in hybrid fiber coaxial (HFC) networks that enable cable service operators to offer multiple advanced services to meet the expanding demand for high-speed Internet, on-demand and interactive video, and other advanced services, such as high-definition television (HDTV) and voice over IP (VoIP). Our CATV products include forward and return-path analog and digital lasers, photodetectors and subassembly components, broadcast analog and digital fiber-optic transmitters, and quadrature amplitude modulation (QAM) transmitters and receivers. Our products provide our customers with increased data transmission distance, speed and bandwidth, lower noise video reception, and lower power consumption. |
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▪ | Fiber-To-The-Premises (FTTP) Products - Telecommunications companies are extending their optical infrastructure to their business enterprise and residential customers because of higher bandwidth requirements. We have developed customer qualified FTTP components and subsystem products to support plans by telecommunications companies to offer voice, video, and data services through the deployment of new fiber optics-based access networks. Our FTTP products include passive optical network (PON) transceivers, RF over glass (RFoG) optical transceivers, analog fiber optic transmitters for video overlay and high-power erbium-doped fiber amplifiers (EDFA), analog and digital lasers, photodetectors and subassembly components, analog video receivers, and multi-dwelling unit (MDU) video receivers. Our products provide our customers with higher performance analog and digital designs, and support exceptional network performance capabilities for service providers. |
▪ | Satellite/Microwave Communications Products - We believe that we are a leading provider of optical components and systems for use in equipment that provides high-performance optical data links for the terrestrial portion of satellite communications networks. Our products include transmitters, receivers, subsystems, and systems that transport wideband RF and microwave signals between satellite hub equipment and antenna dishes. Our products provide our customers with increased bandwidth and lower power consumption. |
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▪ | Broadcast & A/V Video Transport Products - Our video transport product line focuses on developing targeted solutions that meet the evolving technology needs of our customers in broadcasting, government, transportation, IP television, and security and surveillance applications over private and public networks. Our video, audio, data, and RF transmission systems serve both analog and digital requirements, providing cost-effective, flexible solutions geared for infrastructure upgrades and expansion. |
▪ | Defense and Homeland Security Products - Leveraging our expertise in RF module design and high-speed parallel optics, we provide a suite of ruggedized products that meet the reliability and durability requirements of the U.S. government and defense markets. Our specialty defense products include fiber optic gyro components used in commercial and military applications, high-frequency RF fiber optic link components for towed decoy systems, optical delay lines for radar systems, erbium-doped fiber amplifiers, pulse lasers for light detection and ranging spectroscopy systems and other products. Our products provide our customers with high frequency and dynamic range, compact form-factor, and extreme temperature, shock and vibration tolerance. |
Customers include: Arris Technology Inc., BUPT-GuoAn Broadband and Cisco Systems Inc. Significant customers are defined as customers representing greater than 10% of our consolidated revenue. Revenue from three of our significant customers represented 61% of our consolidated revenue for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016. Revenue from four of our significant customers represented 61% of our consolidated revenue for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. Revenue from three of our signficant customers represented 41% of our consolidated revenue for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014. See Note 14 - Geographical Information in the notes to our consolidated financial statements for additional information about our significant customers.
Geographical Information
See Note 14 - Geographical Information in the notes to our consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to geographic revenue and long-lived assets.
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Strategic Plan
Strategy and Alternatives Committee of the Board of Directors
In addition to organic growth and development of our existing Fiber Optics business, we intend to pursue other strategies to enhance shareholder value. The Strategy and Alternatives Committee of the Company's Board of Directors (the "Strategy Committee"), which was established in December 2013, is charged with overseeing the Company’s strategic plan and evaluating strategic opportunities and alternatives available to the Company, including potential mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and other key strategic transactions outside the ordinary course of the Company’s business. Accordingly, the Strategy Committee may from time to time consider strategic opportunities to enhance shareholder value, which may include acquisitions, investments in joint ventures, partnerships, and other strategic alternatives, such as dispositions, reorganizations, recapitalizations or other similar transactions, the repurchase of shares of our outstanding common stock or payment of dividends to our shareholders. The Strategy Committee may engage financial and other advisors to assist it in doing so. Accordingly, the Strategy Committee and our management may from time to time be engaged in evaluating potential strategic opportunities and may enter into definitive agreements with respect to such transactions or other strategic alternatives. However, there is no assurance that the Strategy Committee will identify further strategic opportunities that the Company will determine to pursue, or that the consideration of any such opportunity would result in the completion of a strategic transaction.
Sale of Photovoltaics and Digital Products Businesses
On September 17, 2014, EMCORE entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Photovoltaics Agreement”) with SolAero Acquisition Corporation ("SolAero"), a Delaware corporation and an affiliate of private equity firm Veritas Capital, pursuant to which SolAero agreed to acquire substantially all of the assets, and assume substantially all of the liabilities, primarily related to or used in connection with the Company’s photovoltaics business, including EMCORE's subsidiaries EMCORE Solar Power, Inc. and EMCORE IRB Company, LLC (collectively, the "Photovoltaics Business" and, the sale of the Photovoltaics Business, the "Photovoltaics Asset Sale") for $150.0 million in cash, prior to a $0.1 million working capital adjustment pursuant to the Photovoltaics Agreement finalized and paid by EMCORE during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. On December 10, 2014, EMCORE completed the Photovoltaics Asset Sale.
On October 22, 2014, EMCORE entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the "Digital Products Agreement") with NeoPhotonics Corporation, a Delaware corporation ("NeoPhotonics") pursuant to which the Company agreed to sell certain assets, and transfer certain liabilities of the Company's telecommunications business (collectively, the "Digital Products Business" and, the sale of the Digital Products Business, the "Digital Products Assets Sale") to NeoPhotonics for an aggregate purchase price of $17.5 million, subject to certain purchase price adjustments, consisting of $1.5 million in cash at closing and a promissory note in the principal amount of $16.0 million (the "Promissory Note"). The Promissory Note provided that it would bear interest of 5.0% per annum for the first year and 13.0% per annum for the second year, payable semi-annually in cash, and would mature two years from the closing of the transaction. In addition, the Promissory Note was subject to prepayments under certain circumstances, and was secured by certain of the assets sold to NeoPhotonics in the transaction.
On January 2, 2015, EMCORE and NeoPhotonics entered into Amendment No. 1 (the "APA Amendment") to the Digital Products Agreement. Among other things, the APA Amendment revised the nature and timing of the financial deliverable requirements of the Company to NeoPhotonics under the original Digital Products Agreement. The assets sold pursuant to the Digital Products Agreement included certain fixed assets, inventory, accounts receivable and intellectual property for the ITLA, micro-ITLA, T-TOSA and T-XFP product lines within the Company’s telecommunications business. On January 2, 2015, EMCORE completed the sale of the Digital Products Business. On April 16, 2015, EMCORE and NeoPhotonics entered into an agreement to adjust the purchase price for the Digital Products Business, resulting in an adjusted balance of the Promissory Note of $15.5 million. On April 17, 2015, NeoPhotonics paid in full the balance outstanding of the Promissory Note of $15.5 million, plus accrued interest of $0.2 million.
We used a portion of the proceeds from the Photovoltaics Asset Sale and the Digital Products Assets Sale (collectively, the "Asset Sales") to pay for transaction costs associated with the Asset Sales, make payments required pursuant to existing retention award agreements, repay certain indebtedness, and for general working capital purposes. In June 2015, we also used a portion of the proceeds from the Asset Sales to repurchase 6.9 million shares of our common stock for an aggregate cost of $45.0 million (excluding fees and expenses) pursuant to a modified "Dutch auction" tender offer we commenced in May 2015. In addition, in July 2016, we used a portion of the proceeds from the Asset Sales to pay a special cash dividend to our shareholders of $1.50 per share, or a total of $39.2 million. The dividend was paid on July 29, 2016 to shareholders of record as of July 18, 2016. See Note 13 - Equity for additional information.
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Sources of Raw Materials
We depend on a limited number of suppliers for certain raw materials, components, and equipment used in our products. We continually review our supplier relationships to mitigate risks and lower costs, especially where we depend on one or two suppliers for critical components or raw materials. While maintaining inventories that we believe are sufficient to meet our near-term needs, we strive not to carry significant inventories of raw materials. Accordingly, we maintain ongoing communications with our suppliers in order to prevent any interruptions in supply, and have implemented a supply-chain management program to maintain quality and lower purchase prices through standardized purchasing efficiencies and design requirements. To date, we generally have been able to obtain sufficient quantities of critical supplies in a timely manner.
We are subject to rules promulgated by the SEC pursuant to the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act regarding the use of "conflict minerals". These rules have imposed and will continue to impose additional costs and may introduce new risks related to our ability to verify the origin of any "conflict minerals" used in our products.
Manufacturing
We utilize MOCVD (metal-organic chemical vapor deposition) systems that are capable of processing virtually all compound semiconductor-based materials. Our operations include wafer fabrication, device design and production and fiber optic module, subsystem and system design and manufacture. Many of our manufacturing operations are computer monitored or controlled to enhance production output and statistical control. We employ a strategy of minimizing ongoing capital investments, while maximizing the variable nature of our cost structure. We maintain supply agreements with key suppliers. Where we can gain cost advantages while maintaining quality and intellectual property control, we outsource the production of certain products, subsystems, components, and subassemblies to contract manufacturers located overseas. Our contract manufacturers maintain comprehensive quality assurance and delivery systems, and we continuously monitor them for compliance.
Our various manufacturing processes involve extensive quality assurance systems and performance testing. Our facilities have acquired and maintain certification status for their quality management systems. Our manufacturing facilities located in Alhambra, California; Ivyland, Pennsylvania; Beijing, China; and Langfang, China are registered to ISO 9001 standards.
Sales and Marketing
We sell our products worldwide through our direct sales force, application engineers, third party sales representatives and distributors. Our sales force communicates with our customers' engineering, manufacturing, and purchasing personnel to provide optimized customer solutions through product design, qualifications, performance, and price. Our strategy is to use our direct sales force to sell to original equipment manufacturers and key accounts and to expand our use of distribution partners for increased coverage in both international markets and certain domestic segments.
Throughout our sales cycle, we work closely with our customers to qualify our products into their product lines and platforms. As a result, we develop strategic and long-lasting customer relationships with products and services that are tailored to our customers' requirements. We focus our marketing communication efforts on increasing brand awareness, communicating our technologies' advantages, and generating leads for our sales force. We use a variety of marketing methods, including our website, participation at trade shows, and selective advertising to achieve these goals.
Externally, our marketing group works with customers to define requirements, characterize market trends, define new product development activities, identify cost reduction initiatives, and manage new product introductions. Internally, our marketing group communicates and manages customer requirements with the goal of ensuring that our product development activities are aligned with our customers' needs. These product development activities allow our marketing group to manage new product introductions and market trends. See Note 14 - Geographical Information in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to geographic revenue, and significant customers.
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Research and Development
Our research and development efforts have been focused on maintaining our technological competitive edge by working to improve the quality and features of our product lines. We are also making investments to expand our existing technology and infrastructure in an effort to develop new products and production technology that we can use to expand into new markets. Our industry is characterized by rapid changes in process technologies with increasing levels of functional integration. Our efforts are focused on designing new proprietary processes and products, on improving the performance of our existing materials, components, and subsystems, and on reducing costs in the product manufacturing process.
As part of the ongoing effort to cut costs, many of our projects have focused on developing lower cost versions of our existing products. In view of the high cost of development, we solicit research contracts that provide opportunities to enhance our core technology base and promote the commercialization of targeted products. Generally, internal research and development funding is used for the development of products that will be released within twelve months and external funding is used for long-term research and development efforts.
We believe that in order to remain competitive, we must invest significant financial resources in developing new product features and enhancements and in maintaining customer satisfaction worldwide. Research and development expense was $9.9 million, $9.1 million and $9.3 million for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. As a percentage of revenue, research and development expenses were 10.8%, 11.2% and 16.8% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively. Our research and development expense consists primarily of compensation expense including non-cash stock-based compensation expense, as well as engineering and prototype costs, depreciation expense, and other overhead expenses, as they relate to the design, development, and testing of our products. These costs are expensed as incurred.
Intellectual Property and Licensing
We protect our proprietary technology by applying for patents, where appropriate, and in other cases by preserving the technology, related know-how, and information as trade secrets. The success and competitive advantage enjoyed by our product lines depends heavily on our ability to obtain intellectual property protection for our proprietary technologies. We also acquire, through license grants or assignments, rights to patents on inventions originally developed by others. As of September 30, 2016, we held approximately 70 U.S. patents and approximately 35 foreign patents and had over 20 additional patent applications pending. The issued patents cover various products in the major markets we serve. Our U.S. patents will expire on varying dates between 2017 and 2031. These patents and patent applications claim protection for various aspects of current or planned commercial versions of our materials, components, subsystems, and systems.
We also have entered into license agreements with the other organizations, under which we have obtained exclusive or non-exclusive rights to practice inventions claimed in various patents and applications issued or pending in the U.S. or other foreign jurisdictions. We do not believe our financial obligations under any of these agreements adversely affects our business, financial condition, or results of operations.
We rely on trade secrets to protect our intellectual property when we believe that publishing patents would make it easier for others to reverse engineer our proprietary processes. We also rely on other intellectual property rights such as trademarks and copyrights where appropriate.
Environmental Regulations
We are subject to U.S. federal, state, and local laws and regulations concerning the use, storage, handling, generation, treatment, emission, release, discharge, and disposal of certain materials used in our research and development and production operations, as well as laws and regulations concerning environmental remediation, homeland security, and employee health and safety. The production of wafers and devices involves the use of certain hazardous raw materials, including, but not limited to, ammonia, phosphine, and arsine. We have in-house professionals to address compliance with applicable environmental, homeland security, and health and safety laws and regulations. We believe that we are currently in compliance with all applicable federal, state, and local environmental protection laws and regulations.
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Competition
The markets for our products are extremely competitive and are characterized by rapid technological change, frequent introduction of new products, short product life cycles, and significant price erosion. We face actual and potential competition from numerous domestic and international companies. Many of these companies have significant engineering, manufacturing, marketing, and financial resources.
Partial lists of our competitors in the markets in which we participate include:
CATV Networks. Our primary competitors include Applied Optoelectronics and Finisar at the subsystem level and Applied Optoelectronics and Sumitomo Electric Device Innovations at the component product level.
Satellite Communications Networks. Our primary competitors include Foxcom and MITEQ, Inc.
Video Transport Products. Our primary competitors include Evertz and Telecast.
In addition to the companies listed above, we compete with many research institutions and universities for research funding. We also sell our products to current competitors and companies with the capability of becoming competitors. As the markets for our products grow, new competitors are likely to emerge and current competitors may increase their market share. In the European Union (“EU”), political and legal arrangements encourage the purchase of EU-produced goods, which places us at a disadvantage against European competitors.
There are substantial barriers to entry by new competitors across our product lines. These barriers include the large number of existing patents, the time and costs required to develop products, the technical difficulty in manufacturing semiconductor-based products, the lengthy sales and qualification cycles, and the difficulties in hiring and retaining skilled employees with the required scientific and technical backgrounds. We believe that the primary competitive factors within our current markets are product cost, yield, throughput, performance and reliability, breadth of product line, product heritage, customer satisfaction, and customer commitment to competing technologies. Competitors may develop enhancements to or future generations of competitive products that offer superior price and performance characteristics. We believe that in order to remain competitive, we must invest significant financial resources in developing new product features and enhancements and in maintaining customer satisfaction worldwide.
Order Backlog
EMCORE's product sales are made pursuant to purchase orders, often with short lead times. These orders are subject to revision or cancellation and often are made without deposits. Products typically ship within the same quarter in which a purchase order is received; therefore, our order backlog at any particular date is not necessarily indicative of actual revenue or the level of orders for any succeeding period.
Employees
As of September 30, 2016, we had approximately 589 employees, including approximately 330 international employees that are located primarily in China. This represents an increase of 46 employees when compared to September 30, 2015, primarily as a result of an increase in international employees. None of our employees are covered by a collective bargaining agreement. We have never experienced any labor-related work stoppage and believe that our employee relations are good.
Competition is intense in the recruiting of personnel in the semiconductor industry. Our ability to attract and retain qualified personnel is essential to our continued success. We are focused on retaining key contributors, developing our staff, and cultivating their commitment to our Company.
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ITEM 1A. Risk Factors
We are a small company and dependent on a few products for our success.
We are a small company with a narrow, focused portfolio of products. Our small size could cause our cash flow and growth prospects to be more volatile and makes us more vulnerable to focused competition. As a small company, we will be subject to greater revenue fluctuations if our older product lines sales were to decline faster than we anticipate. In addition, we may not be able to appropriately restructure our supporting functions to fit the needs of a small company.
We have incurred losses from continuing operations and our future profitability is not assured.
For the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016, and 2014, income from continuing operations was $2.6 million and $4.1 million, respectively, and we had loss from continuing operations of $2.3 million for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015. Our operating results for future periods are subject to numerous uncertainties and we cannot assure you that we will be profitable or that we will not experience substantial losses in the future. If we are not able to increase revenue and reduce our costs, we may not be able to achieve profitability in future periods and our cash flow and financial condition may be adversely affected.
Our future revenue is inherently unpredictable. As a result, our operating results are likely to fluctuate from period to period, and we may fail to meet the expectations of our analysts and/or investors, which may cause volatility in our stock price and may cause our stock price to decline.
