NASDAQ:KOPN Kopin Q3 2023 Earnings Report $1.35 +0.04 (+3.05%) Closing price 05/2/2025 04:00 PM EasternExtended Trading$1.34 -0.01 (-0.74%) As of 05:09 AM 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 Kopin EPS ResultsActual EPS-$0.02Consensus EPS -$0.04Beat/MissBeat by +$0.02One Year Ago EPS-$0.05Kopin Revenue ResultsActual Revenue$10.60 millionExpected Revenue$9.82 millionBeat/MissBeat by +$780.00 thousandYoY Revenue GrowthN/AKopin Announcement DetailsQuarterQ3 2023Date11/9/2023TimeBefore Market OpensConference Call DateThursday, November 9, 2023Conference Call Time4:30PM ETUpcoming EarningsKopin's Q1 2025 earnings is scheduled for Tuesday, May 13, 2025, with a conference call scheduled at 8:30 AM ET. Check back for transcripts, audio, and key financial metrics as they become available.Conference Call ResourcesConference Call AudioConference Call TranscriptPress Release (8-K)Quarterly Report (10-Q)Earnings HistoryCompany ProfilePowered by Kopin Q3 2023 Earnings Call TranscriptProvided by QuartrNovember 9, 2023 ShareLink copied to clipboard.There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Kopin Corporation Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Please note that this event is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. And after the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference over to Quinn Callahan, Investor Relations for Kopin. Operator00:00:35Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:37Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that during today's Call taking place on Thursday, November 9, 2023, we will be making forward looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Form Act of 1995. These statements are based on the company's current expectations, projections, beliefs and estimates and are subject to a number of risks and of certain uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward looking statements. Potential risks include, but are not limited to, demand for our products, operating results of our subsidiaries, Market conditions and other factors discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10 ks and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Speaker 100:01:25Although the company believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, any of them can be proven inaccurate and there can be no assurances that the results will be realized. Company undertakes no obligation to update the forward looking statements made during today's call. In addition, references may be made to certain Non generally accepted accounting principles or non GAAP measures for which you should refer to the disclaimers and reconciliation in the company's SEC filings and press releases. Kopin Corporation's Chief Executive Officer, Michael Murray, We'll begin today's call with an overview of Kopin's progress within the company's strategy. Following Michael, Kopin's CFO, Richard Snyder, We'll review the company's 3rd quarter returns. Speaker 200:02:10I would now like to Speaker 100:02:11turn the conference over to Michael Murray. Speaker 300:02:16Thank you, Quinn. Good afternoon to everyone and welcome to our Q3 earnings call. I want to start with a brief explanation for rescheduling Our call, a technical accounting issue was raised on revenue recognition of a development contract that required additional research ensure proper accounting and was resolved earlier today. Moving on, I would like to welcome David Nussma, Who joined our Board of Directors this week. David joins us from Collins Aerospace where he spent over 32 years in several key senior leadership roles And as a former Air Force officer, he understands our customers, our technology and our culture deeply. Speaker 300:02:57We welcome David to the team and believe he will be a great asset for Kopin and our shareholders. Now I'm proud to announce that we've made significant progress on our transformation plan and turned in $10,600,000 in revenue for the quarter. Our 4th consecutive positive book to bill quarter at improved margins. Turning to our first strategic initiative, building the backlog. In the Q3 of 2023, We booked follow on orders of approximately $12,800,000 $3,400,000 and a $1,900,000 NRE order, as well as several smaller orders, which resulted in a book to bill ratio of approximately 2:one for the quarter. Speaker 300:03:43We believe this is a record order level for Kopin over the last 10 years. Our continually growing order book translated into good third quarter revenues at $10,600,000 as compared to $11,700,000 for the Q3 of 2022. Our industrial revenue were down $1,400,000 year over year due to continued weakness in the 3 d automated test market, specifically in China. I'll now introduce Cope and to those who might be less familiar Before diving more deeply into the events of the last quarter, Koppen is the only U. S. Speaker 300:04:23Manufacturer of human AR and VR application specific optical solutions and microdisplays used primarily to provide situational awareness for war fighters, for surgeons and gamers alike. You can find our solutions in weapon sites, armored vehicles, pilot helmet visors and soon Surgical Head