Earnings Labs

Acorn Energy, Inc. (ACFN)

Q1 2012 Earnings Call· Fri, May 11, 2012

$18.44

+4.48%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good morning, and welcome to the Acorn Energy First Quarter 2012 Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please note this event is being recorded. I would now like to turn the presentation over to Heather Mallard, General Counsel of Acorn Energy.

Heather Mallard

Analyst

Thank you very much, and good morning. Please take note that certain of the matters discussed in this presentation contain statements that are forward looking, such statements relating to results of operations, financial condition, business development activities and market dynamics. Such forward-looking information involves important risks and uncertainties that could significantly affect anticipated results in the future and accordingly, such results may differ materially from those expressed in any forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of Acorn Energy or its subsidiaries. All statements other than statements of historical fact in this presentation regarding Acorn Energy's or any of its subsidiaries' future performance, revenues, margins, market share and any future events or prospects are forward-looking statements. For more information regarding risks and uncertainties that could affect Acorn Energy's or any of its subsidiaries' results of operations or financial condition, review Acorn Energy's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, in particular, its most recently filed Form 10-K and Form 10-Q. Acorn Energy's forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance, and the actual results or developments may differ materially from the expectations expressed in the forward-looking statements. As for the forward-looking statements that relate to future financial results and other projections, actual results will be different due to the inherent uncertainties of estimates, forecasts and projections and may be better or worse than projected, and such differences could be material. Acorn Energy undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future event or otherwise. I am now delighted to turn the presentation over to John Moore, CEO and Chairman of Acorn Energy.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

Thank you, and welcome friends and fellow Acorn Energy shareholders. I'm delighted to report that our revenues for the first quarter of 2012 were up 37%, and all of our companies showed increased revenues in Q1 2012 as compared to Q1 2011. We made some really important investments during the quarter. I often classify our investment criteria in terms of 2-foot, 4-foot and 6-foot hurdles. The 2-foot hurdles are investments to fund the organic growth of our existing businesses. We invested $5 million in US Seismic, bringing our total investment to $11.7 million. And we increased our ownership to 92% or 81% of the company on a fully diluted basis to fund product development and expand our manufacturing capacity. Our 4-foot hurdle was a bolt-on acquisition by US Seismic of a license of an important complementary technology from Northrop Grumman. Another 2-foot hurdle is that we invested an additional $1.3 million in GridSense. The hardest thing for us to do is the 6-foot hurdle, the acquisition of a new platform business. We acquired OmniMetrix on February 15 for $8.5 million. The combination of an outstanding management team, the powerful but unexploited dealer sales channel, and the company's proven solution to rising grid reliability challenges made this as an investment we simply could not pass up. The way we create shareholder value is finding and funding great companies led by terrific management teams to solve a pain point that we believe can become a major new category in the digital energy business. We are seeking businesses that have a leadership position in the mind of the customer or where the businesses require capital to cross from the early adopters to the early majority. OmniMetrix is a fat pitch down the center. Harold Jarrett, the founder of the business created an on-site…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And it looks like our first question is from Jack -- I'm sorry, Jim McIlree of Dominick and Dominick.

James McIlree

Analyst

John, can you talk a little bit about OmniMetrix results? And they did $3 million in 2011 and just a little over $100,000 this quarter, when does that ramp? And secondly, is that mostly products? That's got to be mostly product sales right now. So given the change that you're pursuing in that business, do you have a couple of quarters of continued modest revenues and then it ramps as the monitoring business kicks in?

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

I'd like to ask if Deena is on the call.

Deena Redding

Analyst

I am. I am, John.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

Great. Well, would you like to answer Jim's call -- Jim's question?

