Anthony Ambrose
Analyst · Lake Street. Please go ahead
Thank you very much Jordan. I'd like to comment on 2020 Q1 and our recent developments and I'll turn it over to Joel Hatlen for more detail on specific numbers. I'll start by first addressing the COVID-19 situation. For Data I/O, the coronavirus pandemic has impacted our customers suppliers and our facilities. We've developed plans for each of these while focusing on our three priorities: number one is keeping our people and their families safe; number two is keeping our facilities safe and secure; and three is serving our customers. As an essential supplier to the medical and aerospace industries, Data I/O remained open for business. We've been vigilant in keeping our employees and our facilities safe. We required most of our workforce to operate remotely, while maintaining a core on-site group to staff our manufacturing, service and support operations. Our global teams follow recommended best practices in accordance with and often in advance of local government mandates. Local health authorities are reporting steady progress in each of our operating locations. And I'd like to take this time to recognize the efforts of our entire global workforce, who've risen to the occasion and kept our workplaces, their communities and families safe, while continuing to support our customers. We believe our business and operational strategies have proven helpful as we manage the effects of COVID-19. We remain globally diversified, which provides competitive advantages as well as an inherent hedge to location risk. This diversification spans manufacturing for a multi-source supply chain, engineering, as well as in our customer base vertical markets and customer support. From a financial perspective, we entered the crisis in a position of strength. Data I/O is the largest company in our industry and we have the strongest balance sheet. We are debt-free. At the end of the first quarter, we had $13.8 million in cash or about $1.68 per share of cash. We believe we're better prepared than anyone else in our industry to ride out whatever may come forward and are taking proactive steps to keep it that way. Beginning Q1 and early in the second quarter, we implemented cash conservation and expense management initiatives including reductions and deferrals in executive and Board level compensation. We also reduced work weeks for certain locations and functions. We'll continue to evaluate on a case-by-case basis all government programs worldwide that help us preserve our workforce and cash flow at the same time. At this time, however, we do not plan to accept funding from SBA PPP program in the United States. Meanwhile, we remain committed to our long-term business objectives. Unlike other industries, we believe the long-term electronics industry will recover and require a secure high-quality device programming as it recovers. Data I/O has consistently been at the forefront of the industry. First quarter was no different, as we continue to invest in our leading data programming and security provisioning platforms. Our innovations and ultrafast performance and reliability were recognized in the quarter. In addition we're honored to have received the coveted Service Excellence Award for device program support for the second consecutive year. Our engineering innovations and comprehensive customer support seem to be resonating with customers around the world. During the first quarter, our global sales channels and world-class products enable us to win systems orders at new automotive customer locations in Asia, North America, and Europe, as well as being selected by a global ventilator electronics manufacturer to ramp their production of very important ventilators to fight COVID-19. We're very proud to be supporting the medical manufacturers and their EMS partners and announced the target program to provide our fastest support to customers building COVID-19-related products. Economic times and markets may change, but the reasons we are selected by customers remain the same; outstanding products, great customer support, financial stability, and global capability. Overall, worldwide the automotive electronics market from which we've generated about half of our revenue for the past several years has been materially impacted by plant closures. We've seen China factories reopening although the U.S., Mexico, and Europe remain shut down. Guidance from leading customers indicate Europe and America locations will be reopening soon and ramping output later in the second quarter with the expectation of normal production by the fourth quarter of this year. Within automotive electronics, we continue to believe that the sector tracks a substantial multiyear increase in content per vehicle and complexity and design and programming requirements including the transition from eMMC to UFS flash storage. You'll recall that UFS is the next-generation flash memory using the latest automotive designs to support their projected growth and programmable content and performance. While we're still in a very fluid situation with short-term sales funnel puts and takes, our conviction remains that the industry will need to reinvest. When that happens whether or not we're the last one standing, Data I/O will be in a position to gain market share with the most robust programming innovations. For our other key target markets and Internet of Things, the rapid adoption of work-at-home policies amid COVID-19 underscores the importance of security at all ends of the connected electronics ecosystem. You've seen reports of hacking incidents are way up not just with home workers, but with the associated IoT devices as well. Our SentriX platform a highly robust and flexible cost-effective security provisioning and data programming deployment system for authentication devices secure elements and secure microcontrollers has experienced steady interest despite the recent stress on the overall economy. The low capital investment -- SentriX model is becoming even more attractive to companies to require solutions on tight budgets. Our marketing mix is shifting as well in response to COVID-19. While some of our key conferences have been canceled, we'll continue to look for ways to expand our market and other venues and through other channels besides trade shows with enhancements in our digital marketing platform. Our strategy for SentriX is to continue to expand its presence and simplify and scale the overall platform in 2020. Our strong cash position maintained by rapid actions combined with our long-term view of the markets gives us the financial flexibility and a launching path for growth as conditions improve. In these uncertain times, it's our intent to remain agile, improve our processes, follow our product roadmaps, protect our superior financial condition, and grow relative to the competition. With that, I'll turn it over to Joel Hatlen, our Chief Operating Officer and Chief Financial Officer provide more details on the quarter. Joel?