ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS
You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information contained in this report, including the section captioned “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” and our consolidated financial statements and related notes. This report also contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Our actual results could differ materially from those anticipated in the forward-looking statements as a result of factors that are described below and elsewhere in this report.
Risks Related to Our Business and Industry
Our operations are vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19 and other public health crises, which have disrupted and likely will continue to disrupt our manufacturing and supply chain and adversely affect our business and operating results.
We are vulnerable to the impact of COVID-19 and other public health crises. The impact of COVID-19, including disruptions to our business, impact on end-market demand, restrictions on individual and business activities, and global liquidity concerns, has created significant volatility in the macro-economic environment and led to reduced economic activity. There have been material actions taken by global government authorities to contain and slow the spread of COVID-19, including travel bans, quarantines, and stay-at-home orders to restrict activities for individuals and businesses. The duration of many stay-at-home orders, and the conditions and timing under which many restrictions will be lifted, are unknown.
In response to mandates ordered by global government authorities, our non-manufacturing and technical service personnel outside of China have been ordered to work from home beginning in March 2020. Our global manufacturing operations, including our U.S. facilities located in Vancouver, Washington, Hillsboro, Oregon, and Longmont, Colorado have been designated as essential businesses and therefore continue to operate. Our facility in Lohja, Finland also continues to operate. Our Shanghai manufacturing facility was closed for an additional one week following the Chinese New Year, due to COVID-19, but has since re-opened. In the best interest of our employees and regions in which our teams operate, we have implemented significant preventative measures to ensure the health and safety of our employees and the communities in which we operate.
The full impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our financial condition and results of operations will depend on future events and developments, such as the duration and magnitude of the pandemic, impacts on our suppliers and customers, the demand for our products, and whether the pandemic leads to recessionary conditions in any of our key markets. Additionally, our supply and distribution chains may be disrupted or their operations discontinued permanently. As such, the ultimate impact on our financial condition and results of operations cannot be determined at this time. In 2020, our business, financial condition and results of operations may be adversely affected as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic may also intensify the risks described in the other risk factors disclosed in this report.
We have a history of losses, and as our operating costs increase we may not be able to generate sufficient revenues to achieve or maintain profitability in the future.
Although we were profitable in 2017 and 2018, we have incurred recurring net losses since our inception in 2000 through 2016, and since 2019. We had net loss of $(14.3) million and $(1.4) million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We had an accumulated deficit of $(131.8) million as of June 30, 2020.
We expect our operating costs to continue to increase in future periods as we expend substantial financial and other resources on, among other things, business and headcount expansion in operations, sales and marketing, research and development, and administration as a public company. These expenditures may not result in additional revenues or the growth of our business. If we fail to grow revenues or to sustain profitability while our operating costs increase, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects will be materially adversely affected.
Downturns in the markets we serve could materially adversely affect our revenues and profitability.
Our results of operations may vary based on the impact of changes in the industries we serve or in the global economy. A large portion of our revenue growth substantially depends on demand for our products in the Industrial and Microfabrication markets. For our products sold to the Industrial market, we believe demand is largely based on general economic conditions. Adverse changes in the global economy have occurred and may occur in the future as a result of declining or flat global or regional economic conditions, fluctuations in currency and commodity prices, the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, trade restrictions or impositions of new or increased tariffs, wavering confidence, unemployment, declines in stock markets, contraction of credit availability or other factors affecting economic conditions generally. We cannot predict the timing, strength or duration of any economic slowdown or recovery, whether global, regional or within specific markets.
For the Microfabrication market, a portion of our revenues depends on the demand for our products from semiconductor equipment companies. The semiconductor equipment market has historically been characterized by sudden and severe cyclical variations in product supply and demand, which have often severely affected the demand for manufacturing equipment, including laser-based tools and systems. The timing, severity and duration of these market cycles are difficult to predict, which limits our ability to predict our business prospects and financial results in this market and we may not be able to respond effectively to these cycles.
During industry downturns in the past, our revenues from the Microfabrication market declined suddenly and significantly, and this is likely to occur again in the event of industry downturns in the future.
Our revenue growth rate in prior periods may not be indicative of our future performance.
Between 2016 and 2018, we experienced substantial levels of revenue growth. For the six months ended June 30, 2020, our revenues have increased 6.1% compared to the same period of 2019. However, our historical revenue growth rate may not be indicative of future growth, and we may not achieve similar revenue growth rates in future periods. You should not rely on our revenues for any prior quarterly or annual periods as an indication of our future revenues or revenue growth. Our results of operations may vary as a result of a number of factors, including our ability to execute on our business strategy and expand our manufacturing capacity, the general economic conditions and the legal and regulatory environment in the United States, China and globally, as well as other factors that are outside of our control.
We have high levels of fixed costs and inventory levels that may materially adversely affect our gross profits and results of operations in the event that demand for our products declines or we maintain excess inventory levels.
We conduct our own manufacturing operations and have a high fixed cost base, including significant costs for the employees in our manufacturing operations. We may not be able to adjust our production levels or fixed costs quickly enough or sufficiently to adapt to rapidly changing market conditions. Gross profit, in absolute dollars and as a percentage of revenues, is impacted by our volumes, product sales mix, the corresponding absorption of fixed manufacturing overhead expenses, production costs and manufacturing yields. In addition, because we design and manufacture our key components, insufficient demand for our products will subject us to the risks of high inventory carrying costs and increased inventory obsolescence. If our capacity and production levels are not properly sized in relation to expected demand, we may need to record write-downs for excess or obsolete inventory. If these anticipated sales do not occur, we may need to record write-downs for excess inventory.
The markets for our products are highly competitive. If we fail to compete successfully, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects will be materially adversely affected.
The industries in which we operate have significant price and technological competition. We compete not only with companies providing semiconductor and fiber lasers, but with companies offering conventional laser or non-laser solutions for the applications we target. Some of our competitors are larger and have substantially greater manufacturing, financial and research and development resources and larger installed customer bases than we do. Some of these competitors may receive substantial government subsidies allowing them to compete more aggressively. Certain of these competitors also have higher sales volume than we do, which can enable such competitors to lower the prices of their products. To compete, we may be forced to lower our prices, which could negatively impact our revenues and gross margins. For example, certain of our competitors have substantially reduced the price of their fiber lasers sold in the China market. In some instances, we have reduced the price of our fiber lasers sold in China. It is unclear whether our competitors' price reductions will continue for the foreseeable future; however, the recent decline in the selling price of certain of our current fiber laser product offerings could negatively affect our near-term results of operations. Consolidation in our industry could intensify the competitive pressures that we face. Our competitors worldwide include BWT Beijing Ltd., Coherent, Inc., II-VI Incorporated, IPG Photonics Corporation, Lumentum Holdings Inc., Maxphotonics Co., Ltd., Raycus Fiber Laser Technologies Co. Ltd. and Trumpf GmbH + Co. KG.
We also compete with widely used non-laser production methods, such as plasma cutting, water-jet cutting and resistance welding. We believe that competition will be particularly intense from makers of CO2, YAG and disc lasers, as makers of these laser solutions may lower their prices in order to maintain market share and have committed significant research and development resources to
pursue opportunities related to these technologies. If manufacturers of these non-laser and legacy laser solutions offer significantly lower prices than we do for our products, customers may choose to purchase their products instead of ours, despite any technical or performance advantage our products may offer.
Our OEM customers' internal production of laser technologies presents additional competitive pressure. To the extent our OEM customers move towards using such in-house technologies, we may need to lower our prices to remain competitive, or otherwise our market share and revenues may be materially adversely affected.
To be competitive, we believe that we will be required to continue to invest significantly in research and development and manufacturing facilities. We may not have sufficient resources to continue to make these investments and we may not be able to make the technological advances or price adjustments necessary to compete successfully. Any failure to compete successfully will materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Our inability to manage risks associated with our international customers and operations could materially adversely affect our business.
Approximately 56% and 62% of our revenues were derived from sales to customers outside of North America for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We anticipate that foreign revenues, particularly revenues from Asia, will continue to account for a significant portion of our revenues in the foreseeable future. Our products are sold in over 30 countries. Our principal markets outside of North America include China, Japan, South Korea, Thailand and other Asian countries, and Germany, U.K. and other European countries. Our primary offices outside of the United States are in Lohja, Finland; Shanghai, China and Seoul, South Korea. We have substantial tangible assets outside of the United States, particularly in China and Finland.
Our foreign operations and revenues are subject to a number of risks, including the impact of recessions and other economic conditions in economies outside the United States, unexpected changes in regulatory requirements, certification requirements, environmental regulations, reduced protection for intellectual property rights in some countries, potentially adverse tax consequences, political and economic instability, import/export regulations, tariffs and trade barriers, compliance with applicable United States and foreign anti-corruption laws, cultural and management differences, pandemic illness, reliance in some jurisdictions on third-party revenues from channel partners, preference for locally produced products, shipping, or other logistics complications, and longer accounts receivable collection periods.
