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MicroVision, Inc. (MVIS)

Q4 2012 Earnings Call· Wed, Feb 27, 2013

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Welcome to the 2012 MicroVision Inc. Financial Results Call. My name is John, and I'll be your operator for today's call. [Operator Instructions] Please note that this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the call over to Mr. Jeff Wilson, Chief Financial Officer. Mr. Wilson, you may begin.

Jeff T. Wilson

Analyst

Thank you. I'd like to welcome everyone to MicroVision's 2012 Financial and Operating Results Conference Call. In addition to myself, participants on today's call include Alexander Tokman, President and Chief Executive Officer. The information in today’s conference call may include forward-looking statements, including statements regarding projections of future operations and financial results, product development, applications and benefits, availability and supply of product and key components, business partnering expectations, market opportunities and growth in demand, ability to manage cash used in operations, as well as statements containing words like believes, estimate, expects, anticipates, target, plan, will, could, would and other similar expressions. These statements are not guarantees of future performance. Actual results could differ materially from the future results implied or expressed in the forward-looking statements. Additional information concerning factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements are included in our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K filed with the Securities Exchange Commission, under the heading Risk Factors relating to the company’s business and our other reports filed with the Commission from time to time. Except as expressly required by the federal securities laws, we undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, changes in circumstances or any other any reason. The agenda for today's call will be as follows: Alex will first give a 2012 business update. I will then report the financial results. Alex will then discuss key business objectives for 2013. There'll be a question-and-answer session, and then Alex will conclude the call with some final remarks. I would now like to turn the call over to Alexander Tokman. Alex?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Thank you, Jeff. Good morning. I will highlight, as Jeff mentioned, key business milestones we accomplished in 2012 and will come back after Jeff is done with financials to discuss key goals for 2013, as well as what we see as external enablers in the market that should facilitate adoption of our technologies by OEM. Overall in 2012, we accomplished or made significant progress on all of the business goals that we articulated at the beginning of 2012. We believe the foundation established in 2012 should significantly strengthen our fundamentals and provide a strong platform for future growth. Ultimately, as a result of this strategy, tactics and execution in 2012, we were able to improve on each key financial metric in 2012 versus 2011. Revenue grew 49%, cash used in operations was reduced by 26% and net operating loss was reduced by 37%. Jeff will have more shortly in the financial summary section. The availability of high-definition PicoP Gen2 display technology design around emerging direct green laser technology was absolutely instrumental in achieving the improved financial performance in 2012. Advancing our technology platform also was fundamental contributor to make a solid progress in the design win process with OEMs in 2012, as well as achieving our other critical goals which included: first transition into Image by PicoP ingredient brand licensing model; secondly, commercializing our high-definition PicoP Gen2 display technology as a part of Pioneer's Cyber Navi head-up display product launch in July; and finally, significantly reducing cash used in operations, particularly in the second half of the year. Let's take a look at each, starting with the availability of Gen2 technology. The year began on a positive note after we unveiled high-definition PicoP Gen2 display technology using direct green lasers at the 2012 Consumer Electronic Show. It was a culmination…

