KVH Industries, Inc. (KVHI) Q2 2026 Earnings Report, Transcript and Summary

Good day and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Q2 2026 KVH Industries, Inc. Earnings Conference Call. [Operator Instructions] Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Anthony Pike, Chief Financial Officer. Please go ahead.

Thank you, operator. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us today for KVH Industries' second quarter results, which are included in the earnings release we published earlier this morning. Joining me on the call is the company's Chief Executive Officer, Brent Bruun. A copy of the earnings release was filed with the SEC under Form 8-K this morning, and a copy of the release, along with a recording of today's call, will be available on our website at ir.kvh.com. This conference call contains certain forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in these statements. Words such as expect, may, intend, anticipate, will and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements which include projections, plans, initiatives and other future events. We undertake no obligation to update these statements, and you should review the cautionary statements in our most recently filed Form 10-K under the heading Risk Factors. We will also discuss adjusted EBITDA, a non-GAAP financial measure, and our press release defines this term and reconciles it to GAAP net income or loss. Brent?

Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining us. Over the last two quarterly calls, I have spoken about the momentum behind our transition to LEO-based connectivity. I'm pleased to say the momentum has continued through the second quarter, and our results demonstrate that we are executing well against our strategy. We are seeing strong demand for our solutions, continued growth in our recurring revenue base, and encouraging progress across several of our strategic initiatives. Total revenue for the second quarter was $33.7 million, an increase of $1.4 million, or 4%, sequentially from the first quarter, and up 27% from a year ago. Service revenue reached $29.7 million, increasing 6% sequentially and 29% year over year. This growth reflects the continued expansion of our subscriber base and reinforces the strength of a recurring revenue model. During the quarter, we shipped approximately 2,500 communication terminals. While below the record shipment level we achieved in the first quarter, this represents another quarter of strong demand and continues to support future subscriber growth. We ended the quarter with approximately 10,700 subscribing vessels, adding more than 1,000 net vessels during the quarter. That trend reflects the value customers see in our approach. Growth in LEO service sales driven by Starlink remains our fastest growing segment. Not every company in our space has navigated the shift successfully. We have, and the results show it. One of the most significant developments this quarter was the introduction of our new multi-network service plans. These plans give customers flexibility to subscribe to a block of data delivered across Starlink, OneWeb, or VSAT, depending on their needs. This is a key milestone in simplifying connectivity for our customers while giving them greater flexibility to take advantage of multiple satellite networks. Our Link content platform continues to expand. The new Link streaming service is now undergoing beta trials, and we expect to launch it very soon. This next phase expands the value of the platform by delivering streamed entertainment content that further enhances crew welfare and the onboard experience. Turning to our managed IT service offering, we're making progress converting early customer evaluations into ongoing commercial relationships. And we expect to see this reflected in our recurring revenue stream over the coming months. While still early, we're encouraged by the direction of these conversions, and we look to expand our role beyond connectivity and deliver broader technology solutions for our customers. In parallel, our land-based Starlink initiative continues to expand. We ended the quarter with approximately 1,600 sites, an increase of approximately 500 during the quarter. It's further evidence of the demand of our managed connectivity solutions beyond the maritime market and broadens our recurring revenue business model. Geographic expansion remains a priority. During the quarter, we strengthened our presence in Latin America by adding a dedicated regional sales leader and expanded our team in Athens, Greece, further enhancing our ability to support customers across Europe and surrounding markets. We also broadened our market reach by opening our first retail location in Fort Lauderdale. Alongside Starlink, the location offers a broad portfolio of communications equipment, including handheld devices and other connectivity solutions. It gives us a new channel to serve both commercial and recreational maritime customers while expanding our presence in an important maritime hub. So what did we do in the second quarter? continued revenue growth, approximately 10,700 subscribing vessels, the successful introduction of multi-network service plans, Link streaming entered beta trials, our first cybersecurity pilot engagements, solid growth in our land-based Starlink initiative, continued investment in our global footprint, and the opening of our first retail location. The transformation of KVH continues to gain momentum. We remain focused on disciplined execution, delivering innovative solutions for our customers, expanding our recurring revenue base and building long-term value as the communications market continues to transition to LEO-enabled connectivity. Thank you. And with that, I'll turn it over to Anthony.

Thank you, Brent. So with respect to our second quarter financial results, service gross profit was $10.6 million, which is an increase of $0.8 million from the first quarter. Service gross margin was 36%, which was up slightly from 35% in the prior quarter. Airtime depreciation expense, which is a non-cash charge, represented 7% of service revenue in both the second and first quarters, which impacted these gross margins. As Brent mentioned, total subscribing vessels at the end of Q2 were approximately 10,700, which is up 11% from the prior quarter. The Q2 operating expenses totaled $10.4 million compared to operating expenses of $9.7 million in the prior quarter. This increase was in line with expectations and included $0.2 million in severance costs related to individuals who left the business at the end of the second quarter. Our adjusted EBITDA for the quarter was $3.0 million, and capital expenditure for the quarter was $1.3 million. Of the $1.3 million in capital expenditures during the quarter, we would note the following items as either temporary in nature or non-cash: $0.4 million related to our ongoing ERP project and the fit-out of our new US headquarters, which is now complete. The ERP project will be completed by the end of the year. And $0.2 million related to non-cash expenditure on VSAT antennas using our Agile rental program, where the inventory has already been purchased in prior periods. This adjusted EBITDA and capital expenditure compares to $2.8 million and $2.6 million in the first quarter of 2026, respectively. Our ending cash balance of $57.7 million was down approximately $1.4 million from the beginning of the quarter. This was primarily driven by $2.3 million in stock repurchases. Giving effect to repurchases made subsequent to quarter end, we expect to conclude our full $15 million authorization within the current month. As a result, the program will then be complete. So overall, we are pleased with the second quarter's performance. As Brent stated, service revenue continues to grow and was up 6% compared to the first quarter of 2026 and 29% from the same quarter last year. We had another strong quarter for connectivity antenna shipments with over 2,500 units shipped, and subscribing connectivity vessels were up 11% quarter on quarter compared to a 7% increase in the first quarter. On a year-to-date basis, subscribing connectivity vessels have grown by 18%. We hope to build on this strong momentum in the second half of the year and remain very positive about the future. This concludes our prepared remarks, and I will now turn the call over to the operator to open the line for the Q&A portion of this morning's call. Operator?

