Earnings Labs

One Stop Systems, Inc. (OSS)

Q2 2025 Earnings Call· Sat, Aug 9, 2025

$9.29

-6.68%

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Transcript

Operator

Operator

Good day, and welcome to the One Stop Systems Second Quarter 2025 Conference Call and Webcast. [Operator Instructions] As a reminder, this call is being recorded. As part of the discussion today, the representatives from OSS will be making certain forward-looking statements regarding the company's future financial and operating results, including those relating to revenue growth as well as business plans, bookings and the company's multiyear strategy, business objectives and expectations. These statements are based on the company's current beliefs and expectations and should not be regarded as a representation by OSS that any of its plans or expectations will be achieved. Please be advised that these forward-looking statements are covered under the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and that OSS desires to avail itself of the protections of the safe harbor of these statements. Please also be advised that actual results could differ materially from those stated or implied by the forward-looking statements due to certain risks and uncertainties, including those described in the company's most recent annual report on Form 10-K, subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and recent press releases. Please read these reports and other future filings that OSS will make with the SEC. OSS disclaims any duty to update or revise it forward-looking statements, except as required by applicable law. It is now my pleasure to turn the conference over to OSS President and CEO, Mike Knowles. Please go ahead, sir.

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Thank you, Aaron. Good morning, everyone, and thank you for joining today's call. I'm pleased to report another quarter of progress, highlighted by year-over-year growth in both revenue and gross margin for the second quarter. Most notably, we ended the quarter with one of the highest level of bookings in our history. This strong start to 2025 underscores the solid foundation we have built as we capitalize on increasing demand from both defense and commercial customers for our rugged enterprise-class compute solutions. As a reminder, we implemented several strategic actions in 2023 and 2024 to reposition OSS for growth. These included strengthening our leadership team with proven defense industry executives, launching a multiyear strategic plan rebuilding our go-to-market approach, expanding our sales pipeline and driving higher gross margins. I'm proud of what our teams have accomplished across each of these initiatives and believe we're well positioned for strong growth and improved profitability in the second half of 2025 and beyond. We continue to pursue strategic growth opportunities that leverage our high-performance edge compute solutions to meet the growing demands of AI, machine learning, autonomy and sensor fusion at the edge. Our pipeline is expanding across leading defense organizations and advanced commercial enterprises that seek trusted proven partners like OSS. As I outlined last quarter, our sales strategy centers on 3 priorities. First, we are pursuing development work with prime platform vendors to design OSS into key platforms and become the incumbent supplier. We believe this will result in positioning OSS as the best value and provider of choice going forward. Next, we are focused on expanding the number of OSS systems that are integrated into existing platforms and customer systems. Finally, we are leveraging our integrated compute and storage architecture to deliver higher-value turnkey solutions. Balancing the success of these…

Daniel Gabel

Analyst

Thank you, Mike, and good morning to everyone on today's call. In Q2, we achieved strong operating performance and continued to build momentum for sustained growth. We believe that OSS segment book-to-bill of 2.6 for the second quarter and 1.63 for the trailing 12 months, demonstrates that our technology is resonating with customers and validates our strategic focus on securing platform position with differentiated edge computing technology. With record bookings in the first half of 2025, we are on track to achieve our full year guidance and to execute on our robust growth and profitability objectives for the second half. Now for a quick overview of Q2 2025 financial performance. For the second quarter, we reported consolidated revenue of $14.1 million compared to $13.2 million last year and $12.3 million for the 2025 first quarter. The 6.9% year-over-year increase in consolidated revenue was a result of approximately $239,000 of higher OSS segment revenue and $669,000 of higher Bressner segment revenue. Second quarter sales were in line with our expectations. And as Mike outlined in his prepared remarks, we continue to expect revenue and profitability to grow at a higher rate in the second half of 2025. Consolidated gross margin in the second quarter expanded 610 basis points to 31.3% compared to 25.2% in the prior year quarter. On a segment basis, gross margin for the company's OSS segment improved to 41.3% compared to 24.9% for the same period a year ago. The 16.4 percentage point increase was due to the nonrecurrence of an inventory charge recognized in last year's second quarter as well as a more profitable mix of products shipped this year. Year-to-date, OSS segment gross margin has benefited from both operational efficiency and a favorable product mix. We do expect some level of variability in gross margins quarter-to-quarter…

Operator

Operator

[Operator Instructions] And we can take our first question from Scott Searle with ROTH Capital.

