ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
We depend on cable, satellite and telco, and broadcast and media industry spending for our revenue and any material decrease or delay in spending in any of these industries would negatively impact our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
Our revenue has been derived from worldwide sales to service providers and broadcast and media companies, as well as, in recent years, streaming media companies. We expect that these markets will provide our revenue for the foreseeable future. Demand for our products will depend on the magnitude and timing of spending by customers in each of these markets for the purpose of creating, expanding or upgrading their systems. These spending patterns are dependent on a variety of factors, including:
• the impact of general economic conditions, actual and projected;
• access to financing;
• annual budget cycles of customers in each of the industries we serve;
• the impact of industry consolidation;
• customers suspending or reducing spending in anticipation of: (i) new video or cable industry standards; (ii) industry trends and technology shifts, such as virtualization and cloud-based solutions, and (iii) new products, such as products and services based on our VOS software platform or our CableOS software-based cable access solution;
• delayed or reduced spending as customers transition to or contemplate adopting new business and operating models enabled by software- and cloud-based solutions, including software-as-a-service (SaaS) unified video processing solutions;
• federal, state, local and foreign government regulation of telecommunications, television broadcasting and streaming media;
• overall demand for communication services and consumer acceptance of new video and data technologies and services;
• competitive pressures, including pricing pressures;
• the impact of fluctuations in currency exchange rates; and
• discretionary end-user customer spending patterns.
In the past, specific factors contributing to reduced spending have included:
• weak or uncertain economic and financial conditions in the U.S. or one or more international markets;
• uncertainty related to development of digital video industry standards;
• delays in evaluations of new services, new standards and systems architectures by many operators;
• emphasis by operators on generating revenue from existing customers, rather than from new customers, through construction, expansion or upgrades;
• a reduction in the amount of capital available to finance projects of our customers and potential customers;
• proposed and completed business combinations and divestitures by our customers and the length of regulatory review of each;
• completion of a new system or significant expansion or upgrade to a system; and
• bankruptcies and financial restructuring of major customers.
In the past, adverse economic conditions in one or more of the geographies in which we offer our products have adversely affected our customers’ spending in those geographies and, as a result, our business. During challenging economic times, and in tight credit markets, many customers may delay or reduce capital expenditures. This could result in reductions in revenue from our products, longer sales cycles, difficulties in collection of accounts receivable, slower adoption of new technologies and increased price competition. If global economic and market conditions, or economic conditions in the U.S., Europe or other key markets, deteriorate, we could experience a material and adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. Additionally, since most of our international revenue is denominated in U.S. dollars, global economic and market conditions may impact currency exchange rates and cause our products to become relatively more expensive to customers in a particular country or region, which could lead to delayed or reduced spending in those countries or regions, thereby negatively impacting our business and financial condition.
In addition, industry consolidation has in the past constrained, and may in the future constrain or delay, spending by our customers. Further, if our product portfolio and product development plans do not position us well to capture an increased portion of the spending of customers in the markets on which we focus, our revenue may decline.
As a result of these various factors and potential issues related to customer spending, we may not be able to maintain or increase our revenue in the future, and our operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
The markets in which we operate are intensely competitive.
The markets for our products are extremely competitive and have been characterized by rapid technological change and declining average sales prices in the past.
Large integrated system suppliers, such as Arris Group, Cisco Systems and Ericsson, with which we have historically competed in our Video business segment, announced sale and divestiture transactions in the last several months that impacted these companies’ video businesses: Arris was acquired by CommScope; Cisco Systems sold its video solutions group (now called Synamedia) to Permira, a private equity firm; and Ericsson completed the sale of a majority stake in its MediaKind video technology business to One Equity Partners, a private equity firm. In certain product lines, our competitors include companies such as ATEME and Elemental Technologies (an Amazon Web Services company). With respect to production and playout products, competitors include Evertz Microsystems, EVS, Grass Valley (a Belden brand) and Imagine Communications. In the OTT market, our competitors include end-to-end online video platforms such as Brightcove and Verizon Digital Media Services, who provide comprehensive OTT infrastructure solutions, some of which overlap with our products and services. Our competitors in our Cable Access business include Arris, Casa Systems, Cisco Systems and Huawei Technologies.
A number of our principal business competitors in both of our business segments are substantially larger and/or may have access to greater financial, technical, marketing and other resources than we have. Consolidation in the Video industry has led to the acquisition of a number of our historic competitors over the last several years by substantially larger companies and private equity firms. With respect to our Cable Access business, our competitors are also substantially larger than us, and the acquisition of Arris by CommScope will create a significantly larger combined business.
In addition, some of our larger competitors have more long-standing and established relationships with domestic and foreign customers. Many of these large enterprises are in a better position to withstand any significant reduction in spending by customers in our markets. They often have broader product lines and market focus, and may not be as susceptible to downturns in a particular market. These competitors may also be able to bundle their products together to meet the needs of a particular customer, and may be capable of delivering more complete solutions than we are able to provide. To the extent large enterprises that currently do not compete directly with us choose to enter our markets by acquisition or otherwise, competition would likely intensify.
Further, some of our competitors that have greater financial resources have offered, and in the future may offer, their products at lower prices than we offer for our competing products or on more attractive financing or payment terms, which has in the past caused, and may in the future cause, us to lose sales opportunities and the resulting revenue or to reduce our prices in response to that competition. Also, some competitors that are smaller than we are have
engaged in, and may continue to engage in, aggressive price competition in order to gain customer traction and market share. Reductions in prices for any of our products could materially and adversely affect our operating margins and revenue.
Additionally, certain customers and potential customers have developed, and may continue to develop, their own solutions that may cause such customers or potential customers to not consider our product offerings or to displace our installed products with their own solutions. The growing availability of open source codecs and related software, as well as new server chipsets that incorporate encoding technology, has, in certain respects, lowered the barriers to entry for the video processing industry. The development of solutions by potential and existing customers and the reduction of the barriers to entry to enter the video processing industry could result in increased competition and adversely affect our results of operations and business.
If any of our competitors’ products or technologies were to become the industry standard, our business could be seriously harmed. If our competitors are successful in bringing their products to market earlier than us, or if these products are more technologically capable than ours, our revenue could be materially and adversely affected.
We need to develop and introduce new and enhanced products in a timely manner to meet the needs of our customers and to remain competitive.
All of the markets we address are characterized by continuing technological advancement, changes in customer requirements and evolving industry standards. To compete successfully, we must continually design, develop, manufacture and sell new or enhanced products that provide increasingly higher levels of performance and reliability and meet our customers changing needs. However, we may not be successful in those efforts if, among other things, our products:
• are not cost effective;
• are not brought to market in a timely manner;
• are not in accordance with evolving industry standards;
• fail to meet market acceptance or customer requirements; or
• are ahead of the needs of their markets.
We are currently developing and marketing products based on the latest video compression standards, such as HEVC, which provides significantly greater compression efficiency, thereby making more bandwidth available to operators. At the same time, we continue to devote development resources to enhance the existing AVC/H.264 compression of our products, which many of our customers continue to require. There can be no assurance that these efforts will be successful in the near future, or at all, or that our competitors will not take significant market share in encoding or transcoding.
We continue to focus our development efforts on key product solutions in our Video and Cable Access businesses. Our VOS solution is a software-based, cloud-enabled platform that unifies the entire media processing chain, from ingest to delivery. We have launched a number of VOS-based product solutions and services, including our VOS Cluster and VOS360 SaaS solutions, and continue to develop and expand the capabilities of our VOS software platform. In our Cable Access business, we have launched and continue to develop our CableOS software-based cable access solutions.
