Michael Potter
Analyst · Stifel
Thanks, Andy. And good afternoon, everyone. We have a lot of numbers to run through as we released both quarterly and annual results, so please bear with me. In Q4, we delivered net revenue of $510.6 million, though a decrease of 8.2% compared to our record $556.3 million in Q4 2020, it remains well above Q4 2019 pre-pandemic level of $326.6 million. Net revenue for the year was $1.904 billion, an increase of 11.8% year-over-year. As Andy mentioned earlier, our fourth quarter results and really the whole second half remain challenged by a very difficult logistics and supply chain environment. Logistics remains slower than usual with many shipping lanes taking over doubled in normal shipping times and at a much higher costs. We estimate that the effect of increased supply chain costs continues to have a 2% to 3% headwind on our gross margin and resulting EBITDA percent during the fourth quarter. And we expect this to continue in the upcoming quarter. Ocean freight of 44 containers remains elevated compared to historical prices. But we did see some slight easing at the end of 2021 fourth quarter and expect somewhat better rates for 2022. Turning now to our segments. The Gamer and Creator Peripherals segment provided $176.9 million of net revenue during the fourth quarter impacted by supply and logistics constraints, a decrease of 7.8% from $191.8 million in Q4 2020, and well above Q4 2019 of $94.1 million. The Gamer and Creator Peripherals segment net revenue contributed 34.6% of total net revenue, an increase of 10 basis points from 34.5% in Q4 2020. For the year Gamer and Creator Peripherals segment net revenue was a record $647.2 million, an increase of 20% year-over-year. The Gaming Components and Systems segment provided $333.7 million of net revenue during the fourth quarter, a decrease of 8.4% from $364.5 million in Q4 2020, primarily driven by a shortage of reasonably priced GPUs and supply and logistics constraints, and well above Q4 2019 level of $232.5 million. Just over half of this revenue came from memory products, which contributed $176.8 million. For the year net revenue was $1,256.9 million, an increase of 8.1% year-over-year. Gross profit in the fourth quarter decreased by 20.8% to $121.8 million from the record $153.8 million in Q4 2020 and is well above the Q4 2019 pre-pandemic level of $70.5 million. The decrease over Q4 2020 was primarily by increased logistics costs, a return to more normal seasonal promotional activity and reduced revenues. Gross profit margin was 23.9% a decrease of 370 basis points from 27.6% in Q4 2020, mainly due to significant increases in logistics costs, especially ocean freight and promotion activity. For the year, this was a record $513.9 million, an increase of 10.4%. The Gamer and Creator Peripherals segment gross profit was $52.8 million, a decrease of 23.3% from $68.9 million in Q4 2020, primarily driven by a decrease in revenue in the same periods, increased supply chain and logistics costs and a return to more normal pre-pandemic level of holiday promotions. Gross profit margin was 29.9%, a decrease of 600 basis points from 35.9% in Q4, largely due to the previously mentioned supply chain and logistics costs and rebate levels. For the year, Gamer and Creator Peripherals segment gross profit was $224.9 million, an increase of 18.5% and a record 43.8% of total gross profit. This continues to be a great overall story and a formula for overall margin expansion as our fastest growing and highest margin segment also sits in our largest growth market. The Gaming Components and Systems segment gross profit was $69 million, a decrease of 18.8% from $84.9 million in Q4 2020, primarily driven by the decrease in revenue in the same periods and increased logistics costs. Gross profit margin was 20.7%, a decrease of 260 basis points from 23.3% in Q4 2020, primarily due to freight costs. Our memory products margin in this segment was 17.5% for the quarter. For the year Gaming Components and Systems segment gross profit was $288.9 million, an increase of 4.8%. Fourth quarter SG&A expenses were $81.5 million, a modest increase of 0.5% compared to $81.1 million in Q4 2020 primarily driven by an increase in outbound freight costs due to increases in ocean and air freight, offset by a decrease in volumes due to lower revenue and an increase in personnel related expenses. Fourth quarter product development expenses for $15.1 million, an increase of 9.9% compared to $13.8 million in Q4 2020, primarily driven by an increase in personnel related expenses as we continue to focus on bringing an increasing number of products to the market. Operating income in the fourth quarter of 2021 was $25.1 million, a decrease of $33.8 million from $58.9 million in Q4 2020. For the year this was $137.9 million, a decrease of $20.5 million from $158.4 million in 