nLIGHT Q4 2024 Earnings Report $7.33 +0.31 (+4.42%) Closing price 04/11/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$7.41 +0.08 (+1.08%) As of 04/11/2025 06:12 PM Eastern Extended trading is trading that happens on electronic markets outside of regular trading hours. This is a fair market value extended hours price provided by Polygon.io. Learn more. Earnings HistoryForecast nLIGHT EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.42Consensus EPS -$0.21Beat/MissMissed by -$0.21One Year Ago EPSN/AnLIGHT Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$47.38 millionExpected Revenue$46.62 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$760.00 thousandYoY Revenue GrowthN/AnLIGHT Announcement DetailsQuarterQ4 2024Date2/27/2025TimeAfter Market ClosesConference Call DateThursday, February 27, 2025Conference Call Time5:00PM ETUpcoming EarningsnLIGHT's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Thursday, May 1, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 5:00 PM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Q1 2025 Earnings ReportConference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptSlide DeckPress Release (8-K)Annual Report (10-K)SEC FilingEarnings HistoryLASR ProfileSlide DeckFull Screen Slide DeckPowered by nLIGHT Q4 2024 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrFebruary 27, 2025 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 12 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the nLIGHT Inc. Fourth Quarter and Year End twenty twenty four Earnings Call Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. This call is being recorded on Thursday, 02/27/2025. Operator00:00:31I would now like to turn the conference over to John McCurdy. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:38Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm John Marchetti, nLIGHT's VP of Corporate Development and the Head of Investor Relations. With me on the call today are Scott Keeney, Enlight's Chairman and CEO and Joe Corso, Enlight's CFO. Today's discussion will contain forward looking statements, including financial projections and plans for our business, some of which are beyond our control, including the risks and uncertainties described from time to time in our SEC filings. Our results may differ materially from these projected on today's call, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward looking statements, except as required by law. Speaker 100:01:17During the call, we will be discussing certain non GAAP financial measures. We have provided reconciliation of these non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release, which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. I will now turn the call over to nLIGHT's Chairman and CEO, Scott Keeney. Scott? Speaker 200:01:40Thank you, John. Twenty twenty four was a transformative year for nLIGHT. Revenue from aerospace and defense grew to more than 60% of our total sales by the end of the year and has become the primary growth driver for us going forward. Our aerospace and defense markets grew 20% year over year to a record of $110,000,000 dollars and we saw significant growth in both our advanced development revenue as well as our defense product sales. In addition, our backlog increased by more than 50% year over year in 2024 to a record 167,000,000 as we continue to qualify new opportunities in both directed energy and laser sensing. Speaker 200:02:19At in light, our work in defense remains aligned with the Department of Defense most critical priorities such as directed energy and laser sensing. In directed energy, interest in our high energy laser systems and components continues to grow as ongoing military operations in The Middle East and Ukraine highlight the increasing need for advanced cost effective defensive weapons technology. For layered defense strategies, directed energy lasers complement traditional kinetic defenses by offering a deep magazine, low cost per engagement and speed of light delivery. Addressing a wide range of targets, including drones, rockets, artillery, mortars and missiles with directed energy lasers reduces the reliance on costly low inventory traditional weapons against low cost threats, thereby rebalancing the economics of protecting key assets. NLIGHT has led the world in the development of high powered lasers for directed energy for over two decades and recently demonstrated a 300 kilowatt high brightness laser. Speaker 200:03:17NLIGHT lasers are built in The U. S. Incorporating patented and proprietary technologies across the company's entire technology stack from semiconductor lasers to high power fiber amplifiers, beam combined lasers and beam directors. We have generated revenue at nearly every level of vertical integration in the directed energy market and we have established ourselves as the most comprehensive supplier to the U. S. Speaker 200:03:38Government, other prime contractors and foreign allies. We are making significant progress on our Healthy II program, which as a reminder is a multiyear DoD funded $171,000,000 program to develop a one megawatt high energy laser with a completion date expected in 2026. We began shipping components toward this program in the second half of twenty twenty four, and we expect to accelerate those shipments throughout 2025. Another critical direct energy program for nLIGHT is the Army's DEM SHORAD effort, which is to develop a 50 kilowatt high energy laser for short range air defense. On this program, nLIGHT is delivering a 50 kilowatt high energy laser to a prime contractor. Speaker 200:04:19And during the second half of twenty twenty four, we finalized the design and delivered the majority of the most critical hardware components of this beam combined laser. The success we have achieved to date in both of these key programs reinforces the importance of our vertical integration strategy in the directed energy market, where we leverage our entire technology stack to deliver highest demonstrated performance and most cost effective high energy lasers. Last month, the President signed an executive order to build the Iron Dome for America. The executive order directs implementation of a next generation missile defense shield for The United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other next generation aerial attacks. Within the executive order, non kinetic missile defense capabilities were specifically highlighted as an area for development. Speaker 200:05:08With a mandate to build these systems in The United States, we believe we are uniquely positioned to benefit from this effort over the coming years. And it's not just the U. S. Military which sees the potential benefits of Directed Energy Systems. In October of last year, Israel's Ministry of Defense announced that it would spend over $500,000,000 towards Iron Beam and Israeli ground based laser system for defense against aerial threats including rockets, mortars, drones and missiles with delivery of the initial unit of the weapons systems scheduled in this calendar year. Speaker 200:05:37Israel's announcement is another example of how direct energy is increasingly being viewed as a critical part of a layered defense strategy. We also continue to gain momentum in our laser sensing markets in 2024. Our laser sensing products include missile guidance, proximity detection, range finding and countermeasures and have been incorporated into several significant and long running defense programs, all of which remain key defense priorities under the current administration. During 2024, we announced a new $25,000,000 contract for an existing long running missile program. And we began shipping against this award in the third quarter of last year. Speaker 200:06:16We've also continued to make excellent progress in a handful of classified programs. In one of these, we shipped our first EMD or engineering and manufacturing development unit. The EMD phase is focused on building, testing and qualifying the solution to ensure it meets all operational requirements. Our customers' forecast suggests that the low rate initial production should start for this program in the latter half of twenty twenty five. Our growing pipeline of both directed energy programs and laser sensing opportunities gives us confidence that we can grow revenue in aerospace and defense by at least 25% in 2025. Speaker 200:06:53Turning to our commercial markets. 