Scott Wallace Searle

Analyst

Great job on building the backlog and providing that outlook into the second half of this year. And maybe, Mike, to dive in, in terms of the OSS outlook or core OSS outlook implies a pretty significant ramp-up on that front. The counterweight to that, I guess, is maintaining your existing 2025 guidance implies that there's some decline on the Bressner side of the equation. Wondering if anything is going on, on that front, specifically in Europe or otherwise? It sounded like things were getting better there? Or are you guys just being conservative? And then looking out to 2026, I know it's early, but you're building a nice pipeline and opportunity set. Does that mix in terms of OSS and Bressner continue off of the second half base?

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes. Thank you, Scott, for your question. I'll let Dan give you a quick summary of how the Bressner line is coming in. But we've seen -- we've been happy with their performance compared to last year and the growth they're showing. And we have seen market recovery in the economic outlook in Germany and Europe. But also if you've been watching the news, the increased interest in the defense market in Germany and Europe now has started to pose opportunities that would go into 2026 and beyond. So we'll be looking to hopefully take advantage of some of those. But I'll let Dan give you some color on the mix between OSS and Bressner.

Daniel Gabel

Analyst

Yes, Scott. What I'd add, so in our guidance, we've modeled Bressner second half roughly in line with the first half. Certainly, as we put our guidance together, we track a range of opportunities and risks and the strong backlog, strong bookings in the first half of the year do give us a lot of opportunity to drive some upside. But we are remaining cautious in our outlook at this point, mostly because of the significant ramp that we have in the second half of the year and all the work that we have to do with our supply chain and with our production to make sure we're able to achieve that. So I think there's opportunities, but we are remaining cautious in our guidance.

Scott Wallace Searle

Analyst

Got you. And just in extrapolating the strength in core OSS of 20% growth, does that continue into 2026, given what you're seeing right now in terms of the early tea leaves of wins in the existing pipeline?

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes. For OSS segment, the way our pipeline looks out for multiple years, we continue to believe there's opportunity for us to continue to grow OSS at that rate. So the ratio of revenue comparatively between OSS and Bressner will change as time goes forward because of the anticipated larger growth rates in OSS compared to the growth we'll see in Bressner. The growth rates expected for Bressner will be consistent with historical growth that we've seen in Bressner that they're back in line to forecast to achieve this year.

Scott Wallace Searle

Analyst

Great. Very helpful. And Mike, on the data center front, you've had some comments in the past this opportunity is starting to open up to you guys. I'm wondering if you could provide us with some quick thoughts and comments in terms of what you're seeing in that pipeline and what's going on from an AI partnership standpoint?

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes. Yes, we're excited about these products. So we've seen the data center markets making a quick shift here recently into higher wattage available GPUs and card sets. And so we've adjusted some of our product lines to quickly take advantage of that and being able to provide high-density GPU and card at a much higher wattage card sets. And so dissipating that heat making available. So we've been able to rush some of those markets, those products like Ponto to the market to help some of our customers and partners in that field. So we're -- as I mentioned in the comments, we're looking into 2026 to see those start to move forward, along with just some of our standard products that we have aligned to the data center, especially around GPU expansion servers. And then we'll start to see the next generation of PCIe start to come to the market, and we'll have products aligned for that also. So we're hopeful to see a pickup in the data center business as we continue through the quarters. We'll keep you updated on that. And then -- I'm sorry, Scott, the last part of your question was?

