Michael Burdiek
Analyst · First Analysis. Please state your question
Thank you, Lasse. Broad-based customer demand drove excellent third quarter results with consolidated revenue, Wireless DataCom segment revenue, and adjusted EBITDA each at all-time record levels for a single quarter. In addition, third quarter non-GAAP EPS of $0.31 per share exceeded the upper end of our original guidance range with cash flow from operating activities of $9.1 million. During the quarter, we experienced strong growth in shipments of telematics devices to Caterpillar coupled with solid demand for our Mobile Resource Management and wireless network products and services. Our Satellite segment revenue was somewhat better than expected and added meaningfully to our bottom line profitability and operating cash flow. Overall, we are extremely pleased with our third quarter performance and expect momentum to remain strong through the balance of the fiscal year. Looking at our third quarter results in more detail, consolidated revenue was a record $74.7 million with Wireless DataCom revenue up 15% year-over-year to $62.8 million and Satellite revenue up 37% to $11.8 million. Consolidated gross margin increased to 35.6% in the third quarter, up from 35% in the third quarter of last year and adjusted EBITDA margin improved to 17.2%, up from 15.7%. At the bottom line, we achieved GAAP basis earnings of $0.11 per diluted share in the third quarter with non-GAAP earnings of $0.31 per diluted share, up from $0.27 in the immediately preceding quarter. Operating cash flow totaled $37.9 million in the first nine months of fiscal 2016, resulting in free cash flow of $34.4 million. This strong performance increased our total cash and marketable securities to $223 million at quarter end. Now, I would like to review our operational highlights for the quarter in more detail. Our Wireless DataCom segment posted another record setting revenue quarter as we continued to experience strong customer demand for our core products and services. Revenue from telematics products shipped to Caterpillar was sharply higher on both the year-over-year and sequential quarter basis and are expected to remain strong in the fourth quarter and into fiscal 2017. Overall, we are quite pleased with how our business with Caterpillar is progressing. Telematics is a key strategic thrust for Caterpillar, and we continue to look for ways to expand our relationship with this important customer as well as develop additional opportunities in the burgeoning heavy equipment market. Our Wireless DataCom segment growth was broad-based in the third quarter including healthy year-over-year revenue growth for our software-as-a-service solutions. In total, recurring revenue from our fleet management, automotive aftermarket, and communications services was $10.5 million in the third quarter, up from $10 million in the third quarter last year, driven by an 11% year-over-year increase in overall SaaS revenue. Across all of our market verticals, we had approximately 490,000 unique software subscriptions into the third quarter, which is up from 487,000 at the end of the immediately preceding quarter. Moving on to our MRM products business, we continued to see solid demand in fleet management, asset tracking, and insurance telematics applications, both domestically and with key international customers. Customer demand in the US remained strong and we saw healthy pickup in demand from customers across Europe, Latin America, and the Pacific Rim. We are making good progress in building the sales pipeline with new large global enterprise accounts and believe we are well positioned for additional growth in fiscal 2017 and beyond. In the connected vehicle and insurance telematics markets, we are taking concrete steps to advance our strategic vision. Earlier in the year, our acquisition of Crashboxx helped to position CalAmp at the forefront of telematics technologies for streamlining insurance claims processing through the automation of crash detection notification and vehicle damage estimation. Last month, we announced a strategic seed capital investment in Smart Driver Club Limited, a new technology and insurance startup founded by an experienced team of telematics industry experts with an exciting vision. Smart Driver Club was created to provide extensive connected car services and innovated insurance offerings by leveraging aftermarket telematics solutions through new and used auto dealerships in the United Kingdom. More recently, we made public our all-cash offer dated November 10, 2015, to acquire LoJack Corporation, a provider of vehicle theft recovery systems and advanced fleet management solutions, for $5.50 per share in a transaction valued at approximately $113 million. For nearly two years, we have tried to engage with LoJack in discussions regarding a combination of our two companies. In the past 14 months, we have made three all-cash offers to LoJack, each of which would have provided a median and certain value for LoJack shareholders at a significant premium. As demonstrated by our recent offer, we continue to believe that the benefits of the business combination are significant for the stakeholders of each company. Given our strong belief in the opportunity for potential combination of CalAmp and LoJack offers and having been unsuccessful in moving forward privately, we determined that the most constructive path forward is a direct appeal for LoJack shareholders about the merits of our compelling offer. We believe the combination of LoJack’s world renowned brand and strong auto dealership distribution channel, coupled with CalAmp’s leading portfolio of wireless connectivity devices, software, services, and applications would create a market leader that is well-positioned to drive the broad adoption of vehicle telematics technologies and applications worldwide. CalAmp’s Board of Directors unanimously support this offer and believes with the close cooperation and focus of our respective teams that we can expeditiously complete due diligence and execute a definitive agreement. After our most recent offer, LoJack announced that they are evaluating strategic alternatives and we look forward to their serious consideration of our offer. We are committed to completing this transaction. We also continue to invest organically in unique technologies that can give CalAmp sustainable sources of competitive advantage. Our R&D investments are focused on high-growth markets to maintain technology leadership, and we are also protecting our innovations through patents whenever possible. As an example, we were recently awarded three patents that capture incremental innovations that streamline the successful deployment and adoption of machine to machine or M2M solutions. These new patents increased our awarded patent count to 37 with a record number awarded this year and are the latest in the long string of technology innovations that CalAmp has developed over the years. Overall, we are pleased with our recent progress in advancing our strategic initiatives in the connected vehicle space. We will continue to invest in the technologies, channels, and strategic partnerships that we believe will position CalAmp to play a foundational role in the evolution of the overall M2M marketplace. Moving on to our Satellite segment, revenue in the third quarter was $11.8 million, somewhat better than our expectations. We continue to be pleased with the satellite segment's operational performance which achieved gross margins of 26.7% in the third quarter and provided healthy contributions to operating cash flow and our bottom line results. With that, I will now turn the call over to Rick Vitelle, our Chief Financial Officer for a closer look at our third quarter financial results.