Our quarterly and annual operating results have fluctuated substantially in the past and are likely to fluctuate significantly in the future due to a variety of factors, some of which are outside of our control. Factors that could cause our quarterly or annual operating results to fluctuate include:
• | a downturn in the markets for our customers' products; |
• | discontinuation by our vendors of, or unavailability of, components or services used in our products; |
• | disruptions or delays in our manufacturing processes or in our supply of raw materials or product components; |
• | a failure to anticipate changing customer product requirements; |
• | market acceptance of our products; |
• | cancellations or postponements of previously placed orders; |
• | increased financing costs or any inability to obtain necessary financing; |
• | the impact on our business of current or future cost reduction measures; |
• | a loss of key personnel or the shortage of available skilled workers; |
• | economic conditions in various geographic areas where we or our customers do business; |
• | the impact of political uncertainties, such as government sequestration and uncertainties surrounding the federal budget, customer spending and demand for our products; |
• | significant warranty claims, including those not covered by our suppliers; |
• | product liability claims; |
• | other conditions affecting the timing of customer orders; |
• | reductions in prices for our products or increases in the costs of our raw materials; |
• | effects of competitive pricing pressures, including decreases in average selling prices of our products; |
• | fluctuations in manufacturing yields; |
• | obsolescence of products; |
• | research and development expenses incurred associated with new product introductions; |
• | natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and floods; |
• | the emergence of new industry standards; |
• | the loss or gain of significant customers; |
• | the introduction of new products and manufacturing processes; |
• | changes in technology; |
• | intellectual property disputes; |
• | customs, import/export, and other regulations of the countries in which we do business; |
• | the occurrence of M&A activities; |
• | and acts of terrorism or violence and international conflicts or crises. |
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In addition, the limited lead times with which several of our customers order our products restrict our ability to forecast
revenue. We may also experience a delay in generating or recognizing revenue for a number of reasons. For example, orders at the beginning of each quarter typically represent a small percentage of expected revenue for that quarter and are generally cancelable at any time. We depend on obtaining orders during each quarter for shipment in that quarter to achieve our revenue objectives. Failure to ship these products by the end of a quarter may adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows.
As a result of the foregoing factors, we believe that period-to-period comparisons of our results of operations should not be solely relied upon as indicators of future performance.
The market price for our common stock has experienced significant price and volume volatility and is likely to continue to experience significant volatility in the future. This volatility may impair our ability to finance strategic transactions with our stock and otherwise harm our business.
Our stock price has experienced significant price and volume volatility for the past several years, and our stock price is likely to experience significant volatility in the future. The trading price of our common stock may be influenced by factors beyond our control, such as the volatility of the financial markets and uncertainty surrounding domestic and foreign economies. The historical market prices of our common stock may not be indicative of future market prices and we may be unable to sustain or increase the value of our common stock. We have historically used equity incentive compensation as part of our overall compensation arrangements. The effectiveness of equity incentive compensation in retaining key employees may be adversely impacted by volatility in our stock price. Significant declines in our stock price may also interfere with our ability, if needed, to raise additional funds through equity financing or to finance strategic transactions with our stock. In addition, there may be increased risk of securities litigation following periods of fluctuations in our stock price. Securities class action lawsuits are often brought against companies after periods of volatility in the market price of their securities. These and other consequences of volatility in our stock price which could be exacerbated by macroeconomic conditions that affect the market generally, or our industry in particular, could have the effect of diverting management's attention and could materially harm our business.
We may not pay additional dividends on our common stock and, consequently, your only opportunity to achieve a return on your investment may be an increase in the price of our common stock.
Although we paid a special dividend in 2016, we cannot guarantee that that we will pay additional dividends in the future. In addition, the terms of our loan and security agreement with our financial institution restrict our ability to pay dividends. Consequently, your only opportunity to achieve a return on any shares of our common stock may be for you to sell your shares at a profit. There is no guarantee that the price of our common stock in the market will increase or ever exceed the price that you paid for the shares.
We may undergo an "ownership change" within the meaning of Section 382 of the Code, which could affect our ability to offset U.S. federal income tax against our net operating losses and certain of our tax credit carryovers.
Section 382 of the Internal Revenue Code, as amended (the "Code") contains rules that limit the ability of a company that undergoes an ownership change to utilize its net operating losses and tax credits (the “Tax Benefits”) existing as of the date of such ownership change. Under the rules, such an ownership change is generally any change in ownership of more than 50% of a company's stock within a rolling three-year period. The rules generally operate by focusing on changes in ownership among shareholders considered by the rules as owning, directly or indirectly, 5% or more of the stock of a company and any change in ownership arising from new issuances of stock by the company.
If we were to undergo one or more "ownership changes" within the meaning of Section 382 of the Code, our net operating losses and certain of our tax credits existing as of the date of each ownership change may be unavailable, in whole or in part, to offset U.S. federal income tax resulting from our operations or any gains from the disposition of any of our assets and/or business, which could result in increased U.S. federal income tax liability.
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On September 17, 2014, our Board of Directors adopted a Tax Benefits Preservation Plan (the “Rights Plan”) to help preserve the value of our Tax Benefits by reducing the risk of limitation of our Tax Benefits. The Rights Plan was approved by our shareholders on March 10, 2015. The Rights Plan is intended to reduce the likelihood that we will experience an ownership change by discouraging any person or group from becoming a “5% shareholder” or increasing their ownership of our common stock if they are already a “5% shareholder.” Although the Rights Plan is intended to reduce the likelihood of an “ownership change” that could adversely affect us, there is no assurance that the Rights Plan will prevent all transfers of our common stock that could result in such an “ownership change”.
Our business and results of operations may continue to be negatively impacted by general economic and financial market conditions and market conditions in the industries in which we operate, and such conditions may increase the other risks that affect our business.
In recent years, the world’s financial markets have experienced significant turmoil, resulting in reductions in available credit, increased costs of credit, extreme volatility in security prices, potential changes to existing credit terms, and rating downgrades of investments. These conditions materially and adversely affected the market conditions in the industries in which we operate and caused many of our customers to reduce their spending plans, leading them to draw down their existing inventory and reduce orders for our products, which, in turn, had a material adverse impact on our revenues. We cannot predict the timing, strength or duration of any economic slowdown or subsequent economic recovery, worldwide or within our industry. It is possible that economic conditions could result in further setbacks, and that these customers, or others, could as a result significantly reduce their capital expenditures, draw down their inventories, reduce production levels of existing products, defer introduction of new products or place orders and accept delivery for products for which they do not pay us due to their economic difficulties or other reasons. If any of these events occur, our business, financial condition, cash flows and results of operations may be adversely affected.
If spending for CATV and optical communications networks declines, our business may suffer.
Our future success depends on continued capital investment in CATV and global communications networks infrastructure and on continued demand for high-bandwidth, high-speed communications networks and the ability of original equipment manufacturers to meet this demand. Spending on CATV and communications networks is limited by several factors, including limited investment resources, uncertainty regarding the long-term evolution and sustainability of service provider business models, and a changing regulatory environment. We cannot be certain that demand for bandwidth-intensive content will continue to grow at the same pace in the future or that communications service providers will continue to increase spending to meet such demand. If expectations for growth of CATV and communications networks and bandwidth consumption are not realized and investment in CATV and communications networks does not grow as anticipated, our business, results of operations, and gross margins could be harmed.
We expect to consider from time to time further strategic opportunities that may involve acquisitions, dispositions, investments in joint ventures, partnerships, and other strategic alternatives that may enhance shareholder value, any of which may result in the use of a significant amount of our management resources or significant costs, and we may not be able to fully realize the potential benefit of such transactions.
We expect to continue to consider acquisitions, dispositions, investments in joint ventures, partnerships, and other strategic alternatives that may enhance shareholder value. The Strategy and Alternatives Committee of the Board and our management may from time to time be engaged in evaluating potential transactions and other strategic alternatives. In addition, from time to time, we may engage financial advisors, enter into non-disclosure agreements, conduct discussions, and undertake other actions that may result in one or more transactions. Although there would be uncertainty that any of these activities or discussions would result in definitive agreements or the completion of any transaction, we may devote a significant amount of our management resources to analyzing and pursuing such a transaction, which could negatively impact our operations. In addition, we may incur significant costs in connection with seeking such transactions or other strategic alternatives regardless of whether the transaction is completed. In the event that we consummate an acquisition, dispositions, partnerships, or other or strategic alternatives in the future, we cannot assure you that we would fully realize the potential benefit of such a transaction and cannot predict the impact that such strategic transaction might have on our operations or stock price. We do not undertake to provide updates or make further comments regarding the evaluation of strategic alternatives, unless otherwise required by law.
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Acquisitions of other companies or investments in joint ventures with other companies could adversely affect our operating results, dilute our shareholders' equity, or cause us to incur additional debt or assume contingent liabilities.
To increase our business, maintain our competitive position or for other business or strategic reasons, we may acquire other companies or engage in joint ventures or similar transactions in the future. Acquisitions, joint ventures and similar transactions involve a number of risks that could harm our business and result in the acquired business or joint venture not performing as expected, including:
• | insufficient experience with technologies and markets in which the acquired business is involved, which may be necessary to successfully operate and integrate the business; |
• | problems integrating the acquired operations, personnel, technologies, or products with the existing business and products; |
• | diversion of management's time and attention from our core business to the acquired business or joint venture; |
• | potential failure to retain key technical, management, sales, and other personnel of the acquired business or joint venture; |
• | difficulties in retaining relationships with suppliers and customers of the acquired business, particularly where such customers or suppliers compete with us; |
• | reliance upon joint ventures which we do not control; |
• | subsequent impairment of goodwill and acquired long-lived assets, including intangible assets; and |
• | assumption of liabilities including, but not limited to, lawsuits, tax examinations, warranty issues, etc. |
We may decide that it is in our best interests to enter into acquisitions, joint ventures or similar transactions that are dilutive to earnings per share or that adversely impact margins as a whole. In addition, acquisitions or joint ventures could require investment of significant financial resources and require us to obtain additional equity financing, which may dilute our shareholders' equity, or require us to incur indebtedness.
We are subject to the cyclical nature of the markets in which we compete and any future downturn may reduce demand for our products and revenue.
In the past, the markets in which we compete have experienced significant downturns, often connected with, or in anticipation of, the maturation of product cycles, for both manufacturers' and their customers' products, and declining general economic conditions. These downturns have been characterized by diminished product demand, production overcapacity, high inventory levels, and accelerated erosion of average selling prices. These markets are impacted by the aggregate capital expenditures of service providers and enterprises as they build out and upgrade their network infrastructure. These markets are highly cyclical and characterized by constant and rapid technological change, pricing pressures, evolving standards, and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand.
We may experience substantial period-to-period fluctuations in future results of operations. Any future downturn in the markets in which we compete, or changes in demand for our products from our customers, could result in a significant reduction in our revenue. It may also increase the volatility of the price of our common stock.
In addition, the communication networks industry from time to time has experienced and may again experience a pronounced downturn. To respond to a downturn, many service providers and enterprises may slow their capital expenditures, cancel or delay new developments, reduce their workforces and inventories, and take a cautious approach to acquiring new equipment and technologies, any of which could cause our results of operations to fluctuate from period to period and harm our business.
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If we fail to remediate deficiencies in our current system of internal controls, we may not be able to accurately report our financial results or prevent fraud. As a result, our business could be harmed and current and potential investors could lose confidence in our financial reporting, which could have a material adverse effect on the trading price of our equity securities.
We are subject to the ongoing internal control provisions of Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. These provisions provide for the identification of material weaknesses in internal control over financial reporting, which is a process to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting for external purposes in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America ("U.S. GAAP"). If we cannot provide reliable and timely financial reports, our brand, operating results, and the market value of our equity securities could be harmed. We have in the past discovered, and may in the future discover, areas of our internal controls that need improvement.
We have devoted significant resources to remediate and improve our internal controls. We have also been monitoring the effectiveness of these remediated measures. We cannot be certain that these measures will ensure adequate controls over our financial processes and reporting in the future. Any failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in their implementation, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations.
Inadequate internal controls could also cause investors to lose confidence in our reported financial information, which could have an adverse effect on the trading price of our equity securities. Further, the impact of these events could also make it more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified persons to serve on our Board of Directors (the "Board") or as executive officers, which could harm our business.
We may have difficulty establishing and maintaining adequate management and financial controls over our China operations.
Businesses in China have historically not adopted a western style of management and financial reporting concepts and practices, which includes strong corporate governance, internal controls and computer, financial and other control systems. Moreover, familiarity with U.S. GAAP principles and reporting procedures is less common in China. As a consequence and due to our significant operations in China, we may have difficulty finding accounting personnel experienced with U.S. GAAP, and we may have difficulty training and integrating our China-based accounting staff with our U.S.-based finance organization. As a result of these factors, we may experience difficulty in establishing management and financial controls over our China operations. These difficulties include collecting financial data and preparing financial statements, books of account and corporate records and instituting business practices that meet U.S. public-company reporting requirements. We may, in turn, experience difficulties in implementing and maintaining adequate internal controls as required under Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. If we cannot provide reliable and timely financial reports, our brand, operating results, and the market value of our equity securities could be harmed.
Compliance with regulations related to conflict minerals could increase costs and affect the manufacturing and sale of our products.
Public companies are required to disclose the use of tin, tantalum, tungsten and gold (collectively, “conflict minerals”) mined from the Democratic Republic of the Congo and adjoining countries (the “covered countries”) if a conflict mineral(s) is necessary to the functionality of a product manufactured, or contracted to be manufactured, by the company. We may determine, as part of our compliance efforts, that certain products or components we obtain from our suppliers contain conflict minerals. If we are unable to conclude that all our products are free from conflict minerals originating from covered countries, this could have a negative impact on our business, reputation and/or results of operations. We may also encounter challenges to satisfy customers who require that our products be certified as conflict free, which could place us at a competitive disadvantage if we are unable to substantiate such a claim. Compliance with these rules could also affect the sourcing and availability of some of the minerals used in the manufacture of products or components we obtain from our suppliers, including our ability to obtain products or components in sufficient quantities and/or at competitive prices. Certain of our customers are requiring additional information from us regarding the origin of our raw materials, and complying with these customer requirements may cause us to incur additional costs, such as costs related to determining the origin of any minerals used in our products. Our supply chain is complex and we may be unable to verify the origins for all metals used in our products.
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We could be required to record an impairment charge as a result of changes to assumptions used in our impairment testing.
We have substantial long-lived assets recorded on our balance sheet. We will continue to evaluate the recoverability of the carrying amount of our property, plant and equipment on an ongoing basis, and we may incur substantial impairment charges, which would adversely affect our financial results. There can be no assurance that the outcome of such reviews in the future will not result in substantial impairment charges. Impairment assessment inherently involves judgment as to assumptions about expected future cash flows and the impact of market conditions on those assumptions. Future events and changing market conditions may impact our assumptions as to prices, costs, holding periods, or other factors that may result in changes in our estimates of future cash flows. Although we believe the assumptions we used in testing for impairment are reasonable, significant changes in any one of our assumptions could produce a significantly different result. In any period where our stock price, as determined by our market capitalization, is less than our book value, this too could indicate a potential impairment and we may be required to record an impairment charge in that period.
Our ability to achieve operational and material cost reductions and to realize production efficiencies for our operations is critical to our ability to achieve long-term profitability.
We have implemented a number of operational and material cost reductions and productivity improvement initiatives, which are intended to reduce our expense structure at both the cost of revenue and the operating expense levels. Cost reduction initiatives often involve the re-design of our products, which requires our customers to accept and qualify the new designs, potentially creating a competitive disadvantage for our products. These initiatives can be time-consuming, disruptive to our operations, and costly in the short-term. Successfully implementing these and other cost-reduction initiatives throughout our operations is critical to our future competitiveness and ability to achieve long-term profitability. However, there can be no assurance that these initiatives will be successful in creating profit margins sufficient to sustain our current operating structure and business.
We are substantially dependent on a small number of customers and the loss of any one of these customers could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
A small number of customers account for a significant portion of our revenue and our dependence on orders from a relatively small number of customers makes our relationship with each customer critically important to our business. If there is consolidation among our customer base, our customers may be able to command increased leverage in negotiating prices and other terms of sale, which could adversely affect our profitability. If we are required to reduce our pricing, our revenue and gross margins would be adversely impacted. Consolidation among our customer base may also lead to reduced demand for our products, replacement of our products by the combined entity with those of our competitors and cancellations of orders, each of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Customer demand is difficult to forecast and, as a result, we may be unable to optimally match production with customer demand.
We make planning and spending decisions, including determining the levels of business that we will seek and accept, production schedules, component procurement commitments, personnel needs and other resource requirements, based on our estimates of customer demand. The majority of our products are purchased pursuant to individual purchase orders. While our customers generally provide us with their demand forecasts, they are typically not contractually committed to buy any quantity of products beyond firm purchase orders. The short-term nature of our customer commitments and the possibility of unexpected changes in demand for their products limit our ability to accurately predict future customer demand. On occasion, customers have required rapid increases in production, which has strained our resources. We may not have sufficient capacity at any given time to meet the volume demands of our customers, or one or more of our suppliers may not have sufficient capacity at any given time to meet our volume demands. Conversely, a downturn in the markets in which our customers compete can cause, and in the past has caused, our customers to significantly reduce the amount of products ordered from us or to cancel existing orders, leading to lower utilization of our facilities. Because many of our costs and operating expenses are relatively fixed, reduction in customer demand would have an adverse effect on our gross margin, income (loss) from operations, and cash flow. During an industry downturn, there is also a higher risk that a larger portion of our trade receivables would be uncollectible.
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Our operating results could be harmed if we are unable to obtain timely deliveries of sufficient components of acceptable quality from sole or limited sources of materials, components, or services, or if the prices of components for which we do not have alternative sources increase.
We currently obtain some materials, components, and services used in our products from limited or sole sources. We generally do not carry significant inventories of any raw materials. Because we often do not account for a significant part of our suppliers' businesses, we may not have access to sufficient capacity from these suppliers in periods of high demand. In addition, since we generally do not have guaranteed supply arrangements with our suppliers, we risk serious disruption to our operations if an important supplier terminates product lines, changes business focus, or goes out of business. Because some of these suppliers are located overseas, we may be faced with higher costs of purchasing these materials if the U.S. dollar weakens against other currencies. If we were to change any of our limited or sole source suppliers, we would be required to re-qualify each new supplier. Re-qualification could prevent or delay product shipments that could adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. In addition, our reliance on these suppliers may adversely affect our production if the components vary in quality or quantity. If we are unable to obtain timely deliveries of sufficient components of acceptable quality or if the prices of components for which we do not have alternative sources increase, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
If our contract manufacturers fail to deliver qualified quality products at reasonable prices and on a timely basis, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be adversely affected.
We primarily use contract manufacturers located outside of the U.S. as a less-expensive alternative to our performing manufacturing of certain products. Contract manufacturers in Asia currently manufacture a significant portion of our high-volume fiber optics products. We supply inventory to our contract manufacturers, and we bear the risk of loss, theft, or damage to our inventory while it is held in their facilities.
