Michael D. Porcelain
Analyst · Noble Financial. Please go ahead. Your line is open
Thanks, Mike.Based on demonstratively strong operating results, I do believe it is clear that our long-term business strategies are paying off. Let me give you some recent developments and additional color for each of our two business segments, both for 2019 and 2020.As we head into fiscal 2020, we have started to rebrand some of our product lines and further integrate them to make them more reflective of our strategies, leverage sales efforts and to highlight the growth opportunities that we see. I’ll mention the rebranding efforts as I go along.In our Commercial Solutions segment, it was a great year. Net sales were $103 million this quarter, and $357.3 million for fiscal 2019. Total sales in this segment were up 3.5% versus last year. Bookings in this segment were $65.7 million for the quarter and $448.1 million for the year, resulting in an outstanding 1.25 book-to-bill ratio. Our satellite ground station technologies solution line, which consists primarily of our modems and amplifiers, both solid state and TWTA that are used in satellite communications, and which we previously referred to as our communications technology product line, had a terrific year.Although our satellite ground station technology solutions line did experience order delays and lower sales for in-flight communication amplifiers, it experienced significant growth in sales in fiscal 2019 to international customers as well as incremental demand from U.S. government customers. We believe this product line is poised for growth, not only in fiscal 2020, but for the next several years.Our Heights products are clearly hitting their mark, and it was a very successful fiscal 2019. Heights sales were significantly higher than the levels achieved in fiscal 2018, and the pipeline continues to grow.Based on the anticipated increase in the number of satellites, both high-throughput or HTS and LEO satellites expected to be launched, and the need to backhaul cellular traffic, and as networks migrate from 3G to 4G and ultimately 5G, we believe that we are in the early stages of a multiyear period of growing demand.Now, let me turn to our public safety and location technology product lines, who in fiscal 2019 sales in aggregate were significantly higher as compared to fiscal 2018. Here too, sales in fiscal 2020 are expected to grow. As part of our previously announced enterprise product line repositioning, we are rebranding those products as Location Technologies. This simple name was chosen to highlight our strength in mapping and location. And our location strategy going forward is to continue to focus on carrier solutions, advanced location for enterprises and public safety opportunities. Our public safety and location technology product lines are anticipated to benefit from both the Solacom acquisition and our acquisition of the GD 911 business. And we believe that these acquisitions are already having a positive impact.Sometimes, touting is better left to others. And in this regard, I’m pleased to announce that since our last conference call Frost & Sullivan announced that we were the winner of their 2019 North American product line strategy leadership award. As stated in their report, this award was based on our assembly and introduction of a comprehensive next generation 911 product line that truly addresses customer needs, reduces complexity and accelerates the widespread adoption of next-generation 911. With our recent acquisitions, Comtech has emerged as one of the largest next generation 911 contract holders in the United States. We are pleased with this award by a third party. And during fiscal 2020, we expect to continue to communicate our award-winning strategies to our customers and focus on execution.Looking forward, we have a strong base of backlog and growing opportunities, and end market conditions for our public safety products, while competitive, remain healthy. All-in-all, given the product leadership strengths we have in our Commercial Solutions segment, we are optimistic that this segment has set the stage for multiyear growth.Now, let me turn to our Government Solutions segment where here too we had a banner year. Net sales in this segment were $73.4 million in Q4 of fiscal 2019 as compared to $74.2 million in Q4 of fiscal 2018. And for the full year, net sales were $314.5 million, which represents an increase of 39.5% over the prior fiscal year.Bookings in our Government Solutions segment for fiscal 2019 were solid and came in at $276 million. Looking forward, we do believe that fiscal 2020 will be a year of growth for this segment. We are also doing some rebranding efforts here too, and going forward, we will be talking about two solution groups. The first Government Solutions group will now be called mission critical, which provides tactical, satellite-based technology solutions, field support services, and satellite component supply chain management.The second group will be called high-performance transmission technologies. This solutions set consists of our radiofrequency solid-state high power amplifiers and switching technologies and troposcatter technologies, which are used in sophisticated communication systems, electronic warfare, radar, identification friend or foe applications.Our Government Solutions segment is a key supplier for large governments, particularly the U.S. government and large prime contractors. And we believe this product line rebranding will better reflect our core strengths.Today, our Government Solutions segment is a leader in providing Manpack Satellite Terminals, networking equipment and other advanced VSAT products to the U.S. Army pursuant to the $223.4 million Global Tactical Advanced Communication System, or GTACS contract, which is a remaining unfunded contract