Investing in our securities involves a high degree of risk and a description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business is set forth below. This description includes any material changes to and supersedes the description of the risks and uncertainties associated with our business previously disclosed in Part I, Item 1A of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016. You should carefully consider such risks and uncertainties, together with the other information contained in this report, our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2016 and in our other public filings. Because of the following factors, as well as other variables affecting our operating results, past financial performance should not be considered as a reliable indicator of future performance and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods. If any of such risks and uncertainties actually occurs, our business, financial condition or operating results could differ materially from the plans, projections and other forward-looking statements included in the section titled “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and elsewhere in this report and in our other public filings, which could cause the market price of our common stock to decline, perhaps significantly.
Our quarterly results may vary significantly from period to period, which could make our future results difficult to predict and could cause our operating results to fall below investor or analyst expectations.
Our quarterly results, in particular, our revenue, gross margins, operating expenses, operating margins and net income (loss),
have historically varied from period to period and may continue to do so in the future. As a result, comparing our operating results on a period-to-period basis may not be meaningful. Our budgeted expense levels are based, in large part, on our expectations of future revenue and the development efforts associated with that future revenue. Given the relatively fixed nature of our operating costs including those relating to our personnel and facilities, particularly for our engineering personnel, any substantial adjustment to our expenses to account for lower levels of revenue will be difficult to execute and may take significant time. Consequently, if our revenue does not meet projected levels in the short-term, our inventory levels, gross margin and operating expenses would be high relative to revenue, resulting in potential operating losses. For example, in the fourth quarter of 2016 and first quarter of 2017, we had operating losses of $45.9 million and $37.8 million, respectively, largely as a result of lower than expected revenue and gross margins.
Factors that may contribute to fluctuations in our quarterly results, many of which are outside our control and may be difficult to predict, include:
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fluctuations in demand, sales cycles and prices for products and services, including discounts given in response to competitive pricing pressures, as well as the timing of purchases by our key customers;
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changes in customers’ budgets for optical transport network equipment purchases and changes or variability in their purchasing cycles;
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fluctuations in our customer, product or geographic mix, including the impact of new customer deployments, which typically carry lower gross margins, and increased customer consolidation, which may affect our ability to grow revenue;
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the timing and acceptance of new product releases;
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how quickly, or at all, the markets in which we operate adopt our solutions;
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order cancellations or reductions or delays in delivery schedules by our customers;
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our ability to control costs, including our operating expenses and the costs and availability of components we purchase for our products;
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our ability to maintain volumes and yields on products manufactured in our internal manufacturing facilities;
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any significant changes in the competitive dynamics of our market, including any new entrants, new technologies or customer or competitor consolidation;
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readiness of customer sites for installation of our products as well as the availability of third party suppliers to provide contract engineering and installation services for us;
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the timing of recognizing revenue in any given quarter, including the impact of revenue recognition standards and any future changes in U.S. GAAP or new interpretations of existing accounting rules;
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the impact of a significant natural disaster, such as an earthquake, severe weather, or tsunami or other flooding, as well as interruptions or shortages in the supply of utilities such as water and electricity, in a key location such as our Northern California facilities, which is located near major earthquake fault lines and in a designated flood zone; and
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general economic conditions in domestic and international markets.
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Many factors affecting our results of operations are beyond our control and make it difficult to predict our results for a particular quarter or to accurately predict future revenue beyond a one-quarter time horizon. If our revenue or operating results do not meet the expectations of investors or securities analysts or fall below any guidance we provide to the market, the price of our common stock may decline substantially.
Any delays in the development and introduction of our new products or in releasing enhancements to our existing products may harm our business.
Because our products are based on complex technologies, including, in many cases, the development of next-generation PICs and specialized ASICs (key components of our optical engines), we may experience unanticipated delays in developing, improving, manufacturing or deploying these products. The development process for our optical engines is lengthy, and any modifications entail significant development cost and risks.
At any given time, various new product introductions and enhancements to our existing products, including future products based on our next-generation PICs and specialized ASICs, are in the development phase and are not yet ready for commercial manufacturing or deployment. We rely on third parties, some of which are relatively early stage companies, to develop and manufacture components for our next-generation products, which can require custom development. The maturing process from laboratory prototype to customer trials, and subsequently to general availability, involves a significant number of simultaneous development efforts. These efforts often must be completed in a timely manner so that they may be introduced into the product development cycle for our systems, and include:
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completion of product development, including the development and completion of our next-generation PICs and specialized ASICs, and the completion of associated module development, including modules developed by third parties;
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the qualification and multiple sourcing of critical components;
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validation of manufacturing methods and processes;
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extensive quality assurance and reliability testing and staffing of testing infrastructure;
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validation of software; and
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establishment of systems integration and systems test validation requirements.
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Each of these steps, in turn, presents risks of failure, rework or delay, any one of which could decrease the speed and scope of product introduction and marketplace acceptance of our products. New generations of our PICs, specialized ASICs and intensive software testing are important to the timely introduction of new products and enhancements to our existing products, and are subject to these development risks. In addition, unexpected intellectual property disputes, failure of critical design elements, and a host of other development execution risks may delay, or even prevent, the introduction of new products or enhancements to our existing products. If we do not develop and successfully introduce or enhance products in a timely manner, our competitive position will suffer. In addition, if we do not develop and successfully introduce or enhance products in sufficient time so as to satisfy our customers' expectations, we may lose future business from such customers and harm our reputation and our customer relationships, either of which would harm our business and operating results.
Increased consolidation among our customers in the communications networking industry could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We have seen increased consolidation in the communications networking industry. For example, during 2016, Charter Communications completed its acquisition of Time Warner Cable, Inc. and Altice completed its acquisition of Cablevision, and during the first quarter of 2017, Verizon completed its acquisition of XO Communications. In addition, in 2016, CenturyLink announced its intent to acquire Level 3 Communications with the deal expected to close in the second half of 2017. Customer consolidation can lead to changes in buying patterns, a slowdown in spending, redeployment of existing equipment or re-architecture of parts of an existing network or future networks, as the combined companies evaluate the needs of the combined business. Moreover, the significant purchasing power of these large companies could increase pricing and competitive pressures for us,
including the potential for decreases in our average selling prices. If one of our customers is acquired by another company that does not rely on us to provide it with products or relies on another provider of similar products, we may lose that customer’s business. Such consolidation may further reduce the number of customers that generate a significant percentage of our revenue and may exacerbate the risks relating to dependence on a small number of customers. Any of the foregoing results could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Our ability to increase our revenue will depend upon continued growth of demand by consumers and businesses for additional network capacity and on the level and timing of capital spending by our customers.