Scott Wallace Searle

Analyst

AI partnerships from the software vendors. I think you've been talking to various guys to help pull you through the channel.

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes, exactly. So we continue those as a normal course of business. We continue to align with new and existing AR partners as they roll through there and align on either more fully integrated solutions for our customers and/or if our product sets can serve as the base of compute for AI companies. We continue to move through those. As we formalize more strategic relationships, we'll look to announce those.

Scott Wallace Searle

Analyst

Great. And lastly, if I could, Mike, you mentioned about higher watch GPUs, but there's some architectural shifts that are going into the data center as well in terms of inference processing or AI accelerators. Are you seeing design requests and activity on that front to potentially expand your product portfolio from GPU-centric architectures to something else? And Dan, just a quick clarification in terms of supply chain otherwise tariff impact. Any updated thoughts on that front in terms of limited component availability or pricing headwinds?

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes, Scott, quickly on the data center market. We continue to watch those elements of technology around AI accelerators and other. And yes, we adjust and work adjusting our product line and strategy as we go through as that market adopts. We have a number of core customers that we keep aligned with and where their product road map needs go. And so our Chief Product Officer and their team stay aligned for that. So I think you'll see us continue to make announcements about new products and product alignment as we continue through the quarters and well into next year.

Daniel Gabel

Analyst

Yes. And on the supply chain front, I'd just add. So certainly, with the higher production that we have in the second half of the year, we're ordering larger volumes from our suppliers. And so that is impacting lead times. We are seeing longer lead times for some of those components. We're working really closely with our supply chain, driving our suppliers to make sure we're able to mitigate those lead time risks. And we think that all those risks are kind of captured in our guidance. But it's a key focus. Supply chain execution will be a key driver for our second half performance.

Operator

Operator

And we can take our next question from Eric Martinuzzi with Lake Street.

Eric Martinuzzi

Analyst · Lake Street.

Yes. I just wanted to clarify your comment on the Bressner. You talked about kind of anticipating normal growth rates. I've just got -- I'm struggling with what's normal because we had -- we were up 10% in 2023, down 6% in 2024. And based on 2025, I'm looking at maybe up 2%. But I thought I've heard you describe it to kind of grow at the rate of the overall IT rate, which I would put in the kind of 5% to 9% range. So just help me out there, what is normalized growth for Bressner.

Daniel Gabel

Analyst · Lake Street.

Yes. So for our guidance, we've guided consolidated revenue of $59 million to $61 million, $30 million for OSS segment. So that implies Bressner segment at about $30 million to $31 million for the year. As I said before, we track a range of risks and opportunities to that. Right now, that's probably biased towards opportunity. But particularly because of the supply chain lead times that we've seen on the OSS segment and the significant production ramp that we have, we've kind of taken the conservative position and held our guidance. But we are continuing to strive for opportunity.

Eric Martinuzzi

Analyst · Lake Street.

But I'm asking more of a 2026 question, I guess, for what is...

Daniel Gabel

Analyst · Lake Street.

Yes. So in general, our longer-term outlook as we look into '26, '27, we see the OSS segment growing at about 20% a year, 20%, 25% and the Bressner segment, we model in the range of 7% to 9%.

Eric Martinuzzi

Analyst · Lake Street.

Okay. That's what I was looking for. Mike, you've had a chance or I guess, maybe your customers have had a chance to digest the One Big Beautiful Bill Act on their business. And I'm just curious to know, since the passage on the 4th of July and today, what are you hearing about the potential impact to your pipeline in 2026, 2027?

Michael Knowles

Analyst · Lake Street.