If these contract manufacturers do not fulfill their obligations to us, or if we do not properly manage these relationships and the transition of production to these contract manufacturers, our existing customer relationships may suffer. In addition, by undertaking these activities, we run the risk that the reputation and competitiveness of our products and services may deteriorate as a result of the reduction of our ability to oversee and control the assembly process, quality and delivery schedules. If we fail to manage our relationship with our contract manufacturers, or if any of the contract manufacturers experience financial difficulty, delays, disruptions, capacity constraints or quality control problems in their operations, our ability to ship products to our customers could be impaired and our competitive position and reputation could be harmed.
The use of contract manufacturers located outside of the U.S. also subjects us to the following additional risks that could significantly impair our ability to source our contract manufacturing requirements internationally, including:
• | unexpected changes in regulatory requirements; |
• | legal uncertainties regarding liability, tariffs, and other trade barriers; |
• | inadequate protection of intellectual property in some countries; |
• | greater incidence of shipping delays; |
• | greater difficulty in overseeing manufacturing operations; |
• | greater difficulty in hiring talent needed to oversee manufacturing operations; |
• | potential political and economic instability and natural disasters; |
• | potential adverse actions by the U.S. government pursuant to its stated intention to reduce the loss of U.S. jobs; |
• | natural disasters; |
• | trade and travel restrictions; and |
• | the outbreak of infectious diseases which could result in travel restrictions or the closure of the facilities of our contract manufacturers. |
Any of these factors could significantly impair our ability to source our contract manufacturing requirements internationally. Prior to our customers accepting products manufactured at our contract manufacturers, they must qualify the product and manufacturing processes. The qualification process can be lengthy and expensive, with no guarantee that any particular product qualification process will lead to profitable product sales. The qualification process determines whether the product manufactured at our contract manufacturer achieves our customers' quality, performance, and reliability standards. Our expectations as to the time periods required to qualify a product line and ship products in volumes to our customers may be erroneous. Delays in qualification can impair our expected timing of the transfer of a product line to our contract manufacturer and may impair our expected amount of sales of the affected products. Any of these uncertainties could materially adversely affect our operating results and customer relationships.
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In addition, our contract manufacturers may terminate our agreements with them upon prior notice to us or immediately for reasons such as if we become insolvent, or if we fail to perform a material obligation under the agreements. If we are required to change contract manufacturers or assume internal manufacturing operations for any reason, including the termination of one of our contracts, we will likely suffer manufacturing and shipping delays, lost revenue, increased costs and damage to our customer relationships, any of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
If we do not keep pace with rapid technological change, our products may not be competitive.
We compete in markets that are characterized by rapid technological change, frequent new product introductions, changes in customer requirements, evolving industry standards, continuous improvement in products and the use of our existing products in new applications. We may not be able to develop the underlying core technologies necessary to create new products and enhancements to our existing products at the same rate as or faster than our competitors, or to license the technology from third parties that is necessary for our products. Product development delays may result from numerous factors, including:
•changing product specifications and customer requirements;
•unanticipated engineering complexities;
•expense reduction measures we have implemented and others we may implement;
•difficulties in hiring and retaining necessary technical personnel; and
•difficulties in allocating engineering resources and overcoming resource limitations.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to identify, develop, manufacture, market, or support new or enhanced products successfully, if at all, or on a timely, cost effective, or repeatable basis. Our future performance will depend on our successful development and introduction of, as well as market acceptance of, new and enhanced products that address market changes, as well as current and potential customer requirements and our ability to respond effectively to product announcements by competitors, technological changes, or emerging industry standards. Because it is generally not possible to predict the amount of time required and the costs involved in achieving certain research, development and engineering objectives, actual development costs may exceed budgeted amounts and estimated product development schedules may be extended. If we are unable to develop, manufacture, market, or support new or enhanced products successfully, or incur budget overruns or delays in our research and development efforts, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows may be materially adversely affected.
Spending to develop and improve our technology may adversely impact our financial results.
We may need to increase our research and development and/or capital expenditures and expenses above our historical run-rate model in order to attempt to improve our existing technology and develop new technology. Increasing our investments in research and development of technology could cause our cost structure to fall out of alignment with demand for our products, which would have a negative impact on our financial results. If we are unable to obtain financing or implement cost reduction measures necessary to fund these types of expenditures, we may be unable to improve our technology or develop new technologies, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. Further, our research and development programs may not produce successful results, and our new products and services may not achieve market acceptance, create additional revenue or become profitable, which could materially harm our business, prospects, financial results and liquidity.
The competitive and rapidly evolving nature of our industries and pressure from competitors with greater resources has in the past resulted in and is likely in the future to result in reductions in our product prices and periods of reduced demand for our products.
We face substantial competition from a number of companies, many of which have greater financial, marketing, manufacturing, and technical resources than we do. Larger-sized competitors often spend more on research and development, which could give those competitors an advantage in meeting customer demands and introducing technologically innovative products before we do. We expect that existing and new competitors will continue to improve the design of their existing products and will introduce new products with enhanced performance characteristics.
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The introduction of new products and more efficient production of existing products by our competitors have resulted and are likely in the future to result in price reductions, increases in expenses, and reduced demand for our products. In addition, some of our competitors may be willing to provide their products at lower prices, accept a lower profit margin, or spend more capital in order to obtain or retain business. Competitive pressures have required us to reduce the prices of some of our products. These competitive forces could diminish our market share and gross margins, resulting in an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
New competitors may also enter our markets, including some of our current and potential customers who may attempt to integrate their operations by producing their own components and subsystems or acquiring one of our competitors, thereby reducing demand for our products. In addition, rapid product development cycles, increasing price competition due to maturation of technologies, the emergence of new competitors in Asia with lower cost structures, and industry consolidation resulting in competitors with greater financial, marketing, and technical resources could result in lower prices or reduced demand for our products, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Expected and actual introductions of new and enhanced products may cause our customers to defer or cancel orders for existing products and may cause our products to become obsolete. A slowdown in demand for existing products ahead of a new product introduction could result in a write-down in the value of inventory on hand related to existing products. We have in the past experienced a slowdown in demand for existing products and delays in new product development and such delays may occur in the future. To the extent customers defer or cancel orders for existing products due to a slowdown in demand or in anticipation of a new product release, or if there is any delay in development or introduction of our new products or enhancements of our products, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
Our products are difficult to manufacture. Our production could be disrupted and our results of operations and cash flows could suffer if our production yields are low as a result of manufacturing difficulties.
We manufacture many of our wafers and products in our own production facilities. Difficulties in the production process, such
as contamination, raw material quality issues, human error, or equipment failure, could cause a substantial percentage of wafers and devices to be nonfunctional. These problems may be difficult to detect at an early stage of the manufacturing process and often are time-consuming and expensive to correct. Lower-than-expected production yields may delay shipments or result in unexpected levels of warranty claims, either of which could adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. We have experienced difficulties in achieving planned yields in the past, particularly in pre-production and upon initial commencement of full production volumes, which have adversely affected our gross margins. Because the majority of our manufacturing costs are fixed, achieving planned production yields is critical to our results of operations and cash flows. Changes in manufacturing processes required as a result of changes in product specifications, changing customer needs and the introduction of new product lines could significantly reduce our manufacturing yields, resulting in low or negative margins on those products.
Also, we have substantial risk of interruption in manufacturing resulting from fire, natural disaster, equipment failures, or similar events, because we manufacture most of our products using a few facilities, and do not have back-up facilities available for manufacturing these products. We could also incur significant costs to repair and/or replace products that are defective and in some cases costly product redesigns and/or rework may be required to correct a defect. Additionally, any defect could adversely affect our reputation and result in the loss of future orders.
Some of the capital equipment used in the manufacture of our products have been developed and made specifically for us, is not readily available from multiple vendors, and would be difficult to repair or replace if it were to become damaged or stop working. If any of these suppliers were to experience financial difficulties or go out of business, or if there were any damage to, or a breakdown of our manufacturing equipment at a time when we are manufacturing commercial quantities of our products, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
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It could be discovered that our products contain defects that may cause us to incur significant costs, divert management's attention, result in a loss of customers, and result in product liability claims.
Our products are complex and undergo quality testing and formal qualification by our customers and us. However, defects may occur from time to time. Our customers' testing procedures involve evaluating our products under likely and foreseeable failure scenarios and over varying amounts of time. For various reasons, such as the occurrence of performance problems that are unforeseeable in testing or that are detected only when products age or are operated under peak stress conditions, our products may fail to perform as expected long after customer acceptance. Failures could result from faulty components or design, problems in manufacturing, or other unforeseen reasons. For the majority of our products, we provide a product warranty of one year or less from date of shipment. For select customers, we provide extended warranties beyond our normal product warranty period for specified failures on a case-by-case basis. As a result, we could incur significant costs to repair or replace defective products under warranty, particularly when such failures occur in installed systems. We have experienced failures in the past and will continue to face this risk going forward, as our products are widely deployed throughout the world in multiple demanding environments and applications. In addition, we may in certain circumstances honor warranty claims after the warranty has expired or for problems not covered by warranty in order to maintain customer relationships. Any significant product failure could result in product recalls, product liability claims, lost future sales of the affected product and other products, as well as customer relations problems, litigation, and damage to our reputation.
In addition, our products are typically embedded in, or deployed in conjunction with, our customers' products, which incorporate a variety of components, modules and subsystems and may be expected to interpolate with modules and subsystems produced by third parties. As a result, not all defects are immediately detectable and when problems occur, it may be difficult to identify the source of the problem. These problems may cause us to incur significant damages or warranty and repair costs, divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts, and cause significant customer relations problems or loss of customers, all of which would harm our business. The occurrence of any defects in our products could also give rise to liability for damages caused by such defects. Although we carry product liability insurance to mitigate this risk, insurance may not adequately cover costs that may arise from defects in our products or otherwise, nor will it protect us from reputational harm that may result from such defects. Costs incurred in connection with product recalls or warranty or product liability claims could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
We face lengthy sales and qualification cycles for our new products and, in many cases, must invest a substantial amount of time and money before we receive orders.
Most of our products are tested by current and potential customers to determine whether they meet customer or industry specifications. The length of the qualification process, which can span a year or more, varies substantially by product and customer and, thus, can cause our results of operations and cash flows to be unpredictable. During a given qualification period, we invest significant resources and allocate substantial production capacity to manufacture these new products prior to any commitment to purchase by customers. In addition, it is difficult to obtain new customers during the qualification period as customers are reluctant to expend the resources necessary to qualify a new supplier if they have one or more existing qualified sources. If we are unable to meet applicable specifications or do not receive sufficient orders to profitably use our allocated production capacity, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
Our historical and future budgets for operating expenses, capital expenditures, operating leases, and service contracts are based upon our assumptions as to the future market acceptance of our products. Because of the lengthy lead times required for product development and the changes in technology that typically occur while a product is being developed, it is difficult to accurately estimate customer demand for any given product. If our products do not achieve an adequate level of customer demand, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected.
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Shifts in industry-wide demands and inventories could result in significant inventory write-downs.
The life cycles of some of our products depend heavily upon the life cycles of the end products into which our products are designed. Products with short life cycles require us to manage production and inventory levels closely. We evaluate our ending inventories on a quarterly basis for excess quantities, impairment of value, and obsolescence. This evaluation includes analysis of sales levels by product and projections of future demand based upon input received from our customers, sales team, and management. If inventories on hand are in excess of demand, or if they are generally greater than 12-months old, appropriate write-downs may be recorded. In addition, we write off inventories that are considered obsolete based upon changes in customer demand, manufacturing process changes that result in existing inventory obsolescence, or new product introductions, which eliminate demand for existing products. Remaining inventory balances are adjusted to approximate the lower of our manufacturing cost or market value.
If future demand or market conditions are less favorable than our estimates, inventory write-downs may be required. We cannot assure investors that obsolete or excess inventories, which may result from unanticipated changes in the estimated total demand for our products and/or the estimated life cycles of the end products into which our products are designed, will not affect us beyond the inventory charges that we have already taken.
The types of sales contracts we use in the markets we serve subject us to unique risks in each of those markets.
We generally do not have long-term supply contracts with our customers, and we typically sell our products pursuant to purchase orders with short lead times, and even where we do have supply contracts, our customers are not obligated to purchase any minimum amount of our products. As a result, our customers could stop purchasing our products at any time, and we must fulfill orders in a timely manner to keep our customers.
Risks associated with the absence of long-term purchase commitments with our customers include the following:
• | our customers can stop purchasing our products at any time without penalty; |
• | our customers may purchase products from our competitors; and |
• | our customers are not required to make minimum purchases. |
These risks are increased by the fact that our customers in this market are large sophisticated companies which have considerable purchasing power and control over their suppliers. If we are unable to fulfill these orders in a timely manner, it is likely that we will lose sales and customers.
Cancellations or rescheduling of customer orders could result in the delay or loss of anticipated sales without allowing us sufficient time to reduce, or delay the incurrence of, our corresponding inventory and operating expenses. In addition, changes in forecasts or the timing of orders expose us to the risks of inventory shortages or excess inventory.
Fixed-price development work inherently has more uncertainty than production contracts and therefore, entails more variability in estimates of the cost to complete the work. Many of these development programs have very complex designs. As technical or quality issues arise, we may experience schedule delays and adverse cost impacts, which could increase our estimated cost to perform the work, either of which could adversely affect our results of operations. Some fixed-price development contracts include initial production units in their scope of work. Successful performance of these contracts depends on our ability to meet production specifications and delivery rates. If we are unable to perform and deliver to contract requirements, our contract price could be reduced through the incorporation of liquidated damages, termination of the contract for default, or other financially significant consequences. Management uses its best judgment to estimate the cost to perform the work and the price we will eventually be paid on fixed-price development programs. While we believe the cost and price estimates incorporated in the financial statements are appropriate, future events could result in either favorable or unfavorable adjustments to those estimates.
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We have significant international sales, which expose us to additional risks and uncertainties.
For the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016, 2015 and 2014, sales to customers located outside the U.S. accounted for approximately 28%, 32% and 33%, respectively, of our annual consolidated revenue, with revenue assigned to geographic regions based on our customers' billing address. Sales to customers in Asia represent the majority of our international sales. We believe that international sales will continue to account for a significant percentage of our revenue as we seek international expansion opportunities. Because of this, the following international commercial risks may adversely affect our revenue:
• | political and economic instability or changes in U.S. government policy with respect to these foreign countries may inhibit export of our products and limit potential customers' access to U.S. dollars in a country or region in which those potential customers are located; |
• | we may experience difficulties in enforcing our legal contracts or the collecting of foreign accounts receivable in a timely manner and we may be forced to write off these receivables; |
• | tariffs and other barriers may make our products less cost competitive; |
• | the laws of certain foreign countries may not adequately protect our trade secrets and intellectual property or may be burdensome to comply with; |
• | potentially adverse tax consequences to our customers may damage our cost competitiveness; |
• | customs, import/export, and other regulations of the countries in which we do business may adversely affect our business; |
• | currency fluctuations may make our products less cost competitive, affecting overseas demand for our products or otherwise adversely affecting our business; and |
• | language and other cultural barriers may require us to expend additional resources competing in foreign markets or hinder our ability to effectively compete. |
In addition, we may be exposed to legal risks under the laws of the countries outside the U.S. in which we do business, as well as the laws of the U.S. governing our business activities in those other countries, such as the U. S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA").
We have substantial operations in China, which exposes us to risks inherent in doing business in China.
In an effort to keep manufacturing costs down, we operate two manufacturing facilities in China. Our China-based activities are subject to greater political, legal, and economic risks than those faced by our other operations. In particular, the political, legal, and economic climate in China (both at the national and regional levels) is extremely volatile and unpredictable. Our ability to operate in China may be adversely affected by changes in, or our failure to comply with, Chinese laws and regulations, such as those relating to taxation, import and export tariffs, environmental regulations, land use rights, intellectual property, labor and employment laws and other matters, which laws and regulations remain highly underdeveloped and subject to change for political or other reasons, with little or no prior notice. Moreover, the enforceability of applicable existing Chinese laws and regulations is uncertain. For example, since Chinese administrative and court authorities have significant discretion in interpreting and implementing statutory and contract terms, it may be more difficult to evaluate the outcome of administrative and court proceedings and the level of legal protection we would receive compared to more developed legal systems. These uncertainties may impede our ability to enforce the contracts we have entered into with our distributors, business partners, customers and suppliers.
Also, if we are found to be, or to have been, in violation of Chinese laws or regulations governing technology import and export, the relevant regulatory authorities have broad discretion in dealing with such violations, including, but not limited to, issuing a warning, levying fines, restricting us from benefiting from these technologies inside or outside of China, confiscating our earnings generated from the import or export of such technology or even restricting our future import and export of any technology.
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In addition, we may not obtain the requisite legal permits to continue to operate in China and costs or operational limitations may be imposed in connection with obtaining and complying with such permits. Our business could be adversely harmed by any changes in the political, legal, or economic climate in China, our failure to comply with applicable laws and regulations or our inability to enforce applicable Chinese laws and regulations.
We intend to export the majority of the products manufactured at our facilities in China. Accordingly, upon application to and approval by the relevant governmental authorities, we will not be subject to certain Chinese taxes and are exempt from customs duty assessment on imported components or materials when the finished products are exported from China. We are, however, required to pay income taxes in China, subject to certain tax relief. We may become subject to other forms of taxation and duty assessments in China or may be required to pay for export license fees in the future. In the event that we become subject to any increased taxes or new forms of taxation imposed by authorities in China, our results of operations and cash flows could be adversely affected.
Our failure to successfully manage the opening of our new manufacturing facility in Beijing or the transition of certain of our manufacturing operations from our Langfang facility to our new Beijing location could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In February 2016, we leased a new manufacturing facility in Beijing, China. We plan to relocate the manufacture of certain of our existing product lines and sub-assemblies to our new facility. The opening of this new facility has and may continue to cause us to incur costs associated with some duplication of facilities, equipment and personnel, the amount of which could vary materially from our projections. Transferring our product lines to our new manufacturing location will also require us to install and/or transplant complex manufacturing equipment and processes and to hire and train a new workforce. In addition, certain of our customers may require the re-qualification of products supplied to them in connection with the opening of our new manufacturing operations. If we are unable to manage this transfer and training smoothly and comprehensively, or if we are unable to complete the re-qualification of products in a timely manner, we could suffer delays in recognizing efficiencies, manufacturing and supply chain delays, adverse impacts on our product quality and delivery schedules, harm to our reputation with our customers, and loss of customers. If we are unable to successfully manage the relocation or initiation of the manufacture of these products, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be harmed.