Our future success depends on factors that increase the amount of data transmitted over communications networks and the growth of optical transport networks to meet the increased demand for optical capacity. These factors include the growth of mobile, video and cloud-based services, increased broadband connectivity and the continuing adoption of high-capacity, revenue-generating services. If demand for such bandwidth does not continue, or slows down, the market for optical transport networking equipment may not continue to grow and our product sales would be negatively impacted.
In addition, demand for our products depends on the level and timing of capital spending in optical networks by service providers as they construct, expand and upgrade the capacity of their optical networks. Capital spending is cyclical in our industry and spending by customers can change on short notice. Any future decisions by our customers to reduce capital spending, whether caused by lower customer demand or weakening economic conditions, changes in government regulations relating to telecommunications and data networks, customer consolidation or other reasons, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are dependent on a small number of key customers for a significant portion of our revenue from period to period and the loss of, or a significant reduction in, orders from one or more of our key customers would reduce our revenue and harm our operating results.
A relatively small number of customers account for a large percentage of our revenue from period to period. For example, for the first quarter of 2017, our top five customers accounted for approximately 45% of our total revenue, for the fiscal year 2016, our top five customers accounted for approximately 46% of our total revenue and for fiscal year 2015, our top five customers accounted for approximately 49% of our total revenue. Our business will likely be harmed if any of our key customers make an acquisition or are acquired, do not generate as much revenue as we forecast, stop purchasing from us, delay anticipated product purchases, or substantially reduce their orders to us. In addition, our business will be harmed if we fail to maintain our competitive advantage with our key customers. We continue to expect a relatively small number of customers to continue to account for a large percentage of revenue from period to period. However, customer consolidation could reduce the number of key customers that generate a significant percentage of our revenue and may increase the risks relating to dependence on a small number of customers.
Our ability to continue to generate revenue from our key customers will depend on our ability to maintain strong relationships with these customers and introduce competitive new products at competitive prices, and we may not be successful at doing so. In most cases, our sales are made to these customers pursuant to standard purchase agreements rather than long-term purchase commitments, and orders may be canceled or reduced readily. In the event of a cancellation or reduction of an order, we may not have enough time to reduce operating expenses to minimize the effect of the lost revenue on our business. Our operating results will continue to depend on our ability to sell our products to our key customers.
Our gross margin may fluctuate from quarter-to-quarter and may be adversely affected by a number of factors, some of which are beyond our control.
Our gross margin fluctuates from period-to-period and varies by customer and by product. Over the past eight fiscal quarters, our gross margin has ranged from 36.5% to 47.8%. Our gross margin is likely to continue to fluctuate and will be affected by a number of factors, including:
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the mix in any period of the types of customers purchasing our products as well as the product mix;
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significant new deployments to existing and new customers, often with a higher portion of lower margin common equipment as we deploy network footprint;
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volume of units manufactured in our PIC facility;
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pricing and commercial terms designed to secure long-term customer relationships;
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the volume of Infinera Instant Bandwidth-enabled solutions sold, and Infinera Instant Bandwidth licenses activated;
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price discounts negotiated by our customers;
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charges for excess or obsolete inventory;
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changes in the price or availability of components for our products;
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changes in our manufacturing costs, including fluctuations in yields and production volumes; and
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changes in warranty related costs.
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It is likely that the average unit prices of our products will decrease over time in response to competitive pricing pressures, increased negotiated sales discounts, new product introductions by us or our competitors, along with other factors. In addition, some of our customer contracts contain clauses that require us to annually decrease the sales price of our products to these customers. In response, we will need to reduce the cost of our products through manufacturing efficiencies, design improvements and cost reductions from our supply partners. If these efforts are not successful or if we are unable to reduce our costs by more than the reduction in the price of our products, our revenue and gross margin will decline, causing our operating results to decline. Fluctuations in gross margin may make it difficult to manage our business and achieve or maintain profitability.
Aggressive business tactics by our competitors may harm our business.
The markets in which we compete are extremely competitive and this often results in aggressive business tactics by our competitors, including:
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aggressively pricing their optical transport products and other portfolio products, including offering significant one-time discounts and guaranteed future price decreases;
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offering optical products at a substantial discount or for free when bundled together with broader technology purchases, such as router or wireless equipment purchases;
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providing financing, marketing and advertising assistance to customers;
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influencing customer requirements to emphasize different product capabilities, which better suit their products; and
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repurchasing our equipment from existing customers.
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The level of competition and pricing pressure tend to increase when competing for larger high-profile opportunities or during periods of economic weakness when there are fewer network build-out projects. If we fail to compete successfully against our current and future competitors, or if our current or future competitors continue or expand their aggressive business tactics, including those described above, demand for our products could decline, we could experience delays or cancellations of customer orders, and/or we could be required to reduce our prices to compete in the market.
If we lose key personnel or fail to attract and retain additional qualified personnel when needed, our business may be harmed.
Our success depends to a significant degree upon the continued contributions of our key management, engineering, sales and marketing, and finance personnel, many of whom would be difficult to replace. For example, senior members of our engineering team have unique technical experience that would be difficult to replace. We do not have long-term employment contracts or key person life insurance covering any of our key personnel. Because our products are complex, we must hire and retain a large number of highly trained customer service and support personnel to ensure that the deployment of our products does not result in network disruption for our customers. We believe our future success will depend in large part upon our ability to identify, attract and retain highly skilled managerial, engineering, sales, marketing, finance, and customer service and support personnel. Competition for these individuals is intense in our industry, especially in the San Francisco Bay Area where we are headquartered. We may not succeed in identifying, attracting and retaining appropriate personnel. The loss of the services of any of our key personnel, the inability to identify, attract or retain qualified personnel in the future or delays in hiring qualified personnel, particularly engineers and sales personnel, could make it difficult for us to manage our business and meet key objectives, such as timely product introductions.
The markets in which we compete are highly competitive and we may not be able to compete effectively.