Yes, Eric, not seeing significant change to kind of the pipeline and the way we figured out in the forecast we're looking at '26 and '27. The markets inside of defense are fairly well aligned, especially the markets where we pursue that have to do with sensor processing fusion, AI and autonomy. So those markets have held strong, continued investment. We specifically more aligned to watching the timing of when the bills will be released into 2025 or into 2026. As you know, we were on a full year continuing resolution this year. That caused some delays in new program launches that we've had to work through, and it's just caused some delays in existing funding. It seems like 2026, the current process is on track for a bill to be on schedule for the year a few short months CR to start off 2026. So I would say we're more concerned about the timing of CRs and new program releases than we are the effects on the scale or opportunity of the markets and where they're going. And if anything, we're probably more opportunistic on the overall pipeline and outlook because we have seen -- it existed prior before this administration, the desire and need to move into some more commercial applications. Under the new administration, that desire has increased and their hope is really to accelerate some of that timing. So we have seen some early precursor requests for information, requests for architecture thoughts permeating out. So hopefully, that will transition into awards. And as I mentioned, it's really the timing, I would say, that we keep an eye on more so than the -- than our concerns about any growth or change to the pipeline or scope in the future.

Eric Martinuzzi

Analyst · Lake Street.

Got you. You talked about the U.S. Army Combat vehicle opportunity that you're kind of they're kicking the tires on what you guys can offer them. Any sense of the size as well as the timing of some kind of -- I'm just not familiar. I know it's a terrific opportunity. I don't know if it would be a 1- or 2-year sample set and then you get into full production, even if you do win it. So just help me size that opportunity as well as the timing.

Michael Knowles

Analyst · Lake Street.

Yes. We're very early stage on this. As we had noted in a number of other investor presentations, we had identified opportunities in our pipeline that had opportunity to be larger in nature than our normal work, but there was time to go, and we had aligned the probability of those accordingly. So we're early stages of an opportunity here with the Army. We're in the research labs who are sharing the technology and their test and evaluation with the acquisition offices who are evaluating those against their requirements, needs and funding. So as I noted in our comments, I would anticipate from what we're seeing in their schedule, they'll continue testing through the remainder of this year. That will start to inform their requirements definition and budget building for 2026 and beyond. The speed or size or volume of which those will go will be dependent on the need of the demand and how they want to utilize existing funds or new funds. So it's a little bit early for me to say how that would -- how long or what the scope and value of that would be. I think we'll know more in the quarters to come as we see the culmination of the testing and the requirements generation on the acquisition side.

Eric Martinuzzi

Analyst · Lake Street.

Okay. And last question for me is on the gross margin side. I was encouraged to see that OSS segment that you're comfortable with the 40% plus on the gross margins there. Can we extrapolate that out given the 2026, we're looking for a faster growth rate in the OSS segment versus Bressner that there's -- that the gross margins for the business would increase in 2026 as well.

Daniel Gabel

Analyst · Lake Street.

Yes. I think from a gross margin perspective, so we look at gross margin is really being driven by 2 things. One is absorption. As we get better volume, we get better absorption. And the other is product mix and program life cycle. So from a product mix perspective, straightforward, we have some products that are higher margin, some products that are lower margin. So we see some variability from quarter-to-quarter. From a program life cycle perspective, we typically see early in the program, you have customer-funded development that tends to be lower margin. You move maybe to some prototype builds. Those also tend to be lower margin. You don't have as much opportunity for learning curve and supply chain efficiencies. And then you get into low rate, full rate production, tech refresh and sustainment. And that's really where you see the expanding margin. So as we model '26, we kind of weigh all of those factors. I think that for the OSS segment overall, we continue to guide mid-30s to low to mid-40s. I think that will sustain through 2026, but there could be some variability from quarter-to-quarter on where in that range of mid-30s to low to mid-40s we land.

Operator

Operator

And we can go next to Brian Kinstlinger with Alliance Global Partners.

Brian David Kinstlinger

Analyst

Sorry, I joined late if it's already been discussed. Several companies have been sharing that government short-term awards have been hurt by an uncertain government funding year, which I know you know and have discussed that. What was the mix of government to commercial bookings in the first half that's been so strong? And then in terms of your bid and proposal activity, how is it being impacted on the government side?