For a small portion of our business, we are subject to extensive government regulation, and our failure to comply with applicable regulations could subject us to penalties that may restrict our ability to conduct our business.
As a contractor to the U.S. government, we are subject to and must comply with various government regulations that impact our revenue, operating costs, profit margins and the internal organization and operation of our business. The most significant regulations and regulatory authorities affecting our business include the following:
• | the Federal Acquisition Regulations, Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation Supplement and other supplemental agency regulations, which comprehensively regulate the formation and administration of, and performance under, U.S. government contracts; |
• | the Truth in Negotiations Act, which requires certification and disclosure of all factual cost and pricing data in connection with contract negotiations; |
• | the False Claims Act and the False Statements Act, which impose penalties for payments made on the basis of false facts provided to the government and on the basis of false statements made to the government, respectively; |
• | the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits U.S. companies from providing anything of value to a foreign official to help obtain, retain or direct business, or obtain any unfair advantage; and |
• | the International Traffic in Arms Regulations, which regulate the export of controlled technical data, defense articles and defense services and restrict from which countries we may purchase materials and services used in the production of certain of our products. |
Our failure to comply with applicable regulations, rules and approvals or misconduct by any of our employees could result in the imposition of fines and penalties, the loss of our government contracts or our suspension or debarment from contracting with the U.S. government generally, any of which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. We are also subject to certain regulations of comparable government agencies in other countries, and our failure to comply with these non-U.S. regulations could also harm our business, financial condition or results of operations.
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Our failure to obtain or maintain the right to use certain intellectual property may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
Our industries are characterized by frequent litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. From time to time we have received, and may receive in the future, notice of claims of infringement of other parties' proprietary rights and licensing offers to commercialize third party patent rights. There can be no assurance that:
• | infringement claims (or claims for indemnification resulting from infringement claims) will not be asserted against us or that such claims will not be successful; |
• | future assertions will not result in an injunction against the sale of infringing products, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and cash flows; |
• | any patent owned or licensed by us will not be invalidated, circumvented, or challenged; or |
• | we will not be required to obtain licenses, the expense of which may adversely affect our results of operations, and cash flows. |
In addition, effective copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in certain foreign jurisdictions. Litigation, which could result in substantial cost and diversion of our resources, may be necessary to defend our rights or defend us against claimed infringement of the rights of others. In certain circumstances, our intellectual property rights associated with government contracts may be limited.
Protection of the intellectual property owned or licensed to us may require us to initiate litigation, which can be an extremely expensive protracted procedure with an uncertain outcome. The availability of financial resources may limit our ability to commence or defend such litigation.
If we fail to protect, or incur significant costs in defending, our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, our business and results of operations could be materially harmed.
Our success depends to a significant degree on our ability to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We rely on a combination of patent, trademark, trade secret and unfair competition laws, as well as license agreements and other contractual provisions, to establish and protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights. We have applied for patent registrations in the United States and selected international jurisdictions, most of which have been issued. We cannot guarantee that our pending applications will be approved by the applicable governmental authorities. Moreover, our existing and future patents and trademarks may not be sufficiently broad to protect our proprietary rights or may be held invalid or unenforceable in court. Failure to obtain patent registrations or a successful challenge to our registrations in the United States or other foreign countries may limit our ability to protect the intellectual property rights that these applications and registrations are intended to cover.
We also attempt to protect our intellectual property, including our trade secrets and know-how, through the use of trade secret and other intellectual property laws, and contractual provisions. We enter into confidentiality and invention assignment agreements with our employees and independent consultants. We also use non-disclosure agreements with other third parties who may have access to our proprietary technologies and information. Such measures, however, provide only limited protection, and there can be no assurance that our confidentiality and non-disclosure agreements will not be breached, especially after our employees or those of our third-party contract manufacturers end their employment or engagement, and that our trade secrets will not otherwise become known by competitors or that we will have adequate remedies in the event of unauthorized use or disclosure of proprietary information. Unauthorized third parties may try to copy or reverse engineer our products or portions of our products, otherwise obtain and use our intellectual property, or may independently develop similar or equivalent trade secrets or know-how. If we fail to protect our intellectual property and other proprietary rights, or if such intellectual property and proprietary rights are infringed or misappropriated, we could lose our competitive advantage and our business, results of operations or financial condition could be materially harmed.
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Policing unauthorized use of our technology is difficult, and we cannot be certain that the steps we have taken will prevent the misappropriation, unauthorized use, or other infringement of our intellectual property rights. Further, we may not be able to effectively protect our intellectual property rights from misappropriation or other infringement in foreign countries where we have not applied for patent protections, and where effective patent, trademark, trade secret, and other intellectual property laws may be unavailable, or may not protect our proprietary rights as fully as U.S. law.
In the future, we may need to take legal actions to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property or from otherwise gaining access to our technology. Protecting and enforcing our intellectual property rights and determining their validity and scope could result in significant litigation costs and require significant time and attention from our technical and management personnel, which could significantly harm our business. In addition, we may not prevail in such proceedings. An adverse outcome of such proceedings may reduce our competitive advantage or otherwise harm our financial condition and our business.
We may be obligated to indemnify our customers and vendors for claims that our intellectual property infringes the rights of others, which may result in substantial expenses to us.
We may be required to indemnify our customers or vendors for intellectual property claims made against them for products incorporating our technology. As such, claims against our customers and vendors may require us to incur substantial expenses, such as legal expenses, damages for past infringement or royalties for future use. Future indemnity claims could adversely affect our business relationships and result in substantial costs to us.
We face certain litigation risks that could harm our business.
We are and may become subject to various legal proceedings and claims that arise in or outside the ordinary course of business. The results of complex legal proceedings are difficult to predict. Moreover, many of the complaints filed against us do not specify the amount of damages that plaintiffs seek, and we therefore are unable to estimate the possible range of damages that might be incurred should these lawsuits be resolved against us. However, certain of these lawsuits assert types of claims that, if resolved against us, could give rise to substantial damages. Thus, an unfavorable outcome or settlement of one or more of these lawsuits could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity, and results of operations. Even if these lawsuits are not resolved against us, the uncertainty and expense associated with unresolved lawsuits could seriously harm our business, financial condition, and reputation. Litigation is costly, time-consuming and disruptive to normal business operations. The costs of defending these lawsuits, particularly the securities class actions and stockholder derivative actions, have been significant, will continue to be costly, and may not be covered by our insurance policies. The defense of these lawsuits could also result in continued diversion of our management's time and attention away from business operations, which could harm our business. For additional discussion regarding litigation in which we are involved, see Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements.
The costs of compliance with state, federal and international legal and regulatory requirements, such as environmental, labor, trade and tax regulations, and customers' standards of corporate citizenship could cause an increase in our operating costs.
We are subject to environmental and health and safety laws and regulations and must obtain certain permits and licenses relating to the use of hazardous materials. Our production activities involve the use of certain hazardous raw materials, including, but not limited to, ammonia, gallium, phosphine, and arsine. If our control systems are unsuccessful in preventing a release of these materials into the environment or other adverse environmental conditions or human exposure occurs, we could experience interruptions in our operations and incur substantial remediation and other costs or liabilities. In addition, certain foreign laws and regulations place restrictions on the concentration of certain hazardous materials, including, but not limited to, lead, mercury, and cadmium, in our products. Failure to comply with such laws and regulations could subject us to future liabilities or result in the limitation or suspension of the sale or production of our products. These regulations include the European Union's (EU) Restrictions on Hazardous Substances and Directive on Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment. Failure to comply with environmental and health and safety laws and regulations may limit our ability to export products to the EU and could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. In addition, the Department of Homeland Security has commenced a program to evaluate the security of certain chemicals which may be of interest to terrorists, including chemicals utilized by us. This evaluation may lead to regulations or restrictions affecting our ability to utilize these chemicals or the costs of doing so.
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In connection with our compliance with such environmental laws and regulations, as well as our compliance with industry environmental initiatives, the standards of business conduct required by some of our customers, and our commitment to sound corporate citizenship in all aspects of our business, we could incur substantial compliance and operating costs and be subject to disruptions to our operations. In addition, in the last few years, there has been increased media scrutiny and associated reports focusing on a potential link between working in semiconductor manufacturing clean room environments and certain illnesses, primarily different types of cancers. Regulatory agencies and industry associations have begun to study the issue to see if any actual correlation exists. Because we utilize clean rooms, we may become subject to liability claims. These reports may also affect our ability to recruit and retain employees. If we were found to be in violation of environmental and safety regulations laws or noncompliance with industry initiatives or standards of conduct, we could be subject to government fines or liabilities owed to our customers, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows.
In addition, climate change is a significant topic of discussion and potential regulatory activity and has generated and may continue to generate federal or other regulatory responses in the near future. If we or our component suppliers fail to timely comply with applicable legislation, our customers may refuse to purchase our products or we may face increased operating costs as a result of taxes, fines or penalties, which would have a materially adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
In connection with our compliance with such environmental laws and regulations, as well as our compliance with industry environmental initiatives, the standards of business conduct required by some of our customers, and our commitment to sound corporate citizenship in all aspects of our business, we could incur substantial compliance and operating costs and be subject to disruptions to our operations and logistics. In addition, if we were found to be in violation of these laws or noncompliant with these initiatives or standards of conduct, we could be subject to governmental fines, liability to our customers and damage to our reputation and corporate brand which could cause our financial condition or operating results to suffer.
We are subject to anti-corruption laws in the jurisdictions in which we operate, including the FCPA. Our failure to comply with these laws could result in penalties which could harm our reputation and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are subject to the FCPA, which generally prohibits companies and their intermediaries from making improper payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or keeping business and/or other benefits, along with various other anticorruption laws. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure that we, our employees and other intermediaries comply with the FCPA and other anticorruption laws to which we are subject, there is no assurance that such policies or procedures will work effectively all of the time or protect us against liability under the FCPA or other laws for actions taken by our employees and other intermediaries with respect to our business or any businesses that we may acquire.
We have manufacturing operations in China and other jurisdictions, many of which pose elevated risks of anti-corruption violations, and we export our products for sale internationally. This puts us in frequent contact with persons who may be considered “foreign officials” under the FCPA, resulting in an elevated risk of potential FCPA violations. If we are not in compliance with the FCPA and other laws governing the conduct of business with government entities (including local laws), we may be subject to criminal and civil penalties and other remedial measures, which could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and liquidity. Any investigation of any potential violations of the FCPA or other anticorruption laws by U.S. or foreign authorities could harm our reputation and have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
A failure to attract and retain managerial, technical, and other key personnel could reduce our revenue and our operational effectiveness.
Our future success depends, in part, on our ability to attract and retain certain key personnel, including scientific, operational, financial, and managerial personnel. In addition, our technical personnel represent a significant asset and serve as the source of our technological and product innovations. The competition for attracting and retaining key employees (especially scientists, technical personnel, and senior managers and executives) is intense. Because of this competition for skilled employees, we may be unable to retain our existing personnel or attract additional qualified employees in the future to keep up with our business demands and changes, and our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially adversely affected. The risks involved in recruiting and retaining these key personnel may be increased by our historical lack of profitability, the volatility of our stock price, and the perceived effect of previously implemented reductions in force and other cost reduction efforts.
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We are subject to risks associated with the availability and coverage of insurance.
For certain risks, we do not maintain insurance coverage because of cost or availability. Because we retain some portion of our insurable risks, and in some cases self-insure completely, unforeseen or catastrophic losses in excess of insured limits may have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations, and cash flows.
Our business and operations could be adversely impacted in the event of a failure or security breach of our information technology infrastructure.
We rely upon the capacity, reliability, and security of our information technology hardware and software infrastructure and our ability to expand and update this infrastructure in response to our changing needs. We are constantly updating our information technology infrastructure. Although we have a disaster recovery plan, any failure to manage, expand, and update our information technology infrastructure or any failure in the operation of this infrastructure could harm our business.
Despite our implementation of security measures, our systems are vulnerable to damages from computer viruses, natural disasters, unauthorized access, and other similar disruptions. Our business is also subject to break-ins, sabotage, and intentional acts of vandalism by third parties as well as employees. Any system failure, accident, or security breach could result in disruptions to our operations. To the extent that any disruption or security breach results in a loss or damage to our data, or inappropriate disclosure of confidential information, it could harm our business. In addition, we may be required to incur significant costs to protect against damage caused by these disruptions or security breaches in the future.
Certain provisions of New Jersey law, our charter and our agreements may make a takeover of our Company difficult even if such takeover could be beneficial to some of our shareholders.
New Jersey law and our certificate of incorporation, as amended, contain certain provisions that could delay or prevent a takeover attempt that our shareholders may consider to be in their best interests. Our Board of Directors is divided into three classes. Directors are elected to serve staggered three-year terms and are not subject to removal except for cause by the vote of the holders of at least 80% of our capital stock. In addition, approval by the holders of 80% of our voting stock is required for certain business combinations unless these transactions meet certain fair price criteria and procedural requirements or are approved by two-thirds of our continuing directors. We may in the future adopt other measures that may have the effect of delaying or discouraging an unsolicited takeover, even if the takeover were at a premium price or favored by a majority of unaffiliated shareholders. Certain of these measures may be adopted without any further vote or action by our shareholders and this could depress the price of our common stock.
On September 17, 2014, our Board of Directors adopted the Rights Plan to help preserve the value of our Tax Benefits by reducing the risk of limitation of our Tax Benefits. The Rights Plan is intended to reduce the likelihood that we will experience an ownership change by discouraging any person or group from becoming a “5% shareholder” or increasing their ownership of our common stock if they are already a “5% shareholder.” The Rights Plan could make it more difficult for a third party to acquire, or could discourage a third party from acquiring, the Company or a large block of our common stock. A third party that acquires 5% or more of our common stock could suffer substantial dilution of its ownership interest under the terms of the Rights Plan through the issuance of common stock or common stock equivalents to all stockholders other than such acquiring person.
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Natural disasters or other catastrophic events could have a material adverse effect on our business.
Natural disasters, such as hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, and floods, could materially adversely affect our operations and financial performance. Such events could result in physical damage to one or more of our facilities, the temporary closure of one or more of our facilities or those of our suppliers, a temporary lack of an adequate work force in a market, a temporary or long-term disruption in the supply of products from some local and overseas suppliers, a temporary disruption in the transport of goods from overseas, and delays in the delivery of goods. Public health issues, whether occurring in the United States or abroad, could disrupt our operations, disrupt the operations of suppliers or customers, or have an adverse impact on customer demand. As a result of any of these events, we may be required to suspend operations in some or all of our locations, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows. These events could also reduce demand for our products or make it difficult or impossible to receive products from suppliers. Although we maintain business interruption insurance and other insurance intended to cover some or all of these risks, such insurance may be inadequate, whether because of coverage amount, policy limitations, the financial viability of the insurance companies issuing such policies, or other reasons.
We may not be able to obtain capital when desired on favorable terms, if at all, or without dilution to our stockholders.
We believe that our existing cash and cash equivalents, and cash flows from our operating activities and funds available under our credit facilities, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated cash needs for at least the next 12 months. We operate in an industry, however, that makes our prospects difficult to evaluate. It is possible that we may not generate sufficient cash flow from operations or otherwise have the capital resources to meet our future capital needs. If this occurs, we may need additional financing to continue operations or execute on our current or future business strategies, including to:
• | invest in our research and development efforts, including by hiring additional technical and other personnel; |
• | maintain and expand our operating or manufacturing infrastructure; |
• | acquire complementary businesses, products, services or technologies; or |
• | otherwise pursue our strategic plans and respond to competitive pressures. |
If we raise additional funds through the issuance of equity or convertible debt securities, the percentage ownership of our stockholders could be significantly diluted, and these newly-issued securities may have rights, preferences or privileges senior to those of existing stockholders. We cannot assure you that additional financing will be available on terms favorable to us, or at all. If adequate funds are not available or are not available on acceptable terms, if and when needed, our ability to fund our operations, take advantage of unanticipated opportunities, develop or enhance our products, or otherwise respond to competitive pressures could be significantly limited. Furthermore, in the event adequate capital is not available to us as required, or is not available on favorable terms, our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows may be materially and adversely affected.
We may be subject to theft, loss, or misuse of personal data about our employees, customers, or other third parties, which could increase our expenses, damage our reputation, or result in legal or regulatory proceedings.
The theft, loss, or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored, or transferred by us to run our business could result in significantly increased security costs or costs related to defending legal claims. Global privacy legislation, enforcement, and policy activity in this area are rapidly expanding and creating a complex compliance regulatory environment. Costs to comply with and implement these privacy-related and data protection measures could be significant. In addition, our even inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state, or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others.
***
The risks above are not the only risks we face. If any of the events described in our risk factors actually occur, or if additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem immaterial, materialize, then our business, financial condition, results of operations, and cash flows could be materially affected.
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ITEM 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
Not Applicable.
ITEM 2. Properties
The following chart contains certain information regarding each of our principal facilities.
Location | Function | Approximate Square Footage | Term (in calendar year) |
Alhambra, California | Corporate Headquarters Manufacturing and research and development facilities | 75,000 | Leases covering two of six buildings expired in 2011; another lease covering four of six buildings expires in 2017 (1) and (2) |
Langfang, China | Manufacturing facility | 52,000 | Multiple leases, which expire in 2017 (1) |
Beijing, China | Manufacturing facility | 23,200 | Lease expires in 2021 (1) |
Ivyland, Pennsylvania | Manufacturing and research and development facility | 9,000 | Lease expires in 2019 (1) |
Footnotes
(1) | Leases have the option to be renewed by us, subject to inflation and other adjustments. |
(2) | Certain facility leases in Alhambra, California which have expired are being maintained on a month-to-month basis. |
ITEM 3. Legal Proceedings
See the disclosures under the caption “Legal Proceedings” in Note 12- Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to our legal proceedings, which disclosures are incorporated herein by reference.
ITEM 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not Applicable.
PART II. Other Information
ITEM 5. Market for Registrant's Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity
Securities
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Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market and is quoted under the symbol "EMKR". As of November 30, 2016, we had approximately 95 shareholders of record. Many of our shares of common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of shareholders, and we are unable to estimate the number of these shareholders.
Price Range of Common Stock
The price ranges presented below represent the highest and lowest sales prices for our common stock on the NASDAQ Global Market during each quarter over the two most recent fiscal years.