Many of these products and initiatives are intended to integrate existing and new features and functions in response to shifts in customer demands in the relevant market, as well as to general technology trends that we believe will significantly impact our industry. The success of these significant and costly development efforts will be predicated, for certain products and initiatives, on the timing of market adoption of the new standards on which the resulting products are based, and for other products, the timing of customer adoption of our products and solutions, as well as our ability to timely develop the features and capabilities of our products and solutions. If new standards or some of our new products are adopted later than we predict or not adopted at all, or if adoption occurs earlier than we are able to deliver the applicable products or functionality, we risk spending significant research and development time and dollars on products or features that may never achieve market acceptance or that miss the customer demand window and thus do not produce the revenue that a timely introduction would have likely produced.
If we fail to develop and market new and enhanced products on a timely basis, our operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Our software-based cable access product initiatives expose us to certain technology transition risks that may adversely impact our operating results, financial condition and cash flows
.
We believe our CableOS software-based cable access solutions, supporting centralized, distributed Remote PHY or hybrid configurations, will significantly reduce cable headend costs and increase operational efficiency, and are an important step in cable operators’ transition to all-IP networks. If we are unsuccessful in developing and deploying our cable access solutions in a timely manner, or are otherwise delayed in making our solutions available to our customers, our business may be adversely impacted, particularly if our competitors develop and market similar products and solutions before we do.
We believe software-based cable access solutions will, over time, replace and make obsolete current CMTS solutions, which is a market our products have historically not addressed, as well as cable edge-QAM products. If demand for our software-based cable access solutions is weaker than expected, our near and long-term operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be adversely impacted. Further, in September 2016 we granted Comcast a warrant (the “Warrant”) to purchase shares of our common stock to further incentivize them to purchase our products and adopt our technologies, particularly our CableOS software-based cable access solution. If Comcast deploys our CableOS solution in its networks more slowly than we anticipate or at a scale below our expectations, we may be unable to fully realize the anticipated benefits of our relationship with Comcast and our business and operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected. Moreover, if competitors adapt new cable industry technology standards into competing cable access solutions faster than we do, or promulgate a new or competitive architecture for next-generation cable access solutions that renders our CableOS solution obsolete, our business may be adversely impacted.
The sales cycle for our CableOS solutions tends to be long. For cable operators, upgrading or expanding network infrastructure is complex and expensive, and investing in a CableOS solution is a significant strategic decision that may require considerable time to evaluate, test and qualify. Potential customers need to ensure our CableOS solution will interoperate with the various components of its existing network infrastructure, including third-party equipment, servers and software. In addition, since we are a relatively new entrant into the CMTS market, we need to demonstrate significant performance, functionality and/or cost advantages with our CableOS solutions that outweigh customer switching costs. If sales cycles are significantly longer than anticipated or we are otherwise unsuccessful in growing our CableOS sales, our operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Our future growth depends on market acceptance of several broadband services, on the adoption of new broadband technologies, and on several other broadband industry trends.
Future demand for many of our products will depend significantly on the growing market acceptance of emerging broadband services, including digital video, VOD, Ultra HD, IP video services (particularly streaming to tablet computers, connected TVs and mobile devices) and very high-speed data services. The market demand for such emerging services is rapidly growing, with many custom or proprietary systems in use, which increases the challenge of delivering interoperable products intended to address the requirements of such services.
The effective delivery of these services will depend, in part, on a variety of new network architectures, standards and devices, such as:
• the adoption of cloud-native media processing architectures;
• the adoption of advanced video compression standards, such as next generation H.264 compression and HEVC;
• the adoption of our cable access solutions;
• fiber to the premises, or FTTP, networks designed to facilitate the delivery of video services by telcos;
• the greater use of protocols such as IP;
• the further adoption of bandwidth-optimization techniques, such as DOCSIS 3.0 and DOCSIS 3.1 and associated specifications; and
• the introduction of new consumer devices, such as advanced set-top boxes, cloud DVRs, connected TVs, tablet computers, and a variety of smart phone mobile devices.
If adoption of these emerging services and/or technologies is not as widespread or as rapid as we expect, or if we are unable to develop new products based on these technologies on a timely basis, our operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
Furthermore, other technological, industry and regulatory trends and requirements may affect the growth of our business.
These trends and requirements include the following:
• convergence, whereby network operators bundle video, voice and data services to consumers, including mobile delivery options;
• the increasing availability of traditional broadcast video content and video-on-demand on the Internet;
• adoption of high-bandwidth technology, such as DOCSIS 3.x, next generation LTE and FTTP;
• the use of digital video by businesses, governments and educational institutions;
• efforts by regulators and governments in the U.S. and internationally to encourage the adoption of broadband and digital technologies, as well as to regulate broadband access and delivery;
• consumer interest in higher resolution video such as Ultra HD or retina-display technologies on mobile devices;
• the need to develop partnerships with other companies involved in video infrastructure workflow and broadband services;
• the continued adoption of the television viewing behaviors of consumers in developed economies by the growing middle class across emerging economies;
• the extent and nature of regulatory attitudes towards issues such as network neutrality, competition between operators, access by third parties to networks of other operators, local franchising requirements for telcos to offer video, and other new services, such as mobile video; and
• the outcome of disputes and negotiations between content owners and service providers regarding rights of service providers to store and distribute recorded broadcast content, which outcomes may drive adoption of one technology over another in some cases.
If we fail to recognize and respond to these trends, by timely developing products, features and services required by these trends, we are likely to lose revenue opportunities and our operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
We depend significantly on our international revenue and are subject to the risks associated with international operations, including those of our resellers, contract manufacturers and outsourcing partners, which may negatively affect our operating results.
Revenue derived from customers outside of the U.S. for the
three months ended
March 29, 2019
and
March 30, 2018
represented approximately 62% and 54% of our revenue, respectively. Although no assurance can be given with respect to international sales growth in any one or more regions, we expect that international revenue will likely continue to represent, from year to year, a majority, and potentially increasing, percentage of our annual revenue for the foreseeable future. A significant percentage of our revenue is generated from sales to resellers, value-added resellers (“VARs”) and systems integrators, particularly in emerging market countries. Furthermore, the majority of our employees are based in our international offices and locations, and most of our contract manufacturing occurs
outside of the U.S. In addition, we outsource a portion of our research and development activities to certain third-party partners with development centers located in different countries, particularly Ukraine and India.
Our international operations, the international operations of our resellers, contract manufacturers and outsourcing partners, and our efforts to maintain and increase revenue in international markets are subject to a number of risks, which are generally greater with respect to emerging market countries, including the following:
• growth and stability of the economy in one or more international regions;
• fluctuations in currency exchange rates;
• changes in foreign government regulations and telecommunications standards;
• import and export license requirements, tariffs, taxes, economic sanctions, contractual limitations and other trade barriers;
• our significant reliance on resellers and others to purchase and resell our products and solutions, particularly in emerging market countries;
• availability of credit, particularly in emerging market countries;
• longer collection periods and greater difficulty in enforcing contracts and collecting accounts receivable, especially from smaller customers and resellers, particularly in emerging market countries;
• compliance with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (the “FCPA”), the U.K. Bribery Act and/or similar anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws, particularly in emerging market countries;
• the burden of complying with a wide variety of foreign laws, treaties and technical standards;
• fulfilling “country of origin” requirements for our products for certain customers;
• difficulty in staffing and managing foreign operations;
• business and operational disruptions or delays caused by political, social and economic instability and unrest, including risks related to terrorist activity, particularly in emerging market countries (e.g., recent significant civil, political and economic disturbances in Ukraine);
• changes in economic policies by foreign governments, including the imposition and potential continued expansion of economic sanctions by the U.S. and the European Union on the Russian Federation;
• changes in diplomatic and trade relationships, including the imposition of new trade restrictions, trade protection measures, import or export requirements, trade embargoes and other trade barriers, including those imposed by the U.S. against China;
• any negative economic impacts resulting from the political environment in the U.S. or the U.K.’s referendum to exit the European Union; and
• business and economic disruptions and delays caused by outbreaks of disease, epidemics and potential pandemics.
