Universal Electronics Q2 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

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Provided by Quartr
August 7, 2025

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: UEI achieved a net cash position of $4.1 million for the first time since December 2021, generating $17.7 million in operating cash flow and improving gross margins to 29.9%.
  • Positive Sentiment: Connected Home revenue grew 46% in Q2, with three new HVAC design projects kicked off for 2026–27 and a smart home security product set to launch later this year.
  • Negative Sentiment: Home Entertainment sales declined 5% to $63.6 million in Q2, and management expects this segment to continue contracting into 2026 amid intense price competition in EMEA and Latin America.
  • Neutral Sentiment: UEI anticipates total revenue will be down sequentially in Q3 and Q4 due to order variability in Connected Home and ongoing Home Entertainment pressures, though cost structure optimizations are expected to preserve profitability.
  • Neutral Sentiment: The company will close its Mexico manufacturing facility by year‐end to optimize its footprint, mitigate tariff risks, and reallocate resources toward higher-value Connected Home opportunities.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Universal Electronics Q2 2025
00:00 / 00:00

There are 5 speakers on the call.

Operator

Good day, and thank you for standing by. Welcome to the Universal Electronics Second Quarter twenty twenty five Financial Results Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. After the speakers' presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press 11 on your telephone.

Operator

You will then hear an automated message advising your hand is raised. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. I would now like to hand the conference over to your first speaker today, Kirsten Chapman, Alliance Advisors Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Angelina, and thank you all for joining us for the Universal Electronics second quarter twenty twenty five financial results conference call. By now, you should have received a copy of the press release. If you have not, please contact Alliance Advisors at (415) 433-3777 or visit the Investor Relations section of the website. This call is being broadcast live over the Internet. A webcast replay of this call, including any additional updated material nonpublic information that may be discussed during this call, will be available on the company's website at uei.com for one year.

Speaker 1

During this call, management may make forward looking statements regarding future events and the future financial performance of companies and cautions you that these statements are just projections, and actual results or events may differ materially from those projections. These statements include the company's goals, focus, strategies, and opportunities market trends, including the connected home and home entertainment channels expectations with respect to customer orders and customer demand, including short term and long term demand plans with respect to closing our Mexico facility, including expected benefits and timing financial projections and forecasts, including the revenue and gross profit, our ability to respond to business and regulatory changes such as tariffs, and expectations with respect to ongoing litigation. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or update these statements to reflect events or circumstances that may arise after today's date and refers you to the press release mentioned at the onset of this call and the documents the company has filed with the SEC, including its 2024 annual report on Form 10 k and the periodic and current reports filed or furnished since then. In management's financial remarks, adjusted non GAAP metrics will be referenced. Management provides adjusted non GAAP metrics because it uses them for budget planning purposes and for making operational and financial decisions and believes that providing these non GAAP financial measures to investors as a supplement to GAAP financial measures helps investors evaluate UEI's core operating and financial performance and business trends consistent with how management evaluates such performance and trends.

Speaker 1

In addition, management believes these measures facilitate comparisons with the core operating and financial results and business trends of competitors and other companies. A full description and reconciliation of these adjusted non GAAP measures versus GAAP are included in the company's press release issued today. Joining me today are Chief Operating Officer and Interim Chief Executive Officer, Rick Karnafax and Chief Financial Officer, Brian Hackworth. Rick will provide an overview of our business, and Brian will deliver the detailed financial results and conclusion. It's my pleasure to introduce Rick Karnafax.

Speaker 1

Please go ahead, Rick.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Kirsten, and thank you all for joining us. I'm excited to be here leading UEI's transition to capture more of the home with our industry leading patented wireless control technology. I joined UEI five years ago in manufacturing and operations and helped drive our footprint optimization, resulting in strong margin recovery and a return to healthy cash generation. Our foundation to bring innovation and value to our customers is fortified by our strong balance sheet. As Brian will review, we are on the right track relative to debt.