Jeff T. Wilson

Analyst

Thank you, Alex. This morning, I'd like to cover 3 areas: our revenue, operating results, and finally, our cash position as of the end of the year. First, I'd like to start by highlighting a couple of key points for our financial results. As Alex mentioned, our revenue for 2012 was $8.4 million, a 49% increase from last year. In addition, we continued to aggressively manage our cash and reduced our cash used in operations by 26% from last year. Let's move to revenue. For the fourth quarter, revenue grew by 81% to $2.7 million compared to $1.5 million for the same period last year. As I stated earlier, revenue for the full year was $8.4 million compared to $5.6 million last year. Our revenue growth was driven primarily by component shipments to Pioneer for use their Cyber Navi HUD products. Our backlog at the end of the year was $1.8 million, and we have an additional $600,000 in deferred revenue, all of which we expect to recognize as revenue in the first half of 2013. Most of the backlog is comprised of component orders for Pioneer. Next, for our operating results. Our operating loss decreased by 59% for the fourth quarter to $4.1 million compared to $9.9 million for the fourth quarter last year. Our operating loss for the full year declined by 37% to $22.9 million compared to $36 million last year. The decrease in our operating loss was primarily driven by higher margins on product revenue and aggressive management of our operating cost. During the fourth quarter, we reduced our net loss to $4.1 million or $0.16 per share compared to $9.8 million or $0.62 per share for the same quarter a year ago. And for the full year, our net loss was $22.7 million or $1.05 per share compared to $35.8 million or $2.57 per share for 2011. Finally, moving to our cash position. As we've discussed on prior calls, we continued to reduce our operating costs and cash used in operations. And for the fourth quarter, we reduced our cash used in operations to $3.7 million, a 40% reduction from the fourth quarter of last year. For the full year, our cash used in operations declined to $20.6 million compared to $27.9 million last year. This reflects a 26% decrease from 2011. As of the end of 2012, our cash balance was $6.8 million. We expect our cash balance will satisfy our operational cash requirements through at least June of this year. With that, I'd like to turn the call back to Alex to discuss our 2013 business objectives.

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Thanks, Jeff. Moving on to 2013. Our key objectives for the year include the following: first, to secure design wins and enter into licensing agreements with OEMs; secondly, to strengthen the supply chain for key components of PicoP display technology to offer multiple sources of components to OEMs as they prepare for their product development and launches; and finally, further reduce and aggressively manage cash used in operations. In 2012, we made significant progress on further increasing the value proposition of the high-definition PicoP display technology through performance enhancements and strong roadmap. Both of these factors make our technology very attractive to future consumer electronics and automotive licensing customers as they further distinguish us from competitors' offerings. The significant performance enhancements included boosting the brightness while decreasing the power consumption and reducing the size of the engine, all of which are critical for mobility applications. Today, PicoP display solutions, as many of you know, is the only HD-capable, focus-free pico projection technology that can achieve the largest screen size for pico projectors in the market. It can be delivered in a package that is about 1 inch wide and 0.25 inch thick. The best part of our technology is that the size does not increase as we increase brightness. At the recent 2013 Consumer Electronics Show, MicroVision hosted numerous confidential meetings with OEMs, audience and component suppliers. During these meetings, we showcased different product concepts, including a 35 lumen PicoP display engine embedded inside an off-the-shelf branded tablet, showcasing to all the type of product PicoP display technology can enable for them. The feedback was wow. People were simply amazed to see such a bright, high-definition image from an engine this small and battery-powered. We're currently in the detailed negotiation stages with several of these customers with the goal of…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And our first question comes from Mike Latimore from Northland Capital.

Ryan Macdonald

Analyst

This is Ryan MacDonald down for Mike Latimore. What percent of the Pioneer backlog has now been fulfilled?

Jeff T. Wilson

Analyst

This is Jeff. It's approximately -- just a second. We cut, paste the number here. It's approximately 2/3 of [indiscernible].

Ryan Macdonald

Analyst

Okay, okay. And then are there any -- I mean, of the current companies that you're in, like, negotiations with that you've ranked, I mean, how many of those do you think could lead to a structure of an up-front-royalty-payment-type structure?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Our goal is to have -- this is one of the motivations and one of the selection criteria for us, as I mentioned, Ryan, and we expect that some of these companies will have up-front components and we're counting on them as a revenue for 2013. In terms of your backlog question, I think we had about a total approximately 6 million order backlog from Pioneer. Our total order from Pioneer, I think, will -- we fulfilled about 4 million of those.

Ryan Macdonald

Analyst

Okay. 4 million of the 6 million. Okay, got you. And then Japan's fiscal year is in April. How are you positioned for products in -- or projects in Japan?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Great question. A lot of our discussions are with -- some of them are with Japanese entities and some negotiations are aligned with their fiscal operating year and some of the decisions are being made are in line with their transition to the new year in April 1.