2024 was another challenging year for our commercial markets with revenue down 25% year over year as a growing number of our customers faced increasing competition from China and global manufacturing demand remained muted. And with these headwinds expected to continue in 2025, I wanted to spend a few minutes on the strategic importance of these legacy markets for the future success of m lite. First, let me start with our semiconductor fab. As many of you know, we design and manufacture our own gallium arsenide chips here in Vancouver, Washington. Speaker 200:07:24These chips or laser diodes are the foundational building blocks for nearly all the work we do in lasers. With over twenty five years of chip level innovation, decisions made at this level enable us to lead the world in demonstrated power for high energy lasers for directed energy and other defense applications. Second, it's the commercial application of these lasers that have enabled us to bring key learnings into our defense work, ensuring that our lasers are not only the highest performing, but also the most cost effective. Many of the competitors we see today in our defense markets are defense contractors, not laser manufacturers. We believe that it is the application of our technology at scale with thousands of high power laser systems shipped to customers that truly differentiates our high energy lasers for defense. Speaker 200:08:10We have a demonstrated track record of designing and manufacturing these systems, of delivering cost effective field maintenance programs to keep these lasers operational at optimal levels, and a history of commercial innovation, both in terms of performance and cost that we believe will be increasingly important to the success of these systems in the future. Lastly, we see opportunities for growth, particularly longer term in metal additive manufacturing. Increasingly, we are seeing growing interest from the aerospace and defense markets as they look to metal additive manufacturing to accelerate prototyping timelines and build resiliency into their supply chains with domestic capabilities for existing and future programs. In the emerging market for hypersonics, another key focus area for the Department of Defense, we see an expanding list of new companies and new programs leveraging metal additive manufacturing to design, prototype and manufacture next generation munitions and unmanned aerial vehicles. We believe that one of the most critical challenges facing the additive manufacturing industry is to reduce the overall build time and overall cost per part. Speaker 200:09:14To address this industry wide pain point, in light continues to introduce new products that increase the printing speed and flexibility of additive manufacturing tools. Our KORONA AFX dynamic beam shaping technology allows for high resolution printing for fine detail features, while also offering faster build rates utilizing stable ring mode power, making it the most versatile and efficient laser available for the additive manufacturing market. As these and other additive manufacturing opportunities mature over the next several years, we expect that our commercial lasers associated with this market will return to growth. In summary, 2024 was an important year for nLIGHT as revenue from aerospace and defense grew to more than 60% of our total sales by the end of the year and established itself as the primary growth driver for our business going forward. We completed the last leg of our manufacturing transition out of China and now are operationally set to support the growth expected in our defense business. Speaker 200:10:14As we look forward to 2025, I expect it to be a year of growth front line. While many of the headwinds in our commercial markets are expected to persist throughout the year, I'm optimistic about growth in aerospace and defense that it's well aligned with the key priorities for the Department of Defense. With good visibility, a large and growing backlog and a solid balance sheet, I expected the significant progress that we made last year to accelerate with revenue growth of 25% or more expected in aerospace and defense markets as many of the programs previously announced continued to ramp. Speaker 300:10:48I'd like to thank all Speaker 200:10:48of the nLIGHT employees for their hard work and execution over the past year. They continue to deliver great results for our customers and are the critical driver of building a successful and enduring high energy laser technology company. With that, I'll turn the call over to Joe to discuss our fourth quarter and full year financial results. Speaker 300:11:06Thank you, Scott. Turning to the fourth quarter and full year financial results. Total revenue in the fourth quarter was $47,400,000 a decrease of 9% compared to $51,900,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Product revenue for the fourth quarter was $31,700,000 compared to $37,900,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. The decrease in product revenue was partially offset by a 12% year over year increase in development revenue to $15,700,000 As noted in our January pre announcement, the shortfall in fourth quarter revenue relative to the midpoint of guidance was primarily due to a continued weakness in our industrial markets, execution challenges in microfabrication and the timing of delivery of a limited number of defense products. Speaker 300:11:54For the year, total revenue was 198,500,000 a decrease of 5% compared to $209,900,000 in 2023 due to declines in our microfabrication and industrial markets. These declines were partially offset by strong growth in our aerospace and defense markets. Revenue from the aerospace and defense market increased 20% year over year to a record $109,500,000 A and D products revenue increased by 25% year over year to $47,700,000 and A and D development revenue increased by 16% year over year to $61,900,000 Total gross margin in the fourth quarter was 2% compared to 19% in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Fourth quarter total gross margin was negatively impacted by non routine charges of approximately $6,000,000 related primarily to inventory reserves on products for the industrial market. Adjusting for these non routine charges, total gross margin for the fourth quarter would have been approximately 15%, which is still slightly below the bottom end of guidance due to lower than expected product sales and production volumes. Speaker 300:13:06Product gross margin in the fourth quarter was 1% compared to 22% in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Adjusting for non routine charges, product gross margin would have been approximately 20%. Development gross margin was 6% in the fourth quarter compared to 9% in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. For the year, total gross margin was 17% compared with 22% in 2023. Products gross margin was 21% in 2024 compared to 27% in 2023. Speaker 300:13:38The decrease in product gross margins in 2024 compared to 2023 was driven by the impact of lower sales and production volumes on fixed manufacturing costs due to the decrease in overall customer demand and inventory charges in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four previously discussed, offset partially by positive changes in sales mix. Development gross margin was 7% in both years. Non GAAP operating expenses were $17,700,000 for the fourth quarter compared to $17,400,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. GAAP operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $27,600,000 and included restructuring charges of $4,300,000 primarily related to severance costs from our decision to shut down manufacturing operations in China. Full year 2024 non GAAP operating expenses were $71,200,000 compared to $67,200,000 in 2023. Speaker 300:14:37The year over year increase in non GAAP operating expenses were driven by increases in employee compensation costs, spending on research and development projects and approximately $2,300,000 of bad debt charges for customers in the industrial market. We continually review the appropriate level of operating expenses for our business and we believe our current level of OpEx is sufficient to support our long term growth objectives. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was a loss of $11,300,000 including the non routine charges discussed previously compared to $3,300,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter was $25,000,000 or $0.51 per share compared to a net loss of $13,200,000 or $0.28 per share for the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Turning now to the balance sheet, we ended 2024 with total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and investments of $100,900,000 and no debt compared to $113,100,000 at the end of twenty twenty three. Speaker 300:15:43Inventory decreased to $40,800,000 at the end of twenty twenty four compared to $52,100,000 at the end of twenty twenty three. Turning our guidance. Before discussing Q1 guidance, I'd like to reiterate that nLIGHT is planning for meaningful growth in our A and D markets in 2025. Supporting our growth expectations is approximately $399,000,000 of funded and unfunded backlog as of 12/31/2024. Funded backlog of $167,000,000 is 55% higher than it was at 12/31/2023. Speaker 300:16:21And we are working under contracts with over $230,000,000 of incremental aggregate value. Although execution challenges remain given the highly technical nature of our defense work, and while we can't control the specific timing of government programs, we are exceptionally well aligned with many of the DoD's highest priority programs that we expect to support growth in 2025 and beyond. With respect to the first quarter of twenty twenty five, based on the information available today, we expect revenue to be in the range of $45,000,000 to $51,000,000 The midpoint of $48,000,000 includes approximately $33,000,000 of product revenue and $15,000,000 of development revenue. Turning to gross margin. First quarter twenty twenty five products gross margin is expected to be in the range of 16% to 20% and development gross margin to be approximately 8%, resulting in a total gross margin range of 13 to 17%. Speaker 300:17:19As we've mentioned previously, as a vertically integrated manufacturing business, gross margin is largely dependent on production volumes and the absorption of fixed manufacturing costs. Finally, we expect adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of twenty twenty five to be in the range of approximately negative $6,000,000 to negative $3,000,000 And we continue to expect breakeven adjusted EBITDA with quarterly revenue in the $55,000,000 to $60,000,000 range. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator00:17:53Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin question and answer session. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. We have your first question comes from Jim with Needham Company. Operator00:18:28Please go ahead. Speaker 400:18:31Hi, thanks. A couple of questions. First, just given the backlog, you obviously have a fairly strong line of sight on the A and D business. How should we think about the revenues over the course of the year? Yes, particularly in light of some of the challenges you experienced in Q4, which I'm assuming is behind you with respect to fulfilling some of the shipments with key customers? Speaker 500:19:07Yes. Hi, Jim. Thanks for the question. So I think in Scott's script, we talked about having confidence that our A and D markets should be up at least 25% over 2023. I think as we've talked about in the past, the quarterly trajectory of that sometimes is a little bit more difficult to predict. Speaker 500:19:32But I think it's a reasonable approach to think as we move through the year, revenue from the A and D markets will increase. As we talked about on our preannouncement, you know, there are timing challenges right around delivering, some of those products. But as we highlighted with the backlog, we don't have very much in terms of go get for 2025. So we feel really good about, the way that the year is starting to look. Speaker 400:20:04Got it. And I apologize, I joined the call a little bit late and you may have provided some update. But where do you stand with the handoff to the contract manufacturing partner in Thailand? I guess what I'm asking is, if the demand doesn't change in this area of the business, does having that behind you, what does that do for gross margins in that part of the business, I guess is what I'm asking? Speaker 500:20:36Yes. I think, Jim, frankly, there will be some improvement in gross margins. Obviously, as we are working through the execution and the improvement and the transition back to a more, full capacity that that that's got a little bit of an impact on our gross margins. So there will be some lift in gross margins due to that. But I think what will be the bigger driver for gross margins is really just ramping volumes, right? Speaker 500:21:06That has been, our story for quite some time with product revenues at these current levels. It's just it's difficult to have, you know, meaningful margin, margin expansion. But as we work through those issues, it will be, margins will improve for sure. Speaker 400:21:24Got it. I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you. Speaker 500:21:27Thank you. Operator00:21:35Your next question comes from Greg Palm with Craig Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:21:42Yes, thanks. Can we start with just a little bit more in terms of the assumptions that's baked into the Q1 guide? So for instance, does it assume that kind of $4,000,000 shortfall from Q4 is fully recognized in Q1? Are there any other inventory reserves that need to be taken in Q1? Just a little bit more color on kind of how you're thinking about that specifically. Speaker 500:22:15Sure, Greg. So no, the guide in Q1 to the midpoint doesn't assume that we've had a lot of that Q4 revenue rolls over into Q1. It's more natural in terms of the revenue demand and growth that we'll see in the first quarter. I think trajectory wise, as we said earlier in the call, you know, we expect the defense business to grow and the commercial business to, decline in the first quarter sequentially. You know, in terms of gross margin, we don't we're not anticipating any, unusual or, you know, non recurring type cost of goods issues that we saw in the fourth quarter. Speaker 500:22:59So it's getting back to a more normalized operating environment from a gross margin perspective. Speaker 600:23:07Okay. So I think what I just heard was versus the $17,000,000 in commercial revenue for Q4, you're expecting that to actually decline sequentially in Q1? Speaker 500:23:20Yes. I don't think we're going to have I mean, we're not guiding specifically by market, but directionally, yes, we don't really see much growth, in the commercial side of the business. And so as we think about that sequential movement of revenue, we do see a little bit of softening, of the commercial revenue in the first quarter. Speaker 600:23:41Okay. I mean, that implies a pretty soft, you know, run rate. I mean, how should we think about I mean, knowing that you didn't guide for that for the year, but how should we think about the sort of the remainder of Speaker 300:23:57the year? Speaker 500:23:58Yeah. I think if in the commercial business as as we've talked about, we don't have the same level of visibility that we do in the defense business. So some of it is just, you know, trying to read the tea leaves and do our best to understand our, customer's forecast and the broader macro demand environment. As we think about the overall year, what we are, you know, planning for with some range of error bars is somewhere in the, you know, 15% to 20% down on a, calendar '24 versus a calendar 2023. Now, could it be better than that? Speaker 500:24:34Yeah, absolutely. Could it be a little worse than that? It could. But I think what you should take away from this comment is we don't expect the commercial business in 2024 to drive any level of outsized growth, right? I mean, we're managing it, as best as best we can, but but the growth in 2024 is really going to come from the A and D business. Speaker 600:24:56Yes. Okay. That makes sense. And then just last one on maybe Industrial specifically. I'm curious, if tariff implementation occurs at maybe a broader scale. Speaker 600:25:12I mean, is that enough to stem some of the negative Chinese competitive impacts that have maybe evolved here over the last few quarters? I'm just curious to get your thoughts around kind of overall pricing for that and maybe overall competition relative to where we were at this point last year? Speaker 700:25:32Yes, Craig, I mean, it's hard to predict where things are going to land with respect to tariffs, but certainly directionally, everything else being equal, that could be beneficial. It's not something that we are expecting and relying on. But yes, certainly directionally that could be beneficial. It just depends on the particulars of how they're implemented. Speaker 600:25:57Okay. All right. I will leave it there. Thanks. Speaker 400:26:01Thank you. Operator00:26:07Next question comes from Troy with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Speaker 800:26:13Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe a couple for you, Joe. Just first of all, the funded backlog, could you confirm it was $167,000,000 and I think that was up 55% year over year. But Yep. Speaker 500:26:27That's right. 