Earnings Labs

Dolby Laboratories, Inc. (DLB)

Q4 2013 Earnings Call· Tue, Oct 29, 2013

$63.11

-0.83%

Key Takeaways · AI generated
AI summary not yet generated for this transcript. Generation in progress for older transcripts; check back soon, or browse the full transcript below.

Same-Day

-1.10%

1 Week

-3.14%

1 Month

-0.99%

vs S&P

-3.15%

Transcript

Operator

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by, and welcome to the Dolby Laboratories conference call discussing fiscal fourth quarter results. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded, Tuesday, October 29, 2013. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Elena Carr, Director of Corporate Finance and Investor Relations for Dolby Laboratories. Please go ahead, Elena.

Elena Carr

Analyst

Good afternoon. Welcome to Dolby Laboratories Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2013 Earnings Conference Call. Joining me today are Kevin Yeaman, Dolby Laboratories' President and CEO; and Lewis Chew, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer. On this conference call, we will be making forward-looking statements that include projections of future operating results for our fiscal year ending September 26, 2014, the market trends and developments for the industries in which we compete and our expectations and beliefs concerning on how these trends and developments will affect our operating results. Our statements will also incorporated -- incorporate projections on the capabilities and market acceptance of our products and technologies, expectations related -- relating to licensing arrangements and our strategic and operational plans and objectives. These statements are based on management's current expectations and assumptions that are subject to risks and uncertainties. Actual results may differ materially from these set forth in such statements. Important factors, such as general economic, PC, broadcast, consumer electronic, mobile or cinema market conditions could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements. These factors are addressed in the earnings press release that we issued today under the section captioned Risk Factors and elsewhere in our most recent quarterly Form 10-Q available on our website, www.dolby.com, under the Investor Relations section, as well as www.sec.gov. Dolby disclaims any obligations to update information contained in these forward-looking statements, whether or not as a result of new information, future events or otherwise. During this call, we will discuss GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation between the 2 is available in our earnings release and in the Dolby Laboratories Investor Relations Data Sheet on the Investor Relations section of our website. As for the content of this call, Lewis will begin with a recap of Dolby's financial results and provide our fiscal 2013 outlook, and Kevin will finish with a discussion of the business. So with that introduction behind us, I would now turn the call over to Lewis.

Lewis Chew

Analyst

Thanks, Elena, and good afternoon, everyone. During the call today, I will discuss the results of the fourth quarter just completed and recap the numbers for the full year. I will also provide an outlook for fiscal 2014. And later on, Kevin will talk more broadly about the company's priorities. So let's start by reviewing revenue activity. In the fourth quarter, total company revenue was $216.7 million. Within that, licensing revenue was $191 million, which was up $6.3 million sequentially from Q3 and nearly the same as the $192 million we had in Q4 of last fiscal year. There are a number of trends and factors worth highlighting, and it's probably easier to go through those points by end market, so here we go. Broadcast represented about 37% of total licensing in the fourth quarter. Revenues in this category increased about 1% sequentially and about 8% over the last year's fourth quarter. In the sequential trend, we had higher revenue from TVs as our attach rate improved modestly quarter-over-quarter. The year-over-year increase was driven by higher revenues from TVs and set-top boxes. This came from a combination of several factors, including higher amounts for back payments and higher attach rate for TVs, offset partially by flat to down TAMs. PC revenues represented about 21% of total licensing in Q4. They were relatively unchanged from last quarter, but they were down about 25% compared to last year's fourth quarter. PC unit volume in the market was down in Q4, but our year-over-year decrease was due more to the change in our revenue structure under the Windows 8 arrangement, which we had anticipated. Looking forward, we estimate another 2 quarters of headwinds similar to what we experienced in Q4. And after that, the gap between our PC trend and the market trend…