Ryan Macdonald

Analyst

Got you. And then just a final question, what was stock comp during the quarter, if any?

Jeff T. Wilson

Analyst

Stock comp, I can get you that number. It is 5 -- for the quarter, it was $500,000 approximately. For the year, $2.2 million.

Ryan Macdonald

Analyst

For the year, $2.2 million.

Operator

Operator

Our next question comes from Joel Achramowicz from Merriman Capital.

Joel W. Achramowicz - Merriman Capital, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

I'm trying to get a handle, Alec (sic) [Alex], on the -- your -- can you give us an indication of the 50 -- that the vendors that you sampled last year. How many are in the second or third stage of the model you articulated?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Well, it's a good question, Joel. Remember, 3 key phases to get to a final product revenue: you got evaluation, technology evaluation phase, which was completed last year; the negotiation phase began in the latter portion of 2012. And our goal is to get couple of contracts signed this year that will begin the product development commercialization cycle. And as I mentioned to you, majority of the 50 people that completed evaluation studies have indicated interest to go-to-market with us. But we have to make a very, very stringent look and prioritize in top 5, second top 5, third top 5, because we want to focus on vital few that give us highest probability of success and not defocus on too many different opportunities and not being successful. So the goal, focus on a vital few that were selected by the 5 attribute that I just described: so blue-chip or not; business, how strong is the business case; third, how motivated they are to close the gaps; is there up-front component in terms of license or NRE. And that's what we're focusing on right now. Our goal is basically to -- essentially to complete some of these agreements this year, and start getting revenue hopefully from up from license and NRE in 2013 and product revenue in 2014.

Joel W. Achramowicz - Merriman Capital, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

So you must have a focused team or your multiple teams that are constantly triaging these opportunities and allocating resources efficiently in order to optimize the progress.

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Absolutely. You have to have laser focus on this, no pun intended. And once we grow, once we become larger, we'll be able to handle more cases simultaneously. Right now, we're focusing on the vital few, get something accomplished and then, build on this with others. Because the others are not going away. They simply understand that we're focusing on other opportunities.

Joel W. Achramowicz - Merriman Capital, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

And one of the questions, Alex. How do you feel that your progress -- it's been a year since the 2012 show and went CES and of course you attended the 2013 show. And I mean, can you describe the progress that you feel you've made over this last year? I mean, is it are you in a better or more aggressive position now than you were 12 months ago?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

No question, Joel. No question. In 2012 CES, remember, we first introduced the first samples of the Gen2 technology. It was 15 lumen. We were showing the path to higher than 15 lumens but fundamentally we have something. It was better than Gen1 technology. It was built around green lasers. We have some product concepts. This year we introduced -- we basically did create our own demonstration devices to show product concepts and we implemented 35 lumen engines that were low-power, brighter, into the off-the-shelf commercial result product to show -- hey, look. It's very simple stretch between taking this and putting in something that you would sell. And the fact that we increased the brightness by more than 2x without increasing the power and without increasing the size created the extreme, very positive buzz in the -- in all the meetings that we held during the CES. And people also observed that we launched our technology inside a commercially viable product, which was Pioneer launch in the middle of last year. So they now not only see a great technology, they see complimentary supply chain with direct green lasers, they see we already launched something inside automotive, which is typically requires much more stringent requirements than consumer products. All these factors added together increased the confidence of the partners who approaching us for their product solutions.

Joel W. Achramowicz - Merriman Capital, Inc., Research Division

Analyst

And one final question. I mean, it's the end of February now. Would you be disappointed if you did not have some kind of an announcement by June?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Yes.