167. Speaker 800:26:30All shippable and then is it all shippable Speaker 500:26:33in 2025? It's all shippable in 2025 and 2026. So that's funded backlog over the next Speaker 300:26:41two years. Operator00:26:43Alright. Perfect. Speaker 800:26:44Alright. And then I just wanna go through it again. You said there's these opportunities you're working on in the pipeline. There's $230,000,000 of total, you know, defense type opportunities that, Speaker 100:26:56are Speaker 800:26:56in the pipeline. Could you go over that one more time, please? Speaker 500:26:58Yeah. No. That's, that's that's correct. So what we've got is we are working on, contracts that in aggregate have about $399,000,000 of total value. Right? Speaker 500:27:10Now, $167,000,000 of that $399,000,000 is firm funded backlog that we expect to execute during calendar twenty five and calendar twenty six. The balance of of that $2.30, you know, that $232,000,000 that is really some, some funded backlog that will roll into 2027 as well as a big portion. The bigger portion though is, you know, the portions of those contracts that are not yet funded. We expect a big piece of that to be funded, but we want to be very clear around, you know, what is funded and what is not funded. But, you know, in either case, Speaker 600:27:49you know, Speaker 500:27:50we feel very good about what we're working against. Speaker 700:27:52And Troy, just to build on that, you know, you mentioned pipeline, what Joe is describing is funded and unfunded contracts. Pipeline goes beyond that. There are opportunities that go well beyond what we're talking about here. Speaker 800:28:07Right. I'd imagine. And the Trump initiative that you highlighted, that would be new in the pipeline too. Speaker 700:28:11Right? Exactly right. That's that's one example of many. Speaker 800:28:16Okay. Perfect. And then my last question, just one more for Joe. Just, you know, big restructuring charges quarter. Can you just talk OpEx? Speaker 800:28:24Absolutely. Do you think it's going to start to decline sequentially for a couple of quarters given the restructuring you've been doing? Or do we assume it's, you know, March OpEx is greater than December? Speaker 500:28:35Yeah. I think that the current OpEx levels are about where we expect to be, Troy. I think it's important to recognize, we don't believe that we need to meaningfully increase our operating expenses even over the next couple of years. Right now, there will be, you know, quarterly fluctuations as, you know, some quarters have more, you know, materials than other quarters. But, you know, when, when you think about the number of FTEs that are, in, in our plan in the, you know, first quarter, it note no real difference than, you know, where we are post restructuring. Speaker 500:29:17Right? So, I don't, I don't see the OpEx moving all that much, right? That, that, that Q1 twenty five, you know, implied number is reasonable. Speaker 800:29:24Okay. Awesome. All right, guys. Well, thank you and good luck this year. Speaker 500:29:30Thank you. Operator00:29:35Next question comes from Rodney McMull with Northcoast Research. Please go ahead. Speaker 900:29:42Hey guys, thanks for taking my question. I'm on today for Keith Housum. So I'm just curious how much longer do you guys think it'll take for you guys to get some of the kinks worked out as far as manufacturing amps for the A and D business? And just curious if you're seeing any further uptake in those products from your customers? Thanks. Speaker 700:30:05Good. Very good question. The amps part of the business is a very important part of the business. We have leading performance in the fiber amplifiers that go into the directed energy systems, both in The U. S. Speaker 700:30:20And with our allies. There are current products that are released to manufacturing that, those kinks you refer to, we're well into manufacturing with a more mature product there. The product that we are using for the megawatt program is a next generation product that is being transferred to manufacturing right now. And we're making progress there. We were just below what we had expected in the quarter there. Speaker 700:30:49But that is proceeding well and we do see opportunities to expand that business significantly. Speaker 900:30:59Got it. Got it. Thanks for that. And then I'm just kind of curious, I know you mentioned the executive order signed by President Trump recently to bring Iron Dome to U. S. Speaker 900:31:11I know it's very early in that process, but I'm just kind of curious if you have any ideas of like the scale of that project and maybe what it can mean for Ed Light. Just any sort of color there would be helpful and maybe like a timeline. Thanks. Speaker 700:31:28Yes. It's a fairly broad based, set of initiatives for defense, both kinetic and non kinetic applications. The funding numbers we've seen are very, very big. And there's a broad range of different approaches that are being considered. We're actively engaged with a number of them right now. Speaker 700:31:52The time frame, while there's some of the programs that go out further, there is an emphasis on the near term. And so, you know, there'll be more information in the coming months on that, but it is large. It is separate from, some of the cuts that are being discussed. It is a clear priority and key players in DoD right now are working through how to prioritize that and we're deeply engaged there. Speaker 900:32:23Got it. Got it. Thanks. I will hand it back to the queue. Thanks so much. Operator00:32:38Your next question comes from Mark Miller with Benchmark. Please go ahead. Speaker 1000:32:44So what we've heard today, it sounds like the current administration there's really been no change in your existing programs and you have this opportunity with the Iron Dome. Is that a good summary? Speaker 700:32:56Yeah, well put, Marill. I think certainly there's a lot of uncertainty around a whole host of factors and certainly we need to be thoughtful about that. But I think directionally in our business, our exposure is in areas where there's significant continuation and new efforts underway. Speaker 1000:33:19Okay. In terms of your existing backlog, I assume there's a high percentage of that's defense. Can you give us an estimate what percent of that's aerospace and defense related? And also, if you can comment on the margin profile in your backlog? Speaker 500:33:35Yes. The vast majority of it is A and D related, Mark. And I would tell you that generally, the backlog on the product side, carries very nice products gross margin. You know, some of that backlog obviously is in the development side of the business and that is, you know, pretty typical for us in that kind of mid to high single digits margin that, we've experienced over the last couple of years. Speaker 1000:34:06Okay. If you would get equipment orders for the Stryker program, when do you think that could come? Could that be second half of next year? Speaker 700:34:17Yes. I do think that the opportunities will be contingent upon the performance of our initial deliveries. But yeah, I think there are opportunities in the next two years for sure. Speaker 1000:34:34Thank you. Speaker 400:34:37Thank Operator00:34:40you. There are no further questions. Please continue. Speaker 1100:34:45So thanks everybody for joining us this afternoon and I did want to highlight that we will be participating in a couple of investor conferences over the next two weeks. We'll be at the forty sixth annual Raymond James Institutional Investor Conference on Tuesday, March 4 and we'll be participating at the Cantor Fitzgerald Global Technology Conference on Wednesday, March 12. So we look forward to catching up with a lot of you over the next couple of weeks. Thank you very much. Operator00:35:12Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallnLIGHT Q4 202400:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2xRemove Ads Earnings DocumentsSlide DeckPress Release(8-K)Annual report(10-K) nLIGHT Earnings HeadlinesIs nLight Inc. 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Discover the little-known Trump IRS loophole that thousands are now using to safeguard their retirement from inflation and market turmoil—before it's too late.April 12, 2025 | Colonial Metals (Ad)Electronic Components Stocks Q4 Teardown: nLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) Vs The RestMarch 31, 2025 | msn.comnLIGHT: It's A Very Tentative BuyMarch 9, 2025 | seekingalpha.comnLIGHT (LASR) Gets a Hold from Craig-HallumMarch 5, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comSee More nLIGHT Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like nLIGHT? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on nLIGHT and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About nLIGHTnLIGHT (NASDAQ:LASR) designs, develops, manufactures, and sells semiconductor and fiber lasers for industrial, microfabrication, and aerospace and defense applications. The company operates in two segments, Laser Products and Advanced Development. It offers semiconductor lasers with various ranges of power levels, wavelengths, and output fiber sizes; and programmable and serviceable fiber lasers for use in industrial and aerospace and defense applications. The company also provides laser sensors, including light detection and ranging technologies for intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance applications; and fiber amplifiers, beam combination, and control systems for use in high-energy laser systems in directed energy applications. It sells its products through direct sales force in the United States, China, South Korea, and European countries, as well as through independent sales representatives and distributors in Asia, Australia, Europe, the Middle East, and South America. The company was formerly known as nLight Photonics Corporation and changed its name to nLIGHT, Inc. in January 2016. nLIGHT, Inc. was incorporated in 2000 and is headquartered in Camas, Washington.View nLIGHT ProfileRead more More Earnings Resources from MarketBeat Earnings Tools Today's Earnings Tomorrow's Earnings Next Week's Earnings Upcoming Earnings Calls Earnings Newsletter Earnings Call Transcripts Earnings Beats & Misses Corporate Guidance Earnings Screener Earnings By Country U.S. Earnings Reports Canadian Earnings Reports U.K. Earnings Reports Latest Articles Why Analysts Boosted United Airlines Stock Ahead of EarningsLamb Weston Stock Rises, Earnings Provide Calm Amidst ChaosIntuitive Machines Gains After Earnings Beat, NASA Missions AheadCintas Delivers Earnings Beat, Signals More Growth AheadNike Stock Dips on Earnings: Analysts Weigh in on What’s NextAfter Massive Post Earnings Fall, Does Hope Remain for MongoDB?Semtech Rallies on Earnings Beat—Is There More Upside? 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There are 12 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the nLIGHT Inc. Fourth Quarter and Year End twenty twenty four Earnings Call Conference Call. At this time, all lines are in listen only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question and answer session. This call is being recorded on Thursday, 02/27/2025. Operator00:00:31I would now like to turn the conference over to John McCurdy. Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:38Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm John Marchetti, nLIGHT's VP of Corporate Development and the Head of Investor Relations. With me on the call today are Scott Keeney, Enlight's Chairman and CEO and Joe Corso, Enlight's CFO. Today's discussion will contain forward looking statements, including financial projections and plans for our business, some of which are beyond our control, including the risks and uncertainties described from time to time in our SEC filings. Our results may differ materially from these projected on today's call, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward looking statements, except as required by law. Speaker 100:01:17During the call, we will be discussing certain non GAAP financial measures. We have provided reconciliation of these non GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release, which can be found on the Investor Relations section of our website. I will now turn the call over to nLIGHT's Chairman and CEO, Scott Keeney. Scott? Speaker 200:01:40Thank you, John. Twenty twenty four was a transformative year for nLIGHT. Revenue from aerospace and defense grew to more than 60% of our total sales by the end of the year and has become the primary growth driver for us going forward. Our aerospace and defense markets grew 20% year over year to a record of $110,000,000 dollars and we saw significant growth in both our advanced development revenue as well as our defense product sales. In addition, our backlog increased by more than 50% year over year in 2024 to a record 167,000,000 as we continue to qualify new opportunities in both directed energy and laser sensing. Speaker 200:02:19At in light, our work in defense remains aligned with the Department of Defense most critical priorities such as directed energy and laser sensing. In directed energy, interest in our high energy laser systems and components continues to grow as ongoing military operations in The Middle East and Ukraine highlight the increasing need for advanced cost effective defensive weapons technology. For layered defense strategies, directed energy lasers complement traditional kinetic defenses by offering a deep magazine, low cost per engagement and speed of light delivery. Addressing a wide range of targets, including drones, rockets, artillery, mortars and missiles with directed energy lasers reduces the reliance on costly low inventory traditional weapons against low cost threats, thereby rebalancing the economics of protecting key assets. NLIGHT has led the world in the development of high powered lasers for directed energy for over two decades and recently demonstrated a 300 kilowatt high brightness laser. Speaker 200:03:17NLIGHT lasers are built in The U. S. Incorporating patented and proprietary technologies across the company's entire technology stack from semiconductor lasers to high power fiber amplifiers, beam combined lasers and beam directors. We have generated revenue at nearly every level of vertical integration in the directed energy market and we have established ourselves as the most comprehensive supplier to the U. S. Speaker 200:03:38Government, other prime contractors and foreign allies. We are making significant progress on our Healthy II program, which as a reminder is a multiyear DoD funded $171,000,000 program to develop a one megawatt high energy laser with a completion date expected in 2026. We began shipping components toward this program in the second half of twenty twenty four, and we expect to accelerate those shipments throughout 2025. Another critical direct energy program for nLIGHT is the Army's DEM SHORAD effort, which is to develop a 50 kilowatt high energy laser for short range air defense. On this program, nLIGHT is delivering a 50 kilowatt high energy laser to a prime contractor. Speaker 200:04:19And during the second half of twenty twenty four, we finalized the design and delivered the majority of the most critical hardware components of this beam combined laser. The success we have achieved to date in both of these key programs reinforces the importance of our vertical integration strategy in the directed energy market, where we leverage our entire technology stack to deliver highest demonstrated performance and most cost effective high energy lasers. Last month, the President signed an executive order to build the Iron Dome for America. The executive order directs implementation of a next generation missile defense shield for The United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles and other next generation aerial attacks. Within the executive order, non kinetic missile defense capabilities were specifically highlighted as an area for development. Speaker 200:05:08With a mandate to build these systems in The United States, we believe we are uniquely positioned to benefit from this effort over the coming years. And it's not just the U. S. Military which sees the potential benefits of Directed Energy Systems. In October of last year, Israel's Ministry of Defense announced that it would spend over $500,000,000 towards Iron Beam and Israeli ground based laser system for defense against aerial threats including rockets, mortars, drones and missiles with delivery of the initial unit of the weapons systems scheduled in this calendar year. Speaker 200:05:37Israel's announcement is another example of how direct energy is increasingly being viewed as a critical part of a layered defense strategy. We also continue to gain momentum in our laser sensing markets in 2024. Our laser sensing products include missile guidance, proximity detection, range finding and countermeasures and have been incorporated into several significant and long running defense programs, all of which remain key defense priorities under the current administration. During 2024, we announced a new $25,000,000 contract for an existing long running missile program. And we began shipping against this award in the third quarter of last year. Speaker 200:06:16We've also continued to make excellent progress in a handful of classified programs. In one of these, we shipped our first EMD or engineering and manufacturing development unit. The EMD phase is focused on building, testing and qualifying the solution to ensure it meets all operational requirements. Our customers' forecast suggests that the low rate initial production should start for this program in the latter half of twenty twenty five. Our growing pipeline of both directed energy programs and laser sensing opportunities gives us confidence that we can grow revenue in aerospace and defense by at least 25% in 2025. Speaker 200:06:53Turning to our commercial markets. 