High and Low Sales Price Ranges of EMCORE Corporation's Common Stock | First Quarter | Second Quarter | Third Quarter | Fourth Quarter | ||||
Fiscal 2016 | $5.81 - $8.52 | $4.96 - $6.15 | $4.95 - $6.25 | $4.90 - $6.71* | ||||
Fiscal 2015 | $5.00 - $5.80 | $5.10 - $5.60 | $5.37 - $6.59 | $5.71 - $7.49 | ||||
* As described below, on July 29, 2016 we paid a special cash dividend of $1.50 per share of the Company’s common stock. The sales prices for our common stock reflect the payment of this special dividend as of August 1, 2016, the ex-dividend date for the special dividend.
Dividend Policy
On July 5, 2016, we declared a special cash dividend of $1.50 per share of the Company's common stock, or a total of $39.2 million. The dividend was paid on July 29, 2016 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 18, 2016. Under the terms of our credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank, N. A., we are restricted from paying dividends that result in the liquidity of the Company being less than $25.0 million after paying the dividend if any amounts are outstanding under our credit facility. The payment of dividends, if any, in the future is at the discretion of the Board of Directors.
Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities and Use of Proceeds
Not Applicable.
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Performance Graph
The following table and graph compares the yearly percentage change in the cumulative total shareholders' return on our common stock for the five-year period from October 1, 2011 through September 30, 2016 with the cumulative total return on the NASDAQ Composite Index and the NASDAQ Telecommunications Stock Index. The comparison assumes $100 was invested at the market close on September 30, 2011 in our common stock, the NASDAQ Composite Index and the NASDAQ Telecommunications Stock Index and that any dividends were reinvested. The stock price performance on the following graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.
The following stock performance graph does not constitute soliciting material, and should not be deemed filed or incorporated by reference into any of our filings under the Securities Act of 1933 or the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, except to the extent we specifically incorporate this stock performance graph by reference therein.
Data Table | As of September 30, | |||||||||||
2011 | 2012 | 2013 | 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | |||||||
EMCORE Corporation | $100.00 | $142.68 | $113.13 | $143.69 | $171.72 | $186.27 | ||||||
NASDAQ Composite | $100.00 | $131.89 | $163.47 | $195.96 | $202.60 | $234.66 | ||||||
NASDAQ Telecommunications | $100.00 | $116.82 | $149.75 | $161.24 | $157.52 | $176.13 | ||||||
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ITEM 6. Selected Financial Data
In the tables below, we have provided you with consolidated financial data. We derived the statement of operations data for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016, 2015, and 2014 and the balance sheet data as of September 30, 2016 and 2015 from our audited consolidated financial statements included in Financial Statements and Supplementary Data under Item 8 within this Annual Report, after giving effect to the discontinued operations of the Photovoltaics and Digital Products Businesses.
We derived the statement of operations data for the years ended September 30, 2013 and 2012 and the selected balance sheet data as of September 30, 2014, 2013, and 2012 from audited consolidated financial statements that are not included in this Annual Report after giving effect to the discontinued operations of the Photovoltaics and Digital Products Businesses. You should read this financial data together with our Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations under Item 7 and Financial Statements and Supplementary Data under Item 8 within this Annual Report. Our historic results are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected in the future.
Selected Financial Data
Statements of Operations Data (in thousands, except loss per share) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||||
Revenue | $ | 91,998 | $ | 81,685 | $ | 55,514 | $ | 60,971 | $ | 61,592 | |||||||||||
Gross profit | 30,954 | 28,691 | 12,114 | 12,266 | 7,924 | ||||||||||||||||
Operating income (loss) | 2,939 | (4,522 | ) | (20,331 | ) | (8,945 | ) | (20,437 | ) | ||||||||||||
Income (loss) from continuing operations | 2,619 | (2,272 | ) | 4,082 | (5,554 | ) | (21,202 | ) | |||||||||||||
Income (loss) from discontinued operations | 5,647 | 65,372 | 770 | 10,542 | (17,969 | ) | |||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) | 8,266 | 63,100 | 4,852 | 4,988 | (39,171 | ) | |||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) per basic share | |||||||||||||||||||||
Continuing operations | $ | 0.10 | $ | (0.08 | ) | $ | 0.13 | $ | (0.21 | ) | $ | (0.90 | ) | ||||||||
Discontinued operations | 0.22 | 2.18 | 0.03 | 0.40 | (0.76 | ) | |||||||||||||||
Net income (loss) per basic share | $ | 0.32 | $ | 2.10 | $ | 0.16 | $ | 0.19 | $ | (1.66 | ) | ||||||||||
Net income (loss) per diluted share | |||||||||||||||||||||
Continuing operations | $ | 0.10 | $ | (0.08 | ) | $ | 0.13 | $ | (0.21 | ) | $ | (0.90 | ) | ||||||||
Discontinued operations | $ | 0.21 | $ | 2.18 | $ | 0.03 | $ | 0.40 | $ | (0.76 | ) | ||||||||||
Net income (loss) per diluted share | $ | 0.31 | $ | 2.10 | $ | 0.16 | $ | 0.19 | $ | (1.66 | ) | ||||||||||
Balance Sheet Data (in thousands) | As of September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | 2013 | 2012 | |||||||||||||||||
Cash, cash equivalents and restricted cash | $ | 64,870 | $ | 112,260 | $ | 22,169 | $ | 16,919 | $ | 9,129 | |||||||||||
Working capital | 92,957 | 127,994 | 30,914 | 37,196 | 3,971 | ||||||||||||||||
Total assets | 127,211 | 160,907 | 191,342 | 173,714 | 169,866 | ||||||||||||||||
Long-term liabilities | 1,635 | 1,774 | 6,018 | 9,434 | 9,408 | ||||||||||||||||
Shareholders' equity | 107,317 | 135,442 | 112,347 | 101,179 | 69,023 | ||||||||||||||||
Working capital, calculated as current assets minus current liabilities, is a financial metric we use that represents available operating liquidity.
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Significant Transactions
Significant transactions that affect the comparability of our operating results and financial condition include:
Fiscal 2016
Continuing Operations:
• | On July 5, 2016, the Company declared a special cash dividend of $1.50 per share of the Company's common stock, or a total of $39.2 million. The dividend was paid on July 29, 2016 to shareholders of record as of the close of business on July 18, 2016. See Note 13 - Equity for additional information. |
• | On September 23, 2014, Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. ("SEI") filed for arbitration against EMCORE, in accordance with the terms of the Master Purchase Agreement between the parties. SEI was seeking $47.5 million from EMCORE, relating to numerous claims. On April 12, 2016, the International Court of Arbitration tribunal rejected SEI's claims. The panel ruled that EMCORE owes SEI none of the amounts SEI sought in the arbitration and that the Company was entitled to collect the $1.9 million held in escrow, which was received in June 2016 and is included in cash at September 30, 2016. The Company was also entitled to recover $2.6 million in legal fees and costs from SEI, which was received in June 2016 and has been recorded by EMCORE within operating income. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies for additional information. |
• | In September 2016, the Company paid $2.9 million previously accrued related to a termination fee for terminating a prior joint venture agreement. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies for additional information. |
• | During fiscal year 2016, the company paid $6.1 million for the purchase of long-term inventory as a result of the vendor announcing they would cease manufacturing a part. |
Discontinued Operations:
• | As a result of the SEI Arbitration tribunal ruling above, during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, we recognized a gain associated with the release of $3.4 million of previously deferred gain associated with the sale of assets and reversal of other liabilities of $0.4 million, resulting in a credit of $3.8 million to recognition of previously deferred gain on sale of assets within discontinued operations of the Digital Products Business. See Note 4 - Discontinued Operations and Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies for additional information. |
Fiscal 2015
Continuing Operations:
• | Common Stock Repurchase: In April 2015, EMCORE's Board of Directors authorized the Company to repurchase $45.0 million of shares of its common stock. On May 15, 2015, we announced the commencement of a modified "Dutch auction" tender offer to purchase for cash shares of our common stock (the "Tender Offer"). On June 15, 2015, we completed the Tender Offer and purchased 6.9 million shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $6.55 per share, for an aggregate cost of $45.0 million excluding fees and expenses. Repurchased common stock was recorded to treasury stock. The Company incurred costs of $0.7 million in connection with the Tender Offer, which were recorded to treasury stock. |
• | Asset Retirement Obligations (“AROs” or “ARO”): As a result of the revision in the estimated amount and timing of cash flows for asset retirement obligations during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, the Company reduced ARO liability by $2.9 million with an offsetting reduction to property, plant, and equipment, net of $2.1 million, and recorded a gain from change in estimate on ARO obligation of $0.8 million. The Company first reduced the net leasehold improvement asset to the extent of the carrying amount of the related asset initially recorded when the ARO was established. The amount of the remaining reduction to the ARO liability was recorded as a reduction to operating expenses. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information. |
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Discontinued Operations:
• | Photovoltaic and Digital Products Asset Sales: On December 10, 2014, we sold our Photovoltaics Business to SolAero for $150.0 million in cash. On January 2, 2015, we sold our Digital Products Business to NeoPhotonics for $17.0 million in cash and notes receivable that were paid in April 2015. These Asset Sales are reported as discontinued operations, which require retrospective restatement of prior periods to classify the results of operations for the businesses sold as discontinued operations. No assets or liabilities that were sold from either the Photovoltaic Business or Digital Products Business remain on the consolidated balance sheet as of September 30, 2016 and 2015. See Note 4 - Discontinued Operations in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information. |
Fiscal 2014
Continuing Operations:
• | We recorded a net deferred tax valuation allowance release of $24.1 million as an income tax benefit during fiscal year 2014. All of the $24.1 million in deferred tax assets were used in fiscal year 2015 when income tax expense was recorded as a result of the sale of the Photovoltaics Business, thus no cash was received for the deferred tax assets. |
Fiscal 2013
Continuing Operations:
• | Stock Sales: During August 2012, we filed a shelf registration statement on Form S-3 with the SEC pursuant to which we could, from time to time, sell up to an aggregate of $50.0 million of our common or preferred stock, warrants or debt securities. On August 23, 2012, the registration statement was declared effective by the SEC, which allowed us to access the capital markets for the three year period following this effective date as long as we continued to meet the eligibility requirements for the use of Form S-3. On October 3, 2012 we sold 1,832,410 shares of common stock for net proceeds of $9.5 million. In addition, on September 18, 2013, we sold 2,875,000 shares of common stock for net proceeds of $11.7 million. |
• | Impact from Thailand Flood: During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013, we recorded flood-related insurance proceeds of $7.8 million in the form of forgiveness of $0.2 million of outstanding capital lease obligations, $1.0 million of outstanding payables and $6.6 million in the form of a receivable, which was paid in cash. No additional flood-related insurance proceeds associated with this event are anticipated. |
Discontinued Operations:
• | Impact from Thailand Flood: During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2013, we recorded flood-related insurance proceeds of $11.2 million in the form of forgiveness of $5.4 million of outstanding capital lease obligations, $4.2 million of outstanding payables and $1.6 million in the form of a receivable, which was paid in cash. In addition, we capitalized $1.2 million of new manufacturing lines and recorded a corresponding amount to capital lease obligation. |
• | Joint Venture: In March 2013, we sold certain solar assets and our ownership interest in Emcore Solar New Mexico to Suncore Photovoltaic Technology Co., Ltd. ("Suncore") for $1.5 million. In June 2013, we entered into an agreement to transfer our 40% registered ownership interest in Suncore to San'an Optoelectronics Co., Ltd. ("San'an") for a purchase price of $4.8 million. The carrying value of our registered ownership interest in Suncore was $0 as of June 30, 2013. Upon completion of the share transfer, the Company recognized $3.3 million of deferred revenue from Suncore as well as the resulting gain of $4.8 million on our registered ownership interest which was recorded within discontinued operations. |
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Fiscal 2012
Continuing Operations:
• | Impact from Thailand Flood: In October 2011, we announced that flood waters had severely impacted the inventory and production operations of our primary contract manufacturer in Thailand. The impacted areas included certain product lines for the Digital Products Business and CATV business. |
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012, we recorded flood-related losses associated with damaged inventory and equipment of approximately $3.2 million. We capitalized the cost of our new manufacturing lines of approximately $0.2 million and recorded an equipment capital lease obligation of $0.2 million, net of equipment deposits. In addition, we recorded $1.0 million to cost of revenue for losses related to damaged inventory on order related to manufacturing product lines that were destroyed and received insurance related proceeds payment of $4.2 million.
Discontinued Operations:
• | Impact from Thailand Flood: During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012, we recorded flood-related losses associated with damaged inventory and equipment of approximately $2.3 million. We capitalized the cost of our new manufacturing lines of approximately $5.0 million and recorded an equipment capital lease obligation of $4.2 million, net of equipment deposits. In addition, we recorded $0.6 million to cost of revenue for losses related to damaged inventory on order related to manufacturing product lines that were destroyed and received insurance related proceeds payment of $4.8 million. |
• | Sale of Fiber Optics-related Assets: On May 7, 2012, we completed the sale of certain assets associated with our Fiber Optics business to a subsidiary of Sumitomo Electric Industries, LTD and recorded a gain of approximately $2.8 million. We initially deferred approximately $4.9 million of the gain on sale until the indemnification obligation and purchase price adjustment contingencies were resolved. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures related to the recognition of the deferred gain on sale. |
• | Impairment Charge: As of June 30, 2012, we performed an evaluation of an asset group within our Photovoltaics Business for impairment of long-lived assets. The impairment test was triggered by a determination that it was more likely than not those assets would be sold or otherwise disposed of before the end of their previously estimated useful lives. As a result of the evaluation, we determined that impairment existed and a charge of $1.4 million was recorded to write down the long-lived assets to an estimated fair value within discontinued operations. Of the total impairment charge, $1.1 million related to equipment and $0.3 million related to intangible assets. |
• | Joint Venture: During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2012, Suncore increased its registered capital by recording a deemed capital distribution of $37.0 million which was distributed and reinvested in proportion to each entity's registered capital, of which San'an was allocated $22.2 million and EMCORE was allocated $14.8 million. During this same period, Suncore also recorded a cash dividend of approximately $4.1 million in proportion to each entity's registered capital of which San'an received $2.5 million and EMCORE received $1.6 million. We recorded the cash dividend as a reduction of our investment in Suncore. We incurred foreign income tax of approximately $1.6 million associated with these capital distributions. EMCORE's cash dividend was equal to the foreign income tax expense incurred on these capital distributions. During fiscal 2012, we held a 40% registered ownership in Suncore and we recorded a $1.2 million loss from this equity method investment within discontinued operations. As of September 30, 2012, our investment balance in Suncore was zero and we stopped recording our proportionate share of Suncore's loss since we had no obligation or intent to fund the deficit balance. |
• | Litigation Settlement: In May 2012, we reached a confidential settlement regarding certain outstanding litigation in exchange for a release of related claims. The settlement resulted in a charge of $1.0 million in our statement of operations and comprehensive loss. |
ITEM 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
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You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with the financial statements and the notes thereto included in Financial Statements under Item 1 within this Quarterly Report. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. See Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Statements.
Business Overview
EMCORE Corporation together with its subsidiaries (referred to herein as the “Company,” “we,” “our,” or “EMCORE”) designs and manufactures Indium Phosphide (InP) optical chips, components, subsystems and systems for the broadband and specialty fiber optics market. EMCORE was the pioneer in linear fiber optic transmission technology, and today is a leading provider of optical components, as well as a provider of complete end-to-end solutions for high-speed communications network infrastructures, enabling systems and service providers to meet growing demand for bandwidth and connectivity. EMCORE’s advanced optical technologies are designed for cable television (CATV) and fiber-to-the-premise (FTTP) networks, telecommunications and data centers, satellite communications, aerospace and defense, wireless networks, and broadcast and professional audio/video systems. With its world-class InP semiconductor wafer fabrication facility, EMCORE has fully vertically-integrated manufacturing capability and also provides contract design, foundry and component packaging services.
Sumitomo Electric Industries Ltd. ("SEI")
In March 2012, we entered into a Master Purchase Agreement with SEI, pursuant to which we agreed to sell certain assets and transfer certain obligations. Under the terms of the Master Purchase Agreement, we agreed to indemnify SEI for up to $3.4 million of potential claims and expenses for the two-year period following the sale and we recorded this amount as a deferred gain on our balance sheet as a result of these contingencies.
On September 23, 2014, SEI filed for arbitration against EMCORE, as required under the Master Purchase Agreement between the parties. SEI was seeking $47.5 million from EMCORE, relating to numerous claims. On April 12, 2016, the International Court of Arbitration tribunal rejected SEI's claims. The panel ruled that EMCORE owes SEI none of the amounts SEI sought in the arbitration and that the Company is entitled to collect the $1.9 million held in escrow, which was received in June 2016 and is included in cash at June 30, 2016. The Company was also entitled to recover $2.6 million in fees and costs from SEI, which was received in June 2016. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, we recognized a gain associated with the release of $3.4 million of previously deferred gain associated with the sale of assets and reversal of other liabilities of $0.4 million, resulting in a credit of $3.8 million to recognition of previously deferred gain on sale of assets within discontinued operations of the Digital Products Business. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, we recognized the $2.6 million recovery of fees and costs incurred by EMCORE within operating income as such represented the recovery of previously incurred legal expenses. See Note 4 - Discontinued Operations in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for more information.
Sale of Photovoltaics and Digital Products Businesses
On September 17, 2014, EMCORE entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the “Photovoltaics Agreement”) with SolAero Technologies Corporation ("SolAero") (formerly known as Photon Acquisition Corporation) pursuant to which SolAero acquired substantially all of the assets, and assumed substantially all of the liabilities, primarily related to or used in connection with the Company's photovoltaics business, including EMCORE's subsidiaries EMCORE Solar Power, Inc. and EMCORE IRB Company, LLC (collectively, the "Photovoltaics Business" and, the sale of the Photovoltaics Business, the "Photovoltaics Asset Sale") for $150.0 million in cash, prior to a $0.1 million working capital adjustment pursuant to the Photovoltaics Agreement finalized and paid by EMCORE during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014. On December 10, 2014, EMCORE completed the Photovoltaics Asset Sale.
On October 22, 2014, EMCORE entered into an Asset Purchase Agreement (the "Digital Products Agreement") with NeoPhotonics Corporation, a Delaware corporation ("NeoPhotonics"), pursuant to which the Company sold certain assets, and transferred certain liabilities, of the Company's telecommunications business (the "Digital Products Business") to NeoPhotonics for an aggregate purchase price of $17.5 million, subject to certain adjustments.