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes. Thanks, Brian. On the bookings side, the percentage has been a little more weighted to defense over commercial as we've gone through the first half of the year. And part of that was driven by we saw a pickup in defense orders in the second half of the second quarter of this year. So look, we started to see the government start to pull out and then as they got getting closer to the end of their fiscal year to start aligning and moving budget and making awards. So we were encouraged by that movement through the year. And as we look forward, our way our company build as we're aligning bid and proposals, we look into 2026 and beyond, the opportunity set that's in there, I think we're well aligned with the teams and the bid and proposal budgets we have set to capture the opportunities we're in. So I think we're still well aligned. As I mentioned earlier, for us, we continue to monitor the timing on how the government will be able to move its budgets down to awardable releases.

Brian David Kinstlinger

Analyst

I mean how do you think about bid and proposal? Is the goal to be bidding 3x your kind of revenue rate? Is it -- do you have a number in the pipeline that you think is addressable through 2026? Maybe anything you can share on that would be helpful, maybe compared to where you've been in 2024 and 2025.

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes, Brian, I'll lay it out this way how we work the process. So you've heard me talk that we have a 5-year factored and unfactored pipeline. So in any given year, we have a factored and unfactored forecast or pipeline that we're going after the year. The unfactored and the factored pipeline numbers, both -- the factored pipeline number really represents where we've been able to achieve that 20% or greater growth. And so we have significantly more factored opportunities in a quarter to drive the revenue that we get in any quarter, and that same holds for the year. So as we process that out, we have that significantly greater opportunity to bid down. The ratio of bid and proposal, how much we're bidding versus how much we pull in, changes quarter-to-quarter and by the year just based on the size and the probability of program happening and our probability of win. But I'll say we've been able to convert well. The majority of the stuff that we win is generally sole source. Customers see what we have to offer, and there's not a comparative competitor offering the same thing. We're usually competing against an incumbent or an existing architecture. So we tend to win our stuff sole source. Where we are competing head-to-head, we've been winning a little bit more than 70% to 75% of the programs that we bid. So we've been getting a fairly good transition rate out of our pipeline and into revenue. So our biggest thing I go back to the thing we tend to worry about more is what's the probability of the timing that something is funded, ready to go and it's going to be released in the time that our customers identify versus when they actually happen.

Brian David Kinstlinger

Analyst

Just to make sure I understand what I heard because I thought it was a big takeaway there. Are you saying[indiscernible].

Michael Knowles

Analyst

In the competitions that we bid that are competitions, we're winning 75% or more of those.

Brian David Kinstlinger

Analyst

Wow. That's really telling. The last question I have is -- just to be clear, is proposal activity in the pipeline near term kind of steady? Is it rapidly increasing? Is it steadily? Could you just maybe give some discussion on the trends you're seeing in near-term pipeline?

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Yes. We've seen -- as the company has grown from '24 quarter-on-quarter into 2025 with the book-to-bill ratios you're seeing, we've seen a steady increase in the activity in our bids and proposals. So that starts out with early request for information, early engagements with customers into architecture ideas and concepts. We've seen the request for information or request for white papers. We've seen a significant steady increase in that from '24 into 2025. It looks like it's going to continue well into the second half of 2025. The result of that also then is that we're putting out more proposals that come from the first engagements through request for information. And we're also seeing as our pipeline continues to expand out through the years each year that our opportunities for bids are also increasing. So yes, we're seeing a steady increase in the amount of proposals and request for information quarter-to-quarter.

Brian David Kinstlinger

Analyst

Great. Congratulations on the progress over the last couple of years of turning the business around.

Michael Knowles

Analyst

Thanks, Brian.

Operator

Operator

And this does conclude our question-and-answer session. I'd like to turn the program back over to our presenters for any closing remarks.

Michael Knowles

Analyst

No closing remarks, Aaron. You can close the call.

Operator

Operator

Thank you for your participation. This does conclude today's program. You may disconnect at any time.