Mounted Displays. The heart of these visual systems and solutions is composed of a micro display no larger than the human thumb. Kopin offers 4 different types of microdisplays, our proprietary AMLCD, FL Cos, OLED and MicroLEDs, which are the absolute cutting edge of display technology. Kopin is the vanguard of this technology and has developed a monochrome micro LED and has a color version within reach. Speaker 300:05:15If a micro display is the heart of our application specific Optical solutions, then the software that controls the knobs of the solution, that's the brain. Software will be critical to the next stage in Kopin's growth as we adapt our technologies to each individual unique user. Indeed, our new mission is to adapt technology to the user and not force the user to adapt to the technology. This compares to companies that require users to insert specialized lenses into their displays or systems to adapt that person's vision to the device. Software and artificial intelligence are new endeavors for Kopin and we recognize that we lack certain capabilities to tackle these on our own. Speaker 300:06:02This recognition has led Kopin to partner with MIT CSAIL Lab. This lab is the premier institution of technology and AI development. With this partnership, Kopin is looking to augment our internal software capabilities and to turbocharge our firmware powering All of our products and ultimately resolve the AR induced nausea that currently bedevils users by allowing those knobs of the display to be turned either automatically or by the user. Custom optics and ruggedized solutions and housings Are the eyes and skeletons of an application specific solution? Arrays of custom optical lenses need to work harmoniously with the rugged housing to transmit crystal clear image produced by our microdisplays and that is where Kogan's expertise shines. Speaker 300:06:52The pairing of microdisplays, optics, housings and firmware continue to progress our application specific solutions Far from where we began, but as I mentioned, empowering software and algorithms will drive Koppen into the future. What is missing from this anatomical pairing is the optical nerve that transmits to the brain or the software in this case, what the eye see and what the user needs from the display to reduce eye fatigue, nausea and enhance the user experience. Kopin has the solution to bridge this gap and enable AR and VR marketplaces. We recently patented a revolutionary new display architecture that will be embedded within what we refer to as our neural display. This architecture will feature a non standard RGB pixel setup as in OLED or micro LEDs, but we've added several other elements Including sensors that relay to the firmware what is happening with the user's situational environment, their ergonomics and their eyes. Speaker 300:07:57As an example, are the user eyes dilating quickly, implying that they're in a state of fight or flight? In that case, the display's brightness should go down quickly and contrast must increase. Conversely, if the eyes of the user are reverting normally, the display should react in the opposite direction. This complete chain of heart, brain, optical nerve, eye and skin and skeleton provides the framework That we will allow the future realization of augmented reality's yet unfulfilled promise. Other companies have their own approach to monitoring the status of a user's eyes that rely largely on an array of cameras pointed back at the user. Speaker 300:08:40Our approach incorporates sensors within the display itself, which has the benefit of reducing size, weight, Power consumption, design complexity and ultimately cost. We will provide more information on this platform and our partnerships to deliver it to the market very soon. Now turning to the Q3, we announced a follow on order for 1 of our IP sub assemblies To a Department of Defense prime contractor that integrates our IPs into a very sophisticated augmented reality module. This $12,800,000 follow on order represents a significant increase in year over year volume and revenue from the strategic customer, and we expect significant additional orders shortly for the same product. The order is scheduled for If we receive this expected additional demand, Kopin will potentially ship triple the volume of weapon sites within the calendar year of 2024. Speaker 300:09:47If so, we do not require additional machinery in our plant, but we may need to take additional steps These orders are a result of improved customer relationships, program management focus and the dedication to improving on time in full processes and a great customer who has been very patient and supportive of our transformation plan. We also received a $3,400,000 follow on order for our high brightness liquid crystal display for the F-thirty 5 Joint Strike Fighter program. With the F-thirty five scheduled for production through 2,030, we expect additional orders over the program's life. This follow on order extends our backlog of scheduled deliveries into the Q4 of 2024, providing steady production rates. As we previously stated, the F-thirty five Helmet is scheduled to transition to