Competition in the optical transport networking equipment market is intense, and we expect such competition to increase. In the long-haul market, our main competitors include WDM suppliers, such as Ciena, Coriant, Huawei, Nokia and ZTE. In the metro market we face the same competitors as in long-haul, plus Cisco, ADVA and Fujitsu. In addition, there are several smaller but established companies that offer one or more products that compete with our offerings. During 2016, several competitors including many named above announced or started to ship competing small-form-factor DCI solutions.
Competition in the markets we serve is based on any one or a combination of the following factors:
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price and other commercial terms;
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form factor or density;
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customer qualification testing;
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existing business and customer relationships;
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the ability of products and services to meet customers’ immediate and future network requirements;
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installation and operational simplicity;
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security and encryption requirements;
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scalability and investment protection; and
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In addition to the current competitors, other companies have, or may in the future develop, products that are or could be competitive with our products. We also expect to encounter further consolidation in the markets in which we compete. Consolidation among our competitors could lead to a changing competitive landscape, capabilities and market share, which could harm our results of operations.
Some of our competitors have substantially greater name recognition and technical, financial and marketing resources along with better established relationships with service providers and other potential customers than we have. Many of our competitors have more resources and more experience in developing or acquiring new products and technologies and in creating market awareness for those products and technologies. In addition, many of our competitors have the financial resources to offer competitive products at aggressive pricing levels that could prevent us from competing effectively. Further, many of our competitors have built long-standing relationships with some of our prospective customers and have the ability to provide financing to customers and could, therefore, have an inherent advantage in selling products to those customers.
We also compete with low-cost producers that can increase pricing pressure on us and a number of smaller companies that provide competition for a specific product, customer segment or geographic market. In addition, we may also face increased competition from system and component companies that develop products based on off-the-shelf hardware that offers the latest commercially available technologies. Due to the narrower focus of their efforts, these competitors may achieve commercial availability of their products more quickly than we can and may provide attractive alternatives to our customers.
We must respond to rapid technological change and comply with evolving industry standards and requirements for our products to be successful.
The optical transport networking equipment market is characterized by rapid technological change, changes in customer requirements and evolving industry standards. We continually invest in research and development to sustain or enhance our existing products, but the introduction of new communications technologies and the emergence of new industry standards or requirements could render our products obsolete. Further, in developing our products, we have made, and will continue to make, assumptions with respect to which standards or requirements will be adopted by our customers and competitors. If the standards or requirements adopted by our prospective customers are different from those on which we have focused our efforts, market acceptance of our products would be reduced or delayed and our business would be harmed.
We are continuing to invest a significant portion of our research and development efforts in the development of our next-generation products. We expect our competitors will continue to improve the performance of their existing products and introduce new products and technologies and to influence customers’ buying criteria so as to emphasize product capabilities that we do not, or may not, possess. To be competitive, we must anticipate future customer requirements and continue to invest significant resources in research and development, sales and marketing, and customer support. If we do not anticipate these future customer requirements and invest in the technologies necessary to enable us to have and to sell the appropriate solutions, it may limit our competitive position and future sales, which would have an adverse effect on our business and financial condition. We may not have sufficient resources to make these investments and we may not be able to make the technological advances necessary to be competitive.
Our large customers have substantial negotiating leverage, which may cause us to agree to terms and conditions that result in decreased revenue due to lower average selling prices and potentially increased cost of sales leading to lower gross margin, all of which would harm our operating results.
Many of our customers are large service providers that have substantial purchasing power and leverage in negotiating contractual arrangements with us. Our customers have and may continue to seek advantageous pricing, payment and other commercial terms. We have and may continue to agree to unfavorable commercial terms with these customers, including the potential of reducing the average selling price of our products, increasing cost of sales or agreeing to extended payment terms in response to these commercial requirements or competitive pricing pressures. To maintain acceptable operating results, we will need to comply with these commercial terms, develop and introduce new products and product enhancements on a timely basis, and continue to reduce our costs.
The manufacturing process for our PICs is very complex and the partial or complete loss of our manufacturing facilities, or a reduction in yields or an inability to scale capacity to meet customer demands could harm our business.
The manufacturing process for our PICs and certain components of our products is very complex. In the event that any of the manufacturing facilities utilized to build these components were fully or partially destroyed, as a result of fire, water damage, or otherwise, it would limit our ability to produce our products. Because of the complex nature of our manufacturing facilities, such loss would take a considerable amount of time to repair or rebuild. The partial or complete loss of any of our manufacturing facilities, or an event causing the interruption in our use of such facility for any extended period of time would cause our business, financial condition and operating results to be harmed.
Minor deviations in the PIC manufacturing process can cause substantial decreases in yields and, in some cases, cause production to be suspended. In the past, we have had significant variances in our PIC yields, including production interruptions and suspensions and may have continued yield variances, including additional interruptions or suspensions in the future. We expect our manufacturing yield for our next-generation PICs to be lower initially and increase as we achieve full production. Lower than expected yields from our PIC manufacturing process or defects, integration issues or other performance problems in our products could limit our ability to satisfy customer demand requirements, and could damage customer relations and cause business reputation problems, harming our business and operating results.
Our inability to obtain sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet demand, either in our own facilities or through foundry or similar arrangements with third parties, could harm our relationships with our customers, our business and our operating results.
We are dependent on sole source and limited source suppliers for several key components, and if we fail to obtain these components on a timely basis, we will not meet our customers’ product delivery requirements.
We currently purchase several key components for our products from single or limited sources. In particular, we rely on our own production of certain components of our products, such as PICs, and on third parties, including sole and limited source suppliers, for certain of the components of our products, including ASICs, field-programmable gate arrays, processors, and other semiconductor and optical components. We have increased our reliance on third parties to develop and manufacture components for certain products, some of which require custom development. We purchase these components on a purchase order basis and have no long-term contracts with many of these sole source or limited source suppliers. If any of our sole source or limited source suppliers suffer from capacity constraints, lower than expected yields, deployment delays, work stoppages or any other reduction or disruption in output, they may be unable to meet our delivery schedule which could result in lost revenue, additional product costs and deployment delays that could harm our business and customer relationships. Further, our suppliers could enter into exclusive arrangements with our competitors, refuse to sell their products or components to us at commercially reasonable prices or at all, go out of business or discontinue their relationships with us. We may be unable to develop alternative sources for these components.