Deena Redding

Analyst

Sure. Sure, Jim. Yes, the assumption that you had is correct that we will experience a few quarters of soft revenues. Our focus is going to change and be more on the connection space. We're going to really focus on the recurring revenue portion of the business and last on the hardware revenue of the business. So when we're in this growth mode, we will certainly see right now a pattern of some soft quarters in the revenue until we ramp up the connection, which will be the focus of the future of OmniMetrix.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

But I think it's important -- that's well said, Deena. I think it's important to comps to say that changing the business model to more of a recurring revenue stream has been -- I'd say the response has been incredibly positive from the dealer distribution channel. And what Deena's mostly focused on right now -- we don't have any question that the demand is going to be there and that this is the right thing for the business. What Deena's focused on is making certain that we have the back office to support the -- what we think is going to be dramatically increased amount of volume of business.

Deena Redding

Analyst

Absolutely. We have -- just to add to that, we have a focus right now on the generator dealers. And we've just approached our first one to ask him to adopt the monitoring into all of his maintenance contracts. So we had our first meeting last week with him, and his response was really overwhelming at their willingness and their belief, and moving this into the major portion of their business to be able to put it on their units that they have their maintenance contracts on. So we anticipate our new pricing module and our focus on connections to really have a great impact as far as volume connections. And as John said, we have -- after a lot of responses at the show even this week at CTIA, we have great confidence that moving to this focus of connections will have a huge impact on where our business is going.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

And I guess we're asking our shareholders to be as patient with us as Deena makes certain that she executes flawlessly on that transition because when the phone starts dialing a lot, it starts -- we don't want to roll it out too more quickly than we can actually handle the business. So we're very, very encouraged by that -- by our -- the early results of this effort.

James McIlree

Analyst

And so is it reasonable to expect that by the end of the year, you would still have a relatively modest number of connections? And then as you go into 2013, those ramp as the product becomes more well regarded and the channel gets some momentum?

Deena Redding

Analyst

Yes, that's correct. The first 6 months of it will be a slow progression. And again, we're trying to do growth control to be able to manage that. But certainly, as we go into 2013, we anticipate the acceleration of that growth to really start to ramp up.

James McIlree

Analyst

And just my last one, Deena. When I think of modest number of connections, I'm thinking sub-1,000 is that too modest or is that too aggressive?

Deena Redding

Analyst

That's probably too modest. I mean, we're hoping for a little more than that, but our belief right now based on what we've just currently seen is that it will be a little better than that.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we do have a question from Michael Osterer of U E Systems.

Michael Osterer

Analyst · U E Systems

It was enlightening. I see obviously, as I believe many others do, that the potential for US Seismic is enormous. And Jim Andersen I believe also is doing a terrific job. First, I want to acknowledge you because you are the one who have to evaluate which companies and which to deploy the ACF and capital in, and I think you've done a terrific job. So as a shareholder, I thank you.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

It's great, Michael. Thank you so much. And I just -- for the people that weren't at the Investor Day, I just -- I guess, I wish I could communicate just what a great response we had and terrific questions and back and forth with Jim Andersen. And I guess between this conference call, Jim's presentation and all the presentations we've been doing, the word is starting to get out but it's just early days, and thank you all for your patience. The primary thing about the energy technology business is about the transfer of wealth from the inpatient to the patient. And you, as well as a lot of our other investments -- investors have been extremely patient with us. I think it's going to pay big results.

Michael Osterer

Analyst · U E Systems

Well, again as a shareholder, I'm grateful. As demonstrated also in the increase in the price of the stock, which is really very much a part of why someone gets behind the company. It's the management team and the anticipation for increased value, and you've demonstrated that.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

I've also been warned by some of my trusted advisers and shareholders to not get too excited about the price of the stock. It's nice that it trades at a fair value, but the hard work still has to be done by our CEOs and their teams to build the businesses, to continue that growth in the stock price.

Michael Osterer

Analyst · U E Systems

Well, with those, I want you to have a great day. Keep up the good work. And I'm looking forward to -- I'm with you. It starts -- the companies have to stand on their own, be successful and the market price will take care of itself.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

Great. Thanks. Thanks, Michael.

Operator

Operator

At this time there are no other questions. [Operator Instructions]

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

Great. I think we're now -- are over 70 shareholders that are on this call. I don't think we have any more questions, so...

Operator

Operator

Actually, sir, we do have one question that just joined the queue, if you'd like to take it?