[Operator Instructions] Our first question comes from the line of Caleb Henry of Quilty Space. Your line is now open.

First one is just on terminal shipments, the 2,500 I think versus 3,100 in the first quarter. Can you talk a little bit about what is driving the ups and downs there and what you see for the next couple quarters?

Caleb, as I indicated last quarter, the 3,100 was really a high watermark, we felt. Potentially, we'll match that or beat that at some point, but we realized at the time that, that was a bit higher than what we expected. I think in the realm where we see now, which is about 2,500, we should be able to do somewhere in the 2,000 to 3,000 range on a go-forward basis, but that's hard to say as market dynamics are shifting constantly.

Okay, thank you. And then I noticed in the earnings statement, it seemed like a little bit more discussion of OneWeb. I'm curious if you're seeing any customer patterns between who chooses Starlink, who chooses OneWeb, and then also who chooses VSAT, if there's any segmentation there or things that are noteworthy.

Yes, in regards to who chooses what, Starlink is definitely the dominating force as far as connectivity. Customers are still looking for redundancy of network. In particular cases, customers are looking for an alternative to Starlink, which would then be OneWeb. Many of our vessels have 2 or more communication solutions on board. We have customers that actually have all 3 on board, Starlink, OneWeb, and VSAT. We're still shipping VSATs, primarily in tandem with either a OneWeb or Starlink, and in some cases, a OneWeb will be paired with a Starlink as well. So I don't know, Anthony, do you have any more color to add there?

No, I think you covered it. Thanks, Brent.

Okay. And for the GEO VSAT terminals or for vehicles that have decided to discontinue using that service, do those VSATs tend to stay on the vessel or are they typically going silent -- sorry, are they being removed?

Well, if they own it, I'm not sure what they're doing with it, if you're leaving it on board. If it's in Agile, our rental program, they're required to de-install it and ship it back to us.

Okay. And then last question from me. As far as GEO capacity that has been already procured, can you give us a sense of the timeline for where that rolls off and if it has any material impact on gross margins going forward?

Well, the GEO capacity, we're in constant contact with SES. Previously, our arrangement was with -- our contract obligations were with Intelsat. We still have thousands of VSAT terminals in the market. So I wouldn't necessarily say there's an immediate roll-off of VSAT capacity. And we're just working with the provider to keep the service going as long as customers have a demand for it.

Our next question comes from the line of Chris Quilty of Quilty Space. Your line is now open.

Just a follow-up on that last question. I didn't hear a change in the gross margin outlook. So presumably, the balancing of VSAT service revenues, which I think you noted this time was down substantially in the quarter. So that sounds like, you know, more than in the past, but you've been able to balance the cost with the revenue.

Yes. We have been able to balance costs with revenue. As we enter 2027, we'll be able to further balance that cost, if you will. And we don't really anticipate any exposure in regard to VSAT obligations in regard to being mismatched with the revenue stream. Anthony...

I'm sorry, the only thing I would add, Chris, is that from our 10-K, you can see that predominantly our commitment on the GEO bandwidth comes to an end at the end of this year. We have a small commitment for next year. And then, you know, on top of that, we've included in the press release, or if not it'd be in the 8-K later, that 55% of our revenue on the airtime now is driven from LEO. So obviously, if LEO becomes a bigger and bigger portion of that overall revenue, then it kind of de-risks a little bit in terms of the impact on the overall margin as a result of the compressed GEO margins. So you know, as Brent says, we feel fairly comfortable going forward.

Great. And CommBox, did you give the number of units shipped or how is that trending?

Well, it's trending up. I'll defer to Anthony as far as unit shipments, and I don't believe we did disclose it.

No, we haven't. But we've had pretty much 6, 7 quarters now, consistent number of shipments in the region of sort of 200 to 300 a quarter.

Got you. And how do we think about, I mean, you talked about managed services associated with that. I mean, how large of a revenue bundle would you generate from a vessel? Like, is this a material contributor or is it most of the profit on the hardware sale?

Yes. It's definitely the most, the profit would be on the recurring revenue. As far as the size of the opportunity, it really depends on the end customer and what their requirements are, but we would anticipate as we further roll out our IT managed services and using the CommBox Edge as the backbone to increase our ARPUs. I wouldn't say significantly, but a nice uptick. I'd put it that way.

Great. Final question. I guess several months ago, Starlink closed their reseller channel. Can you talk about what impact, if any, that's had on your business?

They closed their reseller channel for what they refer to as local priority, which is basically for brown water and land-based applications. They have not closed their reseller program for global priority, which is the bulk of our business with Starlink.

Great. And I know there's been both new products and new pricing plans that Starlink has come out with. Have those impacted the business in any way?

Not at this point.

Good luck going forward.

All right. Thank you, Chris.

Thanks, Chris.

Thank you. I am showing no further questions at this time. Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now disconnect.