Speaker 2

Notably, we have achieved a net cash position for the first time since December 2021. In Q2, we delivered 46% revenue growth in Connected Home, helping to drive overall business gross margins to 29.9% and EPS of zero one eight dollars Year to date operating cash flow was also very strong at almost $18,000,000 We remain focused on allocating investment to profitable growth areas, particularly in Connected Home, where we see attractive long term opportunities. During Q2 twenty twenty five, we continued to scale revenue at core Connected Home accounts and collaborate with them on their next product solutions, including kicking off three new design projects with one of our major HVAC OEM accounts for release in 2026 and 2027. Also, during the quarter, we shipped a new smart home security product to be launched later this year by a new customer in the consumer DIY security and home automation space. In parallel, we are nearing completion on our standard climate control solutions, which will be delivered to customers in OEM, energy, and multi dwelling unit channels later this year.

Speaker 2

Our customer traction gives us confidence in our long term vision for growth in connected home, but as we stated previously, customer orders in this channel can be inconsistent as the product makes its way through the distributors, dealers, and HVAC contractors, and ultimately, into consumer homes. Over time, we expect this to stabilize as we grow the number of customers and products in this channel. For the time being, this variability in order demand can and does influence quarterly revenue forecasts, which we expect will be evident in the latter half of twenty twenty five. In addition to the connected home trends we are seeing, we expect home entertainment to continue to be uncertain over the next twelve to twenty four months. While we continue to develop and ship new products in North America with major telecom and pay TV operators, revenues for these new products are being offset by the impact of our value remote business in EMEA and Latin America.

Speaker 2

We expect these trends to continue in our home entertainment business overall to continue to decline into 2026 and beyond. Overall, our revenues in the 2025 were strong. However, we expect total revenue to decline in the third and fourth quarters compared to the same periods last year, reflecting the inconsistency in Connected Home and continued pressure in home entertainment. That said, for full year 2026, we expect new and existing Connected Home product projections to support growth in the channel. To support both strong financial performance and funding of investments in the more attractive long term potential of Connected Home, we will continue to refine our operating model and ensure the business is sized appropriately for the opportunities we see ahead.

Speaker 2

For example, having achieved strong productivity at our facility in Vietnam, with the current trends in home entertainment resulting in lower volume in our facility in Mexico, we have decided to optimize our footprint further. We will close our facility in Mexico and expect to complete the process by the end of this year. It is critical to customer continuity and stable financial performance that we have the flexibility to respond to business and regulatory changes, such as tariffs, that can quickly shift volumes and impact factories. We have proven to be adept at navigating similar challenges in the past, and we are confident in our ability to continue this in the future as we have built this into our supply chain through both internal capacity and external partners. We are also reviewing contribution margins and will act to reallocate resources to areas that better drive value, such as adjacent product categories in connected home and potentially complementary products and services in home entertainment.

Speaker 2

Finally, protecting our IP remains critical to UEI. I want to provide a recent update regarding the pending litigation against Roku, which was stated in the district court. The court has ruled in our favor to consolidate our actions and move forward with the case. We will know more after our scheduling conference with the judge in late September twenty twenty five. The judges posed many questions to both sides, which will be answered at the hearing, but this latest ruling is a very positive sign that UEI will finally be able to move forward and present our case in court.

Speaker 2

Now I'll turn it over to Brian to provide an update on our financials.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Rick. Just as a reminder, beginning in the first quarter, we began breaking out sales between two channels, connected home and home entertainment. The connected home channel represents climate control, smart home, and security products sold primarily to HVAC, security, home automation, and home appliance customers. The home entertainment channel represents entertainment related product sales sold primarily to video service providers, consumer OEMs and retailers. It also includes sales associated with IP licensing and our cloud software solutions.