2020. Adjusted operating income in the fourth quarter of 2021 was $38.5 million, a decrease of $32.6 million from $71 million in Q4 2020. For the year this was $194.5 million, a decrease of $10.3 million from $204.8 million in 2020. Fourth quarter net income was $24.7 million, or $0.25 per diluted share as compared to net income of $43 million or $0.43 per diluted share in Q4 2020. For the year net income was $101 million, or $1.01 per diluted share compared to $103.2 million or $1.14 per diluted share in 2020. Fourth quarter adjusted net income was $34.7 million or $0.35 per diluted share as compared to adjusted net income of $53 million or $0.53 per diluted share in Q4 2020. For the year, this was $144.9 million or $1.45 per diluted share compared to $145 million or $1.60 per diluted share in 2020. Adjusted EBITDA for Q4 2021 was $39.5 million, a decrease of $33 million compared to $72.5 million in Q4 2020, resulting in adjusted EBITDA margin of 7.7%, a decrease of 530 basis points from 13% in Q4 2020. Adjusted EBITDA for the year was $199.2 million, compared to $213 million in 2020. Turning now to our balance sheet. As we discussed in our Q3 earnings call, in order to mitigate logistics delays, we strategically put more inventory in our hubs closer to our markets. They certainly paid off as reflected by our sequential growth over Q3, but we did pay for much of this inventory last year, and have not collected in all the sales, resulting in an increase in our net working capital and a relatively low AP balance, compared to our inventory. As funds come in during Q1 '22, net working capital will return to more normal levels. During 2021, we paid off over $78 million in debt, refinanced our remaining long-term debt to more favorable terms in Q3, saving over $8 million in interest expense per year, and increased our revolver capacity to $100 million, which was unutilized at the end of the year. We ended the year with $248.8 million in debt at face value and $62.4 million of unrestricted cash and a net leverage ratio below 1. We continue to look for strategic opportunities to use the cash we generate, such as our recent investment in iDisplay. Following such opportunities, we look to continue to reduce our debt. The last two years marked our transformation of a relatively leveraged LBO to a comfortably leveraged growth company. We are comfortable with our current debt levels and will value growth investments over debt reduction. But we do expect to continue to reduce debt. Turning now to our outlook for the year. For 2022, we expect total revenue in the range of $1.9 billion to $2.1 billion, representing growth of approximately 0% to 10%. Adjusted operating income in the range of $195 million to $215 million and adjusted EBITDA in the range of $205 million to $225 million. For 2022, we are expecting an approximately 45%-55% revenue split for the first half and second half. We expect supplies of reasonably priced GPUs to be more available as the year progresses, thus unlocking the pent-up demand Andy discussed earlier. Because of the timing of the holiday period in 2021 and Lunar New Year in 2022, we expect greater than average seasonal effect on Q1 revenue. The additional modeling details underlying our outlook remain largely the same as we have discussed in our prior earnings calls. For ease, I'll repeat them. We expect gross margins to remain pressured by logistics costs, especially in the first half of the year. Operating expense will increase to support our higher revenue level and our continued investment in new products. Assuming no further debt pay down, we expect interest expense of approximately $1 million per quarter. The $4 million patent trial win in Q1 2021 is not in our outlook. This amount could vary depending on what the judge rules and is subject to appeal and the timing of recognition of a game if any is uncertain at this time. An effective tax rate of approximately 21% to 23% for 2022 and a full year average weighted diluted shares outstanding of approximately 100 million to 102 million shares. To summarize, we’re pleased with our strong financial performance to conclude 2021 with fourth quarter revenue and profitability metrics achieving the high end of our expectations. We remain focused on growth following the transformation of our debt levels, and cost management efficiencies over the past two years. As we begin 2022, we expect to continue to experience elevated freight costs and ongoing supply chain issues. But we currently believe these circumstances will ease as the year progresses. As these macroeconomic conditions improve, we expect to increase our cash position, which should allow us to execute on M&A opportunities that fulfill our investment criteria or further reduce debt. With that, we're now happy to open the call for questions. Operator, will you please open up the line for Q&A?