Our business could also be impacted by international conflicts, terrorist and military activity, civil unrest and pandemic illness, which could cause a slowdown in customer orders, cause customer order cancellations or negatively impact availability of supplies or limit our ability to produce or timely service our installed base of products. Political, economic and monetary instability and changes in governmental regulations or policies, including trade tariffs and protectionism, could materially adversely affect both our ability to effectively operate our foreign offices and the ability of our foreign suppliers to supply us with required materials or services. Any interruption or delay in the supply of our required components, products, materials or services, or our inability to obtain these components, materials, products or services from alternate sources at acceptable prices and within a reasonable amount of time, could impair our ability to meet scheduled product deliveries to our customers and could cause customers to cancel orders.
Our failure to manage the foregoing risks associated with our operations in Finland, China and South Korea and our other existing and potential future international business operations could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We have substantial sales and business operations in China, which exposes us to risks inherent in doing business there.
Our business operations in China and our sales to Chinese customers are critical to our success. As of June 30, 2020, we had approximately 580 full-time employees at our Shanghai facility where we have high-volume manufacturing, fiber laser assembly and sales operations. Moreover, approximately 35% of our revenues were derived from China for each of the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019. As a result, downturns in the Chinese economy could materially adversely affect our results of operations. The Chinese economy differs from the economies of other developed countries in many respects, including the level of government involvement, level of development, growth rate and control of foreign exchange and allocation of resources. The Chinese economy has been transitioning from a planned economy to a more market-oriented economy. Despite reforms, the government continues to exercise significant control over China's economic growth by way of the allocation of resources, control over foreign currency-denominated obligations and monetary policy and provision of preferential treatment to particular industries or companies. We cannot predict the future economic policies of the Chinese government or their effect on the regional or global economy and we cannot predict other governments' economic policies toward China. For example, the United States and China have imposed a number of tariffs and other restrictions on items imported or exported between the United States and China, and could impose
additional tariffs or other trade restrictions. These or other events may lead to a significant reduction in demand for our products, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations.
The political, legal and regulatory climate in China, both nationally and regionally, is fluid and unpredictable, and operating in China exposes us to political and legal risks. Our ability to operate in China may be materially adversely affected by changes in Chinese laws and regulations such as those related to, among other things, taxation, import and export tariffs or other trade restrictions, environmental regulations, land use rights, intellectual property, currency controls, network security, privacy, employee benefits and overtime policies and other matters. Our operations in China are subject to numerous laws, regulations, rules and specifications relating to human health and safety and the environment. Applicable laws, rules and regulations often lack clarity and it is difficult to predict how any of these laws, rules and regulations will be enforced. If we or our employees or agents violate, or are alleged to have violated, any of these laws, rules and regulations, we or our employees could be subject to civil or criminal penalties, damages or fines, or our employees or agents could be detained, imprisoned or prevented from entering China, any of which could materially adversely affect our results of operations.
In addition, our business in China is subject to audit and financial risks as a result of varying accounting, auditing and financial reporting standards, accountability and protections, including risks related to the lack of access by the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) to inspect PCAOB-registered accounting firms.
Tariffs and global trade policies could increase the cost of our products, which could adversely impact the competitiveness of our products and our financial results.
The United States Government has recently imposed new or higher tariffs on specified products imported from China to penalize China for what it characterizes as unfair trade practices and China has responded by imposing new or higher tariffs on specified products imported from the United States. Based on our initial experience with the tariff changes, the new tariffs have a direct impact on our operations and financial results, as we maintain a significant portion of our operations, sales, and manufacturing in China. While there is uncertainty as to the duration of the tariffs or potential future increases, and we are actively taking remedial actions to minimize the financial impact, the tariffs may materially increase the cost of our raw materials and finished goods, and may negatively impact our margins as we may not be able to pass on the additional cost through increasing the prices of our products. Tariffs may cause the depreciation of the RMB currency and a contraction of certain industries that will likely be affected by the tariffs, including the Industrial market. As such, there may be potential decrease in the spending powers of our Chinese customers which may lead to fewer business opportunities and our operation may be negatively impacted. In addition, future actions or escalations by either the United States or China that affect trade relations may cause global economic uncertainty and potentially have a negative impact on our business and we cannot provide any assurances as to whether such actions will occur or the form that they may take.
Significant United Kingdom or European developments stemming from the United Kingdom’s decision to withdraw from the European Union could have a material adverse effect on us.
In June 2016, the United Kingdom held a referendum and voted in favor of leaving the European Union, and in March 2017, the government of the United Kingdom formally initiated the withdrawal process. The United Kingdom left the European Union on January 31, 2020 and during the “transition period” ending on December 31, 2020 (extendable for up to two years) the United Kingdom is essentially still treated as a member state of the European Union with the regulatory regime remaining the same across the United Kingdom and the European Union. At the end of the transition period, the trading relationship between the United Kingdom and the European Union will be governed by whatever agreement the two parties can reach by then. On that short timetable the United Kingdom and the European Union are likely to focus on ensuring tariff-free trade, but it is unclear whether there will be any formal regulatory alignment between the United Kingdom and the European Union after the transition period. In the unlikely event that the United Kingdom leaves the European Union without an agreement, the United Kingdom will be completely separated from a regulatory perspective from the European Union immediately upon the exit date.
Negotiations related to the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, or Brexit, have created political and economic uncertainty, particularly in the United Kingdom and the European Union, and this uncertainty may last for years. Our business in the United Kingdom, the European Union, and worldwide could be affected during this period of uncertainty, and perhaps longer, by the impact of Brexit. There are many ways in which our business could be affected, only some of which we can identify as of the date of this report.
Brexit has caused, and may continue to cause, significant volatility in global financial markets, including in global currency and debt markets. This volatility could cause a slowdown in economic activity in the United Kingdom, Europe or globally, which could adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects. In addition, our business could be negatively affected by new trade agreements between the United Kingdom and other countries, including the United States, and by the possible imposition
of trade or other regulatory barriers in the United Kingdom. These possible negative impacts, and others resulting from Brexit may adversely affect our operating results and growth prospects.
Our manufacturing capacity and operations may not be appropriate for future levels of demand and may materially adversely affect our gross margins.
When market demand increases, we must be able to rapidly and effectively increase our manufacturing capacity to meet increases in customer demand, and if we fail to do so we may lose business to our competitors and our relationships with our customers may be harmed. To maintain our competitive position and to meet anticipated demand for our products, we have invested significantly in the expansion and automation of our manufacturing and operations throughout the world and may continue to do so in the future. If the demand for our products does not increase or if our revenues decrease from current levels, we may have significant excess manufacturing capacity and under-absorption of our fixed costs, which could in turn materially adversely affect our gross margins and profitability.
In connection with any expansion, we may incur cost overruns, construction delays, delays in implementation of automation, labor difficulties or regulatory issues which could cause our capital expenditures to be higher than what we currently anticipate, possibly by a material amount, which would in turn adversely impact our results of operations. Expansion activities can also cause disruptions to existing manufacturing capabilities. Moreover, we may experience higher costs due to yield loss, production inefficiencies and equipment problems until any operational issues associated with the addition of new equipment or opening of new manufacturing facilities are resolved.
We rely on a small number of customers for a significant portion of our revenues, and if we lose any of these customers or they significantly curtail their purchases of our products, our results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
We rely on a few customers for a significant portion of our revenues. In the aggregate, our top ten customers accounted for approximately 60% and 53% of our revenues during the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. Raytheon Technologies accounted for approximately 13% and 10% of our revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. In addition, Quick Laser and the U.S. Government accounted for approximately 12% and 11%, respectively, of our revenues for the six months ended June 30, 2020. We generally do not enter into long-term purchase agreements with our customers that obligate them to purchase our products. Our business is characterized by short-term purchase orders issued by our customers, which are likely to be favorable to those customers. If any of our principal customers discontinues its relationship with us, develops its own products instead of using ours, replaces us as a vendor for certain products or suffers downturns in its business resulting in a cancellation of orders or an inability to place new orders, then our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially adversely affected.
If we are unable to protect our proprietary technology and intellectual property rights, our competitive position could be harmed and our results of operations could be materially adversely affected.
Our success depends in part upon our ability to obtain, maintain and enforce patents, trade secrets, trademarks and other intellectual property rights and to operate without infringing on or otherwise violating the proprietary rights of others or having third parties infringe, misappropriate or circumvent the rights we own or license. We rely on a variety of intellectual property rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, technical know-how and other unpatented proprietary information to protect our products, product development and manufacturing activities from unauthorized copying by third parties.
Our patents do not cover all of our technologies, systems, products and product components and our competitors or others may design around our patented technologies. Some of our know-how or technology is not patented or patentable and constitutes trade secrets. To protect our trade secrets, we have a policy of requiring our employees, consultants, advisors and other collaborators who contribute to or access our material intellectual property to enter into invention assignment and confidentiality agreements. We also rely on customary contractual protections with our suppliers and customers, and we implement security measures intended to protect our trade secrets, know-how or other confidential information. However, we cannot guarantee we have entered into appropriate agreements with all parties that have had access to our trade secrets, know-how or other confidential information. We also cannot assure you that those agreements will provide meaningful protection for our trade secrets, know-how or other confidential information in the event of any unauthorized use or disclosure. Our trade secrets, know-how or other confidential information could be obtained by third parties as a result of breaches of our physical or electronic security systems or our suppliers, employees or consultants could assert rights to our intellectual property.