The loss of a source of supply, or lack of sufficient availability of key components, could require us to redesign products that use such components, which could result in lost revenue, additional product costs and deployment delays that could harm our business and customer relationships. In addition, if we do not receive critical components for our products in a timely manner, we will be unable to deliver those components to our contract manufacturer in a timely manner and would, therefore, be unable to meet our prospective customers’ product delivery requirements. In the past, we have experienced delivery delays because of lack of availability of components or reliability issues with components that we were purchasing. In addition, some of our suppliers have gone out of business, merged with another supplier, or limited their supply of components to us, which may cause us to experience longer than normal lead times and supply delays. We may in the future experience a shortage of certain components as a result of our own manufacturing issues, manufacturing issues at our suppliers or contract manufacturers, capacity problems experienced by our suppliers or contract manufacturers, strong demand in the industry for such components, or other disruptions in our supply chain. In addition, global macroeconomic conditions are likely to continue to create pressure on us and our suppliers to accurately project overall component demand and manufacturing capacity. These supplier disruptions may continue to occur in the future, which could limit our ability to produce our products and cause us to fail to meet a customer’s delivery requirements. Any failure to meet our customers’ product delivery requirements could harm our reputation and our customer relationships, either of which would harm our business and operating results.
If we fail to accurately forecast demand for our products, we may have excess or insufficient inventory, which may increase our operating costs, decrease our revenue and harm our business.
We generate forecasts of future demand for our products several months prior to the scheduled delivery to our prospective customers. This requires us to make significant investments before we know if corresponding revenue will be recognized. Lead times for materials and components, including ASICs, that we need to order for the manufacture of our products vary significantly and depend on factors such as the specific supplier, contract terms and demand for each component at a given time. In the past, we have experienced lengthening in lead times for certain components. If the lead times for components are lengthened, we may be required to purchase increased levels of such components to satisfy our delivery commitments to our customers. In addition, we must manage our inventory to ensure we continue to meet our commitments as we introduce new products or make enhancements to our existing products.
If we overestimate market demand for our products and, as a result, increase our inventory in anticipation of customer orders that do not materialize, we will have excess inventory, which could result in increased risk of obsolescence and significant inventory write-downs. Furthermore, this will result in reduced production volumes and our fixed costs will be spread across fewer units, increasing our per unit costs. If we underestimate demand for our products, we will have inadequate inventory, which could slow down or interrupt the manufacturing of our products and result in delays in shipments and our ability to recognize revenue. In addition, we may be unable to meet our supply commitments to customers, which could result in a loss of certain customer opportunities or a breach of our customer agreements resulting in payment of damages.
If our contract manufacturers do not perform as we expect, our business may be harmed.
We rely on third party contract manufacturers to perform a portion of the manufacturing of our products, and our future success will depend on our ability to have sufficient volumes of our products manufactured in a cost-effective and quality-controlled manner. We have engaged third parties to manufacture certain elements of our products at multiple contract manufacturing sites located around the world but do not have long-term agreements in place with some of our manufacturers and suppliers that will guarantee product availability, or the continuation of particular pricing or payment terms. There are a number of risks associated with our dependence on contract manufacturers, including:
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reduced control over delivery schedules, particularly for international contract manufacturing sites;
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reliance on the quality assurance procedures of third parties;
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potential uncertainty regarding manufacturing yields and costs;
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potential lack of adequate capacity during periods of high demand;
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limited warranties on components;
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potential misappropriation of our intellectual property; and
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potential manufacturing disruptions (including disruptions caused by geopolitical events, military actions or natural disasters).
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Any of these risks could impair our ability to fulfill orders. Our contract manufacturers may not be able to meet the delivery requirements of our customers, which could decrease customer satisfaction and harm our product sales. If our contract manufacturers are unable or unwilling to continue manufacturing our products or components of our products in required volumes or our relationship with any of our contract manufacturers is discontinued for any reason, we would be required to identify and qualify alternative manufacturers, which could cause us to be unable to meet our supply requirements to our customers and result in the breach of our customer agreements. Qualifying a new contract manufacturer and commencing volume production is expensive and time-consuming and if we are required to change or qualify a new contract manufacturer, we could lose revenue and damage our customer relationships.
In recent years, we have experienced periods of rapid growth, and if we do not effectively manage any future growth or are unable to improve our systems, processes and controls, our operating results may be adversely affected.
In recent years, we have experienced periods of rapid growth and seen increased demand for our products. In addition, during these periods of strong growth, our employee headcount and number of end customers have increased significantly. For example, from the end of fiscal 2014 to the end of fiscal 2016, our headcount increased from 1,495 to 2,240
employees. The growth and expansion of our product and service offerings places a continuous significant strain on our management, and operational and financial resources. To manage any future growth effectively, we must continue to improve and expand our information technology and financial infrastructure, our operating and administrative systems, and our ability to manage headcount and retain key talent.
We may not be able to successfully scale improvements to our enterprise resource planning system or implement or scale improvements to our other systems, processes and controls in an efficient or timely manner, or in a manner that does not negatively affect our operating results. In addition, our existing systems, processes and controls may not prevent or detect all errors, omissions or fraud. We may experience difficulties in managing improvements to our systems, processes and controls, or in connection with third-party software, which could disrupt existing customer relationships, cause us to lose customers, or increase our technical support costs. Our failure to improve our systems, processes and controls, or their failure to operate in the intended manner, may result in our inability to manage the growth of our business and to accurately forecast our revenue, expenses and earnings, or to prevent certain losses. Failure to manage any future growth effectively could result in increased costs, negatively impact our customers’ satisfaction with our products and services, and harm our operating results.
If we fail to protect our intellectual property rights, our competitive position could be harmed or we could incur significant expense to enforce our rights.
We depend on our ability to protect our proprietary technology. We rely on a combination of methods to protect our intellectual property, including limiting access to certain information, and utilizing trade secret, patent, copyright and trademark laws and confidentiality agreements with employees and third parties, all of which offer only limited protection. The steps we have taken to protect our proprietary rights may be inadequate to preclude misappropriation or unauthorized disclosure of our proprietary information or infringement of our intellectual property rights, and our ability to police such misappropriation, unauthorized disclosure or infringement is uncertain, particularly in countries outside of the United States. This is likely to become an increasingly important issue if we expand our operations and product development into countries that provide a lower level of intellectual property protection. We do not know whether any of our pending patent applications will result in the issuance of patents or whether the examination process will require us to narrow our claims, and even if patents are issued, they may be contested, circumvented or invalidated. Moreover, the rights granted under any issued patents may not provide us with a competitive advantage, and, as with any technology, competitors may be able to develop similar or superior technologies to our own now or in the future.
