William Atkins
Analyst · Craig-Hallum Capital Group. Please state your question
Thank you, Carl. We last provided you with guidance regarding Q1 on February 3rd. And in that guidance we estimated revenues between $89 million and $93 million, a gross margin of between 47.5% and 48.5% and operating expenses in the range of $46.5 million to $47.5 million thus resulting in EPS between negative $0.09 and negative $0.04 per share. Actual revenue for the quarter was $91 million and EPS was negative $0.07 per share, with revenues at the mid-point of our guidance and earnings per share also at the middle of guidance. Without the expenses incurred in relation to our Occam litigation, EPS would have been negative $0.03, $0.01 better than the top-end of our guidance. While there may be quarterly fluctuations in this trend, we continue to expect gross margin to grow over time. And we were pleased with Q1’s 49.2% levels above our 47.5% to 48.5% guidance range. Product and customer mix contributed to this out-performance, and Q1 2015 gross margin was also up significantly from Q1 2014’s 45.9% level. Operating expenses came in at $48.1 million above our $46.5 million to $47.5 million guidance range and up $7.4 million from the same quarter a year ago. With this year-over-year increase primarily due to additions in headcount, compensation adjustments and expenses associated with our Occam litigation. It is worth highlighting that we reported a total of $1.7 million of Occam litigation related expenses in the quarter, and that operating expenses would have been $46.4 million below the bottom end of guidance had been not incurred these costs. As expected, Q1 was not cash generative. With the $13.9 million decrease in the aggregate balance of cash and marketable securities. We ended Q1 with a total of a $97.8 million down from Q4’s $111.7 million figure. On a year-over-year comparison, the $97.8 million level for Q1 2015 was up $22.6 million from Q1 2014 $75.2 million equivalent. We expect to return to being cash flow positive in Q2 and for the rest of the year. Let me give you some more detail on revenues. Revenue for the quarter was $91 million, an increase of $5.2 million or 6% from last year’s first quarter level of $85.8 million. International revenue was $10.1 million in Q1, down from $10.6 million in Q1 2014. And we had one 10% or greater customer again this quarter. Turning now to some of the other items in our balance sheet. Receivables DSOs were very healthy 37 days compared to 34 days in the previous quarter and 43 days in Q1 2014, reflecting both a more even distribution of revenues within the quarter relative to last year and strong collections performance. Inventory levels decreased to $14.6 million in Q1 2015 from Q4’s $46.8 million level. And we’re down from $45.1 million in Q1 2014. Inventory turns decreased to 3.6 times in Q1 from 4.8 times in Q4 but increased slightly from Q1 2014’s 3.4 times. The deferred revenue balance was $28.5 million, down from $32.1 million in the prior quarter, and down from $47.5 million in Q1 of 2014. We closed out deferred revenues in line with our expectations and we now have very little remaining from broadband stimulus projects. Earlier in this call, I broke out that $1.7 million Occam litigation related expenses for Q1 2015, in order to give you a perspective on what our expenses would have been without that litigation. It’s worth pausing here and describing both where we are in this process and the current level of our non-GAAP Occam litigation related expenses. The litigation is more fully described in our various SEC filing but essentially it consists of a group of former Occam shareholders seeking damages related to the purported failure of Occam directors and management to obtain the best purchase price for Occam when we purchased the company in 2011. The litigation is taking place in Delaware, and the last hearing for the Delaware judge was in March of this year. No trial date has yet been set. And although we can’t predict the outcome with certainty, we remain confident that this litigation is without mirror. The litigation expenses that have been incurred in the Occam situation include amongst other things, legal fees and expert witness fees incurred by Occam and Calix and by parties indemnified by Occam, including by an outside advisor previously retained by Occam. The majority of Occam litigation related expenses have been reimbursed to us by Occam’s insurance. But we note that Occam’s insurance carriers have advised that there are certain expenses that they believe they should not cover including Occam’s indemnification obligations to that outside advisor. Non-reimbursable items comprised the bulk of the Occam litigation related expenses that we have recognized on our book. On a non-GAAP basis, in 2014, we recognized the total of $0.5 million of Occam litigation related expenses for the full year. Total Occam litigation related expenses recognizing Q4 2014 were $0.2 million with no expenses being recognized in Q1 of 2014. In Q1 2015, and as noted earlier, we recognized another $1.7 million of Occam litigation related expenses. Taking into account, the expenses that we expect to continue to incur in this litigation, we expect that un-reimbursed Occam litigation related expenses will continue. And that they will exceed the remaining balance of Occam’s insurance before the end of 2015. As the Occam legal process unfolds and subject to the constraint of that process, we intend to continue to highlight our Occam litigation related expenses to allow you to gain a better understanding of the [movements in our operating expenses. Turning to guidance, in terms of guidance for the second of 2015, as Carl mentioned, budgets got off to a slow start in our largest customers. And while we’re seeing orders beginning to pick-up, we expect revenues to be in line with slightly down from last year’s Q2 levels reflecting a year that is growing slowly in the first half relative to last year’s first half. Taking together with our Q1 results, our guidance implies 2% overall revenue growth for the first half of 2015 relative to the first half of 2014. Our guidance for Q2 is as follows. Revenues for the first quarter expected to be in a range of between $94 million and $98 million with a midpoint of $96 million, which is down 2% from the $98 million level reported for Q2 of 2014. Gross margins are expected to be broadly in the same range of they were in Q1. We are guiding to a 48% to 49% range for Q2 up from last year’s Q2 level of 47.7%. Operating expenses are expected to be in the range of between $48 million to $49 million up from last year’s Q2 level of $41.6 million. Occam litigation-related expenses that were not being reimbursed by its insurers are expected to be approximately $0.7 million. The expectations that I just finished taking you through results in guidance range for Q2 earnings per share of negative $0.06 to negative $0.02 or negative $0.05 to negative $0.01 after taking possible Occam litigation expenses into account. Please note that litigation expenses are inherently unpredictable. And I’m providing you with this guidance in order to help you with your assessing of Calix. But I must emphasize that these numbers can change. At this point, let me hand the call back over to Carl. Carl?