Earnings Labs

MicroVision, Inc. (MVIS)

Q4 2008 Earnings Call· Sat, Mar 21, 2009

$0.65

+4.67%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Tiffany Bradford

Management

Alexander Tokman

Management

Thank you, Tiffany. Welcome everyone. Our call is divided into several parts. First, I will give you update on 2008 results. Jeff will come back with financials, and we will jump into 2009 outlook followed by question session. So without further ado, let me just start with 2008 results. While at times challenging, 2008 was an exciting and very productive year for the Microvision team as we continued to execute on our PicoP commercialization roadmap. We made substantial progress on the objectives that we set for ourselves early in 2008 in completing multiple business developments, technology and supply chain milestones. All were more essential for bringing our first PicoP consumer product to market. Now, you are also aware that the longer than expected development and commercialization cycles of one of our key light source components as well as the deteriorating economic conditions have delayed a full fulfillment of our goals for 2008. We will highlight on these later in the discussion. A key indicator of how we have progressed against the commercialization milestones is measured not by us, not by you, but by our customers and interests that OEMs have expressed for our product. And judging by the most recent feedback we received at the shows, OEM interest remains very strong for bringing our unique solution to market in 2009. Clearly, the positive results of 2008 execution were realized at the three global commercial trade shows, Macworld Expo, Consumer Electronics show, and Mobile World Congress, all of which happened in the January and February of this year. We have demonstrated, to the delight of many prospective customers, a preproduction ultra-miniature plug-and-play accessory, Pico Projector, code named SHOW WX. WX stands for wide-screen experience. I would qualify a different way. I think it's a wild experience, because if you had a…

Jeff Wilson

Management

Thank you, Alec. For 2008, we reported revenue of $6.6 million compared to $10.5 million for 2007, and $1.5 million for the fourth quarter 2008 compared to $3.0 million for the same period in 2007. The decline in revenue is primarily due to the deteriorating economic conditions resulting in reduced contract activities in 2008 and, to a lesser extent, on our focus on commercialization of the PicoP display engine. As of December 31, our backlog totaled $1.2 million compared to $4.1 million last year. We expect that under the current economic conditions and as we continue to focus on our commercial products, we will not see much growth in contracts revenue in 2009. We had an operating loss for 2008 of $35.5 million compared to $26.7 million in 2007, and $10.2 million for the fourth quarter of 2008 compared to $7.9 million in the same period of 2007. The increase is primarily attributable to increased development costs associated with the planned introduction of PicoP-enabled products, including increased headcount in strategic sourcing, supplier quality, and business development and increased material costs consistent with product commercialization. We reported net loss available for common shareholders of $32.6 million or $0.53 per share for 2008 compared to $19.8 million or $0.40 per share for 2007. The 2007 loss included a one-time gain from our sale of our investment in Lumera of $6.6 million. Excluding this gain, the net loss available for common shareholders in 2007 was $26.4 million, or $0.53 per share. For the fourth quarter of 2008, the net loss available for common shareholders was $9.9 million or $0.15 per share compared to $6 million or $0.11 per share for the fourth quarter of 2007. For 2008, our net cash used in operating activities was $31.2 million compared to $21.3 million in 2007. We ended 2008 with $28.2 million in cash, cash equivalents and investment securities. As Alec mentioned, we've taken steps over the past several months to reduce our cash burn. We are confident that our cash balance is sufficient to support the planned launch of our accessory product.

Alexander Tokman

Management

Thank you, Jeff. 2009 priorities. There is nothing ambiguous about these. We have three goals. First, launch first PicoP accessory product by mid-year and convert the strong OEM interest into firm POS. Second, develop embedded opportunities this year for 2010 launch for embedded applications that will include handsets and other consumer devices. And number three, conserve cash. Jeff has mentioned that early in the year we implemented a number of cost reduction efforts, including consolidation of internal development programs, reduction of planned expenditures, joint funding on some longer-term development programs, and we reduced our headcount. We've done this to focus most of our efforts this year on two primary opportunities. Again, launching the accessory product and developing high-growth opportunities for the embedded launch in 2010. In January, to facilitate the latter, in January we've made commercially available PicoP Evaluation Kits as a part of our strategy to increase the embedded product opportunities. What some of you may think, why have we done this? Well, there are almost limitless number of products and applications which could take advantage of our unique PicoP offering. So we put the power into the hands of the user. We have a lot of bright people in Microvision, but we don't know everything. We do know, however, that there is a lot of ingenious applications and products that our customers have today that could get even better with the inclusion of our engine. And that's exactly the purpose for PicoP Evaluation Kits. We have a high demand today. We just started this exercise in January and we're already experiencing a very high demand for these tools and we already sold a number of these to world’s largest global OEMs. As I mentioned previously, we have developed a core funnel of prospective OEM customers for the launch of the accessory product. In addition, we also created and implemented a distribution strategy for Microvision-branded accessory product. We've done this to maximize our go-to market flexibility in 2009. As green laser suppliers move closer to commercialization in the next few months and finalize their delivery schedule, we expect to complete our final product testing and anticipate signing customer agreements to get ready for mid-year launch. We also – although – I stress the fact that we're going to focus on two big things. We are going to be very opportunistic about new business development opportunities and product opportunities in consumer, eyewear, entertainment and automotive segments beyond the two both mentioned activities. I think at this point, it would be wise for us to stop and get some questions from you, and we'll take it from there.

