Cheryl Beranek
Management
Hello, this is Cheri Beranek, President and CEO of Clearfield. Welcome to our fiscal second quarter 2017 FieldReport. Before we begin today, I'd like to provide some important cautions regarding forward-looking statements made during today's presentation. Certain important factors could have a material impact on the company's performance, including those set forth in the slide entitled Important Cautions Regarding Forward-looking Statements as well as the factors set forth in Clearfield's annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2016, and other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Once again, we have proven our commitment to expanding our presence in the Tier 1 market, with more than 11% of our revenue in the quarter coming from this customer segment. Our growth in this market has been very encouraging, as reflected by the increased amount of orders as well as the fact that we were able to achieve an important industry certification. As reported earlier this week, certification to Level 3 NEBS will enable us to more aggressively pursue additional Tier 1 business. Yet revenue growth of 4% for second quarter and 10% year-to-date is beneath our expectation and plan for this 6-month period. We did experience a noticeable dip in demand for our solutions from our customers in the wireless market. We see this as a short-term shift to procurement patterns as these carriers reduced their near-term capital expenditures in preparation for the enhancement of the optical fiber required for higher-speed networks. In addition, momentum within our Alternative Carrier markets has stalled. But it is important to note that this is consistent with the market speculation that has surrounded this customer group. I want to assure shareholders that while it is unfortunate that the short-term volatility of spend among these 2 groups is reflected in our year-to-date performance, I do not want it to mask the strong execution of Clearfield's strategy to establish ourselves as a key supplier of fiber management and distribution products for all broadband service providers regardless of size or network type. But before I discuss our operational results, growth strategies and future outlook in greater detail, I would like to turn the presentation over to our CFO, Dan Herzog, who will walk us through our full financial performance for the second quarter of fiscal 2017.