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Thank you, Lewis, and good afternoon, everyone. Thank you for joining the call today. What I'd like to today is address the key areas we have been focusing on to drive long-term revenue growth for the company. First, let's discuss mobile. We continue to make progress across the Android, Amazon and Microsoft ecosystems. We have established a strong position in high-end smartphones and tablets, and that is what drove our mobile revenue to grow by over 40% in 2013. Mobile now represents 12% of licensing revenue. The Android ecosystem is the largest in the market, and we have licensed our technologies to 7 out of the top 10 smartphone makers. Dolby technologies are included on about 22% of Android smartphones and tablets. Even as there continues to be room for us to broaden our presence at the high end, a lot of the growth in Android is now coming from low- to mid-tier smartphones. As more of these devices access online content, we have an opportunity to enhance the users' experience just as if we have done for the high-end smartphones. Therefore, in fiscal 2014, we will focus on expanding the adoption of our technologies across a broader range of mobile devices. In the tablet space, we have licensed our technology to 6 of the top 10 tablet makers. Most recently, we have been included in Amazon's HDX line of tablets and Microsoft's Surface 2. Part of our strategy is to increase the usage and number of streaming services that provide content in Dolby. Our technologies are deployed in Netflix, Amazon, iTunes, VUDU and CinemaNow, which represent 5 of the 7 most used over-the-top services in the U.S. This quarter, Target launched our technology in their Target Ticket service. In China, Dolby technologies are now included in 5 of the…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And first we'll go to Paul Coster with JPMorgan. Paul Coster - JP Morgan Chase & Co, Research Division: I think in this fourth quarter -- well, December quarter of last year, you paid a special dividends. Is that likely this year? And also, with the passing of the founder, does it change anything in terms of capital allocation, policies, strategy or, for that matter, are you anticipating any shares coming to market as a result of any sort of inheritance taxes or similar?

Lewis Chew

Analyst

Hey, Paul. This is Lewis. Let me address the dividend question, and I'll turn it to Kevin to talk about the more high-level question about strategy and capital allocation. Yes. As you mentioned, we did declare a fairly large dividend last December. Cash usage and resources continue to be a topic we look at very closely. I could not say to you right now what the future plans might be. But certainly, things like dividends and buybacks are always part of that conversation.

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Yes, to the second part of your question. Yes, losing Ray was difficult for all of us here at the company. At the same time, the spirit of Ray and his values are very much alive and well at the company. And the strategy remains the same, which is to continue to invest in innovation, to make a difference in the market and, in particular, to improve the way people experience and interact with their communications and entertainment content, every device with which they enjoy those experiences. In terms of capital structure and other things, it doesn't affect the company's plans and strategies. And I can't really comment on the plans of any shareholders.

Operator

Operator

And the next, we'll go to Steven Frankel with Dougherty & Company. Steven B. Frankel - Dougherty & Company LLC, Research Division: Kevin, I wonder if you might begin by giving us an idea of how many Atmos theaters do you have installed today? And what should we be thinking about in terms of an ASP as you move forward in that business on a per theater business?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

So today, we have 230 screens that are installed. And as I said earlier, we've had about 85 titles. And so we released it just over a year ago. We have a total of 300 committed, including those 230. So the remainder are those that are in installations. And we're looking to significantly increase that this year. We are not disclosing at this time the average price for those units. Steven B. Frankel - Dougherty & Company LLC, Research Division: Okay. And then on the broadcast business, would you care to share a goal for increased penetration in 2014?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Yes. So overall, we expect that -- this year, our attach rate went up about 4 points. And we're expecting, all else held equal, to be about the same. And as I've said in the past, there still is a significant opportunity in emerging markets like China and India. It's always difficult to predict when the real -- the heavy part of that transition kicks in. So until further notice, we're still predicting the steady progress that we saw over the last year. Steven B. Frankel - Dougherty & Company LLC, Research Division: And in China, where you were part of the option, you were an option rather than a mandate. Has that changed how you've rolled out there so far? Or were -- have you kind of ramped up in the way that you would've anticipated?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