We have significant international operations and we are subject to foreign laws which differ in many respects from U.S. laws. Effective intellectual property protection may be unavailable or more limited in foreign jurisdictions in which we operate, such as China, relative to those protections available in the United States. Although we typically enter into invention assignment and
confidentiality agreements with our employees who contribute to our material intellectual property to protect our proprietary and confidential information, our ability to enforce such agreements in foreign jurisdictions is uncertain. In the past, certain of our employees have been hired by our competitors. These former employees are contractually prohibited from misappropriating our confidential information, including trade secrets; however, we cannot be certain that such contractual obligations will be honored. While we monitor our competitors' activities for evidence of infringement of our proprietary rights, we cannot be certain that such infringement will be detected. If we pursue litigation to assert our intellectual property rights, an adverse decision in any legal action could limit our ability to assert our intellectual property rights, limit the value of our technology or otherwise materially adversely affect our business, financial condition or results of operations.
Monitoring unauthorized use of our intellectual property is difficult and costly. Unauthorized use of our intellectual property may have already occurred or may occur in the future. The steps that we take to acquire ownership of our employees' inventions and trade secrets in foreign countries may not have been effective under all such local laws, which could expose us to potential claims or the inability to protect intellectual property developed by our employees. Furthermore, any changes in, or unexpected interpretations of, the trade secret and other intellectual property laws in any country in which we operate may materially adversely affect our ability to enforce our trade secret and intellectual property positions. Our failure to identify unauthorized use or otherwise adequately protect our intellectual property could jeopardize our competitive advantage and materially adversely affect our business. Moreover, any litigation in connection with unauthorized use of our intellectual property could be time consuming, and we could be forced to incur significant costs and divert our attention and the efforts of our employees, which could, in turn, result in lower revenues and higher expenses, and we may not be successful in enforcing our intellectual property rights.
Intellectual property claims could result in costly litigation and harm our business.
There has been significant litigation involving intellectual property rights in many technology-based industries, including our own. We continue to face risks and uncertainties in connection with any patent litigation, including the risk that patents issued to others may harm our ability to do business; that there could be existing patents of which we are unaware that could be pertinent to our business; and that it is not possible for us to know whether there are patent applications pending that our products might infringe upon, since patent applications often are not disclosed until a patent is issued or published. Moreover, the frequency with which new patents are granted and the diversity of jurisdictions in which they are granted make it impractical and expensive for us to monitor all patents that may be relevant to our business.
From time to time, we have been notified of allegations and claims that we may be infringing patents or otherwise violating intellectual property rights owned by third parties. In the future, we may be a party to litigation as a result of an alleged infringement, misappropriation, or other violation of others' intellectual property, whether through direct claims or by way of indemnification claims of our customers or suppliers. If any pending or future intellectual property-related litigation proceedings result in an adverse outcome then we could be required to:
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cease the manufacture, use or sale of the infringing products, processes or technology;
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pay substantial damages for infringement;
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expend significant resources to develop non-infringing products, processes or technology;
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license technology from the party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all;
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cross-license our technology to a competitor to resolve an infringement claim, which could weaken our ability to compete with that competitor; or
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pay substantial damages to our direct or indirect customers to cause our end users to discontinue their use of, or replace, infringing products with non-infringing products.
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In addition, intellectual property lawsuits can be brought by third parties against our customers and end-users that incorporate our products into their systems or processes. Because we generally indemnify customers against third-party infringement claims relating to our products, we may incur liabilities in connection with lawsuits against our customers. Any such lawsuits, whether or not they have merit, could be time-consuming to defend, damage our reputation and result in substantial and unanticipated costs.
Having to defend any such lawsuits, and any adverse consequences that might arise, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
If we are unable to develop new products, applications and end-markets for our high-performance lasers and increase our market share in existing applications, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects will be materially adversely affected.
Any future success will depend in part on our ability to continue to generate sales of semiconductor lasers and fiber lasers in applications where legacy lasers have been used, or in new and developing markets and applications for lasers where they have
not been used previously. As semiconductor and fiber lasers reach higher levels of penetration in core materials processing applications, the development of new applications, end markets and products outside our core applications becomes more important to our growth.
Our current and potential customers may have substantial investment in, and know-how related to, their existing laser and non-laser technologies. They may perceive risks relating to the reliability, quality, usefulness and profitability of integrating semiconductor lasers or fiber lasers in their systems when compared to other laser or non-laser technologies available in the market or that they manufacture themselves. Although we believe that semiconductor lasers and fiber lasers generally exhibit superior performance compared to other lasers or tools, customers may be reluctant to change from incumbent suppliers or cease using their own solutions, or we may miss the design and procurement cycles of our customers. Many of our target markets, such as Industrial and Aerospace and Defense, have historically been slow to adopt new technologies. These markets often require long testing and qualification periods or lengthy government approval processes before adopting new technologies.
Introduction of new products and product enhancements will require that we effectively transfer production processes from research and development to manufacturing and coordinate our efforts with those of our suppliers to achieve increased production volume rapidly. If we are unable to implement our strategy to develop new applications and end markets for our products or develop new products, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially adversely affected. In addition, any newly developed or enhanced products may not achieve market acceptance or may be rendered obsolete or less competitive by the introduction of new products by other companies.
Fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations may increase the volatility of our stock price and may be difficult to predict.
We have experienced, and expect to continue to experience, fluctuations in our quarterly results of operations. We believe that fluctuations in quarterly results may cause the market price of our common stock to increase or decrease, perhaps substantially. Factors which have had or may in the future have an influence on our results of operations in a particular quarter include:
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the increase, decrease, cancellation or rescheduling of significant customer orders;
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declines in selling prices for our products;
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the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health crises, including on macroeconomic conditions and our business, results of operations and financial condition;
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government-mandated quarantines or closures applicable to our facilities or the facilities of our customers or suppliers;
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delays in our product-shipment timing, obtaining licenses or other import/export approvals, customer or end-user sales or deployment cycles, or work performed under development contracts;
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seasonality attributable to different purchasing patterns and levels of activity throughout the year in the areas where we operate;
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the impact of new acquisitions and the success of our integration efforts;
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the timing of revenue recognition based on the installation or acceptance of certain products shipped to our customers;
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timing variability in product introductions, enhancements, services and technologies by us and our competitors and market acceptance of these new or enhanced products, services and technologies;
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different capital expenditure and budget cycles for our customers, which affect the timing of their spending;
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our ability to obtain export licenses for our products on a timely basis or at all;
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changes in tariffs imposed by the U.S., China and other foreign governments;
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the rate at which our present and future customers and end users adopt our technologies;
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the gain or loss of a key customer;
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product or customer mix;
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competitive pricing pressures and new market entrants;
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our ability to design, manufacture and introduce new products on a cost-effective and timely basis;
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our ability to manage our inventory levels and any write-downs for excess or obsolete inventory;
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our ability to collect outstanding accounts receivable balances;
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changes in the amount and timing of our operating costs, including those related to the expansion of our business, operations and infrastructure;
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impairment of values for goodwill, intangibles and other long-lived assets;
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foreign currency fluctuations;
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changes in jurisdictional income mix and tax rules and regulations in countries where we operate; and
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economic and market conditions in a particular geography or country.
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A substantial portion of our operating expenses are fixed for the short-term, and as a result, fluctuations in revenues or unanticipated expenses can have a material and immediate impact on our profitability. In addition, we often recognize a substantial portion of our revenues in the last month of each fiscal quarter. Our expenses for any given quarter are typically based on expected revenues, and if revenues are below expectations in any given quarter, the adverse impact of the shortfall on our results of operations may
be magnified by our inability to adjust spending quickly enough to compensate for the shortfall. We also base our manufacturing on our forecasted product mix for the quarter. If the actual product mix varies significantly from our forecast, we may not be able to fill some orders during that quarter, which would result in delays in the shipment of our products. Accordingly, variations in timing of sales, particularly for our higher priced, higher margin products, can cause significant fluctuations in quarterly results of operations.
Due to these and other factors, particularly varying product mix from quarter to quarter, we believe that quarter-to-quarter and year-to-year comparisons of our historical results of operations may not be meaningful. You should not rely on our results for any quarter or year as an indication of our future performance. Our results of operations in future quarters and years may be below public market analysts' or investors' expectations, which would likely cause the price of our stock to fall, perhaps significantly. In addition, over the past several years, U.S. and global equity markets have experienced significant price and volume fluctuations that have affected the stock prices of many technology companies both in and outside our industry. There has not always been a direct correlation between this volatility and the performance of particular companies subject to these stock price fluctuations. These factors, as well as general economic and political conditions or investors' concerns regarding the credibility of corporate financial statements, may materially adversely affect the market price of our stock in the future.
Products in the laser industry are experiencing declining average selling prices, and any future success depends in part on our ability to increase our volumes and decrease our costs to offset potential declines in the average selling prices of our products.