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On January 2, 2015, EMCORE completed the sale of the Digital Products Business for $1.5 million in cash and an adjusted Promissory Note balance of $15.5 million. On April 17, 2015, NeoPhotonics paid in full the outstanding balance of the Promissory Note of $15.5 million, plus accrued interest of $0.2 million.
The Photovoltaics Asset Sale and Digital Products Asset Sale are reported as discontinued operations. See Note 4 - Discontinued Operations in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures.
Strategic Plan
In addition to organic growth and development of our existing fiber optics business, we intend to pursue other strategies to enhance shareholder value. The Strategy and Alternatives Committee of the Company's Board of Directors (the "Strategy Committee"), which was established in December 2013, is charged with overseeing the Company’s strategic plan and evaluating strategic opportunities and alternatives available to the Company, including potential mergers, acquisitions, divestitures and other key strategic transactions outside the ordinary course of the Company’s business. Accordingly, the Strategy Committee may from time to time consider strategic opportunities to enhance shareholder value, which may include acquisitions, investments in joint ventures, partnerships, and other strategic alternatives such as dispositions, reorganizations, recapitalizations or other similar transactions, the repurchase of shares of our outstanding common stock or payment of dividends to our shareholders, and may engage financial and other advisors to assist it in these efforts. Accordingly, the Strategy Committee of the Board of Directors and our management may from time to time be engaged in evaluating potential strategic opportunities and we may enter into definitive agreements with respect to such transactions or other strategic alternatives. However, there is no assurance that the Strategy Committee will identify further strategic opportunities that the Company will determine to pursue, or that the consideration of any such opportunity would result in the completion of a strategic transaction.
Critical Accounting Policies
The preparation of consolidated financial statements in conformity with U.S. GAAP requires us to make estimates and assumptions that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities and disclosure of contingent assets and liabilities, as of the date of the financial statements, and the reported amounts of revenue and expenses during the reported period. The accounting estimates that require our most significant, difficult, and/or subjective judgments include:
• | the valuation of inventory, warrants and stock-based compensation; |
• | the useful lives of assets and assessment of recovery of long-lived assets; |
• | asset retirement obligations and contingencies including litigation and indemnification; |
• | the allowance for doubtful accounts and warranty accruals; and, |
• | the valuation allowance for deferred tax assets. |
We develop estimates based on historical experience and on various assumptions about the future that are believed to be reasonable based on the best information available to us. Our reported financial position or results of operations may be materially different under changed conditions or when using different estimates and assumptions, particularly with respect to significant accounting policies. In the event that estimates or assumptions prove to differ from actual results, adjustments are made in subsequent periods to reflect more current information. A listing and description of our critical accounting policies includes the following:
Prior Period Reclassifications
On December 10, 2014, we sold our Photovoltaics business to SolAero. On January 2, 2015, we sold our Digital Products Business to NeoPhotonics. The Photovoltaics Asset Sale and Digital Asset Sale are reported as discontinued operations, which require retrospective restatement of prior periods to classify the results of operations as discontinued operations. No Photovoltaics or Digital Products assets or liabilities that were sold remain on the consolidated balance sheets as of September 30, 2016 and September 30, 2015. The financial results of the Photovoltaics Business and the Digital Products Business are presented as "discontinued operations" on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016, 2015 and 2014. See Note 4 - Discontinued Operations in our notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information.
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Reclassification of prior period amounts related to discontinued operations as a result of the sale of the Photovoltaics and Digital Products Businesses have been made to conform to the current period financial statement presentation. There were no other reclassifications except for amounts related to discontinued operations.
Accounts Receivable
We regularly evaluate the collectability of our accounts receivable and maintain allowances for doubtful accounts for estimated losses resulting from the inability of our customers to meet their financial obligations to us. The allowance is based on the age of receivables and a specific identification of receivables considered at risk of collection. We classify charges associated with the allowance for doubtful accounts as sales, general, and administrative expense. If the financial condition of our customers were to deteriorate, impacting their ability to pay us, additional allowances may be required. See Note 6 - Accounts Receivable in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information related to our receivables.
Inventory
Inventory is stated at the lower of cost or market, with cost being determined using the standard cost method that includes material, labor, and manufacturing overhead costs, which approximates weighted average cost. Inventory that is expected to be used within the next 12 months is classified as current inventory. We write-down inventory once it has been determined that conditions exist that may not allow the inventory to be sold for its intended purpose or the inventory is determined to be excess or obsolete based on our forecasted future revenue. The charge related to inventory write-downs is recorded as a cost of revenue. The majority of the inventory write-downs are related to estimated allowances for inventory whose carrying value is in excess of net realizable value and on excess raw material components resulting from finished product obsolescence. In most cases where we sell previously written down inventory, it is typically sold as a component part of a finished product. The finished product is sold at market price at the time resulting in higher average gross margin on such revenue. We do not track the selling price of individual raw material components that have been previously written down or written off, since such raw material components usually are only a portion of the finished products and related sales price. We evaluate inventory levels at least quarterly against sales forecasts on a significant part-by-part basis, in addition to determining its overall inventory risk. We have incurred, and may in the future incur charges to write-down our inventory. See Note 7 - Inventory in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information related to our inventory.
Valuation of Long-lived Assets
Long-lived assets consist primarily of property, plant, and equipment, net. Because most of our long-lived assets are subject to amortization, we review these assets for impairment in accordance with the provisions of Accounting Standards Codification ("ASC") 360, Property, Plant, and Equipment. We review long-lived assets for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that its carrying amount may not be recoverable. Our impairment testing of long-lived assets consists of determining whether the carrying amount of the long-lived asset (asset group) is recoverable, in other words, whether the sum of the future undiscounted cash flows expected to result from the use and eventual disposition of the asset (asset group) exceeds its carrying amount. The determination of the existence of impairment involves judgments that are subjective in nature and may require the use of estimates in forecasting future results and cash flows related to an asset or group of assets. In making this determination, we use certain assumptions, including estimates of future cash flows expected to be generated by these assets, which are based on additional assumptions such as asset utilization, the length of service that assets will be used in our operations, and estimated salvage values. See Note 8 - Property, Plant, and Equipment, net in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures related to our long-lived assets.
Income Taxes
In accordance with the authoritative guidance on accounting for income taxes, we recognize income taxes using an asset and liability approach. This approach requires the recognition of taxes payable or refundable for the current year and deferred tax liabilities and assets for the future tax consequences of events that have been recognized in our consolidated financial statements or tax returns. The measurement of current and deferred taxes is based on provisions of the enacted tax law and the effects of future changes in tax laws or rates are not anticipated.
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The authoritative guidance provides for recognition of deferred tax assets if the realization of such deferred tax assets is more likely than not to occur based on an evaluation of all available evidence, both positive and negative, and the relative weight of the evidence. With the exception of the gains resulting from the completed Photovoltaics Asset Sale, we have determined that at this time it is more likely than not that deferred tax assets attributable to all other items will not be realized, primarily due to uncertainties related to our ability to utilize our net operating loss carryforwards before they expire. Accordingly, we have established a valuation allowance for such deferred tax assets which we do not expect to realize. If there is a change in our ability to realize our deferred tax assets for which a valuation allowance has been established, then our tax valuation allowance may decrease in the period in which we determine that realization is more likely than not. Likewise, if we determine that it is not more likely than not that deferred tax assets will be realized, then a valuation allowance may be established for such deferred tax assets and our tax provision may increase in the period in which we make the determination. See Note 11 - Income and other Taxes in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information related to our income taxes.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is recognized upon shipment, provided persuasive evidence of a contract exists, the price is fixed, the product meets our customer's specifications, title and ownership have transferred to the customer, and there is reasonable assurance of collection of the sales proceeds. The majority of our products have shipping terms that are free on board or free carrier alongside (FCA) shipping point, which means that we fulfill our delivery obligation when the goods are handed over to the freight carrier at our shipping dock. This means the customer typically bears all costs and risks of loss or damage to the goods from that point. In certain cases, we ship our products cost insurance and freight. Under this arrangement, revenue is recognized under FCA shipping point terms, but we pay (and invoice the customer) for the cost of shipping and insurance to the customer's designated location. We account for shipping and related transportation costs by recording the charges that are invoiced to customers as revenue, with the corresponding cost recorded as cost of revenue. In those instances where inventory is maintained at a consigned location, revenue is recognized only when our customer pulls product for use and after title and ownership has transferred to the customer. Any warranty cost and remaining obligations that are inconsequential or perfunctory are accrued when the corresponding revenue is recognized.
Distributors. We use a number of distributors around the world and recognize revenue upon shipment of product to these distributors. Title and risk of loss pass to the distributors upon shipment, and our distributors are contractually obligated to pay us on standard commercial terms, just like our other direct customers. We do not sell to our distributors on consignment and, except in the event of product discontinuance, do not give distributors a right of return.
Contract Manufacturers. Prior to certain customers accepting product that is manufactured at one of our contract manufacturers, these customers require that they first qualify the product and manufacturing processes at our contract manufacturer. The customers' qualification process determines whether the product manufactured at our contract manufacturer achieves their quality, performance, and reliability standards. After a customer completes the initial qualification process, we receive approval to ship qualified product to that customer. As part of the manufacturing process at our contract manufacturers, the finished product is tested prior to shipment to the customer using the same criteria that our customer uses to test product it receives. Revenue is recognized upon shipment of customer-qualified product, provided persuasive evidence of a contract exists, the price is fixed, the product meets our customer's specifications, title and ownership have transferred to the customer, and there is reasonable assurance of collection of the sales proceeds.
Product Warranty Reserves
We provide our customers with limited rights of return for non-conforming shipments and warranty claims for certain products. Pursuant to ASC 450, Contingencies, we make estimates of product warranty expense using historical experience rates as a percentage of revenue and accrue estimated warranty expense as a cost of revenue. We estimate the costs of our warranty obligations based on historical experience of known product failure rates and anticipated rates of warranty claims, use of materials to repair or replace defective products, and service delivery costs incurred in correcting product issues. In addition, from time to time, specific warranty accruals may be made if unforeseen technical problems arise. Should our actual experience relative to these factors differ from our estimates, we may be required to record additional warranty reserves. Alternatively, if we provide more reserves than needed, we may reverse a portion of such provisions in future periods. See Note 9 - Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures related to our product warranty reserves.
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Stock-Based Compensation
Stock-based compensation expense is measured at the stock option grant date, based on the fair value of the award, and is recorded to cost of revenue; sales, general, and administrative; and research and development expense based on an employee's responsibility and function over the requisite service period. We use the Black-Scholes option-pricing model and the straight-line attribution approach to determine the fair value of stock-based awards in accordance with ASC 718, Compensation. This option-pricing model requires the input of subjective assumptions, including the option's expected life, the price volatility of the underlying stock, risk-free interest rate and expected forfeitures. Expected term represents the period that stock-based awards are expected to be outstanding and is determined based on historical experience of similar awards, giving consideration to the contractual terms of the stock-based awards, vesting schedules and expectations of future employee behavior as influenced by changes to the terms of its stock-based awards. The expected stock price volatility is based on our historical stock prices. We are required to estimate forfeitures at the time of grant and revise those estimates in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates. We use historical data to estimate pre-vesting option forfeitures and record stock-based compensation expense only for those awards that are expected to vest. If we use different assumptions for estimating stock-based compensation expense in future periods or if actual forfeitures differ materially from our estimated forfeitures, the change in our non-cash stock-based compensation expense could adversely affect our results of operations. See Note 13 - Equity in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures related to our stock-based compensation.
Litigation Contingencies
We are subject to various legal proceedings, claims, and litigation, either asserted or unasserted, that arise in the ordinary course of business. While the outcome of these matters is currently not determinable, we do not expect the resolution of these matters will have a material adverse effect on our business, financial position, results of operations, or cash flows. However, the results of these matters cannot be predicted with certainty. Professional legal fees are expensed when incurred. We accrue for contingent losses when such losses are probable and reasonably estimable. In the event that estimates or assumptions prove to differ from actual results, adjustments are made in subsequent periods to reflect more current information. Should we fail to prevail in any legal matter or should several legal matters be resolved against the Company in the same reporting period, then the financial results of that particular reporting period could be materially affected. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to our consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to our legal proceedings.
Asset Retirement Obligations
Pursuant to ASC 410, Asset Retirement and Environmental Obligations, an ARO is recorded when there is a legal obligation associated with the retirement of a tangible long-lived asset and the fair value of the liability can reasonably be estimated. Upon initial recognition of an asset retirement obligation, a company increases the carrying amount of the long-lived asset by the same amount as the liability. Over time, the liabilities are accreted for the change in their present value through charges to operations costs. The initial capitalized costs are depleted over the useful lives of the related assets through charges to depreciation, depletion, and/or amortization. If the fair value of the estimated ARO changes, an adjustment is recorded to both the ARO liability and the asset retirement cost. Revisions in estimated liabilities can result from revisions of estimated inflation rates, escalating retirement costs, and changes in the estimated timing of settling asset retirement obligations.
We have known conditional asset retirement conditions, such as certain asset decommissioning and restoration of rented facilities to be performed in the future. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures related to our AROs.
***
The above listing is not intended to be a comprehensive list of all of our accounting policies. In many cases, U.S. GAAP specifically dictates the accounting treatment of a particular transaction. There are also areas in which management's judgment in selecting any available alternative would not produce a materially different result. For a complete discussion of our accounting policies, recently adopted accounting pronouncements, and other required U.S. GAAP disclosures, we refer you to the accompanying footnotes to our consolidated financial statements in this Annual Report.
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Results of Operations
The following table sets forth our consolidated statements of operations data expressed as a percentage of revenue:
For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | ||||||
Revenue | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | 100.0 | % | ||
Cost of revenue | 66.4 | 64.9 | 78.2 | |||||
Gross profit | 33.6 | 35.1 | 21.8 | |||||
Operating expense (income): | ||||||||
Selling, general, and administrative | 22.5 | 30.2 | 41.9 | |||||
Research and development | 10.8 | 11.2 | 16.8 | |||||
Recovery of previously incurred litigation related fees and expenses from arbitration award | (2.8 | ) | — | — | ||||
Gain from change in estimate on ARO obligation | — | (1.0 | ) | — | ||||
(Gain) loss on sale of assets | (0.1 | ) | 0.3 | (0.1 | ) | |||
Total operating expense | 30.4 | 40.7 | 58.6 | |||||
Operating income (loss) | 3.2 | (5.6 | ) | (36.8 | ) | |||
Other income (expense): | ||||||||
Interest income, net | 0.1 | 0.1 | (0.9 | ) | ||||
Foreign exchange (loss) gain | (0.4 | ) | (0.1 | ) | — | |||
Gain on sale of investment | — | — | 0.6 | |||||
Change in fair value of financial instruments | — | 0.1 | 0.1 | |||||
Other income | — | — | 0.1 | |||||
Total other (expense) income | (0.3 | ) | 0.1 | (0.1 | ) | |||
Income (loss) from continuing operations before income tax (expense) benefit | 2.9 | (5.5 | ) | (36.9 | ) | |||
Income tax (expense) benefit | — | 2.7 | 44.2 | |||||
Income (loss) from continuing operations | 2.9 | (2.8 | ) | 7.3 | ||||
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax | 6.1 | 80.0 | 1.4 | |||||
Net income | 9.0 | % | 77.2 | % | 8.7 | % | ||
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Comparison of Financial Results for the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2016 and 2015
(in thousands, except percentages) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||
Revenue | $ | 91,998 | $ | 81,685 | $ | 10,313 | 12.6% | ||||||
Cost of revenue | 61,044 | 52,994 | 8,050 | 15.2% | |||||||||
Gross profit | 30,954 | 28,691 | 2,263 | 7.9% | |||||||||
Operating expense (income): | |||||||||||||
Selling, general, and administrative | 20,734 | 24,711 | (3,977 | ) | (16.1)% | ||||||||
Research and development | 9,921 | 9,119 | 802 | 8.8% | |||||||||
Recovery of previously incurred litigation related fees and expenses from arbitration award | (2,599 | ) | — | (2,599 | ) | N/A | |||||||
Gain from change in estimate on ARO obligation | — | (845 | ) | 845 | 100.0% | ||||||||
(Gain) loss on sale of assets | (41 | ) | 228 | (269 | ) | (118.0)% | |||||||
Total operating expense | 28,015 | 33,213 | (5,198 | ) | (15.7)% | ||||||||
Operating income (loss) | 2,939 | (4,522 | ) | 7,461 | 165.0% | ||||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||
Interest income, net | 88 | 75 | 13 | 17.3% | |||||||||
Foreign exchange loss | (394 | ) | (138 | ) | (256 | ) | (185.5)% | ||||||
Change in fair value of financial instruments | — | 122 | (122 | ) | (100.0)% | ||||||||
Total other (expense) income | (306 | ) | 59 | (365 | ) | (618.6)% | |||||||
Income (loss) from continuing operations before income tax (expense) benefit | 2,633 | (4,463 | ) | 7,096 | 159.0% | ||||||||
Income tax (expense) benefit | (14 | ) | 2,191 | (2,205 | ) | (100.6)% | |||||||
Income (loss) from continuing operations | 2,619 | (2,272 | ) | 4,891 | 215.3% | ||||||||
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax | 5,647 | 65,372 | (59,725 | ) | (91.4)% | ||||||||
Net income | $ | 8,266 | $ | 63,100 | $ | (54,834 | ) | (86.9)% | |||||
Revenue
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, revenue increased 12.6% compared to the prior year driven by significantly higher sales of our CATV products primarily to U.S. customers.
Gross Profit
Our cost of revenue consists of raw materials, compensation expense including non-cash stock-based compensation expense, depreciation expense and other manufacturing overhead costs, expenses associated with excess and obsolete inventories, and product warranty costs. Historically, our cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue, which we refer to as our gross margin, has fluctuated significantly due to product mix, manufacturing yields and sales volumes, and inventory and specific product warranty charges.
Consolidated gross margins were 33.6% and 35.1% for the years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Stock-based compensation expense within cost of revenue totaled approximately $0.3 million during the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015.
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, gross margins decreased when compared to the prior year. The decrease in gross margins for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 was primarily due to lower absorption of manufacturing overhead costs.