We have certain international customers who are billed in their local currency, primarily the Euro, British pound and Japanese yen, which subjects us to foreign currency risk. In addition, a portion of our operating expenses relating to the cost of certain international employees, are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the Euro, Israeli shekel, British pound, Singapore dollar, Chinese yuan and Indian rupee. Although we do hedge against the Euro, British pound, Israeli shekel and Japanese yen, gains and losses on the conversion to U.S. dollars of accounts receivable, accounts payable and other monetary assets and liabilities arising from international operations may contribute to fluctuations in our operating results. Furthermore, payment cycles for international customers are typically longer than those for customers in the U.S. Unpredictable payment cycles could cause us to fail to meet or exceed the expectations of security analysts and investors for any given period.
Most of our international revenue is denominated in U.S. dollars, and fluctuations in currency exchange rates could cause our products to become relatively more expensive to customers in a particular country or region, leading to a reduction in revenue or profitability from sales in that country or region. The potential negative impact of a strong U.S. dollar on our business may be exacerbated by the significant devaluation of a number of foreign currencies. Also, if the U.S. dollar were to weaken against many foreign currencies, there can be no assurance that a weaker dollar would lead to growth in customer spending in foreign markets.
Our operations outside the U.S. also require us to comply with a number of U.S. and international regulations that prohibit improper payments or offers of payments to foreign governments and their officials and political parties for corrupt purposes. For example, our operations in countries outside the U.S. are subject to the FCPA and similar laws, including the U.K. Bribery Act. Our activities in certain emerging countries create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by one of our employees, consultants, sales agents or channel partners that could be in violation of various anti-corruption laws, even though these parties may not be under our control. Under the FCPA and U.K. Bribery Act, companies may be held liable for the corrupt actions taken by their directors, officers, employees, channel partners, sales agents, consultants, or other strategic or local partners or representatives. We have internal control policies and procedures with respect to FCPA compliance, have implemented FCPA training and compliance programs for our employees, and include in our agreements with resellers a requirement that those parties comply with the FCPA. However, we cannot provide assurances that our policies, procedures and programs will prevent violations of the FCPA or similar laws by our employees or agents, particularly in emerging market countries, and as we expand our international operations. Any such violation, even if prohibited by our policies, could result in criminal or civil sanctions against us.
The effect of one or more of these international risks could have a material and adverse effect on our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flows.
We purchase several key components, subassemblies and modules used in the manufacture or integration of our products from sole or limited sources, and we rely on contract manufacturers and other subcontractors.
Our reliance on sole or limited suppliers, particularly foreign suppliers, and our reliance on contractors for manufacturing and installation of our products, involves several risks, including a potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of required components, subassemblies or modules; reduced control over costs, quality and timely delivery of components, subassemblies or modules; supplier discontinuation of components, subassemblies or modules we require; and timely installation of products. In addition, our financial results may be impacted by tariffs imposed by the U.S. on goods from other countries and tariffs imposed by other countries on U.S. goods, including the tariffs proposed by the U.S. government on various imports from China and by the Chinese government on certain U.S. goods, the scope and duration of which, if implemented, remain uncertain. If any such tariffs are imposed on products or components that we import, including those obtained from a sole supplier or a limited group of suppliers, we could experience reduced revenues or may have to raise our prices, either of which could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition and operating results.
These risks could be heightened during a substantial economic slowdown, because our suppliers and subcontractors are more likely to experience adverse changes in their financial condition and operations during such a period. Further, these risks could materially and adversely affect our business if one of our sole sources, or a sole source of one of our suppliers or contract manufacturers, is adversely affected by a natural disaster. While we expend resources to qualify additional component sources, consolidation of suppliers and the small number of viable alternatives have limited the results of these efforts. Managing our supplier and contractor relationships is particularly difficult during time periods in which we introduce new products and during time periods in which demand for our products is increasing, especially if demand increases more quickly than we expect.
Plexus Services Corp., which manufactures our products at its facilities in Malaysia, currently serves as our primary contract manufacturer, and currently provides us with a majority, by dollar amount, of the products that we purchase from our contract manufacturers. Most of the products manufactured by our French and Israeli operations are outsourced to another third-party manufacturer in France and Israel, respectively. From time to time we assess our relationship with our contract manufacturers, and we do not generally maintain long-term agreements with any of our suppliers or contract manufacturers. Our agreement with Plexus has automatic annual renewals, unless prior notice is given by either party, and has been automatically renewed for a term expiring in October 2019.
Difficulties in managing relationships with any of our current contract manufacturers, particularly Plexus, that manufacture our products off-shore, or any of our suppliers of key components, subassemblies and modules used in our products, could impede our ability to meet our customers’ requirements and adversely affect our operating results. An inability to obtain adequate and timely deliveries of our products or any materials used in our products, or the inability of any of our contract manufacturers to scale their production to meet demand, or any other circumstance that would require us to seek alternative sources of supply, could negatively affect our ability to ship our products on a timely basis, which could damage relationships with current and prospective customers and harm our business and materially and adversely affect our revenue and other operating results. Furthermore, if we fail to meet customers’ supply expectations, our revenue would be adversely affected and we may lose sales opportunities, both short and long term, which could materially and adversely affect our business and our operating results, financial condition and cash flows. Increases, from time to time, in demand on our suppliers and subcontractors from our customers or from other parties have, on occasion, caused delays in the availability of certain components and products. In response, we may increase our inventories of certain components and products and expedite shipments of our products when necessary. These actions could increase our costs and could also increase our risk of holding obsolete or excess inventory, which, despite our use of a demand order fulfillment model, could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
The loss of one or more of our key customers, a failure to continue diversifying our customer base, or a decrease in the number of larger transactions could harm our business and our operating results.
Historically, a significant portion of our revenue has been derived from relatively few customers, due in part to the consolidation of media customers. Sales to our top 10 customers in the
three months ended
March 29, 2019
and
March 30, 2018
accounted for approximately 39% and 42% of revenue, respectively. Although we have broadened our customer base by further penetrating new markets and expanding internationally, we expect to see continuing industry consolidation and customer concentration.
During the
three months ended
March 29, 2019
, no single customer accounted for more than 10% of our net revenue. During the three months ended
March 30, 2018
, Comcast accounted for 14% of our net revenue. Further consolidation in the cable industry could lead to additional revenue concentration for us. The loss of any significant customer, or any material reduction in orders from any other significant customer, or our failure to qualify our new products with any significant customer could materially and adversely affect, either long term or in a particular quarter, our operating results, financial condition and cash flows. Further, if Comcast does not continue to increase its deployment of our products and solutions in connection with the Warrant we issued to them in September 2016, or does so more slowly or at a scale that is lower than we anticipate, we may be unable to realize the anticipated benefits of the Warrant and our operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely effected.
In addition, we are involved in most quarters in one or more relatively large individual transactions. A decrease in the number of the relatively larger individual transactions in which we are involved in any quarter could materially and adversely affect our operating results for that quarter.
As a result of these and other factors, we may be unable to increase our revenues from some or all of the markets we address, or to do so profitably, and any failure to increase revenues and profits from these customers could materially and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
We rely on resellers, value-added resellers and systems integrators for a significant portion of our revenue, and disruptions to, or our failure to develop and manage our relationships with these customers or the processes and procedures that support them could adversely affect our business.
We generate a significant percentage of our revenue through sales to resellers, VARs and systems integrators that assist us with fulfillment or installation obligations. We expect that these sales will continue to generate a significant percentage of our revenue in the future. Accordingly, our future success is highly dependent upon establishing and maintaining successful relationships with a variety of channel partners.