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

I'd like to take it. I'd like to take it.

Operator

Operator

Okay. It is from Les Schultz [ph] of Schultz Capital Management. [ph]

Unknown Analyst

Analyst

I just wanted to ask if you have any takeaways on the comments that Jim Andersen made in his testimony yesterday?

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

I would say that it's -- I guess, really what I'd like to say is first of all, I apologize I haven't had a chance to listen to him because I was on -- I just got on a red-eye from Los Angeles. I wish I would've had a chance to listen to him. But I would like to say that it's unusual for a small company like ours to be investing in government relations, but whenever you've got something which is so fundamental to the geopolitical future of not only the United States but other countries in developing cheap, plentiful safe energy, it's critical for us to make an investment in helping Congress understand that. It's natural that there'd be concerns about the revolution and what are the environmental consequences. But from what I heard, the feedback that I heard was that the Chair of the Committee basically was astonished to learn that not only could US Seismic technology reduce the environmental impact of frac-ing but that it could also improve the productivity and pay for itself in a very short period of time. So I just think that being a border-crosser and talking to regulators, talking to legislators, particularly about something as dynamic in the headlines as frac-ing is -- we think is going to further catapult the US Seismic in front of its customers. So thanks, Jim Andersen and thanks, Les Schultz [ph].

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] At this time, we do have a question from Joel Sklar [ph], a private investor.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

John, quick question on GridSense. Can you provide a little bit more color around -- you had mentioned the something like 15 pilot set or similar or larger to the one done last year? I wasn't quite sure whether you're on the proposal stage or whether these are done deals or where they stand. And then also, I think a lot of this is around Transformer IQ. Can you or Lindon talk a little bit about maybe LineTracker, which seems like a very exciting product for the digital part around distribution intelligence?

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

Yes, I like to hand the call over to Lindon, but we had a board meeting at GridSense yesterday, and I was astonished actually at the increase just from the last time I visited GridSense and the professionalism of the manufacturing operation and the effort and marketing. The team has been at the IEEE this week. So Lindon, please answer Joel's [ph] question?

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

Okay, great. Joe, just regarding the number of pilots that we have, pilots are very important to the company because they position us for large scale rollout similar to the one that we did last year with Florida -- in Florida. And I'd like to just report that this year, the number of pilots that we're currently supporting is significantly larger than we had this time last year. So we're pleased with the number of pilots, and they involve not only Transformer IQ but also with our Line IQ technology. So I think, going forward, it's imperative that we support these pilots. And in terms of timing, working with utilities is very difficult because there are long sales cycle and very thorough, intensive evaluation and testing, but we expect that a lot of these pilots that we're currently supporting will materialize and the commercial roll outs in the future.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

I'd just like to sort of back up what Lindon said with these pilots or actually -- there are actually deployments in Brazil, South Africa, Canada, the United States, of course, China. Really, it's a global phenomenon both for the LineTracker and for the Transformer IQ, and they're developing lots of new end-uses for the Transformer IQ. It's really Lindon's vision and Kevin Anderson's vision here is just incredibly compelling and it's -- we're providing solutions at 10% of the cost of the competition. So it's really a blue ocean strategy.

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

And -- sorry. Just to add also, I think we're finding that a lot of the applications that we're discovering with our utility customers are very much transferable throughout the industry. We're discovering that -- we're discovering very robust niches where we're providing a lot of value because of the price points and the functionality that we can deliver with our main platforms, the Transformer IQ and the Line IQ. And what's also very exciting is that these technologies are also transferable across different geographies. So the problems that a utility in California is experiencing is very much the same issues -- operational issues a utility in South Africa or in Australia is experiencing.

Unknown Attendee

Analyst

And Lindon, just a quick follow-up then. Would it be too much of an extrapolation then to assume that you can pretty much use your off-the-shelf products for those different locales, or is there a bit of customization that's needed?