2024 was another challenging year for our commercial markets with revenue down 25% year over year as a growing number of our customers faced increasing competition from China and global manufacturing demand remained muted. And with these headwinds expected to continue in 2025, I wanted to spend a few minutes on the strategic importance of these legacy markets for the future success of m lite. First, let me start with our semiconductor fab. As many of you know, we design and manufacture our own gallium arsenide chips here in Vancouver, Washington. Speaker 200:07:24These chips or laser diodes are the foundational building blocks for nearly all the work we do in lasers. With over twenty five years of chip level innovation, decisions made at this level enable us to lead the world in demonstrated power for high energy lasers for directed energy and other defense applications. Second, it's the commercial application of these lasers that have enabled us to bring key learnings into our defense work, ensuring that our lasers are not only the highest performing, but also the most cost effective. Many of the competitors we see today in our defense markets are defense contractors, not laser manufacturers. We believe that it is the application of our technology at scale with thousands of high power laser systems shipped to customers that truly differentiates our high energy lasers for defense. Speaker 200:08:10We have a demonstrated track record of designing and manufacturing these systems, of delivering cost effective field maintenance programs to keep these lasers operational at optimal levels, and a history of commercial innovation, both in terms of performance and cost that we believe will be increasingly important to the success of these systems in the future. Lastly, we see opportunities for growth, particularly longer term in metal additive manufacturing. Increasingly, we are seeing growing interest from the aerospace and defense markets as they look to metal additive manufacturing to accelerate prototyping timelines and build resiliency into their supply chains with domestic capabilities for existing and future programs. In the emerging market for hypersonics, another key focus area for the Department of Defense, we see an expanding list of new companies and new programs leveraging metal additive manufacturing to design, prototype and manufacture next generation munitions and unmanned aerial vehicles. We believe that one of the most critical challenges facing the additive manufacturing industry is to reduce the overall build time and overall cost per part. Speaker 200:09:14To address this industry wide pain point, in light continues to introduce new products that increase the printing speed and flexibility of additive manufacturing tools. Our KORONA AFX dynamic beam shaping technology allows for high resolution printing for fine detail features, while also offering faster build rates utilizing stable ring mode power, making it the most versatile and efficient laser available for the additive manufacturing market. As these and other additive manufacturing opportunities mature over the next several years, we expect that our commercial lasers associated with this market will return to growth. In summary, 2024 was an important year for nLIGHT as revenue from aerospace and defense grew to more than 60% of our total sales by the end of the year and established itself as the primary growth driver for our business going forward. We completed the last leg of our manufacturing transition out of China and now are operationally set to support the growth expected in our defense business. Speaker 200:10:14As we look forward to 2025, I expect it to be a year of growth front line. While many of the headwinds in our commercial markets are expected to persist throughout the year, I'm optimistic about growth in aerospace and defense that it's well aligned with the key priorities for the Department of Defense. With good visibility, a large and growing backlog and a solid balance sheet, I expected the significant progress that we made last year to accelerate with revenue growth of 25% or more expected in aerospace and defense markets as many of the programs previously announced continued to ramp. Speaker 300:10:48I'd like to thank all Speaker 200:10:48of the nLIGHT employees for their hard work and execution over the past year. They continue to deliver great results for our customers and are the critical driver of building a successful and enduring high energy laser technology company. With that, I'll turn the call over to Joe to discuss our fourth quarter and full year financial results. Speaker 300:11:06Thank you, Scott. Turning to the fourth quarter and full year financial results. Total revenue in the fourth quarter was $47,400,000 a decrease of 9% compared to $51,900,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Product revenue for the fourth quarter was $31,700,000 compared to $37,900,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. The decrease in product revenue was partially offset by a 12% year over year increase in development revenue to $15,700,000 As noted in our January pre announcement, the shortfall in fourth quarter revenue relative to the midpoint of guidance was primarily due to a continued weakness in our industrial markets, execution challenges in microfabrication and the timing of delivery of a limited number of defense products. Speaker 300:11:54For the year, total revenue was 198,500,000 a decrease of 5% compared to $209,900,000 in 2023 due to declines in our microfabrication and industrial markets. These declines were partially offset by strong growth in our aerospace and defense markets. Revenue from the aerospace and defense market increased 20% year over year to a record $109,500,000 A and D products revenue increased by 25% year over year to $47,700,000 and A and D development revenue increased by 16% year over year to $61,900,000 Total gross margin in the fourth quarter was 2% compared to 19% in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Fourth quarter total gross margin was negatively impacted by non routine charges of approximately $6,000,000 related primarily to inventory reserves on products for the industrial market. Adjusting for these non routine charges, total gross margin for the fourth quarter would have been approximately 15%, which is still slightly below the bottom end of guidance due to lower than expected product sales and production volumes. Speaker 300:13:06Product gross margin in the fourth quarter was 1% compared to 22% in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Adjusting for non routine charges, product gross margin would have been approximately 20%. Development gross margin was 6% in the fourth quarter compared to 9% in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. For the year, total gross margin was 17% compared with 22% in 2023. Products gross margin was 21% in 2024 compared to 27% in 2023. Speaker 300:13:38The decrease in product gross margins in 2024 compared to 2023 was driven by the impact of lower sales and production volumes on fixed manufacturing costs due to the decrease in overall customer demand and inventory charges in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty four previously discussed, offset partially by positive changes in sales mix. Development gross margin was 7% in both years. Non GAAP operating expenses were $17,700,000 for the fourth quarter compared to $17,400,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. GAAP operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $27,600,000 and included restructuring charges of $4,300,000 primarily related to severance costs from our decision to shut down manufacturing operations in China. Full year 2024 non GAAP operating expenses were $71,200,000 compared to $67,200,000 in 2023. Speaker 300:14:37The year over year increase in non GAAP operating expenses were driven by increases in employee compensation costs, spending on research and development projects and approximately $2,300,000 of bad debt charges for customers in the industrial market. We continually review the appropriate level of operating expenses for our business and we believe our current level of OpEx is sufficient to support our long term growth objectives. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was a loss of $11,300,000 including the non routine charges discussed previously compared to $3,300,000 in the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. GAAP net loss for the fourth quarter was $25,000,000 or $0.51 per share compared to a net loss of $13,200,000 or $0.28 per share for the fourth quarter of twenty twenty three. Turning now to the balance sheet, we ended 2024 with total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash and investments of $100,900,000 and no debt compared to $113,100,000 at the end of twenty twenty three. Speaker 300:15:43Inventory decreased to $40,800,000 at the end of twenty twenty four compared to $52,100,000 at the end of twenty twenty three. Turning our guidance. Before discussing Q1 guidance, I'd like to reiterate that nLIGHT is planning for meaningful growth in our A and D markets in 2025. Supporting our growth expectations is approximately $399,000,000 of funded and unfunded backlog as of 12/31/2024. Funded backlog of $167,000,000 is 55% higher than it was at 12/31/2023. Speaker 300:16:21And we are working under contracts with over $230,000,000 of incremental aggregate value. Although execution challenges remain given the highly technical nature of our defense work, and while we can't control the specific timing of government programs, we are exceptionally well aligned with many of the DoD's highest priority programs that we expect to support growth in 2025 and beyond. With respect to the first quarter of twenty twenty five, based on the information available today, we expect revenue to be in the range of $45,000,000 to $51,000,000 The midpoint of $48,000,000 includes approximately $33,000,000 of product revenue and $15,000,000 of development revenue. Turning to gross margin. First quarter twenty twenty five products gross margin is expected to be in the range of 16% to 20% and development gross margin to be approximately 8%, resulting in a total gross margin range of 13 to 17%. Speaker 300:17:19As we've mentioned previously, as a vertically integrated manufacturing business, gross margin is largely dependent on production volumes and the absorption of fixed manufacturing costs. Finally, we expect adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of twenty twenty five to be in the range of approximately negative $6,000,000 to negative $3,000,000 And we continue to expect breakeven adjusted EBITDA with quarterly revenue in the $55,000,000 to $60,000,000 range. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions. Operator00:17:53Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin question and answer session. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press star followed by the two. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. We have your first question comes from Jim with Needham Company. Operator00:18:28Please go ahead. Speaker 400:18:31Hi, thanks. A couple of questions. First, just given the backlog, you obviously have a fairly strong line of sight on the A and D business. How should we think about the revenues over the course of the year? Yes, particularly in light of some of the challenges you experienced in Q4, which I'm assuming is behind you with respect to fulfilling some of the shipments with key customers? Speaker 500:19:07Yes. Hi, Jim. Thanks for the question. So I think in Scott's script, we talked about having confidence that our A and D markets should be up at least 25% over 2023. I think as we've talked about in the past, the quarterly trajectory of that sometimes is a little bit more difficult to predict. Speaker 500:19:32But I think it's a reasonable approach to think as we move through the year, revenue from the A and D markets will increase. As we talked about on our preannouncement, you know, there are timing challenges right around delivering, some of those products. But as we highlighted with the backlog, we don't have very much in terms of go get for 2025. So we feel really good about, the way that the year is starting to look. Speaker 400:20:04Got it. And I apologize, I joined the call a little bit late and you may have provided some update. But where do you stand with the handoff to the contract manufacturing partner in Thailand? I guess what I'm asking is, if the demand doesn't change in this area of the business, does having that behind you, what does that do for gross margins in that part of the business, I guess is what I'm asking? Speaker 500:20:36Yes. I think, Jim, frankly, there will be some improvement in gross margins. Obviously, as we are working through the execution and the improvement and the transition back to a more, full capacity that that that's got a little bit of an impact on our gross margins. So there will be some lift in gross margins due to that. But I think what will be the bigger driver for gross margins is really just ramping volumes, right? Speaker 500:21:06That has been, our story for quite some time with product revenues at these current levels. It's just it's difficult to have, you know, meaningful margin, margin expansion. But as we work through those issues, it will be, margins will improve for sure. Speaker 400:21:24Got it. I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you. Speaker 500:21:27Thank you. Operator00:21:35Your next question comes from Greg Palm with Craig Hallum Capital Group. Please go ahead. Speaker 600:21:42Yes, thanks. Can we start with just a little bit more in terms of the assumptions that's baked into the Q1 guide? So for instance, does it assume that kind of $4,000,000 shortfall from Q4 is fully recognized in Q1? Are there any other inventory reserves that need to be taken in Q1? Just a little bit more color on kind of how you're thinking about that specifically. Speaker 500:22:15Sure, Greg. So no, the guide in Q1 to the midpoint doesn't assume that we've had a lot of that Q4 revenue rolls over into Q1. It's more natural in terms of the revenue demand and growth that we'll see in the first quarter. I think trajectory wise, as we said earlier in the call, you know, we expect the defense business to grow and the commercial business to, decline in the first quarter sequentially. You know, in terms of gross margin, we don't we're not anticipating any, unusual or, you know, non recurring type cost of goods issues that we saw in the fourth quarter. Speaker 500:22:59So it's getting back to a more normalized operating environment from a gross margin perspective. Speaker 600:23:07Okay. So I think what I just heard was versus the $17,000,000 in commercial revenue for Q4, you're expecting that to actually decline sequentially in Q1? Speaker 500:23:20Yes. I don't think we're going to have I mean, we're not guiding specifically by market, but directionally, yes, we don't really see much growth, in the commercial side of the business. And so as we think about that sequential movement of revenue, we do see a little bit of softening, of the commercial revenue in the first quarter. Speaker 600:23:41Okay. I mean, that implies a pretty soft, you know, run rate. I mean, how should we think about I mean, knowing that you didn't guide for that for the year, but how should we think about the sort of the remainder of Speaker 300:23:57the year? Speaker 500:23:58Yeah. I think if in the commercial business as as we've talked about, we don't have the same level of visibility that we do in the defense business. So some of it is just, you know, trying to read the tea leaves and do our best to understand our, customer's forecast and the broader macro demand environment. As we think about the overall year, what we are, you know, planning for with some range of error bars is somewhere in the, you know, 15% to 20% down on a, calendar '24 versus a calendar 2023. Now, could it be better than that? Speaker 500:24:34Yeah, absolutely. Could it be a little worse than that? It could. But I think what you should take away from this comment is we don't expect the commercial business in 2024 to drive any level of outsized growth, right? I mean, we're managing it, as best as best we can, but but the growth in 2024 is really going to come from the A and D business. Speaker 600:24:56Yes. Okay. That makes sense. And then just last one on maybe Industrial specifically. I'm curious, if tariff implementation occurs at maybe a broader scale. Speaker 600:25:12I mean, is that enough to stem some of the negative Chinese competitive impacts that have maybe evolved here over the last few quarters? I'm just curious to get your thoughts around kind of overall pricing for that and maybe overall competition relative to where we were at this point last year? Speaker 700:25:32Yes, Craig, I mean, it's hard to predict where things are going to land with respect to tariffs, but certainly directionally, everything else being equal, that could be beneficial. It's not something that we are expecting and relying on. But yes, certainly directionally that could be beneficial. It just depends on the particulars of how they're implemented. Speaker 600:25:57Okay. All right. I will leave it there. Thanks. Speaker 400:26:01Thank you. Operator00:26:07Next question comes from Troy with Cantor Fitzgerald. Please go ahead. Speaker 800:26:13Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe a couple for you, Joe. Just first of all, the funded backlog, could you confirm it was $167,000,000 and I think that was up 55% year over year. But Yep. Speaker 500:26:27That's right. 