We generally have no long-term contracts or minimum purchase commitments with any of our reseller, VAR or system integrator customers, and our contracts with these parties do not prohibit them from purchasing or offering products or services that compete with ours. Our competitors may provide incentives to any of our reseller, VAR or systems integrator customers to favor their products or, in effect, to prevent or reduce sales of our products. Any of our reseller, VAR or systems integrator customers may independently choose not to purchase or offer our products.
Many of our resellers, and some of our VARs and system integrators are small, are based in a variety of international locations, and may have relatively unsophisticated processes and limited financial resources to conduct their business. Any significant disruption of our sales to these customers, including as a result of the inability or unwillingness of these customers to continue purchasing our products, or their failure to properly manage their business with respect to the purchase of, and payment for, our products, or their ability to comply with our policies and procedures as well as applicable laws, could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows. In addition, our failure to continue to establish or maintain successful relationships with reseller, VAR and systems integrator customers could likewise materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
We have made, and may continue to make, acquisitions, and any acquisition could disrupt our operations, cause dilution to our stockholders and materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition.
As part of our business strategy, from time to time we have acquired, and we may continue to acquire, businesses, technologies, assets and product lines that we believe complement or expand our existing business. For example, in February 2016, we announced the closing of our acquisition of TVN, which is headquartered in Rennes, France. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including the following:
• unanticipated costs or delays associated with an acquisition;
• difficulties in the assimilation and integration of acquired operations, technologies and/or products;
• potential disruption of our business and the diversion of management’s attention from the regular operations of the business during the acquisition process;
• the challenges of managing a larger and more geographically widespread operation and product portfolio after the closing of the acquisition;
• potential adverse effects on new and existing business relationships with suppliers, contract manufacturers, resellers, partners and customers;
• compliance with regulatory requirements, such as local employment regulations and organized labor in France;
• risks associated with entering markets in which we may have no or limited prior experience;
• the potential loss of key employees of acquired businesses and our own business as a result of integration;
• difficulties in bringing acquired products and businesses into compliance with applicable legal requirements in jurisdictions in which we operate and sell products;
• impact of known potential liabilities or unknown liabilities, including litigation and infringement claims, associated with companies we acquire;
• substantial charges for acquisition costs or for the amortization of certain purchased intangible assets, deferred stock compensation or similar items;
• substantial impairments to goodwill or intangible assets in the event that an acquisition proves to be less valuable than the price we paid for it;
• difficulties in establishing and maintaining uniform financial and other standards, controls, procedures and policies;
• delays in realizing, or failure to realize, the anticipated benefits of an acquisition; and
• the possibility that any acquisition may be viewed negatively by our customers or investors or the financial markets.
Competition within our industry for acquisitions of businesses, technologies, assets and product lines has been, and is likely to continue to be, intense. As such, even if we are able to identify an acquisition that we would like to consummate, we may not be able to complete the acquisition on commercially reasonable terms or because the target chooses to be acquired by another company. Furthermore, in the event that we are able to identify and consummate any future acquisitions, we may, in each of those acquisitions:
• issue equity securities which would dilute current stockholders’ percentage ownership;
• incur substantial debt to finance the acquisition or assume substantial debt in the acquisition;
• incur significant acquisition-related expenses;
• assume substantial liabilities, contingent or otherwise; or
• expend significant cash.
These financing activities or expenditures could materially and adversely affect our operating results, cash flows and financial condition or the price of our common stock. Alternatively, due to difficulties in the capital or credit markets at the time, we may be unable to secure capital necessary to complete an acquisition on reasonable terms, or at all. Moreover, even if we were to obtain benefits from acquisitions in the form of increased revenue and earnings per share, there may be a delay between the time the expenses associated with an acquisition are incurred and the time we recognize such benefits.
In addition to the risks outlined above, if we are unable to successfully receive payment of any significant portion of TVN’s existing French R&D tax credit receivables from the French tax authority as expected, or are unable to successfully apply for or otherwise obtain the financial benefit of new French R&D tax credits in future years, our ability to achieve the anticipated benefits of the acquisition as well as our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.
As of
March 29, 2019
, we had approximately
$239.8 million
of goodwill recorded on our balance sheet associated with prior acquisitions. In the event we determine that our goodwill is impaired, we would be required to write down all or a portion of such goodwill, which could result in a material non-cash charge to our results of operations in the period in which such write-down occurs.
If we are unable to successfully address one or more of these risks, our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected.
We may not be able to effectively manage our operations.
In recent years, we have expanded our international operations significantly.
For example, upon the closing of our acquisition of TVN on February 29, 2016, we added 438 employees, most of whom were based in France.
As of
March 29, 2019
, we had 787 employees in our international operations, representing approximately 68% of our worldwide workforce. Our ability to manage our business effectively in the future, including with respect to any future growth, our operation as both a hardware and increasingly software-centric business, the integration of any acquisition efforts such as our recent acquisition of TVN, and the breadth of our international operations, will require us to train, motivate and manage our employees successfully, to attract and integrate new employees into our overall operations, to retain key employees and to continue to improve and evolve our operational, financial and management systems. There can be no assurance that we will be successful in any of these efforts, and our failure to effectively manage our operations could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition.
We face risks associated with having outsourced engineering resources located in Ukraine.
We outsource a portion of our research and development activities for both our Video and Cable Access business segments to a third-party partner with engineering resources located in Ukraine. Political, social and economic instability and unrest or violence in Ukraine, including the ongoing conflict with Russian-backed separatists or conflict with the Russian Federation directly, could cause disruptions to the business and operations of our outsourcing partner, which could slow or delay the development work our partner is undertaking for us. Instability,
unrest or conflict could limit or prevent our employees from traveling to, from, or within Ukraine to direct and coordinate our outsourced engineering teams, or cause us to shift all or portions of the development work occurring in Ukraine to other locations or countries. The resulting delays could negatively impact our product development efforts, operating results and our business.
In order to manage our growth, we must be successful in addressing management succession issues and attracting and retaining qualified personnel.
Our future success will depend, to a significant extent, on the ability of our management to operate effectively, both individually and as a group. We must successfully manage transition and replacement issues that may result from the departure or retirement of members of our executive management. We cannot provide assurances that changes of management personnel in the future would not cause disruption to operations or customer relationships or a decline in our operating results.
We are also dependent on our ability to retain and motivate our existing highly qualified personnel, in addition to attracting new highly qualified personnel. Competition for qualified management, technical and other personnel is often intense, particularly in Silicon Valley, Israel and Hong Kong where we have significant research and development activities, and we may not be successful in attracting and retaining such personnel. Competitors and others have in the past attempted, and are likely in the future to attempt, to recruit our employees. While our employees are required to sign standard agreements concerning confidentiality, non-solicitation and ownership of inventions, we generally do not have non-competition agreements with our personnel. The loss of the services of any of our key personnel, the inability to attract or retain highly qualified personnel in the future or delays in hiring such personnel, particularly senior management and engineers and other technical personnel, could negatively affect our business and operating results. Furthermore, a certain portion of our personnel in the U.S. is comprised of foreign nationals whose ability to work for us depends on obtaining the necessary visas. Our ability to hire and retain foreign nationals in the U.S., and their ability to remain and work in the U.S., is affected by various laws and regulations, including limitations on the availability of visas. Changes in U.S. laws or regulations affecting the availability of visas may adversely affect our ability to hire or retain key personnel and as a result may impair our operations.
We face risks associated with having facilities and employees located in Israel.
As of
March 29, 2019
, we maintained facilities in Israel with a total of 170 employees, or approximately 15% of our worldwide workforce. Our employees in Israel engage in a number of activities, for both our Video and Cable Access business segments, including research and development, product development, and supply chain management for certain product lines and sales activities.