Operator

Operator

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Jeff Wilson

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Jeff Wilson

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Jeff Wilson

Management

We've already announced that we've signed two contracts. We announced in January and December, so, for this year. And yes, we think we'll be in line with this year. Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Jed Dorsheimer – Canaccord Adams:

Operator

Operator

Brian Yurinich – Craig-Hallum Capital:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Brian Yurinich – Craig-Hallum Capital:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Brian Yurinich – Craig-Hallum Capital:

Operator

Operator

Suji De Silva – Kaufman Brothers: Hi, Alex. Hi, Jeff. How are you guys doing?

Alexander Tokman

Management

Good. Suji De Silva – Kaufman Brothers:

Jeff Wilson

Management

Suji De Silva – Kaufman Brothers:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Suji De Silva – Kaufman Brothers:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Suji De Silva – Kaufman Brothers:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Suji De Silva – Kaufman Brothers:

Jeff Wilson

Management

Yes, that is all for delivery during this year. Suji De Silva – Kaufman Brothers:

Operator

Operator

Arthur Doglione – Alpha Fiduciary:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Arthur Doglione – Alpha Fiduciary:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Arthur Doglione – Alpha Fiduciary:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Arthur Doglione – Alpha Fiduciary:

Operator

Operator

Joe Dubroth – Morgan Stanley:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Joe Dubroth – Morgan Stanley:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Joe Dubroth – Morgan Stanley:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Joe Dubroth – Morgan Stanley:

Operator

Operator

Larry Sisson

Management

Alexander Tokman

Management

Larry Sisson

Management

Alexander Tokman

Management

Larry Sisson

Management

Alexander Tokman

Management

Larry Sisson

Management

Alexander Tokman

Management

Larry Sisson

Management

Operator

Operator

Tom Lardner – Microvision:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Tom Lardner – Microvision:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Tom Lardner – Microvision:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Tom, embedded is going to be a major leap in volume versus any of the accessory products we're ever going to sell, because for the embedded, the math is relatively straight forward. Think about this. I'm going to give you kind of top down market analysis, not that we rationalize against bottoms-up. Say, you have $1.5 billion unit handset market globally, of which about 11% to 12% are smart phones, which is our first addressable market. Why smart phones? Because they're more expensive, they have more features, and business users can afford them, as well as some of the kids in some of the countries. So, this market – the addressable market then becomes about $150 million. Tom Lardner – Microvision:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Tom Lardner – Microvision:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Operator

Operator

Brian Yurinich – Craig-Hallum Capital:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Brian Yurinich – Craig-Hallum Capital:

Alexander Tokman

Management

Brian Yurinich – Craig-Hallum Capital:

Operator

Operator

Alexander Tokman

Management

Thank you, everyone, for joining us. Just to wrap this, what can I say, we expect 2009 to be a pivotal year for us as we complete preparation for the commercial launch of the PicoP-enabled accessory projector in mid-2009. We have streamlined our operating plan for 2009 by consolidating programs to focus on the two primary opportunities. During the past year, we have seen tremendous growth in the global demand for Pico projectors. This demand is accelerating as consumers become more accustomed to accessing information through mobile devices, such as smart phones, media players, and MIDs, which are small computers. We're seeing the increasing interest in embedded Pico projector applications in the growing number of applications well beyond the cell phones. These include digital cameras, video cameras, portable media players, mobile television players. There are many applications for what we are producing. To facilitate this development, we have introduced PicoP Evaluation Kits to increase the business opportunities in these emerging applications. And I guess the most important takeaway for everyone is that you've seen that we are getting very close to the accessory product launch. Remember, the market is still in its infancy and we are on the fringe of tapping into a very large unconquered market opportunity. Our technology has inherent advantages that are being recognized by prospective customers, and we have an impressive funnel of OEM customers. I know many of you want to hear who they are. We can't disclose it at this time until firm agreements are in place. Microvision direct channel will help us to optimize go-to-market flexibility for the initial units, and our supply chain is getting more mature as we're preparing for mid-year launch and second half ramp. And we feel good about where we are at right now. Even though there’s been a lot of issues that everyone in supply chain has been working on, these issues are being solved. And that's the best indicator as we move forward and we feel comfortable about having commercial offering in the second half of '09.

Operator

Operator

This concludes today's conference. You may now disconnect. Good day.