Products in the laser industries generally, and our products specifically, are experiencing and may in the future continue to experience a significant decline in average selling prices, or ASPs, on maturing products as a result of increased competition and price pressures from customers. As competing products become more widely available, the ASPs of our products may decrease. Due to the fixed cost of production, the average cost per unit of our products typically declines as our production volumes rise. For this reason, we may decide to offer products at ASPs that result in low initial gross margins to us with an intention to drive sales and production volumes higher, in turn lowering our average cost per unit. Because of these factors, we have experienced and we may continue to experience fluctuations in our results of operations on a quarterly or annual basis. If the ASPs of our products decline and we are unable to increase our unit volumes, introduce new or enhanced products with higher ASPs or reduce manufacturing costs to offset anticipated decreases in the prices of our existing products, our gross margins could decline, which in turn could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We participate in markets that are subject to rapid technological change and require significant research and development expenses to develop and maintain products that are able to achieve market acceptance.
The markets for our products are characterized by rapid technological change, frequent product introductions, substantial capital investment, volatility of product supply and demand, changing customer requirements and evolving industry standards. Our future performance will depend in part on the successful development, introduction and market acceptance of new and enhanced products that address these changes as well as current and potential customer requirements. We expect that new technologies will emerge as competition and our customers' need for higher and more cost-effective tools increase. The introduction of new and enhanced products may cause our customers to defer or cancel orders for existing products. To the extent customers defer or cancel orders for existing products due to a slowdown in demand or in the expectation of a new product release, or if there is any delay in development or introduction of our new products or enhancements of our products, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects would be materially adversely affected. We also may not be able to develop the underlying core technologies necessary to create new products and enhancements, or to license these technologies from third parties. Product development delays may result from numerous factors, including:
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changing product specifications and customer requirements;
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unanticipated engineering complexities;
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expense reduction measures we have implemented, and others we may implement, to conserve our cash and attempt to sustain profitability;
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difficulties in hiring and retaining necessary technical personnel;
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difficulties in reallocating engineering resources and overcoming resource limitations; and
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changing market or competitive product requirements.
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The development of new, technologically advanced products is a complex and uncertain process that requires the accurate prediction of technological and market trends, as well as the investment of significant research and development expenses. Further, we typically invest substantial resources in advance of material sales of our products to our customers. Our research and development costs were $18.0 million and $12.9 million for the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, respectively. We cannot assure you that our expenditures for research and development will result in the introduction of new products or, if such products are introduced, that those products will achieve sufficient market acceptance or generate revenues to offset the costs of development. Ramping of production capacity also entails risks of delays which can limit our ability to realize the full benefit of the new product introduction.
We cannot assure you that we will be able to identify, develop, manufacture, market or support new or enhanced products successfully, if at all, or on a timely basis. Further, we cannot assure you that our new products will gain market acceptance or that we will be able to respond effectively to product announcements by competitors, technological changes or emerging industry standards. Many of these factors are beyond our control. Any failure to respond to technological change would materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Additionally, our product offerings may become obsolete given the frequent introduction of alternative technologies. In the event either our customers or our products fail to gain and maintain market acceptance, it would likely materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Reliance on customers in the Aerospace and Defense industry for a significant portion of our revenues could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
For the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, we derived approximately 34% and 20%, respectively, of our revenues from customers in the Aerospace and Defense industry. From time to time, we have experienced declining Aerospace and Defense-related revenues. The Aerospace and Defense market is largely dependent upon government budgets, in particular defense budgets, which are driven by numerous factors, including geopolitical events, macroeconomic conditions and the ability of the U.S. government to enact relevant legislation. As a result, our future revenues are subject in part to the uncertainties of governmental budgeting and appropriations and national defense policies and priorities, constraints of the budgetary process and timing and potential changes to these policies and priorities. Future spending levels are subject to a wide range of outcomes, depending on Congressional action, all of which are beyond our control. Moreover, no assurance can be given that an increase in defense spending will be allocated to programs that would benefit our business.
Many of our customers in the defense industry are subcontractors that must negotiate our proposals with the U.S. government. Our continuing relationship and the ability of these customers to pay for our products is dependent on the U.S. government's decision to accept or reject our customers' terms, which can be delayed for a substantial period of time and is largely outside of our control. Such delays could result in decreased revenues and could materially adversely harm our results of operations in any given period.
Our agreements with the U.S. government and suppliers to the U.S. government subject us to risks.
We must comply with and are affected by laws and regulations relating to the award, administration and performance of U.S. government contracts. The U.S. government contracting party may require us to increase production of certain solutions sold to the U.S. government due to changes in U.S. national security strategy and/or priorities or other reasons, in which case we may be required to decrease production of other products or sales to other customers to meet the requirements of the U.S. government. In addition, the U.S. government routinely retains rights to intellectual property developed in connection with a government contract. The U.S. government could exercise these rights in certain circumstances in the future, which could have the effect of decreasing the benefit we are able to realize commercially from such intellectual property.
U.S. government agencies, including the Defense Contract Audit Agency, the Defense Contract Management Agency and various agency Inspectors General, routinely audit and investigate government contractors. These agencies review a contractor's performance under its contracts, its cost structure, its business systems and compliance with applicable laws, regulations and standards. The U.S. government has the ability to decrease or withhold certain payments when it deems systems subject to its review to be inadequate. Additionally, any costs found to be misclassified may be subject to repayment. We have unaudited and unsettled incurred cost claims related to past years, which places risk on our ability to issue final billings on contracts for which authorized and appropriated funds may be expiring.
If an audit or investigation uncovers improper or illegal activities, we may be subject to civil or criminal penalties and administrative sanctions, including reductions of the value of contracts, contract modifications or terminations, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, penalties, fines and suspension, or prohibition from doing business with the U.S. government. In addition, we could suffer serious reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us. Similar government oversight exists in most other countries where we conduct business. Any such imposition of penalties, or the loss of such government contracts, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We are exposed to foreign currency risk, which may materially adversely affect our revenues, cost of revenues and operating margins and could result in exchange losses.
We conduct our business and incur costs in the local currency of most countries in which we operate. For the six months ended June 30, 2020 and 2019, our revenues outside North America represented approximately 56% and 62%, respectively, of our revenues. We incur currency transaction risk whenever one or more of our operating subsidiaries enter into a transaction using currencies different than their functional currency. Changes in exchange rates can also affect our results of operations when the
value of revenues and expenses of foreign subsidiaries are translated to U.S. dollars. We do not actively hedge our foreign currency exposure and we cannot accurately predict the impact of future exchange rate fluctuations on our results of operations. Further, given the volatility of exchange rates, we may not be able to effectively manage our currency risks, and any volatility in currency exchange rates may increase the price of our products in local currency to our foreign customers or increase the manufacturing cost of our products, which could decrease demand for our products in such markets. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
The long sales cycles for our products may cause us to incur significant expenses without offsetting revenues.
Our products represent a large investment for our customers and they typically expend significant effort in evaluating, testing and qualifying our products before making a decision to purchase them, resulting in a lengthy initial sales cycle. While our customers are evaluating our products and before they place an order with us, we may incur substantial sales and marketing and research and development expenses to customize our products to the customers’ needs. We may also expend significant management efforts, increase manufacturing capacity and order long lead-time components or materials prior to receiving an order. Even after this evaluation process, a potential customer may not purchase our products. As a result, these long sales cycles may cause us to incur significant expenses without receiving revenues to offset such expenses soon thereafter or at all. This, in turn, can materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, our results of operations and growth prospects.
Because we lack long-term purchase commitments from our customers, our revenues can be difficult to predict, which could lead to excess or obsolete inventory and materially adversely affect our results of operations.
We generally do not enter into long-term agreements with our customers obligating them to purchase our products. Our business is characterized by short-term purchase orders and shipment schedules and, in some cases, orders may be canceled or delayed without penalty. As a result, it is difficult to forecast our revenues and to determine the appropriate levels of inventory required to meet future demand. This could lead to increased inventory levels and increased carrying costs and risk of excess or obsolete inventory due to unanticipated reductions in purchases by our customers. Write-downs have been recorded as a result of changes in demand or uncertainties related to the recoverability of the value of inventories due to technological and product changes. If we are unable to accurately forecast the demand for our products, fail to accurately forecast the timing of such demand, or are unable to consistently negotiate acceptable purchase order terms with customers, we could incur significant expenses, and our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects may be materially adversely affected.
If we fail to effectively manage our growth or, alternatively, our spending during downturns, our business could be disrupted, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations.
Growth in revenues, combined with the challenges of managing geographically dispersed operations, can place a significant strain on our management systems and resources, and our anticipated growth in future operations could continue to place such a strain. The failure to effectively manage our growth could disrupt our business and materially adversely affect our results of operations. Our ability to successfully offer our products and implement our business plan in evolving markets requires an effective planning and management process. Even if executed successfully, our expansion may not deliver the anticipated increase in revenues and other benefits to compensate for the expenses incurred. This could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. In economic downturns, we must effectively manage our spending and operations to ensure that our competitive position during the downturn, as well as our future opportunities when the economy improves, remains intact. The failure to effectively manage our spending and operations could disrupt our business and materially adversely affect our results of operations.
Our estimates of market opportunity and forecasts of market growth may prove to be inaccurate, and even if the market in which we compete achieves the forecasted growth, our business could fail to grow at similar rates, if at all.
