Jim Sullivan
Analyst · K. Liu & Company. Kevin, your line is live
Thank you. Good afternoon, and thank you all for joining today's conference call to discuss Peraso's second quarter 2023 financial results. I'm Jim Sullivan, CFO of Peraso. And joining me today is Ron Glibbery, our CEO. Today, after the market closed, we issued a press release and related Form 8-K, which was filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The press release and Form 8-K are available on Peraso's website at www.perasoinc.com under the Investor Relations section. There is also a slide presentation that we will be using in conjunction with today's call that may be accessed through the webcast link on the IR website. As a reminder, comments made during today's conference call may include forward-looking statements. All statements other than statements of historical fact could be deemed as forward-looking. Peraso advises caution and reliance on forward-looking statements. These statements include, without limitation, any projections of revenue, margins, expenses, non-GAAP gross profit, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, adjusted EBITDA, non-GAAP net loss, cash flows or other financial items, including anticipated cost savings. Also, any statements concerning the expected development, performance and market share or competitive performance of our products and technologies. All forward-looking statements are based on information available to Peraso on the date hereof. These statements involve known and uncertainties and other factors that may cause Peraso's actual results to differ materially from those implied by the forward-looking statements, including unexpected changes in the company's business. More detailed information about these risk factors and additional risk factors are set forth in Peraso's public filings with the SEC. Peraso expressly disclaims any obligation to update or alter its forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by applicable law. Additionally, the company's press release and management statements during this conference call will include discussions of certain measures and financial information in terms of GAAP and non-GAAP. With respect to remarks on today's call involving non-GAAP unless otherwise indicated, referenced amounts exclude stock-based compensation expense, amortization of reported intangible assets and the change in fair value of warrant liability. These non-GAAP financial measures, definitions and the reconciliation of the differences between them and comparable GAAP measures are presented in our press release and related Form 8-K, which was filed today with the SEC, which provide additional details. For those of you unable to listen to the entire call at this time, a recording will be available on the IR section of our website. With that, I will start today's call with an overview of the company's financial results for the quarter and then turn the call over to Ron to present – update, excuse me. Now turning to the results. Total revenue in the second quarter decreased to $2.4 million from $5 million in the prior quarter and $4.3 million during the same quarter a year ago. Product revenue from the sale of our memory integrated circuits and millimeter wave integrated antenna solutions in the second quarter was $2.2 million compared with $4.9 million in the prior quarter and $4.1 million in the second quarter of 2022. The sequential and year-over-year decrease in second quarter product revenue was primarily attributable to lower shipment to both millimeter wave products and memory ICs, which we primarily attribute to the inventory correction and underway in the market. Royalty and other revenue for the second quarter of 2023 comprised $0.2 million of royalty revenue from licenses of our memory technology and other revenues from performance of nonrecurring engineering services for a millimeter wave customer. GAAP gross margin was 25.3% in the second quarter compared with 38.3% in the prior quarter and 34.7% in the year-ago quarter. On a non-GAAP basis, excluding amortization of acquired intangible assets, gross margin for the second quarter was 45.9% compared with 45.4% in the prior quarter and 43% in the second quarter of 2022. The higher non-GAAP gross margins for the second quarter were primarily a result of revenue mix reflecting increased revenue contribution from memory IC products. As stated in previous quarters, we continue to target a corporate non-GAAP gross margin of approximately 50% through a combination of the benefits from the prescale and reduced production costs on our millimeter wave products as well as the contribution from sales from our higher margin memory IC products. GAAP operating expenses for the second quarter were $5.6 million. This compared with $5.7 million in the prior quarter, which included a $0.4 million gain on a previously completed license and asset sale and $8.5 million in the second quarter of 2022. Total operating expenses for the second quarter of 2023 on a non-GAAP basis, which excludes stock-based compensation and amortization of reported intangible assets, were $4.1 million compared with $4.3 million in the prior quarter and $6.6 million in the same quarter a year ago. The sequential and year-over-year decrease in operating expenses reflects the incremental benefits from cost reduction initiatives and other previous actions we began implementing during the second half of 2022 to streamline operations, including the license and asset sale for certain memory technology that closed in the third quarter of 2022. We continue to expect these collective actions will result in lowering our operating expenses by approximately $5 million on an annual basis as we realize the full anticipated benefits over the next few quarters. GAAP net loss for the second quarter of 2023 was $4.1 million or a loss of $0.17 per share compared with a net loss of $3.1 million or $0.15 per share in the prior quarter and compared with a net loss of $7 million or $0.33 per share in the same quarter a year ago. On a non-GAAP basis, net loss for the second quarter of 2023 was $3 million or a loss of $0.12 per share, which excludes stock-based compensation, amortization of acquired intangibles and the change in fair value of warrant liabilities. This compared with a non-GAAP net loss of $2 million or $0.09 per share in the prior quarter and a net loss of $4.8 million or a loss per share of $0.23 in the same quarter a year ago. The weighted average number of basic and diluted shares outstanding for purposes of calculating both GAAP and non-GAAP EPS for the second quarter of 2023 was 24.3 million shares, which excludes 1.8 million shares of our common stock and exchangeable shares that are currently escrowed. Adjusted EBITDA, which we define as GAAP net income or losses reported excluding stock-based compensation, amortization of reported intangibles, change in fair value of warrant liabilities, interest expense, depreciation amortization, and the provision for income taxes was negative $2.8 million in the second quarter compared with negative $1.8 million in the prior quarter and negative $4.5 million in the prior year period. From a balance sheet perspective, as of June 30, 2023, the company had cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments of approximately $2.7 million, which includes the remaining proceeds in the company’s registered direct offering and concurrent private placement completed at the beginning of June 2023. As a result of the company’s expected operating losses and cash burn and recurring losses from operations, the company will need to raise sufficient capital through additional equity or debt arrangements as further described in the company’s quarterly report on Form 10-Q for the period ended June 30, 2023 as filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Regarding our business outlook similar to the last quarter, our near-term visibility continues to be impacted by multiple unrelated factors to make it difficult to confidently forecast the full range of potential outcomes specific to the third quarter. In addition to the more general uncertainty associated with the broader macro environment and end market demand in the second half of the year, the two customer transactions that we discussed last quarter are still pending and have yet to close, and we may commence additional end of life shipments to our customers as early as this current quarter. Although the difficulty of predicting the timing and probability of these potential transactions and shipments prevents us from being in a position to provide specific guidance for the current quarter, we remain optimistic while closing one or more or both of these pending transactions by the fourth quarter of 2023. To the extent this occurs, we will consider providing future updates regarding our expectations for the third quarter. With that said, I’ll now turn the call over to Ron to provide business update. Ron?