It hasn't changed our strategy. Our strategy in each of these markets has always been to, in parallel, work with the pay-TV operators, the broadcasters, the entire broadcast ecosystem, right down to the TV manufacturers and set-top box manufacturers to get adoption of our formats. And yes, in China, we felt like it was a good position to be in to be included as an optional part of the standard because it gave us the leeway to go do what we do best, and that's establish our value with those who want to bring high-quality services with the rollout of digital television. Steven B. Frankel - Dougherty & Company LLC, Research Division: And then the last question. You talked about expanding your Android market share towards the lower-end devices. Will that mean a sacrifice in ASPs? Or do you think your ASPs can hold even after you go attack less expensive handsets?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

I think we have a couple of opportunities. I still think we have opportunities to increase our penetration in the high end of the market. But we do see low- and mid-tier as an opportunity where people care about quality. I think it's too early for me to comment about what the pricing implications might be in the low- to mid-tier, except to say that it's -- there's a lot of units there, and we still consider it to be a nice growth opportunity on top of the position we've built, which now amounts to 12% of our licensing revenue.

Operator

Operator

And next, we'll go to Andy Hargreaves with Pacific Crest Securities.

Andy Hargreaves - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

So just a couple of kind of category questions. On CE, it was the first growth quarter, I think, in quite a bit or flattish quarter on a year-over-year basis. Is there something that is changing in the trend line there? Or was there just something unusual in the quarter that drove that?

Lewis Chew

Analyst

Hey, Andy. This is Lewis. I would not say that there's anything changing in the trend line. What you see there is just there's going to be fluctuations quarter-on-quarter, and it's become a relatively smaller percent of our total company. So it's more sensitive to those. But no, there's nothing major we would say going on in CE that drives that.

Andy Hargreaves - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And then on the flip side, mobile was really quite strong after a few quarters of flattish kind of sequential numbers. Is -- are we seeing -- there's just typical seasonality in that business, or again, was there something unusual in the quarter that drove that?

Lewis Chew

Analyst

No, that's -- there -- we have a lot of different things that affect our mobile business. I would say that as a broad comment, yes, there is some element of seasonality, the timing of when we get our revenues. We have relationships with a lot of the different handset manufacturers. And as Kevin mentioned, right now, the large portion of our revenue comes from the higher end. So at the end of the day, there's a lot of different things that affect those transitions. But yes, we were happy with what mobile did this quarter.

Andy Hargreaves - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

And then lastly, just on Dolby Voice. Is there a material amount of revenue that you guys are expecting in fiscal '14? And I apologize, but can you just remind me what is the business model there? Are you guys charging the carrier, or are you charging end customers for using the service?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

So we are expecting to begin generating revenue this year. It's not big enough for us to break out, but we are expecting to generate revenue. Again, we're bringing this -- in terms of the solution, we're bringing this to market with BT. And what they've launched is we have integrated our solution into their service, which results in much more lifelike, natural conversations over audio conferencing. It solves a lot of the problems that frustrate so many of us when we participate in conference calls, including the fact that it's like having discussion over a walkie-talkie. You have to take turns talking. You can't naturally break in. It's hard to pick up on natural audio cues, so that someone's not over-answering a question and going on when you have an important clarification to make. It spatializes the conversation, all of which allows for you to have a much more intelligent interaction and concentrate on what you should be concentrating on. The business model is that we get paid as the scales implementation increases. There's a purport fee. And we also share in the minutes revenue that takes advantage of Dolby Voice.

Andy Hargreaves - Pacific Crest Securities, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Got it. Okay. And sorry one last one, just on the increase in OpEx that you guys are looking for. Is that primarily sales and marketing to support development in these new categories?

Lewis Chew

Analyst

Hey, Andy. There's a -- well, there's probably increases going on in both R&D and sales and marketing. But from a trend line standpoint, you may remember, it was all the way even at Q1 of this year when I say we would try to level out in the $120 million to $125 million range, which we did do for the year. And what you see here is just a little bit of that momentum carrying into next year in terms of people we've hired and normal salary inflation as we go through a year of focal adjustments and stuff like that.

