Daniel McGahn
Analyst · Craig Hallum. Please go ahead
Thanks, John. It really is a different business now. AMSC delivered a terrific year of operational performance, an outcome that reflects our efforts to build a more resilient company. I think this is the first time we're guiding to net income and we're talking about strong revenue and non-GAAP net income as well. We've cultivated growing relationships with our customers across multiple projects that have increased in size, scope, and technical complexity. Today, we're delivering greater volumes to repeat customers. We believe our diverse bookings, strong balance sheet, and operational success in fiscal 2024 have set the stage for long-term improvement in the business. Over the past three years, we've managed well through a sharp increase in revenue. Back in fiscal 2017, our annual revenue was under $50 million. That was annually, not quarterly. By 2021, we had doubled that, and by 2024, we doubled it again. Our quarterly revenues now exceed that annual level from fiscal year 2017. We delivered operating leverage without requiring major capital investment. The business really is in the strongest position in over a decade and we believe it's still getting better. We enter fiscal 2025 confident in our ability to continue building a more resilient and profitable company. We are guiding to another quarter of expected high revenue levels for our first quarter of fiscal 2025. Again, seeing this $65 million revenue level as possible, the guidance range always depends on customer timing of milestones on many of our projects. It's certainly nice to be talking about $65 million when we were talking about $30 million per quarter only two years ago. With that, let's turn our focus to fiscal 2025, starting with the growing opportunities in our Power Solutions. Demand for reliable power is rising. Defense priorities dictate a stronger navy. We see demand for our power quality products across the evolving energy landscape where reliability and performance become more critical than ever. The grid is under pressure. Distributed energy and two-way power flows are adding complexity. The need for smarter, more resilient and dynamic systems is only increasing. Data centers alone could double global power demand by as early as 2026. Semiconductor fabs in the United States are projected to more than triple by 2032. We've seen a ramp-up in our orders pipeline this quarter, securing multiple orders driven by semiconductor fabs under construction. These orders as well as orders from traditional power customers are the main reason that we see such a dramatic increase in our order intake rate. Traditional power production is also making a resurgence, driving industrial growth and grid strain. The US is reshoring advanced manufacturing in many factories where resilient power supply is critical. Our aging infrastructure just can't keep up. Last month, the administration issued an executive order to strengthen grid reliability and security. The Department of Energy is now authorized to use all available power resources to ensure reliable electricity delivery. That's where we come in. Our Power Solutions, capacitor banks, harmonic filters and static synchronous compensators are built for energy-intensive industries like artificial intelligence, data centers, steel and a variety of metals, automotive, chemicals and semiconductors. Our products are designed to maintain reliability, maximize output and enhance power quality and distribution networks impacted by industrial loads. We are uniquely positioned to enable industrials to power facilities in ways that scale without adding complexity or size. In fiscal 2024, we expanded our offerings with power supplies and military grade solutions that strengthen our overall product portfolio. These solutions help industries cut emissions, power critical systems and boost the performance of their plant as well as powering critical military systems. In each case, these are critical power solutions that need to operate in harsh environments. We have orders in backlog generated from the demand across industrial, utility and military sectors where these products are making a significant impact. We're not just responding to grid changes. We're enabling them. We're focused on capturing the many opportunities ahead in both power and defense. We see growth from wind in India. We design and supply electrical control systems, or ECS, they make wind turbines more competitive and efficient. In fiscal 2024, we secured nearly $35 million in orders for our 2-megawatt and 3-megawatt ECS from Inox as they ramp up to service their growing demand. About half of these shipments were occurred during the year. Our proprietary technology is helping Inox scale, supporting what they've called their strongest backlog in recent memory with over 3-gigawatts of orders. Let's now turn to our growing presence in the Navy sector. Our Ship Protection Systems or SPS help naval vessels by reducing their visibility to enemy threats. This year marked a major milestone as we expanded our Ship Protection Systems internationally with a breakthrough contract from the Royal Canadian Navy, our first allied Navy customer. We secured a multiyear multiunit contract worth about $75 million with Irving Shipbuilding, the leading builder of Canada's naval fleet. We believe this order represents a strong signal of global demand for our defense systems. We're now preparing to deliver our proprietary solutions to support the US Navy and the Royal Canadian Navy. To-date, we've secured five SPS contracts from the US Navy for the San Antonio-class ship. We've delivered on three out of the five systems to the following vessels, the USS Fort Lauderdale, the USS Harrisburg and the USS Pittsburgh. We anticipate delivering our fourth system soon. We're also actively pursuing opportunities beyond the US platforms, including other allied navies. In summary, our progress reflects a company that is delivering strong, consistent results. As we look ahead, we believe AMSC is in a better position than it's ever been. We've delivered consistent profitability, higher revenue and increased cash generation. We closed fiscal 2024 with a 12-month backlog of over $200 million and over $85 million in cash, which is critical for supporting larger orders and future growth opportunities. We grew our product portfolio and extended a key solution to an international defense customer. We significantly expanded gross margins year-over-year. None of these accomplishments would be possible without the incredible dedication of our team. I want to thank each and every one of our team members for truly delivering an outstanding year. We are focused well-capitalized and committed to creating long-term value for our customers, our partners as well as our shareholders. We closed a fantastic 2024 and are off to a very good start for fiscal 2025 with tremendous opportunities ahead of us. We are at the center of some of the most important transformations of our time from defense to industrial growth from renewable integration to grid modernization. Our solutions are helping power the evolution of a grid that is fit for the future, a more reliable and resilient grid built to support and incorporate a broad mix of energy sources. We believe specifically our American-made products supported largely by a domestic supply chain and supply to US customers, which account for 70% to 75% of our total revenue and our expanded exposure to recession-resilient industries positions us strongly against tariff risks and global economic volatility. We are executing on our vision and believe that our creativity can meet today's challenges and help us progress to a better future. This means using future-facing technologies to harmonize the world's desire for decarbonization and clean energy with the need for more reliable, effective and efficient power delivery. We are committed to powering progress by designing, developing and deploying power control solutions that harmonize an increasingly complex energy system. Thank you for your continued trust and support. We look forward to sharing our progress with you in the months ahead. M.J., can we now open up the lines for any questions from our analysts.