Operator

Operator

The question from Andrew Uerkwitz from Oppenheimer. Andrew Uerkwitz - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: The first one is, Alex, is has the competitive landscape gotten tougher, whether it's pico projectors or alternative technologies? And can you kind of give us an update on that landscape?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Sorry, could you repeat this. I did not hear the first portion of your question. Andrew Uerkwitz - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Yes. Could you -- sorry, could you kind of discuss how the competitive landscapes changed over the past 6 to 9 months, and has it gotten tougher, easier? And how does it look to you guys?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Okay, great. We carefully monitoring what's happened with competition, obviously. TI just introduced at CES a new chips [indiscernible] with 30% brighter. The problem is, they didn't say what was the initial condition, 30% brighter than what? We know today that our technology allows to manage brightness with power and size much more effectively than panel technologies which include DLP and LCOS. So fundamentally there's been a progress in competitive fronts. For example, we launched, if I can give you a little historical information, we launched our first product, Gen1 product based on synthetic green lasers since -- end of 2009, early 2010. We launched it with the WVGA resolution where everybody else came into market with half VGA, so resolution, far inferior, and brightness was far inferior. Now people at CES showing WVGA technology for pico projectors. We're moved on to HD. People are just showing 20 lumen projectors with the WVGA. We're showing 35 lumen projectors with 720. So even though there isn't been significant progress on the competitive front, and there are several LCOS players enter the market, one of them Compontetonics [ph] and somebody else, we fundamentally feel that our roadmap keeps us ahead of competitive offerings. And we actually anticipate that improvement in their part and that's what drives our technology roadmap to be always ahead, 2 steps ahead of them. So we feel comfortable about performance, about value, and now with direct green laser supply coming from 2 sources in 2012 and more in 2013, we feel, look, finally we can address the cost and volume issue that had been hindered us with synthetic green lasers in 2010 and 2011. Andrew Uerkwitz - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Great. If I could ask around the Pioneer deal, is that an exclusive deal, meaning you couldn't do other automotive deals?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

No. Pioneer was one of the very few companies who wanted to introduce us to market head-up display. The big momentum right now in the HUD market is for the embedded HUD. There are, I believe, 6 to 7 car manufacturers pulling on about 10 to 11 Tier 1 and Tier 2 in automotive sectors to come up with laser head-up display, and as you can imagine, most of these people referring back to us. Andrew Uerkwitz - Oppenheimer & Co. Inc., Research Division: Sure. And the last question, when you look across the landscape of your list of potential customers, is it pretty traditional end-users as far as automotive, entertainment? Or are there some sort of innovative ideas out there that could really change the market?

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

You know what, that's a great question. There are a few, few see -- looking for innovative ideas. Most think traditionally. But what we have been trying to do very, very selectively is pick people who derive their revenue not just from hardware, from -- but from other sources: content, game, operating system, software, so that the value proposition of our solution increases in their eyes. We also have a list of product ideas for them that they have not thought about that we offer as essentially good, safe offering to help them to formulate their product ideas. Most of the people on our lists are blue chips because we're looking at market makers to take our technology and make it thunder.

Operator

Operator

And I'll turn the call back over to Alexander Tokman for closing remarks.

Alexander Y. Tokman

Analyst

Well, first of all, thanks for joining today. Let me just wrap this up. Achieving the commercialization milestone for Gen2 display technology and the availability of direct green laser from several sources in 2012 were the 2 cornerstones that should position the company for growth moving forward. We believe the progress we're seeing in 4 critical areas, which include mobile ecosystem maturity, MicroVision's display technology advancement, transition to the core Image by PicoP licensing model, and as availability to green laser supply broadens the prospects for OEMs adopting our differentiating technology in 2013 and beyond. We're looking forward to updating you on the progress throughout the year, focusing on the 3 primary goals, which include: securing design wins and entering into licensing agreements; secondary, strengthening the supply chain for key components of PicoP display technology to offer more assurance to OEMs; and finally, to aggressively manage cash used in operations and reduced it, just what we've done last year. Thank you, and we'll speak in 2 months.

Operator

Operator

Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. This concludes today's conference. Thank you for participating. You may now disconnect.