Protecting against the unauthorized use of our products, trademarks and other proprietary rights is expensive, difficult, time consuming and, in some cases, impossible. Litigation may be necessary in the future to enforce or defend our intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets or to determine the validity or scope of the proprietary rights of others. Such litigation could result in substantial cost and diversion of management resources, either of which could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Furthermore, many of our current and potential competitors have the ability to dedicate substantially greater resources to enforce their intellectual property rights than we do. Accordingly, despite our efforts, we may not be able to prevent third parties from infringing upon or misappropriating our intellectual property.
Claims by others that we infringe their intellectual property could harm our business.
Our industry is characterized by the existence of a large number of patents and frequent claims and related litigation regarding patent and other intellectual property rights. In particular, many leading companies in the optical transport networking industry, including our competitors, have extensive patent portfolios with respect to optical transport networking technology. In addition, patent holding companies seek to monetize patents they have purchased or otherwise obtained. We expect that infringement claims may increase as the number of products and competitors in our market increases and overlaps occur. From time to time, third parties may assert exclusive patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights to technologies and related standards that are important to our business or seek to invalidate the proprietary rights that we hold. Competitors or other third parties have, and may continue to assert claims or initiate litigation or other proceedings against us or our manufacturers, suppliers or customers alleging infringement of their proprietary rights, or seeking to invalidate our proprietary rights, with respect to our products and technology. In addition, we have had certain patent licenses with third parties that have not been renewed, and if we cannot successfully renew these licenses, we could face claims of infringement. In the event that we are unsuccessful in defending against any such claims, or any resulting lawsuit or proceedings, we could incur liability for damages and/or have valuable proprietary rights invalidated.
Any claim of infringement from a third party, even one without merit, could cause us to incur substantial costs defending against the claim, and could distract our management from running our business. Furthermore, a party making such a claim, if successful, could secure a judgment that requires us to pay substantial damages or could include an injunction or other court order that could prevent us from offering our products. In addition, we might be required to seek a license for the use of such intellectual property, which may not be available on commercially reasonable terms or at all. Alternatively, we may be required to develop non-infringing technology, which would require significant effort and expense and may ultimately not be successful. Any of these events could harm our business, financial condition and operating results. Competitors and other third parties have and may continue to assert infringement claims against our customers and sales partners. Any of these claims would require us to initiate or defend potentially protracted and costly litigation on their behalf, regardless of the merits of these claims, because we generally indemnify our customers and sales partners from claims of infringement of proprietary rights of third parties. If any of these claims succeed, we may be forced to pay damages on behalf of our customers or sales partners, which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
We may also be required to indemnify some customers under our contracts if a third party alleges, or a court finds, that our products have infringed upon the proprietary rights of other parties. From time to time, we have agreed to indemnify select customers for claims made against our products, where such claims allege infringement of third party intellectual property rights, including, but not limited to, patents, registered trademarks and/or
copyrights. If we are required to make a significant payment under any of our indemnification obligations, our result of operations may be harmed
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We incorporate open source software into our products. Although we monitor our use of open source software closely, the terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to commercialize our products. In such event, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our products, to re-engineer our products or to discontinue the sale of our products in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis, any of which could adversely affect our business, operating results and financial condition.
Our sales cycle can be long and unpredictable, which could result in an unexpected revenue shortfall in any given quarter.
Our products can have a lengthy sales cycle, which can extend from six to twelve months and may take even longer for larger prospective customers. Our prospective customers conduct significant evaluation, testing, implementation and acceptance procedures before they purchase our products. We incur substantial sales and marketing expenses and expend significant management effort during this time, regardless of whether we make a sale.
Because the purchase of our equipment involves substantial cost, most of our customers wait to purchase our equipment until they are ready to deploy it in their network. As a result, it is difficult for us to accurately predict the timing of future purchases by our customers. In addition, product purchases are often subject to budget constraints, multiple approvals and unplanned administrative processing and other delays. If sales expected from customers for a particular quarter are not realized in that quarter or at all, our revenue will be negatively impacted.
The trading price of our common stock has been volatile and is likely to be volatile in the future.
The trading prices of our common stock and the securities of other technology companies have been and may continue to be highly volatile. Factors affecting the trading price of our common stock include:
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variations in our operating results;
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announcements of technological innovations, new services or service enhancements, the gain or loss of customers, strategic alliances or agreements by us or by our competitors;
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market conditions in our industry, the industries of our customers and the economy as a whole;
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changes in the estimates of our future operating results or external guidance on those results or changes in recommendations or business expectations by any securities analysts that elect to follow our common stock;
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recruitment or departure of key personnel;
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mergers and acquisitions by us, by our competitors or by our customers; and
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adoption or modification of regulations, policies, procedures or programs applicable to our business.
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In addition, if the market for technology stocks or the broader stock market experience a loss of investor confidence, the trading price of our common stock could decline for reasons unrelated to our business, financial condition or operating results. The trading price of our common stock might also decline in reaction to events that affect other companies in our industry even if these events do not directly affect us. Each of these factors, among others, could harm the value of your investment in our common stock. Some companies that have had volatile market prices for their securities have had securities class action lawsuits filed against them. If a suit were filed against us, regardless of its merits or outcome, it could result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources.
Unfavorable macroeconomic and market conditions may adversely affect our industry, business and gross margin.
Our business depends on the overall demand for additional bandwidth capacity and on the economic health and willingness of our customers and potential customers to make capital commitments to purchase our products and services. As a result of macroeconomic or market uncertainty, we may face new risks that we have not yet identified. In addition, a number of the risks associated with our business, which are disclosed in these risk factors, may increase in likelihood, magnitude or duration.
In the past, unfavorable macroeconomic and market conditions have resulted in sustained periods of decreased demand for optical communications products. These conditions may also result in the tightening of credit markets, which may limit or delay our customers’ ability to obtain necessary financing for their purchases of our products. A lack of liquidity in the capital markets or the continued uncertainty in the global economic environment may cause our customers to delay or cancel their purchases, increase the time they take to pay or default on their payment obligations, each of which would negatively affect our business and operating results. Weakness and uncertainty in the global economy could cause some of our customers to become illiquid, delay payments or adversely affect our collection of their accounts, which could result in a higher level of bad debt expense. In addition, currency fluctuations could negatively affect our international customers’ ability or desire to purchase our products.