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] Moving on to Jim Goss with Barrington Research.

James C. Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Kevin, I believe you began your discussion talking about the advancements in mobile and enhancement of user experience for Android phones and tablets. I was wondering if you could discuss a little of the nature of the enhancement in terms of how their product is used. Is it more as a media brick or headphones? How are they able to take advantage of the Dolby Digital Plus enhancement? Or how do you see the experience generally being used?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Sure. So first of all, I would start by saying that, that can vary by smartphone maker and how they choose to take advantage of our suite of technologies. But the full suite of our technologies includes the ability to receive the multichannel audio. It comes along with the work we do from the start of the chain and working with all the service providers I talked about to make sure that you're getting the highest-quality audio stream to start with to that device, getting advantage of the multichannel mix and that includes our post-processing technologies, which apply whether you're listening to the speakers on the device or over headphones. It -- we work to -- it comes together to optimize that experience. And the result is a difference in the audio experience and the consistency of quality in the audio experience that when we demonstrate that full suite of technologies, nobody fails to immediately notice that it's a much better experience.

James C. Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And as you -- and obviously, Android, Amazon and Microsoft, you mentioned all of those. As you get into a playground that sort of the majority of the technology users in that area, does it -- do you think it puts some pressure on Apple to potentially try in a higher level than they have generally tended to do? Or is that just something that's going to be a sort of fruitless search?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Well, I think that we've shown that we have a value proposition in the space. We've gone from not having any attach rate of Dolby Digital Plus in the post-processing technologies 3 years ago to a significant presence today and growing to 12% of our revenue, which is a long way of saying, I think we've shown that we have a value proposition here. And we view it as incumbent upon us to go and demonstrate that value proposition to Apple, and we're going to keep endeavoring to do that.

James C. Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And Steve brought up Atmos. And I saw one of the installations the other day at the -- and there was a theater that was being built, and there was a pretty impressive bank of equipment, I think, that all related to Atmos. Is the economic model that you are selling all of that equipment and technology as a direct sale to them? Or is it -- is the economic model going to involve some share of the continuing value that you're being -- you're generating?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Yes, the installations we have today are all our traditional cinema model. We're selling the processing equipment into the exhibitor.

James C. Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

And how long before the revenue base you generate will become meaningful? Is there a pretty quick ramp-up you are foreseeing, given how aggressive you describe you're becoming?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Well, I think our focus right now is on significantly growing the number of screens this year. I think we would like to at least double the presence. And we think with the momentum we have and the creative community, the titles coming out, the increasing number of locations that consumers can begin to appreciate the benefit of the experience, we think that, that -- those are all the ingredients to go out and increase the presence.

James C. Goss - Barrington Research Associates, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

Okay. And lastly, in the broadcast area. In a post set-top and over-the-top environment, does your role change? Or does the method of securing revenues change? How do you fit in something where you don't have the same sort of devices that will need your decoding?

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Well, we just continue to serve the entire industry of those that are creating content, delivering content and delivering devices of playback content. And so, in your example, we continue to work with pay-TV operators and broadcasters around the world. But at the same time, we're working with all the -- with major OTT providers, as I've said in the script, we're -- we are working with 5 of the 7 most used over-the-top services in North America. We're working with 5 of the top 7 over-the-top services in China. And so our goal is to make sure that we're providing value in every way in which this type of content is delivered and played back, and in that -- and so we're evolving with the industry.

Operator

Operator

And we have no further questions. So I'll turn the call back over to our speakers for any additional or closing remarks.

Kevin J. Yeaman

Analyst

Well, thank you for joining us today, and we look forward to keeping you updated as we go through the year. Thank you.

Operator

Operator

[indiscernible] concludes today's conference. We do thank you, all, for your participation.