Speaker 3

For the 2025, net sales grew 8% to $97,700,000 compared to $90,500,000 for the 2024. Sales in our connected home channel continue to exhibit strong growth as sales increased by $10,800,000 or 46% to $34,100,000 for the quarter ending 06/30/2025. This growth reflects new orders for products launched earlier this year, primarily in climate control, SKU expansion with existing customers and an innovative security product recently launched with a new customer. Home entertainment decreased by 3,600,000.0 or 5% to 63,600,000.0 for the quarter ending 06/30/2025, reflecting lower demand for subscription broadcasting products in Latin America. The majority of our sales in Latin America are basic remote controls with limited to no advanced features.

Speaker 3

As a result, we compete on price with low cost providers in this region. Gross profit for the 2025 was 29,200,000.0 or 29.9% of sales, up from 28.3% in the 2025 and twenty eight point seven percent in the 2024. We continue to improve operationally at our Vietnam factory with production metrics now on par with those at our more experienced factory in China. Favorable currency rate fluctuations in Asia and EMEA also contributed to our gross margin rate improvement. We expect continued strength in our gross margin rate for the remainder of the year.

Speaker 3

Operating expenses decreased $26,300,000 from $27,100,000 in the 2024, reflecting actions taken to reduce expenses. SG and A expenses decreased to $19,500,000 from $19,700,000 in the prior year quarter. R and D expenses decreased to $6,800,000 for the 2025, compared to 7,400,000.0 in the prior year quarter. Operating income was 2,900,000.0 compared to an operating loss of 1,100,000.0 in the 2024. Net income for the 2025 was $2,400,000 or $0.18 per diluted share, compared to a net loss of $1,200,000 or $09 per diluted share or per share in the 2024.

Speaker 3

Next, I'll review our cash flow and balance sheet. We have made significant progress over the past several quarters in improving our cost structure and working capital. In the 2025, we generated 17,700,000.0 in cash flow from operations. And the first time since December 2021, we are in a net cash position of 4,100,000.0 with cash of 34,300,000.0 and debt of only 30,200,000.0. Now turning to our guidance, for the 2025 we expect sales to range from $92,000,000 to $102,000,000 compared to $102,100,000 in the 2024.

Speaker 3

We expect connected home sales to range from 30,000,000 to $34,000,000 compared to $26,400,000 in the 2024, representing growth between 1429%. In Home Entertainment, we expect sales to range from $62,000,000 to $68,000,000 compared to $75,700,000 in the 2024, representing a 10 to 18% decline. We expect EPS to range from $08 to $0.18 per diluted share compared to $0.10 per diluted share in the 2024. Before I turn the call back to Rick for closing remarks, I would like to point out a few things. For the six months for the first six months of the year, connected home sales in terms of dollars have exceeded the sales decline in home entertainment.

Speaker 3

Connected home grew 39% compared to a decline of 8% in home entertainment versus the same period in the prior year. Our guidance for the third quarter suggests the same will be true for the nine months ending in September. This is important because to achieve sustainable top line growth, sales in the connected home channel must continue to outpace the persistent headwinds in home entertainment. As Rick mentioned earlier, we expect ordering patterns from customers related to new launches in the connected home channel to be inconsistent and at times unpredictable. The fourth quarter is expected to exhibit this type of market dynamic.

Speaker 3

While the connected home grew in the first three quarters, as we stand today, we expect fourth quarter connected home and home entertainment sales to be down sequentially. That said, because we have taken measures to right size our cost structure, we're able to maintain profitability in the fourth quarter. There's only one way to alleviate this problem and that is to continue to launch products already secured and to win new projects with existing and new customers. Now I'll turn the call back to Rick.