value of $45.5 million. We are also the sole provider of SNAP sustainment services to the U.S. Army. And in fiscal 2019, we received $41 million of orders for these services. This work is expected to continue through fiscal 2020, and we believe for many years ahead.Our work in this segment is just not limited to the U.S. government. We also sell to many foreign governments. For instance, during our fourth quarter, we received a $4 million contract from the Brazilian military to expand their satellite-based network for its air traffic control system. We believe that international sales will continue to grow over the next several years and we are focusing on that.Today, we have several large opportunities in this segment and are optimistic that as the year progresses, we will be able to report them as bookings. All-in-all, fiscal 2020 is looking like another year of growth for our Government Solutions segment.Before turning it back to Fred, I do want to make a few remarks about our recent success and our go forward strategy.Several years ago, we embarked on a strategy to transform ourselves to have greater scale, more diverse earnings and expand our participation into growing markets. We believe our strategy of investing in marketing and R&D and focusing on both organic and acquisition growth has unquestionably proved successful.I want to provide a few data points that evidence this, and which also illustrates how Comtech has firmly established itself as a market leader in the growing secure wireless communications market.First, looking back in time, just four years ago to the end of our fiscal 2015, we had $307.3 million of revenue and $51.8 million of adjusted EBITDA. Both of these metrics were down double-digits from 2014. Back then, things were not looking too bright, and we were still recovering from a large 2010 contract loss. But today, we are pleased to be able to same here and proclaim that fiscal 2019 was our fourth year of consecutive revenue growth and our third year of consecutive adjusted EBITDA growth.Looking at the midpoint of our fiscal 2020 targets, we are expecting to grow again. And when comparing these targets to fiscal 2015, we are nearly twice the size and are able to offer customers more advanced solutions. We believe our customers are recognizing this change, and we hope to participate in more and larger opportunities with them.Second, back in fiscal 2015, we were not really well diversified, and we were over exposed to the extremely volatile international markets. In fact, almost 60% of our revenues were international -- 60% of our revenues were international, and today, only 25% of our revenues are derived internationally. We also had no exposure to state and local governments and virtually no relations with U.S. mobile carriers. That has clearly changed. In fact, as we sit here today, approximately $404.4 million or 60.2% of our 2019 revenues did not even exist in fiscal 2015.As an example, software sales have become more important in our business, and we are pleased that we have somewhat transformed ourselves in this regard. We sold virtually no software back in fiscal 2015. And today, we are a leader in 911 public safety and location solutions, the vast majority of which are software based.In addition, we continue to develop our Heights solution, which is software derived, and we went from virtually zero dollars in the sales -- zero dollars of sales in fiscal 2015 to now double-digit millions with more growth on the way. Although, I don’t want to provide a specific number at this point, it is fair to assume that approximately 50% of our Commercial Solutions segment revenues or approximately 25% of the total Company’s revenue is now software based. That again is from a base of literally zero. Clearly, a major game changer for us as a large amount of software-based revenue is repeat type or annuity type.Fourth, on the acquisition front, we have successfully completed three acquisitions. As everyone knows, our fiscal 2016 TCS acquisition was very large and very complex. Although we had a lot of cleanup to do and it took some time, TCS has been fully integrated into our business. Today, the success of that acquisition is clear. Building on that success in fiscal 2019, we made two small but important acquisitions in the public safety market. The fiscal 2019 acquisitions of Solacom and GD Next Generation 911 have further solidified our market leadership position in the public safety space. And as I mentioned earlier, Frost & Sullivan has recognized our accomplishments here.Looking forward, in addition to achieving organic growth, acquisitions are part of our growth plan. From our perspective, acquisitions bring more programs, more capabilities, and will allow us to achieve more profitable revenue growth than we could achieve by ourselves. Our business outlook of course does not include the impact of these acquisitions. Like we have demonstrated with our recent acquisitions, we only intend to do acquisitions that we believe we can fit into our culture and values, and ones that we can -- that we believe we can deliver long-term positive results for our shareholders.As we head into fiscal 2020, we are continuing with our acquisition plan efforts. And in Q1, we do expect, as Mike Bondi mentioned, to incur at least $1.5 million of expenses, during the quarter.Finally, one last comment, when I sit back and look at Comtech, one key data point that I find a great testament to our strength and market leadership positions is our operating cash flows. Here, we have generated over $185 million of GAAP operating cash flows over the last three years. Timing aside, we expect cash flows to grow from current levels, and I am optimistic that our future is bright for many years to come.Now, let me turn it back to Fred, who will provide some closing remarks. Fred?