167. Speaker 800:26:30All shippable and then is it all shippable Speaker 500:26:33in 2025? It's all shippable in 2025 and 2026. So that's funded backlog over the next Speaker 300:26:41two years. Operator00:26:43Alright. Perfect. Speaker 800:26:44Alright. And then I just wanna go through it again. You said there's these opportunities you're working on in the pipeline. There's $230,000,000 of total, you know, defense type opportunities that, Speaker 100:26:56are Speaker 800:26:56in the pipeline. Could you go over that one more time, please? Speaker 500:26:58Yeah. No. That's, that's that's correct. So what we've got is we are working on, contracts that in aggregate have about $399,000,000 of total value. Right? Speaker 500:27:10Now, $167,000,000 of that $399,000,000 is firm funded backlog that we expect to execute during calendar twenty five and calendar twenty six. The balance of of that $2.30, you know, that $232,000,000 that is really some, some funded backlog that will roll into 2027 as well as a big portion. The bigger portion though is, you know, the portions of those contracts that are not yet funded. We expect a big piece of that to be funded, but we want to be very clear around, you know, what is funded and what is not funded. But, you know, in either case, Speaker 600:27:49you know, Speaker 500:27:50we feel very good about what we're working against. Speaker 700:27:52And Troy, just to build on that, you know, you mentioned pipeline, what Joe is describing is funded and unfunded contracts. Pipeline goes beyond that. There are opportunities that go well beyond what we're talking about here. Speaker 800:28:07Right. I'd imagine. And the Trump initiative that you highlighted, that would be new in the pipeline too. Speaker 700:28:11Right? Exactly right. That's that's one example of many. Speaker 800:28:16Okay. Perfect. And then my last question, just one more for Joe. Just, you know, big restructuring charges quarter. Can you just talk OpEx? Speaker 800:28:24Absolutely. Do you think it's going to start to decline sequentially for a couple of quarters given the restructuring you've been doing? Or do we assume it's, you know, March OpEx is greater than December? Speaker 500:28:35Yeah. I think that the current OpEx levels are about where we expect to be, Troy. I think it's important to recognize, we don't believe that we need to meaningfully increase our operating expenses even over the next couple of years. Right now, there will be, you know, quarterly fluctuations as, you know, some quarters have more, you know, materials than other quarters. But, you know, when, when you think about the number of FTEs that are, in, in our plan in the, you know, first quarter, it note no real difference than, you know, where we are post restructuring. Speaker 500:29:17Right? So, I don't, I don't see the OpEx moving all that much, right? That, that, that Q1 twenty five, you know, implied number is reasonable. Speaker 800:29:24Okay. Awesome. All right, guys. Well, thank you and good luck this year. Speaker 500:29:30Thank you. Operator00:29:35Next question comes from Rodney McMull with Northcoast Research. Please go ahead. Speaker 900:29:42Hey guys, thanks for taking my question. I'm on today for Keith Housum. So I'm just curious how much longer do you guys think it'll take for you guys to get some of the kinks worked out as far as manufacturing amps for the A and D business? And just curious if you're seeing any further uptake in those products from your customers? Thanks. Speaker 700:30:05Good. Very good question. The amps part of the business is a very important part of the business. We have leading performance in the fiber amplifiers that go into the directed energy systems, both in The U. S. Speaker 700:30:20And with our allies. There are current products that are released to manufacturing that, those kinks you refer to, we're well into manufacturing with a more mature product there. The product that we are using for the megawatt program is a next generation product that is being transferred to manufacturing right now. And we're making progress there. We were just below what we had expected in the quarter there. Speaker 700:30:49But that is proceeding well and we do see opportunities to expand that business significantly. Speaker 900:30:59Got it. Got it. Thanks for that. And then I'm just kind of curious, I know you mentioned the executive order signed by President Trump recently to bring Iron Dome to U. S. Speaker 900:31:11I know it's very early in that process, but I'm just kind of curious if you have any ideas of like the scale of that project and maybe what it can mean for Ed Light. Just any sort of color there would be helpful and maybe like a timeline. Thanks. Speaker 700:31:28Yes. It's a fairly broad based, set of initiatives for defense, both kinetic and non kinetic applications. The funding numbers we've seen are very, very big. And there's a broad range of different approaches that are being considered. We're actively engaged with a number of them right now. Speaker 700:31:52The time frame, while there's some of the programs that go out further, there is an emphasis on the near term. And so, you know, there'll be more information in the coming months on that, but it is large. It is separate from, some of the cuts that are being discussed. It is a clear priority and key players in DoD right now are working through how to prioritize that and we're deeply engaged there. Speaker 900:32:23Got it. Got it. Thanks. I will hand it back to the queue. Thanks so much. Operator00:32:38Your next question comes from Mark Miller with Benchmark. Please go ahead. Speaker 1000:32:44So what we've heard today, it sounds like the current administration there's really been no change in your existing programs and you have this opportunity with the Iron Dome. Is that a good summary? Speaker 700:32:56Yeah, well put, Marill. I think certainly there's a lot of uncertainty around a whole host of factors and certainly we need to be thoughtful about that. But I think directionally in our business, our exposure is in areas where there's significant continuation and new efforts underway. Speaker 1000:33:19Okay. In terms of your existing backlog, I assume there's a high percentage of that's defense. Can you give us an estimate what percent of that's aerospace and defense related? And also, if you can comment on the margin profile in your backlog? Speaker 500:33:35Yes. The vast majority of it is A and D related, Mark. And I would tell you that generally, the backlog on the product side, carries very nice products gross margin. You know, some of that backlog obviously is in the development side of the business and that is, you know, pretty typical for us in that kind of mid to high single digits margin that, we've experienced over the last couple of years. Speaker 1000:34:06Okay. If you would get equipment orders for the Stryker program, when do you think that could come? Could that be second half of next year? Speaker 700:34:17Yes. I do think that the opportunities will be contingent upon the performance of our initial deliveries. But yeah, I think there are opportunities in the next two years for sure. Speaker 1000:34:34Thank you. Speaker 400:34:37Thank Operator00:34:40you. There are no further questions. Please continue. Speaker 1100:34:45So thanks everybody for joining us this afternoon and I did want to highlight that we will be participating in a couple of investor conferences over the next two weeks. We'll be at the forty sixth annual Raymond James Institutional Investor Conference on Tuesday, March 4 and we'll be participating at the Cantor Fitzgerald Global Technology Conference on Wednesday, March 12. So we look forward to catching up with a lot of you over the next couple of weeks. Thank you very much. Operator00:35:12Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.Read moreRemove AdsPowered by