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

I definitely think that our platform products can be easily adaptable to different applications, and we're also developing new applications, which will help us get into new areas. Traditionally, our company has focused on monitoring. We're using the same platform to also develop some control capabilities. So later this year, we'll be announcing the commercial launch of some new products, which are derivative products from our core platforms. So it's a pretty exciting time for our business.

Operator

Operator

The next question is from William Bremer of Maxim Group.

William Bremer

Analyst · Maxim Group

John, my first question deals with GridSense. I really want to get a sense on what type of kilovolts can their underlying technology go up to. I know that predominantly, you guys are going at the distribution work, but I do want to get a sense on the capacity that you're able to deploy there. And then what is the, I guess, the goal of margins on GridSense initially?

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

I'm sorry, I missed the second part of that question. Would you repeat, please?

William Bremer

Analyst · Maxim Group

What's your goal for margins at GridSense?

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

The goal for large...

William Bremer

Analyst · Maxim Group

Margins, for margins.

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

Oh, margins. Okay. I'll take the second part first. I think traditionally, we have targeted gross margins above 50%. And I think that those are sustainable and that will continue to be our target going forward. Over time, we may experience some pricing pressures. Other competitors see the traction that we're gaining and the niche that we're playing, but I think that we'll be able to maintain those margins through improved efficiencies in our production, and we are constantly making incremental improvements in how we build, assemble and test our products. So I think above 50% margins are very achievable going forward. And then the first part of the question, could you repeat that again please?

William Bremer

Analyst · Maxim Group

What's your capacity on terms of kilovolts that your products can be utilized on?

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

Okay. So in terms of the voltage rating, we need to look at by product. So with our Transformer IQ, this is a platform that -- platform for monitoring transformers of all sizes and of all classes. So we're talking about transformers as large as your generation step-up transformers all the way down to the residential pull-top level. And what's unique is that we have different versions of the Transformer IQ, and they're all based on the same processing boards and electronics. And the advantage of that is it allows us to very cost effectively manufacture at such a low price point that utilities can even justify putting it on the smallest distribution assets.

William Bremer

Analyst · Maxim Group

No, I understand on the distribution side. I'm just trying to get a sense on -- is your technology capable of being deployed on a 500-kilovolt line or 765?

Lindon Shiao

Analyst · Maxim Group

Yes, it can be. The Transformer IQ can be. With our line monitoring product, the Line IQ. There is a limitation. That range of products can be deployed up 133 kv. And some utilities define that as transmission level or sub-transmission level, but the product is suitable for lines up to that level, that kv level.

Operator

Operator

The next question is from Bill Colbert of UBS.

Bill Colbert

Analyst · UBS

John, question for you on your cash and your use of cash this year. You said you've got liquidity a little around $39.5 million currently at $1.5 million run rate corporate-wide per quarter. What are the 4 companies going to demand for cash this year do you envision?

John Moore

Analyst · UBS

Well, we would like to -- we think -- we haven't made any projections yet about the capital needs, and we tend to be very opportunistic. But I'll just say substantially less than the cash that we have in the balance sheet. And I think that our cash right now conceivably can last us 3 years, at which time we expect our companies to be very profitable. So it's -- we feel like we're -- I think maybe the direction of your question is, are we in good shape on cash? And the answer is absolutely yes.

Operator

Operator

At this time, I show no other questions. I would like to turn the call over to Mr. Moore for any closing remarks.

John Moore

Analyst · U E Systems

Great. I just like to acknowledge our shareholders for helping us. In the case of Les Schultz [ph], he helped us recruit Noam Lotan to the Board of US Seismic. He's going to be tremendous and valuable. A lot of you met him at the US Seismic Investor Day. Noam helped build the MRV Communications, over $500 million of revenue and fiber optica communications. And so across-the-board, our shareholders have been helpful and supportive in increasing the size of our family and the people that are intend to care about -- inclined to care about Acorn Energy, and we're grateful for your advice on how we tell our story and for increasing the size of the shareholder base. So I'd just like to knowledge our shareholders and thank everybody very much.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, sir. The conference has now concluded. Thank you for attending today's presentation. You may now disconnect.