As such, we are directly affected by the political, economic and military conditions affecting Israel. Any significant conflict involving Israel could have a direct effect on our business or that of our Israeli contract manufacturers, in the form of physical damage or injury, restrictions from traveling or reluctance to travel to from or within Israel by our Israeli and other employees or those of our subcontractors, or the loss of Israeli employees to active military duty. Most of our employees in Israel are currently obligated to perform annual reserve duty in the Israel Defense Forces, and approximately 11% of those employees were called for active military duty in 2018. In the event that more of our employees are called to active duty, certain of our research and development activities may be significantly delayed and adversely affected. Further, the interruption or curtailment of trade between Israel and its trading partners, as a result of terrorist attacks or hostilities, conflicts between Israel and any other Middle Eastern country or organization, or any other cause, could significantly harm our business. Additionally, current or future tensions or conflicts in the Middle East could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
Our operating results are likely to fluctuate significantly and, as a result, may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of securities analysts or investors, causing our stock price to decline.
Our operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to continue to fluctuate in the future, on an annual and a quarterly basis, as a result of several factors, many of which are outside of our control. Some of the factors that may cause these fluctuations include:
• the level and timing of spending of our customers in the U.S., Europe and in other markets;
• economic and financial conditions specific to each of the cable, satellite and telco, and broadcast and media industries, as well as general economic and financial market conditions, including any stemming from an unstable political environment in the United States or abroad as well as those resulting from regulatory, trade or tax policy changes from the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that was enacted in December 2017 (the “TCJA”);
• changes in market acceptance of and demand for our products or our customers’ services or products;
• the timing and amount of orders, especially from large individual transactions and transactions with our significant customers;
• the mix of our products sold and the effect it has on gross margins;
• the timing of revenue recognition, including revenue recognition on sales arrangements and from transactions with significant service and support components, which may span several quarters;
• our transition to a SaaS subscription model for our Video business, which may cause near-term declines in revenue;
• the timing of completion of our customers’ projects;
• the length of each customer product upgrade cycle and the volume of purchases during the cycle;
• competitive market conditions, including pricing actions by our competitors;
• the level and mix of our domestic and international revenue;
• new product introductions by our competitors or by us;
• uncertainty in both the U.K. and the European Union due to the U.K.’s referendum to exit the European Union, which could adversely affect our results, financial condition and prospects;
• changes in domestic and international regulatory environments affecting our business;
• the evaluation of new services, new standards and system architectures by our customers;
• the cost and timely availability to us of components, subassemblies and modules;
• the mix of our customer base, by industry and size, and sales channels;
• changes in our operating and extraordinary expenses;
• the timing of acquisitions and dispositions by us and the financial impact of such transactions;
• impairment of our goodwill and intangibles;
• the impact of litigation, such as related litigation expenses and settlement costs;
• write-downs of inventory and investments;
• changes in our effective federal tax rate, including as a result of changes in our valuation allowance against our deferred tax assets, and changes in our effective state tax rates, including as a result of apportionment;
• changes to tax rules related to the deferral of foreign earnings and compliance with foreign tax rules;
• the impact of applicable accounting guidance on accounting for uncertainty in income taxes that requires us to establish reserves for uncertain tax positions and accrue potential tax penalties and interest; and
• the impact of applicable accounting guidance on business combinations that requires us to record charges for certain acquisition related costs and expenses and generally to expense restructuring costs associated with a business combination subsequent to the acquisition date.
The timing of deployment of our products by our customers can be subject to a number of other risks, including the availability of skilled engineering and technical personnel, the availability of third-party equipment and services, our customers’ ability to negotiate and enter into rights agreements with video content owners that provide our customers with the right to deliver certain video content, and our customers’ need for local franchise and licensing approvals.
We often recognize a substantial portion of our quarterly revenue in the last month of the quarter. We establish our expenditure levels for product development and other operating expenses based on projected revenue levels for a specified period, and expenses are relatively fixed in the short term. Accordingly, even small variations in the timing of revenue, particularly from relatively large individual transactions, can cause significant fluctuations in operating results in a particular quarter.
As a result of these factors and other factors, our operating results in one or more future periods may fail to meet or exceed the expectations of securities analysts or investors. In that event, the trading price of our common stock would likely decline.
Fluctuations in our future effective tax rates could affect our future operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
We are required to periodically review our deferred tax assets and determine whether, based on available evidence, a valuation allowance is necessary. The realization of our deferred tax assets, which are predominantly in the U.S., is dependent upon the generation of sufficient U.S. and foreign taxable income in the future to offset these assets. Based on our evaluation, a history of operating losses in recent years has led to uncertainty with respect to our ability to realize certain of our net deferred tax assets, and as a result we recorded a net increase in valuation allowance of $0.9 million and $9.0 million in 2018 and 2017, respectively, against our U.S. net deferred tax assets. The increases in valuation allowance in 2018 and 2017 were offset partially by the valuation allowance release of $1.5 million and $5.8 million, respectively. The releases of valuation allowance were associated with our foreign subsidiaries and a one-time benefit in 2017 of $2.6 million relating to the refund of alternative minimum tax credit carryforwards related to the TCJA.
The calculation of tax liabilities involves dealing with uncertainties in the application of complex global tax regulations. We recognize potential liabilities for anticipated tax audit issues in the U.S. and other tax jurisdictions based on our estimate of whether, and the extent to which, additional taxes will be due. In the event we determine that it is appropriate to create a reserve or increase an existing reserve for any such potential liabilities, the amount of the additional reserve is charged as an expense in the period in which it is determined. If payment of these amounts ultimately proves to be unnecessary, the reversal of the liabilities would result in tax benefits being recognized in the period when we determine the liabilities are no longer necessary. If the estimate of tax liabilities proves to be less than the ultimate tax assessment for the applicable period, a further charge to expense in the period such short fall is determined would result. Either such charge to expense could have a material and adverse effect on our operating results for the applicable period.
Our future effective income tax rates could be adversely affected if tax authorities challenge our international tax structure or if the relative mix of U.S. and international income changes for any reason. Accordingly, there can be no assurance that our income tax rate will be less than the U.S. federal statutory rate in future periods.
The United States recently passed a comprehensive tax reform bill that could adversely affect our financial performance.
On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted comprehensive tax legislation commonly referred to as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017, or the Tax Act. The Tax Act made broad and complex changes to the U.S. tax code. The changes included, but were not limited to, reducing the U.S. federal corporate tax rate from 35% to 21%, imposing a mandatory one-time transition tax on certain unrepatriated earnings of foreign subsidiaries, eliminating the corporate alternative minimum tax, or AMT, and a requirement to pay a minimum tax on foreign earnings for tax years beginning after December 31, 2017. Notwithstanding the reduction in the corporate income tax rate, the overall impact of the new federal tax law is uncertain, and our financial performance could be adversely affected. In addition, it is uncertain if,
and to what extent, various states will conform to the new tax law and foreign countries will react by adopting tax legislation or taking other actions that could adversely affect our business.
We or our customers may face intellectual property infringement claims from third parties.
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, leading companies in the telecommunications industry have extensive patent portfolios. Also, patent infringement claims and litigation by entities that purchase or control patents, but do not produce goods or services covered by the claims of such patents (so-called “non-practicing entities” or “NPEs”), have increased rapidly over the last decade or so. From time to time, third parties, including NPEs, have asserted, and may assert in the future, patent, copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights against us or our customers. Our suppliers and their customers, including us, may have similar claims asserted against them. A number of third parties, including companies with greater financial and other resources than us, have asserted patent rights to technologies that are important to us.