Our market opportunity estimates and growth forecasts are subject to significant uncertainty, even more so in light of the current COVID-19 pandemic, and are based on assumptions and estimates that may not prove to be accurate. Similarly, our estimates regarding the continued reduction in cost per brilliant watt and increase in power output of semiconductor lasers is based on assumptions and prior experience, and may not continue at the same rate, which could materially adversely affect the growth of high-power fiber lasers generally, and our growth specifically. Even if the markets in which we compete meet our size estimates and growth forecasts, and even if semiconductor lasers continue to become less expensive and more powerful, our business could fail to grow for a variety of reasons, which would adversely affect our results of operations.
We depend on internal production and outside single or limited-source suppliers for many of our key components and raw materials, including cutting-edge optics and materials. Any interruption in the supply of these key components and raw materials could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We rely exclusively on our own production capabilities to manufacture certain of our key components, such as semiconductor lasers, specialty optical fibers and optical components. Certain of our components, such as our semiconductor lasers, which are manufactured at our Vancouver, Washington facility, and our active fibers, which are manufactured at our Lohja, Finland facility, rely on processes and equipment that cannot be easily moved or replaced. If our manufacturing activities were obstructed or hampered significantly at these, or our other facilities, it could take a considerable length of time, at an increased cost, for us to resume manufacturing, which could materially harm our business and results of operations.
Also, we purchase certain raw materials and components, which are key elements to manufacture our products, from single- or limited-source suppliers. We generally do not have guaranteed supply arrangements with our suppliers. Some of our suppliers are relatively small private companies that may discontinue their operations at any time and may be particularly susceptible to prevailing economic conditions. Some of our suppliers are also our competitors. Our key suppliers may not have the ability to increase their production in line with our customers' demands. This can become acute during times of high growth in our customers' businesses. As a result, we experienced, and may in the future experience, longer lead times or delays in fulfillment of our orders. Furthermore, other than our current suppliers, there may be a limited number of entities from which we could obtain these supplies. We do not anticipate that we would be able to purchase these materials that we require in a short period of time or at the same cost from other sources in commercial quantities or that have our required performance specifications. In addition, if quality issues arise with these outsourced materials and go undetected by us, the use of such defective materials in our products could compromise their quality and harm our reputation.
For certain long lead-time supplies or in order to lock in pricing, we may be obligated to place purchase orders which are not cancelable or otherwise assume liability for a large amount of the ordered supplies, which limits our ability to adjust down our inventory liability in the event of market downturns or other customer cancellations or rescheduling of their purchase orders for our products. Some of our products require designs and specifications which are at the cutting-edge of available technologies. Our and our customers' designs and specifications frequently change to meet rapidly evolving market demands. Accordingly, certain of our products require components and supplies which may be technologically difficult and unpredictable to manufacture. By their very nature, these types of components may only be available by a single supplier. These characteristics place further pressure on the timely delivery of such components. Any interruption or delay in the supply of any of these components or materials, or the inability to obtain these components and materials from alternate sources at acceptable prices and within a reasonable amount of time, could materially adversely affect our ability to meet customer orders. If our suppliers face financial or other difficulties, do not maintain sufficient inventory on hand or if there are significant changes in demand for the components and materials we obtain from them, they could limit the availability of these components and materials to us. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We depend on our OEM customers and system integrators to incorporate our products into their systems.
Our revenues depend in part on our ability to maintain existing and secure new OEM customers. Our revenues also depend in part upon the ability of our current and potential OEM customers and system integrators to incorporate our products into their systems, and to sell such systems successfully. The commercial success of these systems depends to a substantial degree on the efforts of these OEM customers and system integrators to develop and market products that incorporate our technologies. Relationships and experience with traditional laser makers, limited marketing resources, reluctance to invest in research and development and other factors affecting these OEM customers and third-party system integrators could have a substantial impact upon demand for our products, and in turn upon our revenues and financial results. If OEM customers or integrators are not able to adapt existing tools or develop new systems to take advantage of the features and benefits of lasers, or if they perceive us to be an actual or potential competitor, then the opportunities to expand our revenues and increase our margins may be severely limited or delayed. In addition, some of our OEM customers are developing their own laser sources. If they are successful, this may reduce our revenues from these customers.
Failure to effectively maintain and expand our field service and support organization could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
It is important for us to provide rapid, responsive service directly to our customers throughout the world and to maintain and expand our own personnel resources to provide these services. Any actual or perceived lack of adequate field service in the locations where we sell or try to sell our products may negatively impact our sales efforts and, consequently, our revenues. This requires us to recruit and train additional qualified field service and support personnel as well as maintain effective and highly trained organizations that can provide service to our customers in various countries. We may not be able to attract and train additional qualified personnel to expand our direct support operations successfully, in a cost-effective manner or at all. We also may not be able to find and engage additional qualified third-party resources to supplement and enhance our direct support operations. Further, we may incur significantly higher costs in providing these field and support services if competition for or unavailability of these services is limited. Failure to implement and manage our support operation effectively could materially adversely affect our relationships with our customers, as well as our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Our products could contain defects, which may reduce sales of those products, harm market acceptance of our high-performance laser products or result in claims against us.
The manufacture of our high-performance lasers involves highly complex and precise processes. Despite testing by us and our customers, errors have been found in our products and may be found in the future. In addition, some of our products are combined with products from other vendors, which may contain defects. As a result, should problems occur, it may be difficult to identify the source of the problem. Our products are typically sold with warranty provisions that require us to remedy deficiencies in quality or performance over a specified period of time at no cost to our customers. Reserves for estimated warranty claims are recorded during the period of sale. The determination of such reserves requires us to make estimates of failure rates and expected costs to repair or replace the products under warranty. We typically establish warranty reserves based on historical warranty costs for each product line. If actual return rates and/or repair and replacement costs differ significantly from our estimates, adjustments to cost of revenues may be required in future periods, which could materially adversely affect our results of operations. These defects may cause us to incur significant warranty, support and repair costs, incur additional costs related to a recall, divert the attention of our engineering personnel from our product development efforts and harm our relationships with our customers. These problems could result in, among other things, loss of revenues or a delay in revenue recognition, loss of market share, harm to our reputation or a delay or loss of market acceptance of our laser products. Defects, integration issues or other performance problems in our products could also result in personal injury or financial or other damages to our customers, which in turn could damage market acceptance of our products. Our customers could also seek damages from us for their losses. A product liability claim brought against us, even if unsuccessful, could be time-consuming and costly to defend, and could harm our reputation. We cannot assure investors that our product liability insurance would adequately protect our assets from the financial impact of defending a product liability claim. Any product liability claim brought against us, with or without merit, could increase our product liability insurance rates or prevent us from securing insurance coverage in the future.
We may experience lower than expected manufacturing yields, which would adversely affect our gross margins.
The manufacture of semiconductor lasers and their packaging is a highly complex process. Manufacturers often encounter difficulties in achieving acceptable product yields from laser and packaging operations. We have from time to time experienced lower than anticipated manufacturing yields for our lasers. If we do not achieve planned yields, our product costs could increase, resulting in lower gross margins, and key component availability would decrease, which could result in delays in fulfilling customer orders or rolling out new product lines.
A breach of our information technology and security systems could materially adversely affect our business.
We use information technology and security systems to maintain our facility's physical security and to protect proprietary and confidential information, including that of our customers, suppliers and employees. Accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access to our facilities or information systems, or viruses, loggers, or other malfeasant code in our data or software, could compromise this information. The consequences of such loss and possible misuse of our proprietary and confidential information could include, among other things, unfavorable publicity, damage to our reputation, difficulty marketing our products, customer allegations of breach-of-contract, litigation by affected parties and possible financial liabilities for damages, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, reputation and relationships with customers and partners. We also rely on a number of third-party "cloud-based" providers of corporate infrastructure services relating to, among other things, human resources, electronic communication services and some financial functions, and we are therefore dependent on the security systems of these providers. Any security breaches or other unauthorized access to our service-providers' systems or viruses, loggers or other malfeasant code in their data or software could expose us to information loss and misappropriation of confidential information. Because the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to or sabotage security systems change frequently and are often not recognized until after an attack, we may be unable to anticipate the techniques or implement adequate preventative measures, thereby exposing us to material adverse effects on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects. Moreover, the increase in remote working during the COVID-19 pandemic may also result in heightened privacy, data security and fraud risks, and our understanding of applicable legal and regulatory requirements, as well as the latest guidance from regulatory authorities in connection with the COVID-19 pandemic, may be subject to legal or regulatory challenge, particularly as regulatory guidance evolves in response to future developments.
Our business could be materially adversely affected if one or more members of our executive management team or key personnel departed.
Any future success is substantially dependent on the continued contributions of our executive officers, including Scott Keeney, our chairman of the board, president and chief executive officer. We are also dependent on key technologists, and other key engineering, sales, marketing, manufacturing and support personnel, any of whom may leave, which could harm our business and reputation in the market. Our business requires engineering staff with experience in several disciplines, including semiconductor
physics, chemistry, material science, electrical engineering, optical engineering, and mechanical engineering. We will need to continue to recruit and retain highly skilled engineers for certain functions.
Any future success also depends in part on our ability to identify, attract, hire, train, retain and motivate highly skilled research and development, managerial, operations, sales, marketing and customer service personnel. We are continually recruiting such personnel. However, competition for such personnel can be strong and we can provide no assurance that we will be successful in attracting or retaining such personnel now or in the future. In addition, particularly in the high-technology industry, the value of stock options, restricted stock units, grants or other share-based compensation is an important element in the retention of employees. Declines in the value of our common stock could materially adversely affect our ability to retain employees and we may have to take additional steps to make the equity component of our compensation packages more appealing to attract and retain employees. These steps could result in dilution to stockholders.