Challenging economic conditions have from time to time contributed to slowdowns in the telecommunications industry in which we operate. Such slowdowns may result in:
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reduced demand for our products as a result of constraints on capital spending by our customers;
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increased price competition for our products, not only from our competitors, but also as a result of our customer’s or potential customer’s utilization of inventoried or underutilized products, which could put additional downward pressure on our near term gross profits;
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risk of excess or obsolete inventories;
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excess manufacturing capacity and higher associated overhead costs as a percentage of revenue; and
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more limited ability to accurately forecast our business and future financial performance.
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A lack of liquidity and economic uncertainty may adversely affect our suppliers or the terms on which we purchase products from these suppliers. It may also cause some of our suppliers to become illiquid. Any of these impacts could limit our ability to obtain components for our products from these suppliers and could adversely impact our supply chain or the delivery schedule to our customers. This also could require us to purchase more expensive components, or re-design our products, which could cause increases in the cost of our products and delays in the manufacturing and delivery of our products. Such events could harm our gross margin and harm our reputation and our customer relationships, either of which could harm our business and operating results.
Product performance problems, including undetected errors in our hardware or software, or deployment delays could harm our business and reputation.
The development and production of products with high technology content is complicated and often involves problems with software, components and manufacturing methods. Complex hardware and software systems, such as our products, can often contain undetected errors when first introduced or as new versions are released. In addition, errors associated with components we purchase from third parties, including customized components, may be difficult to resolve. We have experienced issues in the past in connection with our products, including failures due to the receipt of faulty components from our suppliers. In addition, performance issues can be heightened during periods where we are developing and introducing multiple new products to the market, as any performance issues we encounter in one technology or product could impact the performance or timing of delivery of other products. Our products may suffer degradation of performance and reliability over time.
If reliability, quality or network monitoring problems develop, a number of negative effects on our business could result, including:
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reduced orders from existing customers;
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declining interest from potential customers;
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delays in our ability to recognize revenue or in collecting accounts receivables;
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costs associated with fixing hardware or software defects or replacing products;
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high service and warranty expenses;
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high inventory excess and obsolescence expense;
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high levels of product returns;
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diversion of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts; and
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payment of liquidated damages, performance guarantees or similar penalties.
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Because we outsource the manufacturing of certain components of our products, we may also be subject to product performance problems as a result of the acts or omissions of third parties.
From time to time, we encounter interruptions or delays in the activation of our products at a customer’s site. These interruptions or delays may result from product performance problems or from issues with installation and activation, some of which are outside our control. If we experience significant interruptions or delays that we cannot promptly resolve, the associated revenue for these installations may be delayed or confidence in our products could be undermined, which could cause us to lose customers and fail to add new customers.
Our debt obligations may adversely affect our ability to raise additional capital and will be a burden on our future cash resources, particularly if we elect to settle these obligations in cash upon conversion or upon maturity or required purchase
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In May 2013, we issued the Notes, which will mature on June 1, 2018, unless earlier purchased by us or converted. The degree to which we are leveraged could have important consequences, including, but not limited to, the following:
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our ability to obtain additional financing in the future for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions, litigation, general corporate or other purposes may be limited; and
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a substantial portion of our future cash balance may be dedicated to the payment of the principal of our indebtedness as we have stated the intention to pay the principal amount of the Notes in cash upon conversion or when otherwise due, such that we would not have those funds available for use in our business
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Our ability to meet our payment obligations under our debt instruments, including the Notes, depends on our future cash flow performance. This, to some extent, is subject to general economic, financial, competitive, legislative and regulatory factors, as well as other factors that may be beyond our control. There can be no assurance that our business will generate positive cash flow from operations, or that additional capital will be available to us, in an amount sufficient to enable us to meet our debt payment obligations and to fund other liquidity needs. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow to service our debt obligations, we may need to refinance or restructure our debt, sell assets, reduce or delay capital investments, or seek to raise additional capital. If we were unable to implement one or more of these alternatives, we may be unable to meet our debt payment obligations. As a result, we may be more vulnerable to economic downturns, less able to withstand competitive pressures and less flexible in responding to changing business and economic conditions.
We may issue additional shares of our common stock in connection with conversions of the Notes, and thereby dilute our existing stockholders and potentially adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
In the event that some or all of the Notes are converted and we elect to deliver shares of common stock, the ownership interests of existing stockholders will be diluted, and any sales in the public market of any shares of our common stock issuable upon such conversion could adversely affect the prevailing market price of our common stock. In addition, the anticipated conversion of the Notes could depress the market price of our common stock.
The fundamental change provisions of the Notes may delay or prevent an otherwise beneficial takeover attempt of us.
If a fundamental change
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such as an acquisition of our company
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occurs prior to the maturity of the Notes, holders of the Notes will have the right, at their option, to require us to repurchase all or a portion of their Notes. In addition, if such fundamental change also constitutes a make-whole fundamental change, the conversion rate for the Notes may be increased upon conversion of the Notes in connection with such make-whole fundamental change. Any increase in the conversion rate will be determined based on the date on which the make-whole fundamental change occurs or becomes effective and the price paid (or deemed paid) per share of our common stock in such transaction. Any such increase will be dilutive to our existing stockholders. Our obligation to repurchase Notes or increase the conversion rate upon the occurrence of a make-whole fundamental change may, in certain circumstances, delay or prevent a takeover of us that might otherwise be beneficial to our stockholders.
If we need additional capital in the future, it may not be available to us on favorable terms, or at all.
Our business requires significant capital. We have historically relied on outside debt or equity financing as well as cash flow from operations to fund our operations, capital expenditures and expansion. We may require
additional capital from equity or debt financings in the future to fund our operations, respond to competitive pressures or strategic opportunities or to refinance our existing debt obligations. In the event that we require additional capital, we may not be able to secure timely additional financing on favorable terms, or at all. The terms of any additional financing may place limits on our financial and operating flexibility. If we raise additional funds through further issuances of equity, convertible debt securities or other securities convertible into equity, our existing stockholders could suffer dilution in their percentage ownership of our company, and any new securities we issue could have rights, preferences and privileges senior to those of holders of our common stock. If we are unable to obtain adequate financing or financing on terms satisfactory to us, if and when we require it, our ability to grow or support our business and to respond to business challenges could be limited and our business will be harmed.