Any intellectual property litigation, regardless of its outcome, could result in substantial expense and significant diversion of the efforts of our management and technical personnel. An adverse determination in any such proceeding could subject us to significant liabilities and temporary or permanent injunctions and require us to seek licenses from third parties or pay royalties that may be substantial. Furthermore, necessary licenses may not be available on terms satisfactory to us, or at all. An unfavorable outcome on any such litigation matter could require that we pay substantial damages, could require that we pay ongoing royalty payments, or could prohibit us from selling certain of our products. Any such outcome could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
Our suppliers and customers may have intellectual property claims relating to our products asserted against them. We have agreed to indemnify some of our suppliers and most of our customers for patent infringement relating to our products. The scope of this indemnity varies, but, in some instances, includes indemnification for damages and expenses (including reasonable attorney’s fees) incurred by the supplier or customer in connection with such claims. If a supplier or a customer seeks to enforce a claim for indemnification against us, we could incur significant costs defending such claim, the underlying claim or both. An adverse determination in either such proceeding could subject us to significant liabilities and have a material and adverse effect on our operating results, cash flows and financial condition.
We may be the subject of litigation which, if adversely determined, could harm our business and operating results.
We may be subject to claims arising in the normal course of business. The costs of defending any litigation, whether in cash expenses or in management time, could harm our business and materially and adversely affect our operating results and cash flows. An unfavorable outcome on any litigation matter could require that we pay substantial damages, or, in connection with any intellectual property infringement claims, could require that we pay ongoing royalty payments or prohibit us from selling certain of our products. In addition, we may decide to settle any litigation, which could cause us to incur significant settlement costs. A settlement or an unfavorable outcome on any litigation matter could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
We may sell one or more of our product lines, from time to time, as a result of our evaluation of our products and markets, and any such divestiture could adversely affect our continuing business and our expenses, revenues, results of operation, cash flows and financial position.
We periodically evaluate our various product lines and may, as a result, consider the divestiture of one or more of those product lines. We have sold product lines in the past, and any prior or future divestiture could adversely affect our continuing business and expenses, revenues, results of operations, cash flows and financial position.
Divestitures of product lines have inherent risks, including the expense of selling the product line, the possibility that any anticipated sale will not occur, delays in closing any sale, the risk of lower-than-expected proceeds from the sale of the divested business, unexpected costs associated with the separation of the business to be sold from the seller’s information technology and other operating systems, and potential post-closing claims for indemnification or breach of transition services obligations of the seller. Expected cost savings, which are offset by revenue losses from divested businesses, may also be difficult to achieve or maximize due to the seller’s fixed cost structure, and a seller
may experience varying success in reducing fixed costs or transferring liabilities previously associated with the divested business.
We could be negatively affected as a result of a future proxy contest and the actions of activist stockholders.
If a proxy contest with respect to election of our directors is initiated in the future, or if other activist stockholder activities occur, our business could be adversely affected because:
• responding to a proxy contest and other actions by activist stockholders can be costly and time-consuming, disrupting our operations and diverting the attention of management and our employees;
• perceived uncertainties as to our future direction caused by activist activities may result in the loss of potential business opportunities, and may make it more difficult to attract and retain qualified personnel and business partners; and
• if individuals are elected to our Board with a specific agenda, it may adversely affect our ability to effectively and timely implement our strategic plans.
Our failure to adequately protect our proprietary rights and data may adversely affect us.
At
March 29, 2019
, we held 82 issued U.S. patents and 54 issued foreign patents, and had 96 patent applications pending. Although we attempt to protect our intellectual property rights through patents, trademarks, copyrights, licensing arrangements, maintaining certain technology as trade secrets and other measures, we can give no assurances that any patent, trademark, copyright or other intellectual property rights owned by us will not be invalidated, circumvented or challenged, that such intellectual property rights will provide competitive advantages to us, or that any of our pending or future patent applications will be issued with the scope of the claims sought by us, if at all. We can give no assurances that others will not develop technologies that are similar or superior to our technologies, duplicate our technologies or design around the patents that we own. In addition, effective patent, copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or limited in certain foreign countries in which we do business or may do business in the future.
We may enter into confidentiality or license agreements with our employees, consultants, and vendors and our customers, as needed, and generally limit access to, and distribution of, our proprietary information. Nevertheless, we cannot provide assurances that the steps taken by us will prevent misappropriation of our technology. In addition, we have taken in the past, and may take in the future, legal action to enforce our patents and other intellectual property rights, to protect our trade secrets, to determine the validity and scope of the proprietary rights of others, or to defend against claims of infringement or invalidity. Such litigation could result in substantial costs and diversion of management time and other resources, and could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
Our products include third-party technology and intellectual property, and our inability to acquire new technologies or use third-party technology in the future could harm our business.
In order to successfully develop and market certain of our planned products, we may be required to enter into technology development or licensing agreements with third parties. Although companies with technology useful to us are often willing to enter into technology development or licensing agreements with respect to such technology, we cannot provide assurances that such agreements may be negotiated on commercially reasonable terms, or at all. The failure to enter, or a delay in entering, into such technology development or licensing agreements, when necessary or desirable, could limit our ability to develop and market new products and could materially and adversely affect our business.
We incorporate certain third-party technologies, including software programs, into our products, and, as noted, intend to utilize additional third-party technologies in the future. In addition, the technologies that we license may not operate properly or as specified, and we may not be able to secure alternatives in a timely manner, either of which could harm our business. We could face delays in product releases until alternative technology can be identified, licensed or developed, and integrated into our products, if we are able to do so at all. These delays, or a failure to secure or develop adequate technology, could materially and adversely affect our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
Our use of open source software in some of our products may expose us to certain risks.
Some of our products contain software modules licensed for use from third-party authors under open source licenses. Use and distribution of open source software may entail greater risks than use of third-party commercial software, as open source licensors generally do not provide warranties or other contractual protections regarding infringement claims or the quality of the code. Some open source licenses contain requirements that we make available source code for modifications or derivative works we create based upon the type of open source software we use. If we combine our proprietary software with open source software in a certain manner, we could, under certain of the open source licenses, be required to release the source code of our proprietary software to the public. This could allow our competitors to create similar products with lower development effort and in less time and ultimately could result in a loss of product sales for us.
Although we monitor our use of open source closely, it is possible our past, present or future use of open source has triggered or may trigger the foregoing requirements. Furthermore, 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 materially and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
We are subject to import and export control and trade and economic sanction laws and regulations that could subject us to liability or impair our ability to compete in international markets.
Our products are subject to U.S. export control laws, and may be exported outside the U.S. only with the required export license or through an export license exception, in most cases because we incorporate encryption technology into certain of our products. We are also subject to U.S. trade and economic sanction regulations which include prohibitions on the sale or supply of certain products and services to U.S. embargoed or sanctioned countries, governments, persons and entities. In addition, various countries regulate the import of certain technology 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. Although we take precautions and have processes in place to prevent our products and services from being provided in violation of such laws, our products may have been in the past, and could in the future be, provided inadvertently in violation of such laws, despite the precautions we take. If we fail to comply with these laws, we and certain of our employees could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, including the possible loss of export privileges, monetary penalties, and, in extreme cases, imprisonment of responsible employees for knowing and willful violations of these laws. Additionally, our business and operating results be adversely affected through penalties, reputational harm, loss of access to certain markets, or otherwise.
In addition, we may be subject to customs duties that could have a significant adverse impact on our operating results or, if we are able to pass on the related costs in any particular situation, would increase the cost of the related product to our customers. As a result, the future imposition of significant increases in the level of customs duties or the creation of import quotas on our products in Europe or in other jurisdictions, or any of the limitations on international sales described above, could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows. Further, some of our customers in Europe have been, or are being, audited by local governmental authorities regarding the tariff classifications used for importation of our products. Import duties and tariffs vary by country and a different tariff classification for any of our products may result in higher duties or tariffs, which could have an adverse impact on our operating results and potentially increase the cost of the related products to our customers.
We may need additional capital in the future and may not be able to secure adequate funds at all or on terms acceptable to us.
We engage in the design, development and manufacture and sale of a variety of video and cable access products and system solutions, which has required, and will continue to require, significant research and development expenditures.