If we fail to attract, integrate and retain the necessary personnel, our ability to extend and maintain our scientific expertise and grow our business could suffer significantly. The loss of any key employee, the failure of any key employee to adequately perform in his or her current position, our inability to attract, train and retain skilled employees as needed or the inability of our key employees to expand, train and manage our employee base as needed, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We are subject to regulatory compliance requirements, including Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002. If we fail to maintain an effective system of internal controls we may not be able to accurately report our consolidated financial results or prevent fraud.
We are subject to the SEC's rules implementing Sections 302 and 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, which require management to certify financial and other information in our quarterly and annual reports and provide an annual management report on the effectiveness of internal controls over financial reporting. However, our independent registered public accounting firm will not be required to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting pursuant to Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act until our annual report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020. Effective internal controls are necessary for us to provide reliable financial reports and prevent fraud.
Our testing of key controls over financial reporting, or the subsequent testing by our independent registered public accounting firm required under the Sarbanes-Oxley Act for the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, may reveal deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses. If we are not able to comply with the requirements of Section 404 in a timely manner, or if we or our independent registered public accounting firm identify deficiencies in our internal control over financial reporting that are deemed to be material weaknesses, the market price of our stock would likely decline and we could be subject to lawsuits, sanctions or investigations by regulatory authorities, which would require additional financial and management resources.
In addition, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act requirements may be modified, supplemented or amended from time to time. Implementing the changes may take significant time and may require additional employee compliance training. We or our independent registered public accounting firm may discover internal controls that need improvement. A discovery of a material weakness, even if quickly remedied, could reduce the market’s confidence in our financial statements and harm our stock price. Any inability to provide reliable financial reports or prevent fraud could harm our business. We cannot assure you that we will be able to fully comply with the requirements of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act or that management or our independent registered public accounting firm will conclude that our internal controls are effective in future periods. Irrespective of compliance with Section 404, any failure of our internal controls could have a material adverse effect on our stated operating results and harm our reputation.
In addition, we are subject to the reporting requirements of the Exchange Act, the listing requirements of the Nasdaq Stock Market, and other applicable securities rules and regulations. As a consequence, and particularly after we cease to be an "emerging growth company" at the end of the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, we expect to continue to incur legal, accounting and other expenses. We also anticipate that we will continue to incur costs associated with corporate governance requirements, including requirements of the SEC and the Nasdaq Stock Market. We expect these rules and regulations to increase our legal and financial compliance costs and to make some activities more time-consuming and costly. We also expect that these rules and regulations may make it more difficult and more expensive for us to obtain director and officer liability insurance and we may be required to accept reduced policy limits and coverage or incur substantially higher costs to obtain the same or similar coverage. As a result, it may be more difficult for us to attract and retain qualified individuals to serve on our Board of Directors or as executive officers. We are currently evaluating and monitoring developments with respect to these rules, and we cannot predict or estimate the amount of additional costs we may incur or the timing of such costs.
Our operations are conducted in a limited number of locations. Any disruption at our facilities could delay revenues or increase our expenses.
An earthquake, fire, flood or other natural or manmade disaster could disable our facilities, disrupt operations or cause catastrophic losses. Our major manufacturing and research and development facilities are located in Vancouver, Washington; Hillsboro, Oregon; Longmont, Colorado; Shanghai, China; and Lohja, Finland. Some of our facilities, such as our headquarters and key manufacturing and development facilities in Vancouver, Washington, are located in areas with a known history of seismic and volcanic activity. We also have facilities in areas with a known history of flooding, such as our location in Shanghai, China, and there is a risk of flooding and snowstorms at our location in Lohja, Finland. Moreover, all of our facilities have been impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic and related social distancing measures. A loss at any of these or other of our or our suppliers' facilities could disrupt operations, delay production and shipments, reduce revenues and generate potentially significant expenses to repair or replace damaged facilities. The insurance we maintain against earthquakes, floods and other natural or manmade disasters may not be adequate to cover our losses in any particular case.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could subject us to liability or impair our ability to compete in international markets.
The U.S. and various foreign governments have imposed controls, export license requirements and restrictions on the import or export of certain products, technologies and software. We must export our products in compliance with U.S. export controls, including the Commerce Department's Export Administration Regulations, the State Department's International Traffic in Arms Regulations, or ITAR, and various economic and trade sanctions established by the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Controls. We may not always be successful in obtaining necessary export licenses, and our failure to obtain required import or export approval for our products or limitations on our ability to export or sell our products imposed by these laws may harm our international and domestic revenues. Noncompliance with these laws could have negative consequences, including government investigations, penalties and reputational harm.
In addition, compliance with the directives of the Directorate of Defense Trade Controls, or DDTC, may result in substantial expenses and diversion of management attention. Any failure to adequately address the directives of DDTC could result in civil fines or suspension or loss of our export privileges, any of which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Changes in our products or changes in export, import and economic sanctions laws and regulations may delay our introduction of new products in international markets, prevent our customers from deploying our products internationally or, in some cases, prevent the export or import of our products to or from certain countries altogether. In addition to the tariffs imposed by the U.S. Government on certain items imported from China, it is possible that additional sanctions or restrictions may be imposed by the United States on items imported into the United States from China. Similarly, in addition to the tariffs imposed by China on certain items imported from the United States, it is possible that additional sanctions or restrictions may be imposed by China on items imported into China from the United States. Any such measures could further adversely affect our ability to sell our products to existing or potential customers and harm our ability to compete internationally and grow our business. Any change in export or import regulations or legislation, shift or change in enforcement, or change in the countries, persons or technologies targeted by these regulations, could result in decreased use of our products by, or in our decreased ability to export or sell our products to, existing or potential customers with international operations. In such event, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially adversely affected.
We are subject to anti-corruption, anti-bribery, anti-money laundering and similar laws, and non-compliance with such laws can subject us to criminal penalties or significant fines and harm our business and reputation.
We are subject to anti-corruption and anti-bribery and similar laws, such as the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act of 1977, as amended, or the FCPA, the U.S. domestic bribery statute contained in 18 U.S.C. § 201, the U.S. Travel Act, the USA PATRIOT Act, the U.K. Bribery Act 2010, the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 and possibly other anti-corruption, anti-bribery and anti-money laundering laws in countries in which we conduct activities. Anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws have been enforced aggressively in recent years and are interpreted broadly and prohibit companies and their employees and agents from promising, authorizing, making, offering, soliciting or accepting improper payments or other benefits to or from government officials and others in the public and private sectors. We can be held liable for the corrupt or other illegal activities of our employees, representatives, contractors, business partners and agents, even if we do not explicitly authorize or have actual knowledge of such activities. China also strictly prohibits bribery of government officials and commercial bribery. Our operations in China create the risk of unauthorized payments or offers of payments by our employees, consultants, sales agents or distributors, even though they may not always be subject to our control.
While we have policies and procedures in this area, we cannot guarantee that improprieties committed by our employees or third parties will not occur. Noncompliance with these laws could subject us to investigations, sanctions, settlements, prosecution, other enforcement actions, disgorgement of profits, significant fines, damages, other civil and criminal penalties or injunctions, suspension or debarment from contracting with certain persons, the loss of export privileges, whistleblower complaints, reputational harm, adverse media coverage and other collateral consequences. If any subpoenas or investigations are launched, or governmental or other sanctions are imposed, or if we do not prevail in any possible civil or criminal litigation, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially adversely affected. In addition, responding to any action will likely result in a materially significant diversion of management's attention and resources and significant defense and compliance costs and other professional fees. In certain cases, enforcement authorities may even require us to appoint an independent compliance monitor, which can result in added costs and administrative burdens. Any investigations, actions or sanctions or other previously mentioned harm could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
Changes in U.S. or foreign tax law may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, or 2017 Tax Act, brought about extensive changes to the U.S. corporate tax system. The 2017 Tax Act includes changes that reduce U.S. corporate tax rates, change how U.S. multinational corporations, like us, are taxed on international earnings, repeal domestic manufacturing deduction, accelerate tax revenue recognition, allow capitalization of research and development expenditures, place additional limitations on executive compensation and limitations on the deductibility of interest. Due to the large and expanding scale of our international business activities, any changes in the U.S. or foreign taxation of such activities may increase our worldwide effective tax rate and the amount of taxes we pay and seriously harm our business.
Additionally, under the applicable laws and regulations in China, arrangements and transactions among related parties may be subject to audit or challenge by the Chinese tax authorities. We would be subject to adverse tax consequences if the Chinese tax authorities were to determine that the transactions with or between our subsidiaries were not executed on an arm's-length basis, and as a result the Chinese tax authorities could require that our Chinese subsidiaries adjust their taxable income upward for Chinese tax purposes. Such an adjustment could materially adversely affect us by increasing our tax expenses.
We regularly assess the likelihood of favorable or unfavorable outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, there can be no assurance that any final determination will not be materially different than the treatment reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals, which could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We could be subject to additional income tax liabilities.