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Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A)
SG&A consists primarily of compensation expense including non-cash stock-based compensation expense related to executive, finance, and human resources personnel, as well as sales and marketing expenses, professional fees, legal and patent-related costs, and other corporate-related expenses.
Stock-based compensation expense within SG&A totaled approximately $1.4 million and $2.8 million during the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
SG&A expense for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 was lower than the amount reported in the prior year primarily due to higher stock-based compensation, severance and compensation expense associated with the sale of the Photovoltaics and Digital Products Businesses in the prior year.
As a percentage of revenue, SG&A expenses were 22.5% and 30.2% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Research and Development (R&D)
R&D consists primarily of compensation expense including non-cash stock-based compensation expense, as well as engineering and prototype costs, depreciation expense, and other overhead expenses, as they related to the design, development, and testing of our products. Our R&D costs are expensed as incurred. We believe that in order to remain competitive, we must invest significant financial resources in developing new product features and enhancements and in maintaining customer satisfaction worldwide.
Stock-based compensation expense within R&D totaled approximately $0.4 million during the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015.
R&D expense for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 was higher than the amounts reported in the prior year primarily due to higher compensation costs and increased project spending.
As a percentage of revenue, R&D expenses were 10.8% and 11.2% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Recovery of previously incurred litigation related fees and expenses from arbitration award
Recovery of previously incurred litigation related fees and expenses from arbitration award consists of the fees awarded to the Company as a result of the SEI arbitration award in April 2016. As a percentage of revenue, the recovery of previously incurred litigation related fees and expenses from arbitration award was 2.8% for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016.
Gain from Change in Estimate on ARO
As a result of the revision in the estimated amount and timing of cash flows for ARO during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, the Company reduced the ARO liability by $2.9 million with an offsetting reduction to property, plant, and equipment, net of $2.1 million, and recorded a gain from change in estimate on ARO liability of $0.8 million. The Company first reduced the net leasehold improvement asset to the extent of the carrying amount of the related asset initially recorded when the ARO was established. The amount of the remaining reduction to the ARO was recorded as a reduction to operating expenses. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information.
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Operating Income (Loss)
Operating income (loss) represents revenue less the cost of revenue and direct operating expenses incurred. Operating income (loss) is a measure of profit and loss that executive management uses to assess performance and make decisions. As a percentage of revenue, our operating income (loss) was 3.2% and (5.6)% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016 and 2015, respectively.
Other Income (Expense)
Interest Income, net
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, we recorded $0.2 million of interest income earned on cash and cash equivalents balances. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, we recorded $0.2 million of interest income earned on the Promissory Note from NeoPhotonics which was primarily offset by an equivalent amount of interest expense incurred on our outstanding Credit Facility. See Note 4 - Discontinued Operations in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information.
Foreign Exchange
Losses from foreign currency transactions denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, both realized and unrealized, are recorded as foreign exchange loss on our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. The losses recorded relate to the change in value of the Yuan Renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar.
Change in Fair Value of Financial Instruments
Warrants representing the right to purchase 400,001 shares of our common stock expired on April 1, 2015.
Income Tax (Expense) Benefit
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, the Company recorded income tax expense from continuing operations of approximately $14,000, and $24,000 of income tax benefit within income from discontinued operations.
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, the Company recorded $2.2 million of income tax benefit from continuing operations losses and $26.5 million of income tax expense within income from discontinued operations.
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, the Company utilized the $24.1 million of deferred tax assets. As a result, a net deferred tax valuation allowance release of $24.1 million was recorded as an income tax benefit during fiscal year 2014 following the Company's determination that it was more likely than not that certain deferred tax assets would be realized upon the sale of the Photovoltaics Business in fiscal year 2015. See Note 11 - Income and other Taxes in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for more information.
Our Board of Directors has adopted a Tax Benefits Preservation Plan (the “Rights Plan”) to help preserve the value of our net operating losses and other favorable tax attribute carryovers by reducing the risk of limitation of these deferred tax assets. The Rights Plan was approved by our shareholders on March 10, 2015. The Rights Plan is intended to reduce the likelihood that we will experience an ownership change for purposes of Internal Revenue Code Section 382 by discouraging any person or group from becoming a “5% shareholder” or increasing their ownership of our common stock if they are already a “5% shareholder.” Although the Rights Plan is intended to reduce the likelihood of an “ownership change” that could adversely affect us, there is no assurance that the Rights Plan will prevent all transfers of our common stock that could result in such an “ownership change”.
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Income from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax
(in thousands, except percentages) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||
Revenue | $ | — | $ | 24,558 | $ | (24,558 | ) | (100.0)% | |||||
Cost of revenue | (659 | ) | 17,352 | (18,011 | ) | (103.8)% | |||||||
Gross profit | 659 | 7,206 | (6,547 | ) | (90.9)% | ||||||||
Operating (income) expense | (1,160 | ) | 5,040 | 6,200 | 123.0% | ||||||||
Recognition of previously deferred gain on sale of assets | 3,804 | — | 3,804 | NA | |||||||||
Other income | — | 779 | (779 | ) | (100.0)% | ||||||||
Gain on sale of discontinued operations | — | 88,952 | (88,952 | ) | (100.0)% | ||||||||
Income from discontinued operations before income tax benefit (expense) | 5,623 | 91,897 | (86,274 | ) | (93.9)% | ||||||||
Income tax benefit (expense) | 24 | (26,525 | ) | 26,549 | 100.1% | ||||||||
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax | $ | 5,647 | $ | 65,372 | $ | (59,725 | ) | (91.4)% | |||||
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, we recorded income from discontinued operations from the Photovoltaics Business and Digital Products Business of $1.0 million and $4.6 million, net of tax, respectively.
Included in cost of revenue for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016 is $0.4 million due to a reduction in expected product warranty liabilities from a settlement agreement associated with the Digital Products Business and a gain of $0.3 million on the lease termination associated with the Digital Products Business.
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During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, we recognized a gain associated with the release of the $3.4 million of deferred gain and reversal of other liabilities of $0.4 million, which had been recorded as of September 30, 2015, resulting in a credit of $3.8 million to recognition of previously deferred gain on sale of assets within discontinued operations of the Digital Products Business as the result of the favorable ruling from the SEI arbitration. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information.
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, we recognized a gain of $87.0 million and $2.0 million on the sales of the Photovoltaics Business and Digital Products Business, respectively, which was recorded within income from discontinued operations under the caption "gain on sale of discontinued operations". During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, we recorded income from discontinued operations from the Photovoltaics Business and Digital Products Business of $61.2 million and $4.2 million, net of tax, respectively.
Comparison of Financial Results for the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2015 and 2014
(in thousands, except percentages) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||
2015 | 2014 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||
Revenue | $ | 81,685 | $ | 55,514 | $ | 26,171 | 47.1% | ||||||
Cost of revenue | 52,994 | 43,400 | 9,594 | 22.1% | |||||||||
Gross profit | 28,691 | 12,114 | 16,577 | 136.8% | |||||||||
Operating expense (income): | |||||||||||||
Selling, general, and administrative | 24,711 | 23,239 | 1,472 | 6.3% | |||||||||
Research and development | 9,119 | 9,306 | (187 | ) | (2.0)% | ||||||||
Gain from change in estimate on ARO obligation | (845 | ) | — | (845 | ) | N/A | |||||||
Loss (gain) on sale of assets | 228 | (100 | ) | 328 | 328.0% | ||||||||
Total operating expense | 33,213 | 32,445 | 768 | 2.4% | |||||||||
Operating loss | (4,522 | ) | (20,331 | ) | 15,809 | 77.8% | |||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||||
Interest income (expense), net | 75 | (522 | ) | 597 | 114.4% | ||||||||
Foreign exchange loss | (138 | ) | (7 | ) | (131 | ) | (1,871.4)% | ||||||
Gain on sale of investment | — | 307 | (307 | ) | (100.0)% | ||||||||
Change in fair value of financial instruments | 122 | 34 | 88 | 258.8% | |||||||||
Other income | — | 51 | (51 | ) | (100.0)% | ||||||||
Total other income (expense) | 59 | (137 | ) | 196 | 143.1% | ||||||||
Loss from continuing operations before income tax benefit | (4,463 | ) | (20,468 | ) | 16,005 | 78.2% | |||||||
Income tax benefit | 2,191 | 24,550 | (22,359 | ) | (91.1)% | ||||||||
(Loss) income from continuing operations | (2,272 | ) | 4,082 | (6,354 | ) | (155.7)% | |||||||
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax | 65,372 | 770 | 64,602 | 8,389.9% | |||||||||
Net income | $ | 63,100 | $ | 4,852 | $ | 58,248 | 1,200.5% | ||||||
Revenue
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, revenue increased 47.1% compared to the prior year driven by significantly higher sales of our CATV products primarily to U.S. customers and our chip level devices. Sales of our CATV products, which include our quadrature amplitude modulation transmitters and receivers, represented the largest percentage of our total revenue during fiscal 2015. Sales of our chip level device products, which include our avalanche photodiodes and gain chips, increased as EMCORE expanded its sales to customers, primarily in Asia.
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Gross Profit
Our cost of revenue consists of raw materials, compensation expense including non-cash stock-based compensation expense, depreciation expense and other manufacturing overhead costs, expenses associated with excess and obsolete inventories, and product warranty costs. Historically, our cost of revenue as a percentage of revenue, which we refer to as our gross margin, has fluctuated significantly due to product mix, manufacturing yields and sales volumes, and inventory and specific product warranty charges.
Consolidated gross margins were 35.1% and 21.8% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
Stock-based compensation expense within cost of revenue totaled approximately $0.3 million and $0.5 million during the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, gross margins increased when compared to the prior year. The increase in gross margins for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015 compared to 2014 was primarily due to higher sales volume and higher utilization of the manufacturing facility as we significantly increased production output resulting in higher levels of absorption. In addition, gross margins also increased from an improvement in product mix.
Selling, General and Administrative (SG&A)
SG&A consists primarily of compensation expense including non-cash stock-based compensation expense related to executive, finance, and human resources personnel, as well as sales and marketing expenses, professional fees, amortization expense on intangible assets, legal and patent-related costs, and other corporate-related expenses.
Stock-based compensation expense within SG&A totaled approximately $2.8 million and $1.9 million during the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
SG&A expense for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015 was higher than the amount reported in the prior year primarily due to higher stock-based compensation and severance and compensation expense associated with the sales of the Photovoltaics and Digital Products Businesses.
As a percentage of revenue, SG&A expenses were 30.2% and 41.9% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
Research and Development (R&D)
R&D consists primarily of compensation expense including non-cash stock-based compensation expense, as well as engineering and prototype costs, depreciation expense, and other overhead expenses, as they related to the design, development, and testing of our products. Our R&D costs are expensed as incurred. We believe that in order to remain competitive, we must invest significant financial resources in developing new product features and enhancements and in maintaining customer satisfaction worldwide.
Stock-based compensation expense within R&D totaled approximately $0.4 million and $0.6 million during the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
R&D expense for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015 was slightly lower than the amounts reported in the prior year primarily due to lower compensation costs attributed to lower headcount and lower material spending.
As a percentage of revenue, R&D expenses were 11.2% and 16.8% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
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Gain from Change in Estimate on ARO Obligation
As a result of the revision in the estimated amount and timing of cash flows for ARO during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, the Company reduced the ARO liability by $2.9 million with an offsetting reduction to property, plant, and equipment, net of $2.1 million, and recorded a gain from change in estimate on ARO obligation of $0.8 million. The Company first reduced the net leasehold improvement asset to the extent of the carrying amount of the related asset initially recorded when the ARO was established. The amount of the remaining reduction to the ARO was recorded as a reduction to operating expenses. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information.
Operating Loss
Operating loss represents revenue less the cost of revenue and direct operating expenses incurred. Operating loss is a measure of profit and loss that executive management uses to assess performance and make decisions. As a percentage of revenue, our operating loss was (5.6)%, and (36.8)% for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, respectively.
Other Income (Expense)
Interest income (expense), net
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, we recorded $0.2 million of interest income earned on the Promissory Note from NeoPhotonics which was primarily offset by an equivalent amount of interest expense incurred on borrowings outstanding under our credit facility during the period. Interest expense for fiscal year ended September 30, 2015 was lower than the amounts reported in the prior year due to higher borrowings outstanding under our credit facility during the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014.
Foreign Exchange
Gains and losses from foreign currency transactions denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, both realized and unrealized, are recorded as foreign exchange gain (loss) on our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. A majority of the gains or losses recorded relate to the change in value of the Yuan Renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar. The assets and liabilities of our foreign operations are translated from their respective functional currencies into U.S. dollars at the rates in effect at the consolidated balance sheet dates, and the revenue and expense amounts are translated at the average rate during the applicable periods reflected on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. Foreign currency translation adjustments are recorded as accumulated other comprehensive income.
Gain on Sale of Investment
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014, we sold our investment in a company that had a net book value of $0 at September 30, 2013, for $0.3 million.
Change in Fair Value of Financial Instruments
As of September 30, 2014, warrants representing the right to purchase 400,001 shares, of our common stock were outstanding. Since the warrants expired on April 1, 2015, no warrants were outstanding as of September 30, 2015.
Income Tax Benefit
At September 30, 2014, the Company determined that it was more likely than not that certain deferred tax assets would be realized upon the sale of the Photovoltaic Business in fiscal year 2015. As a result, a net deferred tax valuation allowance release of $24.1 million was recorded as an income tax benefit during fiscal year 2014. The sale of the Photovoltaics Business closed on December 10, 2014 and the Company realized a gain on the transaction.
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, the Company utilized the $24.1 million of deferred tax assets. The Company made a payment for alternative minimum taxes and the remaining income tax expense was offset mainly through utilization of $24.1 million of deferred tax assets and utilization of net operating loss carry forwards.
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For the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, the Company recorded income tax benefit from continuing operations losses of approximately $2.2 million and $24.6 million, respectively. For the fiscal years ended September 30, 2015, and 2014, the Company recorded income tax expense within discontinued operations of approximately $26.5 million and $0.5 million, respectively. The income tax expense within discontinued operations includes estimated alternative minimum tax and other adjustments prescribed by ASC 740 in allocating expected annual income tax expense (benefit) between continuing operations and discontinued operations.
For fiscal years ended September 30, 2015 and 2014, the effective tax rate on continuing operations was 49.1%, and 119.9% and, respectively. The lower tax rate for fiscal year 2015 was primarily due to permanent differences, state tax benefits, foreign tax rate differentials, and release of state taxes associated with uncertain tax positions. The higher tax rate for fiscal year 2014 was mainly attributable to the partial release of the valuation allowance. The Company uses estimates to forecast the results from continuing operations for the current fiscal year as well as permanent differences between book and tax accounting. The Company believes its forecast of losses from continuing operations is a reasonable estimate. Actual results from continuing operations may differ significantly from the estimates previously forecasted, resulting in significant changes from one period to the next in the tax expense or benefit from continuing operations being recognized. Also see Note 11 -Income and other Taxes in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for more information.
Income from Discontinued Operations, Net of Tax
(in thousands, except percentages) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||
2015 | 2014 | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||
Revenue | $ | 24,558 | $ | 119,264 | $ | (94,706 | ) | (79.4)% | |||||
Cost of revenue | 17,352 | 98,704 | (81,352 | ) | (82.4)% | ||||||||
Gross profit | 7,206 | 20,560 | (13,354 | ) | (65.0)% | ||||||||
Operating expense | 5,040 | 19,337 | (14,297 | ) | (73.9)% | ||||||||
Other income | 779 | 17 | 762 | 4,482.4% | |||||||||
Gain on sale of discontinued operations | 88,952 | — | 88,952 | N/A | |||||||||
Income from discontinued operations before income tax expense | 91,897 | 1,240 | 90,657 | 7,311.0% | |||||||||
Income tax expense | (26,525 | ) | (470 | ) | (26,055 | ) | (5,543.6)% | ||||||
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax | $ | 65,372 | $ | 770 | $ | 64,602 | 8,389.9% | ||||||
During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, we recognized a gain of $87.0 million and $2.0 million on the sales of the Photovoltaics Business and Digital Products Business, respectively, which is recorded within income from discontinued operations under the caption "gain on sale of discontinued operations". During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2015, we recorded income from discontinued operations from the Photovoltaics Business and Digital Products Business of $61.2 million and $4.2 million, respectively. During the fiscal year ended September 30, 2014, we recorded income (loss) from discontinued operations from the Photovoltaics Business and Digital Products Business of $8.9 million and $(8.1) million, respectively.
Order Backlog
EMCORE'S product sales are made pursuant to purchase orders, often with short lead times. These orders are subject to revision or cancellation and often are made without deposits. Products typically ship within the same quarter in which a purchase order is received; therefore, our order backlog at any particular date is not necessarily indicative of actual revenue or the level of orders for any succeeding period.
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Liquidity and Capital Resources
Historically, we have consumed cash from operations and, until recently, in most periods we have incurred operating losses from continuing operations. We have managed our liquidity position through the sale of assets, and cost reduction initiatives, as well as, from time to time in prior periods, borrowings from our Credit Facility (defined below) and capital markets transactions.
On December 10, 2014, we completed the sale of our Photovoltaics Business for $150.0 million in cash, prior to working capital adjustments of $0.1 million.
On January 2, 2015, we completed the sale of our Digital Products Business for $1.5 million in cash and an adjusted Promissory Note balance of $15.5 million. On April 17, 2015, NeoPhotonics paid in full the outstanding balance of the Promissory Note of $15.5 million plus accrued interest of $0.2 million.
On June 15, 2015, we completed the modified "Dutch auction" tender offer (the "Tender Offer") and purchased 6.9 million shares of our common stock at a purchase price of $6.55 per share, for an aggregate cost of $45.0 million excluding fees and expenses. Repurchased common stock was recorded to treasury stock. We incurred costs of $0.7 million in connection with the Tender Offer, which were recorded to treasury stock.
On July 5, 2016, the Company declared a special cash dividend of $1.50 per share, or a total of $39.2 million. The dividend was paid on July 29, 2016 to shareholders of record as of July 18, 2016. See Note 13 - Equity for additional information.
As of September 30, 2016, cash and cash equivalents totaled $63.9 million and net working capital totaled approximately $93.0 million. Net working capital, calculated as current assets minus current liabilities, is a financial metric we use which represents available operating liquidity. For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, we earned net income of $8.3 million.