We believe that our existing cash of approximately
$69.9 million
at
March 29, 2019
will satisfy our cash requirements for at least the next 12 months. However, we may need to raise additional funds to take advantage of presently unanticipated strategic opportunities, satisfy our other cash requirements from time to time, or strengthen our financial position. Our ability to raise funds may be adversely affected by a number of factors, including factors
beyond our control, such as weakness in the economic conditions in markets in which we sell our products and continued uncertainty in financial, capital and credit markets. There can be no assurance that equity or debt financing will be available to us on reasonable terms, if at all, when and if it is needed.
We may raise additional financing through public or private equity offerings, debt financings, or corporate partnership or licensing arrangements. To the extent we raise additional capital by issuing equity securities or convertible debt, our stockholders may experience dilution. To the extent that we raise additional funds through collaboration and licensing arrangements, it may be necessary to relinquish some rights to our technologies or products, or grant licenses on terms that are not favorable to us. To the extent we raise capital through debt financing arrangements, we may be required to pledge assets or enter into covenants that could restrict our operations or our ability to incur further indebtedness and the interest on such debt may adversely affect our operating results.
If adequate capital is not available, or is not available on reasonable terms, when needed, we may not be able to take advantage of acquisition or other market opportunities, to timely develop new products, or to otherwise respond to competitive pressures.
Cybersecurity incidents, including data security breaches or computer viruses, could harm our business by disrupting our business operations, compromising our products and services, damaging our reputation or exposing us to liability.
Cyber criminals and hackers may attempt to penetrate our network security, misappropriate our proprietary information or cause business interruptions. Because the techniques used by such computer programmers to access or sabotage networks change frequently and may not be recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures. In the past, we have faced compromises to our network security. While we have invested in and continue to update our network security and cybersecurity infrastructure and systems, if our cybersecurity systems fail to protect against unauthorized access, sophisticated cyber-attacks, phishing schemes, data protection breaches, computer viruses, denial-of-service attacks and similar disruptions from unauthorized tampering or human error, our ability to conduct our business effectively could be damaged in a number of ways, including:
• our intellectual property and other proprietary data, or financial assets, could be stolen;
• our ability to manage and conduct our business operations could be seriously disrupted;
• defects and security vulnerabilities could be introduced into our product, software and SaaS offerings, thereby damaging the reputation and perceived reliability and security of our products; and
• personally identifiable data of our customers, employees and business partners could be compromised.
Should any of the above events occur, our reputation, competitive position and business could be significantly harmed, and we could be subject to claims for liability from customers, third parties and governmental authorities. Additionally, we could incur significant costs in order to upgrade our cybersecurity systems and remediate damages. Consequently, our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be materially and adversely affected. In addition, our business operations utilize and rely upon numerous third party vendors, manufacturers, solution providers, partners and consultants, and any failure of such third parties’ cybersecurity measures could materially and adversely affect or disrupt our business.
Our operating results could be adversely affected by natural disasters affecting us or impacting our third-party manufacturers, suppliers, resellers or customers.
Our corporate headquarters is located in California, which is prone to earthquakes. We have employees, consultants and contractors located in regions and countries around the world. In the event that any of our business, sales or research and development centers or offices in the U.S. or internationally are adversely affected by an earthquake or by any other natural disaster, we may sustain damage to our operations and properties, which could cause a sustained interruption or loss of affected operations, and cause us to suffer significant financial losses.
We rely on third-party contract manufacturers for the production of our products. Any significant disruption in the business or operations of such manufacturers or of their or our suppliers could adversely impact our business. Our principal contract manufacturers and several of their and our suppliers and our resellers have operations in locations
that are subject to natural disasters, such as severe weather, tsunamis, floods, fires and earthquakes, which could disrupt their operations and, in turn, our operations.
In addition, if there is a natural disaster in any of the locations in which our significant customers are located, we face the risk that our customers may incur losses or sustained business interruption, or both, which may materially impair their ability to continue their purchase of products from us. Accordingly, natural disaster in one of the geographies in which we, or our third-party manufacturers, their or our suppliers or our customers, operate could have a material and adverse effect on our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition.
Our business and industry are subject to various laws and regulations that could adversely affect our business, operating results, cash flows and financial condition.
Our business and industry are regulated under various federal, state, local and international laws. For example, we are subject to environmental regulations such as the European Union’s Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE) and Restriction on the Use of Certain Hazardous Substances in Electrical and Electronic Equipment (RoHS) directives and similar legislation enacted in other jurisdictions worldwide. Our failure to comply with these laws could result in our being directly or indirectly liable for costs, fines or penalties and third-party claims, and could jeopardize our ability to conduct business in such regions and countries. We expect that our operations will be affected by other new environmental laws and regulations on an ongoing basis. Although we cannot predict the ultimate impact of any such new laws and regulations, they would likely result in additional costs, and could require that we redesign or change how we manufacture our products, any of which could have a material and adverse effect on our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
We are subject to the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 which, among other things, requires an annual review and evaluation of our internal control over financial reporting. If we conclude in future periods that our internal control over financial reporting is not effective or if our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to provide an unqualified attestation as of future year-ends, we may incur substantial additional costs in an effort to correct such problems, and investors may lose confidence in our financial statements, and our stock price may decrease in the short term, until we correct such problems, and perhaps in the long term, as well.
We are subject to requirements under the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010 that require us to conduct research, disclose, and report whether or not our products contain certain conflict minerals sourced from the Democratic Republic of Congo or its surrounding countries. The implementation of these requirements could adversely affect the sourcing, availability, and pricing of the materials used in the manufacture of components used in our products. In addition, we may incur certain additional costs to comply with the disclosure requirements, including costs related to conducting diligence procedures to determine the sources of conflict minerals that may be used or necessary to the production of our products and, if applicable, potential changes to products, processes or sources of supply as a consequence of such verification activities. It is also possible that we may face reputational harm if we determine that certain of our products contain minerals not determined to be conflict-free and/or we are unable to alter our products, processes or sources of supply to avoid such materials.
Changes in telecommunications legislation and regulations in the U.S. and other countries could affect our sales and the revenue we are able to derive from our products. In particular, on December 14, 2017, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) voted to repeal the “net neutrality” rules and return to a “light-touch” regulatory framework. The FCC’s new rules, which took effect in June 2018, granted providers of broadband internet access services greater freedom to make changes to their services, including, potentially, changes that may discriminate against or otherwise harm our business. However, a number of parties have appealed these rules, which appeals are currently being reviewed by the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals; thus the future impact of the FCC's repeal and any changes thereto remains uncertain. Additionally, on September 30, 2018, California enacted the California Internet Consumer Protection and Net Neutrality Act of 2018, making California the fourth state to enact a state-level net neutrality law since the FCC repealed its nationwide regulations, mandating that all broadband services in California must be provided in accordance with state net neutrality requirements. The U.S. Department of Justice has sued to block the law going into effect, and California has agreed to delay enforcement until the resolution of the FCC’s repeal of the federal rules. A number of other states are considering legislation or executive actions that would regulate the conduct of broadband providers. We cannot predict whether the FCC order or state initiatives will be modified, overturned, or vacated by legal action of the court, federal legislation, or the FCC. The repeal of the net neutrality rules or other regulations dealing with access by competitors to the networks of incumbent operators could slow or stop infrastructure and services investments or expansion by service providers. Increased regulation of our customers’ pricing or service offerings could limit their investments and, consequently,
revenue from our products. The impact of new or revised legislation or regulations could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows.
Some anti-takeover provisions contained in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws, as well as provisions of Delaware law, could impair a takeover attempt.