We are subject to income taxes in the United States and certain other foreign jurisdictions. Judgment is required in evaluating our worldwide provision for income taxes. During the ordinary course of business, there are many transactions for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. For example, our effective tax rates could be adversely affected by earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, by changes in foreign currency exchange rates, by changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, or by changes in the relevant tax, accounting and other laws, regulations, principles and interpretations. We are subject to audit in various jurisdictions, and such jurisdictions may assess additional income tax against us. Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits and any related litigation could be materially different from our historical income tax provisions and accruals. The results of an audit or litigation could have a material adverse effect on our operating results or cash flows in the period or periods for which that determination is made.
Our international operations subject us to potential adverse tax consequences.
We generally conduct our international operations through wholly-owned subsidiaries and report our taxable income in various jurisdictions worldwide based upon our business operations in those jurisdictions. Our intercompany relationships are subject to complex transfer pricing regulations administered by taxing authorities in various jurisdictions. The relevant taxing authorities may disagree with our determinations as to the income and expenses attributable to specific jurisdictions. If such a disagreement were to occur, and our position was not sustained, we could be required to pay additional taxes, interest and penalties, which could result in one-time tax charges, higher effective tax rates, reduced cash flows and lower overall profitability of our operations. We believe that our financial statements reflect adequate reserves to cover such a contingency, but there can be no assurances in that regard.
Our reported financial results may be materially adversely affected by changes in accounting principles generally accepted in the United States.
Generally accepted accounting principles in the United States, or GAAP, are subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board, or FASB, the SEC, and various bodies formed to promulgate and interpret appropriate accounting principles. A change in these principles or interpretations could have a significant effect on our reported financial results, and could affect the reporting of transactions completed before the announcement of a change.
We are subject to various environmental laws and regulations that could impose substantial costs upon us and may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We are subject to a variety of federal, state, local and foreign environmental regulations relating to the use, storage, discharge and disposal of hazardous chemicals used during our manufacturing process or requiring design changes or recycling of products we manufacture. We could incur costs, fines and civil or criminal sanctions, third-party property damage or personal injury claims, or could be required to incur substantial investigation or remediation costs, if we were to violate or become liable under environmental laws. Liability under environmental laws can be joint and several and without regard to comparative fault. Compliance with current or future environmental laws and regulations could restrict our ability to expand our facilities or require us to acquire additional expensive equipment, modify our manufacturing processes or incur other significant expenses in order to remain in compliance with such laws and regulations. At this time, we do not believe the costs to maintain compliance with current environmental laws to be material. If such costs were to become material in the future, whether due to unanticipated changes in environmental laws or their interpretations, unanticipated changes in our operations or other unanticipated changes, we may be required to dedicate additional staff or financial resources in order to maintain compliance. There can be no assurance that violations of environmental laws or regulations will not occur in the future as a result of the lack of, or failure to obtain, permits, human error, accident, equipment failure or other causes.
Results of future litigation could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
From time to time, we have been subject to litigation. The outcome of any litigation, regardless of its merits, is inherently uncertain. Future litigation could result in significant damages payable by us, and could harm our reputation. Even if we are successful in our defense, such litigation could still result in a diversion of management's attention and our resources and we may be required to incur significant expenses defending against these claims. We cannot predict our future commitments with respect to any matters encountered in the future, or their eventual outcome. Where we can make a reasonable estimate of the liability relating to pending litigation and determine that it is probable, we record a related liability. As additional information becomes available, we assess the potential liability and revise estimates as appropriate. However, because of uncertainties relating to litigation, the amount of our estimates could be wrong. Any adverse determination related to litigation could require us to change our technology or our business practices, pay monetary damages or fines, or enter into royalty or licensing arrangements, which could materially adversely affect our cash flows, harm our reputation, or otherwise materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
The outcome of any government inquiries and investigations involving our business is unpredictable and an adverse decision in any such matter could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We have been involved in certain disputes and have also received requests for information from government authorities. For example, we entered into a civil settlement agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in March 2015 concerning a matter related to our eligibility for certain contracts awarded to us under the Small Business Innovation Research, or SBIR, Program. We have also received information requests from the Criminal Division of the U.S. Attorney's Office related to our SBIR eligibility and the Criminal Division has interviewed certain of our current and past employees. We have responded to the U.S. Attorney's requests with a production of documents. Although we have not received further inquiries from the Criminal Division since 2015, the Criminal Division has contacted certain of our former employees as recently as June 2017 and the inquiry may be ongoing, and we do not know when it will conclude or whether the Criminal Division will pursue claims against us or our employees. If the Criminal Division or a federal court determines that we or our employees are criminally liable, our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects could be materially adversely affected.
Our growth is dependent, in part, on the successful integration of acquired businesses. Future acquisitions could result in operating difficulties and may materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
On November 14, 2019, we acquired Nutronics, Inc. and on July 30, 2020, we acquired OPI Photonics, S.r.l. (OPI). The successful integration of Nutronics and OPI depends on the realization of anticipated efficiencies and synergies. If we are unable to successfully integrate Nutronics and OPI, or realize growth, synergies and efficiencies that were expected when determining the respective transaction consideration, then goodwill and other intangible assets acquired may be considered impaired and result in an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, results of operations and growth prospects.
We have evaluated, and expect to continue evaluating, other potential strategic transactions, and we may pursue one or more transactions, including acquisitions. We have limited experience executing acquisitions. Integrating an acquired company, business or technology may create unforeseen operating difficulties and expenditures. If we fail to successfully integrate our acquisitions, or the people or technologies associated with those acquisitions, into our company, the results of operations of the combined company could be adversely affected. Any integration process will require significant time and resources, require significant attention from management, and disrupt the ordinary functioning of our business, and we may not be able to manage the process successfully, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
We may have to pay cash, incur debt, or issue equity securities to pay for any such acquisition, each of which could affect our financial condition or the value of our capital stock. The sale of equity to finance any such acquisitions could result in dilution to our stockholders. If we incur more debt, it would result in increased fixed obligations and could also subject us to covenants or other restrictions that would impede our ability to flexibly operate our business.
Our debt obligations contain restrictions that impact our business and expose us to risks that could materially adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition.
In September 2018, we entered into an amended and restated loan facility, or loan facility, with Pacific Western Bank, as lender. This loan facility, as amended in November 2019, imposes certain covenants and restrictions on our business and our ability to obtain additional financing. As of June 30, 2020, we had $15.0 million outstanding principal amount under the revolving loan facility.
Among other things, our loan facility requires the lender's consent to:
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sell or transfer assets outside the ordinary course of business;
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make certain types of investments and capital expenditures;
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incur additional indebtedness or guarantee indebtedness of others;
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pay dividends, redeem or repurchase our capital stock;
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enter into transactions with affiliates outside the ordinary course of business; and
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create liens on our assets.
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Our loan facility also contains affirmative covenants, including a maximum capital expenditures covenant, determined in relation to our Adjusted EBITDA for the quarter, in the event our total cash reserves fall below a certain threshold. The facility contains events of default, including, among others, non-payment defaults, inaccuracy of representations and warranties, covenant defaults, cross-defaults to other indebtedness, judgment defaults, bankruptcy and insolvency defaults and a change of control default.
If we experience a decline in cash flow due to any of the factors described in this "Risk Factors" section or otherwise, we could have difficulty paying interest due and principal amounts outstanding in the future, and meeting the financial covenants set forth in our loan facility. If we are unable to generate sufficient cash flow or otherwise obtain the funds necessary to make required payments under our loan facility, or if we fail to comply with the requirements of our indebtedness, we could default under our loan facility. Any default that is not cured or waived could result in the acceleration of the obligations under the loan facility, an increase in the applicable interest rate under the loan facility, and would permit our lender to exercise remedies with respect to all of the collateral that is securing the loan facility, which includes substantially all of our assets. Any such default could materially adversely affect our liquidity and financial condition.
Even if we comply with all of the applicable covenants, the restrictions on the conduct of our business could materially adversely affect our business by, among other things, limiting our ability to take advantage of financings, mergers, acquisitions and other corporate opportunities that may be beneficial to the business. Even if the loan facility were terminated, additional debt we could incur in the future may subject us to similar or additional covenants, which could place restrictions on the operation of our business.
Our ability to use net operating losses to offset future taxable income may be limited.
As of June 30, 2020, we have U.S. federal and state net operating loss carryforwards and research development credit carryforwards which we may use to reduce future taxable income or offset income taxes due. The NOLs and credit carryforwards start expiring in 2023 and 2020, respectively. Insufficient future taxable income will adversely affect our ability to deploy these NOLs and credit carryforwards. In addition, under Section 382 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code, or the Code, a corporation that experiences a more than 50% ownership change over a three-year testing period is limited in its ability to use its pre-change NOLs and other tax assets to offset future taxable income or income taxes due. Our existing NOLs and credit carryforwards are subject to limitations arising from previous ownership changes. Our ability to use our NOLs and credit carryforwards could be further limited by Section 382 of the Code if we undergo an ownership change. Future changes in our stock ownership, the causes of which may be
outside our control, could result in an ownership change under Section 382 of the Code. Our NOLs may also be impaired under state law. As a result of these limitations, we may not be able to utilize a material portion of, or possibly any of, the NOLs and credit carryforwards, which could materially adversely affect our cash flows.