Speaker 2

Thanks, Brian. In summary, we are focused on nurturing the long term growth potential we see in Connected Home, while continuously evaluating and improving our operating model. Our goal is to materially improve profitability and continue to strengthen the balance sheet, creating value for customers and generating a positive return for our stockholders. We are actively engaged in driving initiatives in support of this goal with the support of our Board and Operational Review Committee, and we look forward to reporting progress in future quarters. Operator, we can now open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. At this time, we will conduct a question and answer session. As a reminder, to ask a question, you will need to press 11 on your telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, please press star, 11 again. Our first question comes from Steven Frankel of Rosenblatt Securities.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good afternoon and thank you. You made some comments about weakness in Latin America in the subscription broadcast business. What can you tell us about your North American business, especially as it pertains to looking towards Q3 and maybe into Q4?

Speaker 2

Yes. So as we look at North America, we see the trends continuing in line with what we've seen so far. I think the problem is they're being offset by what we covered in the call relative to Latin America and Europe.

Speaker 4

Remind me what are you So you're still seeing stabilization? That was, I believe, your comments in the prior quarter?

Speaker 2

Yes, so relative to major customers, we are seeing that stabilization. I'll see I would say that relative to previous year, there was a unique product launch that drove growth, but we're not seeing any tremendous declines beyond like we're seeing in Latin America and Europe.

Speaker 4

Okay. And, what was the customer concentration in the quarter?

Speaker 3

There were two ten percent customers. Daikin is at 18.7%, and Comcast is at 12.2%.

Speaker 4

Okay. And then just to help us understand this dynamic with the Q4 declines. Could you tell us what Connected Home and Home Entertainment did last year in Q4?

Speaker 3

Last year, it was 26 connected home was 26,400,000.0 in the third quarter twenty twenty four, and home entertainment was, 75,700,000.0 in the third quarter twenty twenty four.

Speaker 4

Yeah. Was asking about, Q4.

Speaker 3

Oh, I'm not providing for Q4. We're not providing specific guidance. All we're saying, we're just giving general guidance from a top level saying that, you know, right now, as we currently stand in the fourth quarter, I expect the sales in total to be down sequentially, actually for both of them as well, both connected home and home entertainment down sequentially versus Q3. But it's still early, Steve, and we got a ways to go. As you know, in the past, we've always provided guidance one quarter out and Again,

Speaker 4

I'm not asking for guidance. I'm asking for historically in q four of last year, what connected home and home entertainment did just to understand that.

Speaker 3

Yeah. Don't I don't what that business. So we're still breaking that out because what we're doing on a on a on a quarterly basis, Steve, is because we're we're now breaking this out. We don't have our systems in place, so we're having to do some things manually. So right now, we're going quarter to quarter.

Speaker 3

So from a a a specific breakout between connected home and and home entertainment, I don't have that number yet. That's why in total, I feel comfortable telling you it's gonna we expect it currently to be down sequentially, for both, but I I can't give you an exact number.

Speaker 4

Okay. Let me switch gears. Wouldn't be the current environment if we didn't talk a little bit about tariffs? It wasn't in your script. So maybe give us some insight on how tariffs impact the two different business units, especially with the decision to pull out of Mexico, which may or may not have helped you, depending on the tweet.

Speaker 2

Yeah, I mean, obviously the last few months have been as eventful as the whole earlier in the year then. I I think from our perspective, we continue to monitor the situation, because even as we see these deals come into place, particularly the 20% on Vietnam, we continue to see amendment of deals or different discussions of those other deals with other countries evolve. From our perspective, within our supply chain, you know, through the balance we alluded to in our internal factories as well as external partners, we're we're confident we can can manage through that and are working closely with customers and suppliers on managing that. And it's reflected in our margin guidance for the rest of the year.

Speaker 4

All right. So you don't think you're going to have a problem where you're going to have to eat material tariff costs at this point?

Speaker 2

Not at this point.

Speaker 4

Okay, I'll jump back in the queue.

Operator

Thank you. This concludes the question and answer session. I will now turn it back to Rick Cardiffax.

Speaker 2

Yes. Thank you for your continued support of Universal Electronics, and have a great day.

Operator

Thank you for your participation in today's conference. This does conclude the program. You may now

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