Our international sales and operations subject us to additional risks that may harm our operating results.
Sales of our products into international markets are an important part of our business. During fiscal 2016 and 2015, we derived approximately 38% and 32%, respectively, of our revenue from customers outside of the United States. We expect that significant management attention and financial resources will be required for our international activities over the foreseeable future as we continue to expand our international presence. In some countries, our success in selling our products and growing revenue will depend in part on our ability to form relationships with local partners. Our inability to identify appropriate partners or reach mutually satisfactory arrangements for international sales of our products could impact our ability to maintain or increase international market demand for our products. In addition, many of the companies we compete against internationally have greater name recognition and a more substantial sales and marketing presence.
We have sales and support personnel in numerous countries worldwide. In addition, we have established development centers in Canada, China, India and Sweden. There is no assurance that our reliance upon development resources in international locations will enable us to achieve meaningful cost reductions or greater resource efficiency.
Our international operations are subject to inherent risks, and our future results could be adversely affected by a variety of factors, many of which are outside of our control, including:
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greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable and longer collection periods;
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difficulties of managing and staffing international offices, and the increased travel, infrastructure and legal compliance costs associated with multiple international locations;
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political, social and economic instability, including wars, terrorism, political unrest, boycotts, curtailment of trade and other business restrictions;
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tariff and trade barriers and other regulatory requirements or contractual limitations on our ability to sell or develop our products in certain foreign markets;
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less effective protection of intellectual property than is afforded to us in the United States or other developed countries;
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local laws and practices that favor local companies, including business practices that we are prohibited from engaging in by the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and other anti-corruption laws and regulations;
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potentially adverse tax consequences; and
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effects of changes in currency exchange rates, particularly relative increases in the exchange rate of the U.S. dollar versus other currencies that could negatively affect our financial results and cash flows.
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International customers may also require that we comply with certain testing or customization of our products to conform to local standards. The product development costs to test or customize our products could be extensive and a material expense for us.
Our international operations are subject to increasingly complex foreign and U.S. laws and regulations, including but not limited to anti-corruption laws, such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and the UK Bribery Act and equivalent laws in other jurisdictions, antitrust or competition laws, and data privacy laws, among others. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines and penalties, criminal sanctions against us, our officers, or our employees, prohibitions on the conduct of our business and on our ability to offer our products and services in one or more countries, and could also materially affect our reputation, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, our business, and our operating results. Although we have implemented policies, procedures and training designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no complete assurance that any individual employee, contractor or agent will not violate our policies.
Additionally, the costs of complying with these laws (including the costs of investigations, auditing and monitoring) could also adversely affect our current or future business.
As we continue to expand our business globally, our success will depend, in large part, on our ability to effectively anticipate and manage these and other risks and expenses associated with our international operations. For example, political instability and uncertainty in the European Union and, in particular, the United Kingdom's pending exit from the E.U. (Brexit) as well as other countries potentially choosing to exit the E.U., could slow economic growth in the region, affect foreign exchange rates, and could further discourage near-term economic activity, including our customers delaying purchases of our products. Our failure to manage any of these risks successfully could harm our international operations and reduce our international sales, and business generally, adversely affecting our business, operating results and financial condition.
We may be adversely affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates.
A portion of our sales and expenses stem from countries outside of the United States, and are in currencies other than U.S. dollars, and therefore subject to foreign currency fluctuation. Accordingly, fluctuations in foreign currency rates could have a material impact on our financial results in future periods. We may enter into other financial contracts to reduce the impact of foreign currency fluctuations. We currently enter into foreign currency exchange forward contracts to reduce the impact of foreign currency fluctuations on accounts receivable. These forward contracts reduce the impact of currency exchange rate movements on certain transactions, but do not cover all foreign-denominated transactions and therefore do not entirely eliminate the impact of fluctuations in exchange rates that could negatively affect our results of operations and financial condition.
Our effective tax rate may increase or fluctuate, which could increase our income tax expense and reduce our net income.
Our effective tax rate can be adversely affected by several factors, many of which are outside of our control, including:
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changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, and in deferred tax valuation allowances;
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changes in the relative proportions of revenue and income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates;
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changing tax laws, regulations, rates and interpretations in multiple jurisdictions in which we operate;
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changes in accounting and tax treatment of equity-based compensation;
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changes to the financial accounting rules for income taxes; and
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the resolution of issues arising from tax audits.
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The international tax environment continues to change as a result of both coordinated actions by governments and unilateral measures designed by individual countries, both intended to tackle concerns over base erosion and profit shifting (“BEPS”) and perceived international tax avoidance techniques. The recommendations of the BEPS Project led by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development are involved in much of the coordinated activity, although the timing and methods of implementation vary. Additionally, comprehensive U.S. tax reform has been stated to be a priority for the U.S. Congress and the new administration. Such changes in tax laws or their interpretation, if adopted, could adversely affect our effective tax rates and our results.
If we fail to maintain effective internal control over financial reporting in the future, the accuracy and timing of our financial reporting may be adversely affected.
We are required to comply with Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. The provisions of the act require, among other things, that we maintain effective internal control over financial reporting and disclosure controls and procedures. Preparing our financial statements involves a number of complex processes, many of which are done manually and are dependent upon individual data input or review. These processes include, but are not limited to, calculating revenue, deferred revenue and inventory costs. While we continue to automate our processes and enhance our review and put in place controls to reduce the likelihood for errors, we expect that for the foreseeable future, many of our processes will remain manually intensive and thus subject to human error.
Any acquisitions we make could disrupt our business and harm our financial condition and operations.
We may make strategic acquisitions of businesses, technologies and other assets. For example, we completed the acquisition of Transmode in August 2015. If we are not able to achieve the anticipated strategic benefits of such acquisitions, it could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, the market price of our common stock could be adversely affected if the integration or the anticipated financial and strategic benefits of such acquisitions are not realized as rapidly as, or to the extent anticipated by investors and analysts.
The expansion of our business through acquisitions allows us to complement our technological capabilities and address new markets. In the event of any future acquisitions, we may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve our goals, or they may be viewed negatively by customers, financial markets or investors and we could:
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issue stock that would dilute our current stockholders’ percentage ownership;
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incur debt and assume other liabilities;
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use a substantial portion of our cash resources; or
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incur amortization expenses related to other intangible assets and/or incur large and immediate write-offs.