With respect to measures related to liquidity:
We believe that our existing balances of cash and cash equivalents, cash flows from operations and amounts expected to be available under our Credit Facility will provide us with sufficient financial resources to meet our cash requirements for operations, working capital, and capital expenditures for at least the next twelve months, and thereafter for the foreseeable future. At the discretion of our Board, we may use our existing balances of cash and cash equivalents to provide liquidity to our shareholders through one or more additional special dividends or the repurchase of additional shares of our outstanding common stock, make investments in our other businesses, pursue other strategic opportunities or a combination thereof. In addition, should we require more capital than what is generated by our operations, for example to fund significant discretionary activities, such as business acquisitions, we could elect to raise capital in the U.S. through debt or equity issuances. These alternatives could result in higher effective tax rates, increased interest expense, and/or dilution of our earnings. We have borrowed funds in the past and continue to believe we have the ability to do so at reasonable interest rates.
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, the following changes to our liquidity occurred:
• | Dividend Payment: On July 5, 2016, the Company declared a special cash dividend of $1.50 per share, or a total of $39.2 million. The dividend was paid on July 29, 2016 to shareholders of record as of July 18, 2016. See Note 13 - Equity for additional information. |
• | Resolution of Outstanding Litigation: In June 2016 we collected $2.6 million in fees and costs from Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. ("SEI") and $1.9 million held in escrow as the result of the favorable ruling from the SEI arbitration. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies. |
• | Credit Facility: On November 11, 2010, we entered into a Credit and Security Agreement (Credit Facility) with Wells Fargo Bank, National Association ("Wells Fargo"). The Credit Facility, as it has been amended through its seventh amendment on November 10, 2015, currently provides us with a revolving credit of up to $15.0 million through November 2018 that can be used for working capital requirements, letters of credit, and other general corporate purposes. The Credit Facility is secured by the Company's assets and is subject to a borrowing base formula based on the Company's eligible accounts receivable, inventory, and machinery and equipment accounts. See Note 10 - Credit Facilities in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional disclosures. |
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Cash Flow
The Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the fiscal years ended September 30, 2016, 2015 and 2014, respectively,
reflects cash flows from both the continuing and discontinued operations of the Company.
Net Cash Used In Operating Activities
Operating Activities (in thousands, except percentages) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | Fiscal 2016 vs Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2015 vs Fiscal 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | $ Change | % Change | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||||||
Net cash (used in) provided by operating activities | $ | (5,552 | ) | $ | (3,917 | ) | $ | 1,001 | $ | (1,635 | ) | (41.7)% | $ | (4,918 | ) | (491.3)% | |||||||
Fiscal 2016:
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, our operating activities used cash of $5.6 million primarily due to decreases in our operating assets and liabilities (or working capital components, which includes non-current inventory) of $13.5 million, the recognition of the previously deferred gain on sale of assets from discontinued operations of $3.8 million, the gain on transfer of solar power assets and obligations of $0.7 million, the gain on reduction of product warranty of discontinued operations of $0.4 million and the payment and gain on settlement of Newark restructuring lease of $0.3 million partially offset by depreciation, amortization and accretion expense of $2.5 million, stock-based compensation expense of $2.1 million, warranty provision of $0.4 million, and our net income of $8.3 million. The change in our operating assets and liabilities was primarily the result of an increase in accounts receivable of $1.2 million and inventory of $10.9 million, and a decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $4.8 million partially offset by a decrease in other assets of $0.1 million and an increase in accounts payable of approximately $3.2 million.
Fiscal 2015:
Our operating activities consumed cash of $3.9 million primarily due to the effect of adjustments for non-cash charges, including the gain on sale of the Photovoltaics Business of $87.0 million, including the gain on sale of the Digital Products Business of $2.0 million, and the gain from change in estimate on ARO obligation of $0.8 million, foreign currency translation adjustment of $0.7 million as well as the changes in our operating assets and liabilities of $8.6 million, partially offset by deferred income taxes of $24.1 million, stock-based compensation expense of $4.6 million, warranty provision of $0.8 million, depreciation, amortization and accretion expense of $3.0 million, allowance for doubtful accounts of $0.6 million, and our net income of $63.1 million. The change in our operating assets and liabilities was primarily the result of an increase in inventory of $3.4 million, a decrease in accounts payable of $3.2 million, a decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $5.8 million, partially offset by a decrease in accounts receivable of $3.5 million and other assets of $0.4 million,
Fiscal 2014:
Our operating activities provided cash of $1.0 million primarily due to our net income of $4.9 million, changes in our operating assets and liabilities (or working capital components) of $5.0 million, depreciation, amortization and accretion expense of $8.5 million, stock-based compensation expense of $4.4 million, warranty provision of $2.1 million, losses on inventory purchase commitments of $0.3 million and allowance for doubtful accounts of $0.2 million, partially offset by deferred income taxes of $24.1 million and the gain on sale of investment of $0.3 million. The change in our operating assets and liabilities was primarily the result of a decrease in inventory of $5.5 million, other assets of $2.9 million and an increase in accounts payable of $3.1 million, partially offset by a decrease in accrued expenses and other liabilities of $3.1 million and an increase in accounts receivable of $3.3 million.
Working Capital Components:
Accounts Receivable: We generally expect the level of accounts receivable at any given quarter to reflect the level of sales in that quarter. Our accounts receivable balances have fluctuated historically due to the timing of account collections, timing of product shipments, and/or change in customer credit terms.
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Inventory: We generally expect the level of inventory at any given quarter to reflect the change in our expectations of forecasted sales. Our inventory balances have fluctuated historically due to the timing of customer orders and product shipments, changes in our internal forecasts related to customer demand, as well as adjustments related to excess and obsolete inventory and the purchase of non-current inventory.
Accounts Payable: The fluctuation of our accounts payable balances is primarily driven by changes in inventory purchases as well as changes related to the timing of actual payments to vendors.
Accrued Expenses: Our largest accrued expense typically relates to compensation. Historically, fluctuations of our accrued expense accounts have primarily related to changes in the timing of actual compensation payments, receipt or application of advanced payments, adjustments to our warranty accrual, and accruals related to professional fees.
Net Cash (Used In) Provided By Investing Activities
Investing Activities (in thousands, except percentages) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | Fiscal 2016 vs Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2015 vs Fiscal 2014 | ||||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | $ Change | % Change | $ Change | % Change | |||||||||||||||||
Net cash (used in) provided by investing activities | $ | (4,416 | ) | $ | 165,276 | $ | (3,261 | ) | $ | (169,692 | ) | (102.7)% | $ | 168,537 | 5,168.3% | ||||||||
Fiscal 2016:
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, our investing activities used $4.4 million of cash primarily from capital expenditures of $5.8 million and an increase in restricted cash of $0.6 million partially offset by the receipt of escrow funds from sale of assets of $1.9 million.
Fiscal 2015:
Our investing activities provided $165.3 million of cash primarily from proceeds from sale of the Photovoltaics Business of $149.9 million, proceeds from sale of the Digital Products Business of $17.0 million, and a decrease in restricted cash of $1.1 million partially offset by capital related expenditures of $2.8 million.
Fiscal 2014:
Our investing activities consumed $3.3 million of cash primarily from capital related expenditures of $3.0 million, the funding of restricted cash of $0.7 million, partially offset by cash proceeds of $0.3 million from the sale of an investment.
Net Cash Provided By (Used In) Financing Activities
Financing Activities (in thousands, except percentages) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | Fiscal 2016 vs Fiscal 2015 | Fiscal 2015 vs Fiscal 2014 | |||||||||||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | $ Change | % Change | $ Change | % Change | ||||||||||||||||
Net cash (used in) provided by financing activities | $ | (38,254 | ) | $ | (70,266 | ) | $ | 6,576 | $ | 32,012 | 45.6% | $ | (76,842 | ) | (1,168.5)% | |||||||
Fiscal 2016:
For the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, our financing activities used cash of $38.3 million due to the payment of a special dividend of $39.2 million partially offset by proceeds from stock plan transactions of $1.0 million.
Fiscal 2015:
Our financing activities consumed cash of $70.3 million primarily due to the net payment of $26.5 million on our bank credit facility, purchase of treasury stock of $45.7 million partially offset by $1.9 million in proceeds from stock plan transactions.
Fiscal 2014:
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Our financing activities provided cash of $6.6 million primarily from $4.8 million of proceeds related to borrowings under our credit facility, and $1.8 million in proceeds from stock plan transactions.
Contractual Obligations and Commitments
Our contractual obligations and commitments for the remainder of fiscal 2016 and over the next five fiscal years are summarized in the table below:
(in thousands) | For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | ||||||||||||||||||
Total | 2017 | 2018 to 2019 | 2020 to 2021 | 2022 and later | |||||||||||||||
Purchase obligations | $ | 20,755 | $ | 20,381 | $ | 374 | $ | — | $ | — | |||||||||
Asset retirement obligations | 1,824 | 45 | — | 1,720 | 59 | ||||||||||||||
Operating lease obligations | 1,640 | 753 | 595 | 292 | — | ||||||||||||||
Total contractual obligations and commitments | $ | 24,219 | $ | 21,179 | $ | 969 | $ | 2,012 | $ | 59 | |||||||||
Interest payments are not included in the contractual obligations and commitments table above since they are insignificant to our consolidated results of operations.
The contractual obligations and commitments table above also excludes unrecognized tax benefits because we are unable to reasonably estimate the period during which this obligation may be incurred, if at all. As of September 30, 2016, we had unrecognized tax benefits of $0.3 million.
Purchase Obligations
Our purchase obligations represent agreements to purchase goods or services that are enforceable and legally binding, that specify all significant terms, including: fixed or minimum quantities to be purchased; fixed, minimum or variable price provisions; and the approximate timing of the transactions.
Asset Retirement Obligations ("ARO")
We have known conditional ARO conditions, such as certain asset decommissioning and restoration of rented facilities to be performed in the future. Our ARO's include assumptions related to renewal option periods where we expect to extend facility lease terms. Revisions in estimated liabilities can result from revisions of estimated inflation rates, escalating retirement costs, and changes in the estimated timing of settling ARO's. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information related to our ARO's.
Operating Leases
Operating leases include non-cancelable terms and exclude renewal option periods, property taxes, insurance and maintenance expenses on leased properties. See Note 12 - Commitments and Contingencies in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for additional information related to our operating lease obligations.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
We do not have any off-balance sheet arrangements other than our operating leases described above that have or are reasonably likely to have a current or future material effect on our consolidated financial condition, results of operations, liquidity, capital expenditures or capital resources.
Geographical Information
See Note 14- Geographical Information in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to geographic revenue and significant customers.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 3 - Recent Accounting Pronouncements in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to recent accounting pronouncements.
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Restructuring Accruals
See Note 9 - Accrued Expenses and Other Current Liabilities in the notes to the consolidated financial statements for disclosures related to our severance and restructuring-related accrual accounts.
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ITEM 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risks
We are exposed to financial market risks, including changes in currency exchange rates and interest rates. We do not use derivative financial instruments for speculative purposes.
Foreign Currency Exchange Risks
The United States dollar is the reporting currency for our consolidated financial statements. The functional currency for our China subsidiary is the Yuan Renminbi.
We recognize translation adjustments due to the effect of changes in the value of the Yuan Renminbi relative to the U.S. dollar associated with our operations in China. The assets and liabilities of our foreign operations are translated from their respective functional currencies into U.S. dollars at the rates in effect at the consolidated balance sheet dates, and the revenue and expense amounts are translated at the average rate during the applicable periods reflected on the consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income. Foreign currency translation adjustments are recorded as accumulated other comprehensive income.
Gains and losses from foreign currency transactions denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar, both realized and unrealized, are recorded as foreign exchange gain (loss) on our consolidated statements of operations and comprehensive income.
During the normal course of business, we are exposed to market risks associated with fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates due to the Yuan Renminbi. To reduce the impact of these risks on our earnings and to increase the predictability of cash flows, we use natural offsets in receipts and disbursements within the applicable currency as the primary means of reducing the risk.
Some of our foreign suppliers may adjust their prices (in US dollars) from time to time to reflect currency exchange fluctuations, and such price changes could impact our future financial condition or results of operations. We do not currently hedge our foreign currency exposure.
Interest Rate Risks
On November 11, 2010, we entered into a credit facility with Wells Fargo Bank. As of September 30, 2016, we had no borrowings outstanding under our credit facility. As of September 30, 2016, the credit facility had $0.5 million reserved for one outstanding stand-by letter of credit, leaving a remaining $10.9 million borrowing availability balance under this credit facility. As of November 30, 2016, there was no outstanding balance under the credit facility.
The credit facility, as it has been amended through its seventh amendment currently provides us with a revolving credit of up to $15.0 million through November 2018 that can be used for working capital requirements, letters of credit, and other general corporate purposes. The credit facility is secured by the Company's assets and is subject to a borrowing base formula based on the Company's eligible accounts receivable, inventory, and machinery and equipment accounts. See Note 10 - Credit Facilities for additional information related to our bank credit facility.
We monitor our interest rate risk on cash balances primarily through cash flow forecasting. Cash that is surplus to immediate requirements is invested in short-term deposits with banks accessible with short notice and invested in money market accounts. We believe our current interest rate risk is immaterial.
Inflation Risks
Inflationary factors, such as increases in material costs and operating expenses, may adversely affect our results of operations and cash flows. Although we do not believe that inflation has had a material impact on our financial position or results of operations to date, an increase in the rate of inflation in the future may have an adverse effect on the levels of gross profit and operating expenses as a percentage of revenue if the sales prices for our products do not proportionately increase with these increases in expenses.
Credit Market Conditions
Recently, the U.S. and global capital markets have been experiencing turbulent conditions, particularly in the credit markets, as evidenced by tightening of lending standards, reduced availability of credit, and reductions in certain asset values. This could impact our ability to obtain additional funding through financing or asset sales.
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ITEM 8. Financial Statements
EMCORE CORPORATION
Consolidated Statements of Operations and Comprehensive Income
For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, 2016, 2015 and 2014
(in thousands, except net income (loss) per share)
For the Fiscal Years Ended September 30, | |||||||||||
2016 | 2015 | 2014 | |||||||||
Revenue | $ | 91,998 | $ | 81,685 | $ | 55,514 | |||||
Cost of revenue | 61,044 | 52,994 | 43,400 | ||||||||
Gross profit | 30,954 | 28,691 | 12,114 | ||||||||
Operating expense (income): | |||||||||||
Selling, general, and administrative | 20,734 | 24,711 | 23,239 | ||||||||
Research and development | 9,921 | 9,119 | 9,306 | ||||||||
Recovery of previously incurred litigation related fees and expenses from arbitration award | (2,599 | ) | — | — | |||||||
Gain from change in estimate on ARO obligation | — | (845 | ) | — | |||||||
(Gain) loss on sale of assets | (41 | ) | 228 | (100 | ) | ||||||
Total operating expense | 28,015 | 33,213 | 32,445 | ||||||||
Operating income (loss) | 2,939 | (4,522 | ) | (20,331 | ) | ||||||
Other income (expense): | |||||||||||
Interest income (expense), net | 88 | 75 | (522 | ) | |||||||
Foreign exchange loss | (394 | ) | (138 | ) | (7 | ) | |||||
Gain on sale of investment | — | — | 307 | ||||||||
Change in fair value of financial instruments | — | 122 | 34 | ||||||||
Other income | — | — | 51 | ||||||||
Total other (expense) income | (306 | ) | 59 | (137 | ) | ||||||
Income (loss) from continuing operations before income tax (expense) benefit | 2,633 | (4,463 | ) | (20,468 | ) | ||||||
Income tax (expense) benefit | (14 | ) | 2,191 | 24,550 | |||||||
Income (loss) from continuing operations | 2,619 | (2,272 | ) | 4,082 | |||||||
Income from discontinued operations, net of tax | 5,647 | 65,372 | 770 | ||||||||
Net income | $ | 8,266 | $ | 63,100 | $ | 4,852 | |||||
Foreign exchange translation adjustment | (268 | ) | (990 | ) | 214 | ||||||
Comprehensive income | $ | 7,998 | $ | 62,110 | $ | 5,066 | |||||
Per share data: | |||||||||||
Net income (loss) per basic share: | |||||||||||
Continuing operations | $ | 0.10 | $ | (0.08 | ) | $ | 0.13 | ||||
Discontinued operations | 0.22 | 2.18 | 0.03 | ||||||||
Net income per basic share | $ | 0.32 | $ | 2.10 | $ | 0.16 | |||||
Net income (loss) per diluted share: | |||||||||||
Continuing operations | $ | 0.10 | $ | (0.08 | ) | $ | 0.13 | ||||
Discontinued operations | 0.21 | 2.18 | 0.03 | ||||||||
Net income per diluted share | $ | 0.31 | $ | 2.10 | $ | 0.16 | |||||
Weighted-average number of basic shares outstanding | 25,979 | 30,012 | 30,453 | ||||||||
Weighted-average number of diluted shares outstanding | 26,518 | 30,012 | 30,777 | ||||||||
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The accompanying notes are an integral part of these consolidated financial statements.
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EMCORE CORPORATION
Consolidated Balance Sheets
As of September 30, 2016 and 2015
(in thousands, except per share data)
As of | As of | ||||||
September 30, 2016 | September 30, 2015 | ||||||
ASSETS | |||||||
Current assets: | |||||||
Cash and cash equivalents | $ | 63,905 | $ | 111,885 | |||
Restricted cash | 965 | 375 | |||||
Accounts receivable, net of allowance of $36 and $462, respectively | 18,432 | 17,319 | |||||
Inventory | 24,150 | 17,130 | |||||
Prepaid expenses and other current assets | 3,764 | 4,976 | |||||
Total current assets | 111,216 | 151,685 | |||||
Property, plant, and equipment, net | 12,213 | 8,925 | |||||
Non-current inventory | 3,531 | — | |||||
Other non-current assets, net of allowance of $0 and $3,561, respectively | 251 | 297 | |||||
Total assets | $ | 127,211 | $ | 160,907 | |||
LIABILITIES and SHAREHOLDERS’ EQUITY | |||||||
Current liabilities: | |||||||
Accounts payable | $ | 10,575 | $ | 7,189 | |||
Deferred gain associated with sale of assets | — | 3,400 | |||||
Accrued expenses and other current liabilities | 7,684 | 13,102 | |||||
Total current liabilities | |||||||