We have provisions in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws that could have the effect of rendering more difficult or discouraging an acquisition deemed undesirable by our Board. These include provisions:
• authorizing blank check preferred stock, which could be issued with voting, liquidation, dividend and other rights superior to our common stock;
• limiting the liability of, and providing indemnification to, our directors and officers;
• limiting the ability of our stockholders to call, and bring business before, special meetings;
• requiring advance notice of stockholder proposals for business to be conducted at meetings of our stockholders and for nominations of candidates for election to our Board;
• controlling the procedures for conducting and scheduling of Board and stockholder meetings; and
• providing the Board with the express power to postpone previously scheduled annual meetings and to cancel previously scheduled special meetings.
These provisions could delay hostile takeovers, changes in control of the Company or changes in our management. As a Delaware corporation, we are also subject to provisions of Delaware law, including Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation law, which prevents some stockholders holding more than 15% of our outstanding common stock from engaging in certain business combinations without approval of the holders of substantially all of our outstanding common stock. Any provision of our certificate of incorporation or bylaws or Delaware law that has the effect of delaying or deterring a change in control could limit the opportunity for our stockholders to receive a premium for their shares of our common stock, and could also affect the price that some investors are willing to pay for our common stock.
The nature of our business requires the application of complex revenue and expense recognition rules and the current legislative and regulatory environment affecting generally accepted accounting principles is uncertain. Significant changes in current principles could affect our financial statements going forward and changes in financial accounting standards or practices may cause adverse, unexpected financial reporting fluctuations and harm our operating results.
United States generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) are subject to interpretation by the FASB, the SEC and various bodies formed to promulgate and interpret appropriate accounting principles. We are also subject to evolving rules and regulations of the countries in which we do business. Changes to accounting standards or interpretations thereof may result in different accounting principles under U.S. GAAP that could have a significant effect on our reported financial results.
In addition, we have in the past and may in the future need to significantly change our customer contracts, accounting systems and processes when we adopt future or proposed changes in accounting principles. The cost and effect of these changes may negatively impact our results of operations during the periods of transition.
We are implementing a new enterprise resource planning system, and if this new system proves ineffective or if we experience issues with the transition, we may be unable to timely or accurately prepare financial reports, make payments to our suppliers and employees, or invoice and collect from our users.
We are implementing a new enterprise resource planning, or ERP system. Our ERP system is critical to our ability to accurately maintain books and records and to prepare our financial statements. The transition to our new ERP system may be disruptive to our business if the ERP system does not work as planned or if we experience issues relating to the implementation. Such disruptions could impact our ability to timely or accurately make payments to our suppliers and employees, and could also inhibit our ability to invoice, and collect from our customers. Data integrity problems or other issues may be discovered which, if not corrected, could impact our business or financial
results. In addition, we may experience periodic or prolonged disruption of our financial functions arising out of this conversion, general use of such system, other periodic upgrades or updates, or other external factors that are outside of our control. If we encounter unforeseen problems with our ERP system or other related systems and infrastructure, it could adversely affect our financial reporting systems and our ability to produce financial reports, the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting, and our business, operating results and financial condition could be adversely affected.
The conditional conversion feature of our convertible senior notes, if triggered, may adversely affect our financial condition and operating results.
In December 2015, we issued $128.3 million in aggregate principal amount of 4.0% convertible senior notes due 2020 (the “Notes”) through a private placement with a financial institution. The Notes bear interest at 4.0% per annum, which is payable semiannually in arrears on June 1 and December 1 of each year, commencing June 1, 2016. In the event the conditional conversion feature of the Notes is triggered, holders of the Notes will be entitled to convert the Notes at any time during specified periods at their option. If one or more holders elect to convert their Notes, unless we elect to satisfy our conversion obligation by delivering solely shares of our common stock (other than paying cash in lieu of delivering any fractional share), we would be required to settle a portion or all of our conversion obligation through the payment of cash, which could adversely affect our liquidity. In addition, even if holders do not elect to convert their Notes, we could be required under applicable accounting rules to reclassify all or a portion of the outstanding principal of the Notes as a current rather than long-term liability, which would result in a material reduction of our net working capital.
The accounting method for convertible debt securities that may be settled in cash, such as the Notes, could have a material effect on our reported financial results.
Under Accounting Standards Codification 470-20, Debt with Conversion and Other Options, which we refer to as ASC 470-20, an entity must separately account for the liability and equity components of the convertible debt instruments (such as the Notes) that may be settled entirely or partially in cash upon conversion in a manner that reflects the issuer’s economic interest cost. The effect of ASC 470-20 on the accounting for the Notes is that the equity component is required to be included in the additional paid-in capital section of stockholders’ equity on our consolidated balance sheet, and the value of the equity component is being treated as a debt discount. As a result, we are required to record a greater amount of non-cash interest expense in current and future periods presented as a result of the amortization of the discounted carrying value of the Notes to their face amount over the term of the Notes. The increased net loss resulting from the amortization of the debt discount under ASC 470-20 could adversely affect our reported or future financial results, the trading price of our common stock and the trading price of the Notes.
In addition, under certain circumstances, convertible debt instruments (such as the Notes) that may be settled entirely or partly in cash are currently accounted for utilizing the treasury stock method, the effect of which is that the shares issuable upon conversion of the Notes are not included in the calculation of diluted earnings per share except to the extent that the conversion value of the Notes exceeds their principal amount. Under the treasury stock method, for diluted earnings per share purposes, the transaction is accounted for as if the number of shares of common stock that would be necessary to settle such excess, if we elected to settle such excess in shares, are issued. We cannot be sure that the accounting standards in the future will continue to permit the use of the treasury stock method or circumstances would change such that we would no longer be permitted to use the treasury stock method. If we are unable to use the treasury stock method in accounting for the shares issuable upon conversion of the Notes, our diluted earnings per share may be adversely affected.
Our common stock price, and therefore the price of our Notes, may be extremely volatile, and the value of an investment in our stock may decline.
Our common stock price has been highly volatile. We expect that this volatility will continue in the future due to factors such as:
• general market and economic conditions;
• actual or anticipated variations in operating results;
• increases or decreases in the general stock market or to the stock prices of technology companies;
• announcements of technological innovations, new products or new services by us or by our competitors or customers;
• changes in financial estimates or recommendations by stock market analysts regarding us or our competitors;
• announcements by us or our competitors of significant acquisitions, dispositions, strategic partnerships, joint ventures or capital commitments;
• announcements by our customers regarding end user market conditions and the status of existing and future infrastructure network deployments;
• additions or departures of key personnel; and
• future equity or debt offerings or our announcements of these offerings.
In addition, in recent years, the stock market in general, and The NASDAQ Stock Market and the securities of technology companies in particular, have experienced extreme price and volume fluctuations. These fluctuations have often been unrelated or disproportionate to the operating performance of individual companies. These broad market fluctuations have in the past, and may in the future, materially and adversely affect our stock price, regardless of our operating results. In these circumstances, investors may be unable to sell their shares of our common stock at or above their purchase price over the short term, or at all.
Our stock price may decline if additional shares are sold in the market or if analysts drop coverage of or downgrade our stock.
Future sales of substantial amounts of shares of our common stock by our existing stockholders in the public market, or the perception that these sales could occur, may cause the market price of our common stock to decline. In addition, we issue additional shares upon exercise of stock options, including under our 2002 Employee Stock Purchase Plan (“ESPP”), and in connection with grants of restricted stock units (“RSUs”) on an ongoing basis. To the extent we do not elect to pay solely cash upon conversion of our Notes, we will also be required to issue additional shares of common stock upon conversion. Increased sales of our common stock in the market after exercise of outstanding stock options or grants of restricted stock units could exert downward pressure on our stock price. These sales also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity or equity-related securities in the future at a time and price we deem appropriate.
The trading market for our common stock relies in part on the availability of research and reports that third-party industry or securities analysts publish about us. If one or more of the analysts who do cover us downgrade our stock, our stock price may decline. If one or more of these analysts cease coverage of us, we could lose visibility in the market, which in turn could cause the liquidity of our stock and our stock price to decline.