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Acquisitions can result in adverse tax consequences, warranty or product liability exposure related to acquired assets, additional stock-based compensation expense, and write-up of acquired inventory to fair value. In addition, we may record goodwill and other purchased intangible assets in connection with an acquisition and incur impairment charges in the future. If our actual results, or the plans and estimates used in future impairment analyses, are less favorable than the original estimates used to assess the recoverability of these assets, we could incur additional impairment charges.
Acquisitions also involve numerous risks that could disrupt our ongoing business and distract our management team, including:
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problems integrating the acquired operations, technologies or products with our own;
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diversion of management’s attention from our core business;
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adverse impact on overall company operating results;
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adverse effects on existing business relationships with suppliers and customers;
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risks associated with entering new markets; and
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Our failure to adequately manage the risks associated with an acquisition could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
Unforeseen health, safety and environmental costs could harm our business.
Our manufacturing operations use substances that are regulated by various federal, state and international laws governing health, safety and the environment, including the Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, Directive on the Restriction of the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment, and the Registration, Evaluation, Authorization, and Restriction of Chemicals regulations adopted by the European Union. If we experience a problem with complying with these regulations, it could cause an interruption or delay in our manufacturing operations or could cause us to incur liabilities for any costs related to health, safety or environmental remediation. We could also be subject to liability if we do not handle these substances in compliance with safety standards for storage and transportation and applicable laws. If we experience a problem or fail to comply with such safety standards, our business, financial condition and operating results may be harmed.
We are subject to governmental regulations that could adversely affect our business.
We are subject to export control laws that limit which products we sell and where and to whom we sell our products. These export control laws also limit our ability to conduct product development activities in certain countries. In addition, various countries regulate the import of certain technologies and have enacted laws that could limit our ability to distribute our products or could limit our customers’ ability to implement our products in those countries. Changes in our products or changes in import and export regulations may create delays in the introduction of our products in international markets, prevent our customers with international operations from deploying our products throughout their global systems or, in some cases, prevent the import and export of our products to certain countries altogether. Any change in import and export regulations or related legislation, shift in approach to the enforcement or scope of existing regulations, or change in the countries, persons or technologies targeted by such regulations, could result in decreased use of our products by, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products to, existing or potential customers with international operations. Failure to comply with these and similar laws on a timely basis, or at all, decreased use of our products or any limitation on our ability to export or sell our products would adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results.
Our product or manufacturing standards could also be impacted by new or revised environmental rules and regulations or other social initiatives. For instance, the SEC adopted new disclosure requirements in 2012 relating to the sourcing of certain minerals from the Democratic Republic of Congo and certain other adjoining countries. Those rules, which required reporting for the first time in calendar 2014, could adversely affect our costs, the availability of minerals used in our products and our relationships with customers and suppliers.
The Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) has jurisdiction over the entire U.S. communications industry and, as a result, our products and our U.S. customers are subject to FCC rules and regulations. Current and future FCC regulations, including regulations on net neutrality or generally affecting communications services, our products or our customers’ businesses could negatively affect our business. In addition, international regulatory standards could impair our ability to develop products for international customers in the future. Moreover, many jurisdictions are evaluating or implementing regulations relating to cybersecurity, privacy and data protection, which can affect the market and requirements for networking and communications equipment. Delays caused by our compliance with regulatory requirements could result in postponements or cancellations of product orders. Further, we may not be successful in obtaining or maintaining any regulatory approvals that may, in the future, be required to operate our business. Any failure to obtain such approvals could harm our business and operating results.
Natural disasters, terrorist attacks or other catastrophic events could harm our operations.
Our headquarters and the majority of our infrastructure, including our PIC fabrication manufacturing facility, are located in Northern California, an area that is susceptible to earthquakes, floods and other natural disasters. Further, a terrorist attack aimed at Northern California or at the United States energy or telecommunications infrastructure could hinder or delay the development and sale of our products. In the event that an earthquake, terrorist attack or other man-made or natural catastrophe were to destroy any part of our facilities, or certain of our contract manufacturers’ facilities, destroy or disrupt vital infrastructure systems or interrupt our operations for any extended period of time, our business, financial condition and operating results would be harmed.
Security incidents, such as data breaches and cyber-attacks, could compromise our intellectual property and proprietary or confidential information and cause significant damage to our business and reputation.
In the ordinary course of our business, we maintain sensitive data on our networks, including data related to our intellectual property and data related to our business, customers and business partners, which is considered proprietary or confidential information. We believe that companies in the technology industry have been increasingly subject to a wide variety of security incidents, cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access. While the secure maintenance of this information is critical to our business and reputation, our network and storage applications may be subject to unauthorized access by hackers or breached due to operator error, malfeasance or other system disruptions. It may be difficult to anticipate or immediately detect such security incidents or data breaches and the damage caused as a result. Accordingly, a data breach, cyber-attack, or unauthorized access or disclosure of our information, could compromise our intellectual property and reveal proprietary or confidential business information. In addition, these security incidents could also cause us to incur significant remediation costs and expenses, disrupt key business operations, subject us to liability and divert attention of management and key information technology resources, any of which could cause significant harm to our business and reputation.
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and Delaware law could discourage, delay or prevent a change in control of our company and may affect the trading price of our common stock.
We are a Delaware corporation and the anti-takeover provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which apply to us, may discourage, delay or prevent a change in control by prohibiting us from engaging in a business combination with an interested stockholder for a period of three years after the person becomes an interested stockholder, even if a change of control would be beneficial to our existing stockholders. In addition, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may discourage, delay or prevent a change in our management or control over us that stockholders may consider favorable. Our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws:
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authorize the issuance of “blank check” convertible preferred stock that could be issued by our board of directors to thwart a takeover attempt;
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establish a classified board of directors, as a result of which the successors to the directors whose terms have expired will be elected to serve from the time of election and qualification until the third annual meeting following their election;
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require that directors only be removed from office for cause and only upon a supermajority stockholder vote;
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provide that vacancies on the board of directors, including newly-created directorships, may be filled only by a majority vote of directors then in office rather than by stockholders;
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prevent stockholders from calling special meetings; and
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prohibit stockholder action by written consent, requiring all actions to be taken at a meeting of the stockholders.
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