Risks Related to Ownership of Our Common Stock
The market price of our common stock may be volatile, and the value of your investment could decline significantly.
Technology stocks have historically experienced high levels of volatility. The trading price of our common stock has been and is likely to continue to be volatile. Factors that could cause fluctuations in the trading price of our common stock include the following:
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the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic and other public health crises, including on macroeconomic conditions and our business, results of operations and financial condition;
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price and volume fluctuations in the overall stock market from time to time;
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changes in operating performance, stock market valuations and volatility in the market prices of other technology companies generally, or those in our industry in particular;
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actual or anticipated quarterly variations in our results of operations or those of our competitors;
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actual or anticipated changes in our growth rate relative to our competitors;
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announcements by us or our competitors of acquisitions, new products, significant contracts, commercial relationships or capital commitments;
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manufacturing or supply interruptions;
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developments with respect to intellectual property rights;
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our ability to develop and market new and enhanced products on a timely basis;
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commencement of, or our involvement in, litigation;
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major changes in our Board of Directors or management;
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changes in governmental regulations or in the status of our regulatory approvals;
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the trading volume of our stock;
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any future sales or repurchases of our common stock or other securities;
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failure of financial analysts to maintain coverage of us, changes in financial estimates by any analysts who follow our company or our failure to meet these estimates or the expectations of investors;
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fluctuations in the values of companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;
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the financial projections we may provide to the public, any changes in these projections or our failure to meet these projections; and
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general economic conditions and slow or negative growth of related markets.
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The stock market in general, and market prices for the securities of technology companies like ours in particular, have from time to time experienced volatility that often has been unrelated to the operating performance of the underlying companies. These broad market and industry fluctuations may adversely affect the market price of our common stock, regardless of our operating performance. In several recent situations when the market price of a stock has been volatile, holders of that stock have instituted securities class action litigation against the company that issued the stock. If any of our stockholders were to bring a lawsuit against us, the defense and disposition of the lawsuit could be costly and divert the time and attention of our management and materially adversely affect our results of operations.
If securities or industry analysts do not publish research reports about our business, or if they issue an adverse opinion about our business, our stock price and trading volume could decline.
The trading market for our common stock will be influenced by the research and reports that industry or securities analysts publish about us or our business. We do not have any control over these analysts. If one or more of the analysts who cover us issues an adverse opinion about our company, our stock price would likely decline. If one or more of these analysts ceases research coverage of us or fails to regularly publish reports on us, we could lose visibility in the financial markets, which in turn could cause our stock price or trading volume to decline.
Future sales of our common stock could cause our stock price to fall.
Our stock price could decline as a result of sales of a large number of shares of our common stock or the perception that these sales could occur. These sales, or the possibility that these sales may occur, also might make it more difficult for us to sell equity securities in the future at a time and at a price that we deem appropriate.
In the future, we may issue additional shares of common stock or other equity or debt securities convertible into common stock in connection with a financing, acquisition, commercial relationship, litigation settlement, employee arrangements or otherwise. Any such issuance could result in substantial dilution to our existing stockholders and could cause our stock price to decline.
We are an "emerging growth company," and any decision on our part to comply only with certain reduced reporting and disclosure requirements applicable to emerging growth companies could make our common stock less attractive to investors.
We are an "emerging growth company," as defined in the Jumpstart Our Business Startups, or JOBS, Act enacted in April 2012, and, until we are no longer an "emerging growth company" at the end of the fiscal year ending December 31, 2020, we may choose to take advantage of exemptions from various reporting requirements applicable to other public companies but not to "emerging growth companies" For example, as an "emerging growth company" we have not being required to have our independent registered public accounting firm audit our internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, or Section 404, have been subject to reduced disclosure obligations regarding executive compensation in our periodic reports and proxy statements, and exemptions from the requirements of holding a nonbinding advisory vote on executive compensation and stockholder approval of any golden parachute payments not previously approved. Until we are no longer an "emerging growth company," if some investors find our common stock less attractive as a result of any choices to reduce disclosure, there may be a less active trading market for our common stock and our stock price may be more volatile.
As an "emerging growth company," the JOBS Act allows us to delay adoption of new or revised accounting pronouncements applicable to public companies until such pronouncements are made applicable to private companies. We have elected to use this extended transition period under the JOBS Act. As a result, our financial statements may not be comparable to the financial statements of issuers who are required to comply with the effective dates for new or revised accounting standards that are applicable to public companies, which may make our common stock less attractive to investors.
Delaware and Washington law and provisions in our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws could make a merger, tender offer or proxy contest difficult, thereby depressing the trading price of our common stock.
Anti-takeover provisions in our charter documents and under Delaware and Washington law could make an acquisition of us difficult, limit attempts by our stockholders to replace or remove our current management or Board of Directors and adversely affect our stock price.
Provisions of our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws may delay or discourage transactions involving an actual or potential change in our control or change in our management, including transactions in which stockholders might otherwise receive a premium for their shares, or transactions that our stockholders might otherwise deem to be in their best interests. Therefore, these provisions could adversely affect the price of our stock. Among other things, our amended and restated certificate of incorporation and amended and restated bylaws:
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permit the Board of Directors to issue up to 5 million shares of preferred stock, with any rights, preferences and privileges as they may designate;
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provide that the authorized number of directors may be changed only by resolution of the Board of Directors;
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provide that all vacancies on our Board of Directors may only be filled by our Board of Directors and not by stockholders;
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divide the Board of Directors into three classes;
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provide that a director may only be removed from the Board of Directors by the stockholders for cause;
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require that any action to be taken by our stockholders must be effected at a duly called annual or special meeting of stockholders and may not be taken by written consent;
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provide that stockholders seeking to present proposals before a meeting of stockholders or to nominate candidates for election as directors at a meeting of stockholders must provide notice in writing in a timely manner and meet specific requirements as to the form and content of a stockholder's notice;
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prevent cumulative voting rights (therefore allowing the holders of a plurality of the shares of common stock entitled to vote in any election of directors to elect all of the directors standing for election, if they should so choose);
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provide that special meetings of our stockholders may be called only by the chairman of the board, our chief executive officer (or president, in the absence of a chief executive officer) or by the Board of Directors; and
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provide that stockholders will be permitted to amend our amended and restated certificate of incorporation, and until December 31, 2020, our amended and restated bylaws only upon receiving at least two-thirds of the total votes entitled to be cast by holders of all outstanding shares then entitled to vote generally in the election of directors, voting together as a single class.
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In addition, because we are incorporated in Delaware, we are governed by the provisions of Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law, which generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any "interested" stockholder for a period of three years following the date on which the stockholder became an "interested" stockholder. Likewise, because our principal executive offices are located in Washington, the anti-takeover provisions of the Washington Business Corporation Act may apply to us under certain circumstances now or in the future. These provisions prohibit
a "target corporation" from engaging in any of a broad range of business combinations with any stockholder constituting an "acquiring person" for a period of five years following the date on which the stockholder became an "acquiring person."
Our amended and restated bylaws provide that, unless we consent in writing to the selection of an alternative forum, the sole and exclusive forum for (i) any derivative action or proceeding brought on our behalf, (ii) any action asserting a claim of breach of a fiduciary duty owed by any of our directors, officers, or other employees to us or our stockholders, (iii) any action arising pursuant to any provision of the Delaware General Corporation Law, or our amended and restated certificate of incorporation or our amended and restated bylaws or (iv) any other action asserting a claim that is governed by the internal affairs doctrine shall be a state or federal court located within the State of Delaware, in all cases subject to the court having jurisdiction over indispensable parties named as defendants.
Our amended and restated bylaws also provide that the federal district courts of the United States of America are the exclusive forum for resolving any complaint asserting a cause of action arising under the Securities Act. On December 19, 2018, the Delaware Court of Chancery issued a decision in Matthew Sciabacucchi v. Matthew B. Salzberg et al., C.A. No. 2017-0931-JTL (Del. Ch.), finding that provisions such as the federal forum provision are not valid under Delaware law. In light of this decision of the Delaware Court of Chancery, we previously disclosed that we do not intend to enforce the federal forum provision in our amended and restated bylaws unless and until such time there is a final determination by the Delaware Supreme Court regarding the validity of such provisions. On March 18, 2020, the Delaware Supreme Court issued its decision in Salzburg et al. v. Matthew Sciabacucchi, No. 346, 2019 (Del.), which reversed the Delaware Court of Chancery’s decision. The Delaware Supreme Court found that provisions such as the federal forum provision are facially valid under Delaware law. In light of this decision finally resolving the facial validity of such provisions, we intend to enforce the federal forum provision in our bylaws.
Any person or entity purchasing or otherwise acquiring any interest in any of our securities shall be deemed to have notice of and consented to this provision. These exclusive-forum provisions may limit a stockholder's ability to bring a claim in a judicial forum of its choosing for disputes with us or our directors, officers, or other employees, which may discourage lawsuits against us and our directors, officers, and other employees. If a court were to find either exclusive-forum provision in our amended and restated bylaws to be inapplicable or unenforceable in an action, we may incur additional costs associated with resolving the dispute in other jurisdictions, which could harm our results of operations.