an OLED display. Speaker 300:10:49We're also in process of finalizing that required production tooling have been told by General Dynamics that Kopin's weapon site program developed under the CEP-four upgrade will continue as planned Since our system reduces size, weight, power consumption, while improving accuracy, We are progressing well against our PPAP milestones and continue to engage with General Dynamics on opportunities for the platform to be integrated into previous upgrade packages and into light armored vehicle programs as well. Now I've said in the past, this year's focus is on returning the operation to cash breakeven levels As a milestone of our transformation plan and we've progressed well against that milestone in Q3, we approach closer to this milestone by improving margins and closely scrutinizing R and D and SG and A, spending by continually focused on what we can control and deliver, and we expect to deliver solid margins and the growth our investors look for. We now have the contracts in place for solid revenue growth and our goal remains to become a more predictable and profitable firm in the coming year. I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, Rich Snyder, To review our results in further detail, over to you, Rich. Speaker 400:12:17Thank you, Michael. Turning to our financial results, total revenues Q3 2023 were $10,600,000 versus $11,700,000 for the prior year, a 10% decrease. Product revenues for the Q1 ended September 30, 2023 were $5,500,000 compared with $8,300,000 for the Q3 ended September 30, 2022. The decrease in product revenues was driven by $1,700,000 or 82% decrease in industrial revenues over the prior year Due to continued weakness in the Chinese 3 d automated test market, defense revenues decreased $800,000 or 14% year over year. Decrease relates to the conclusion of the current purchase order and beginning of the next purchase order. Speaker 400:13:06Funded research and development revenues were $5,100,000 for the Q3 of 2023 compared with $3,500,000 for the Q3 of 2022, a 47% increase. The increase in funded R and D was due largely to a $1,900,000 order related to a thermal weapon site program. Cost of goods sold for the Q3 of 2023 was $5,400,000 or 99 percent of product revenues compared with $8,000,000 or 97 percent for the Q3 of last year, essentially flat. R and D expenses in Funded R and D expense for Q3 2023 was $2,300,000 as compared to $1,800,000 for Q3 2022, which was driven by higher funded R and D revenue. Internal R and D expense for Q3, 2023 was 744,000 as compared to $1,600,000 for the Q3 of 2022. Speaker 400:14:12This reflects the rationalization efforts Michael spoke about. SG and A expenses were $4,800,000 for the Q3 of 'twenty three compared to $4,300,000 in the Q3 of 2022. The SG and A increases for the 3 months ended September 30, 2023 as compared to the 3 months ended September 2022 But primarily due to an increase in legal expenses and non cash stock compensation expenses of approximately $1,700,000 for the Q3 of 'twenty three as compared to $500,000 for the Q3 of 2022. These increases were offset by a decrease Other income was approximately $316,000 for the Q3 of 'twenty three compared with an expense of $2,100,000 for the Q3 of 2022. The Q3 of 'twenty three, we had foreign currency losses of $14,000 as compared to a loss of $112,000 in Q3 2022. Speaker 400:15:26Also in the Q3 of 2022, We recorded non cash mark to market impairment on an equity investment of $2,000,000 Turning to the bottom line, the net loss attributable to Kopin during the 3rd quarter was approximately As Michael mentioned in his opening remarks, when removing the litigation costs and non cash items, we were very close to cash breakeven. Net cash used in operating activities for the 9 months ended September 30, 2023 was approximately $11,800,000 Copeland's cash and marketable securities were approximately 21 point We have no long term debt. The amounts discussed above are based on our current estimates and listeners should review our Form 10 Q for the quarter ended September 30, 23 for any possible changes and of course any additional filings. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Michael closing remarks. Speaker 300:16:34Thanks, Rich. As evidenced in our Q3 results, our focus continues to be on strengthening our record order book, Achieving higher on time and full rates, cost controls and making the strategic investments in products and people which in the aggregate will improve cash flow and provide long term sustainable profitability and growth. We've also been working very hard on our brand, external marketing and website development efforts And we are ecstatic to announce that we will have a new website to debut very shortly. Looking forward, we are Very fortunate to have world leading and market making customers who are supporting Kopin during this transformational period. We have put tremendous focus on working with our customers to move up the value chain and gain more share of their system and spending. Speaker 300:17:19Furthermore, We have carefully selected new strategic partners and customers to work with and are focused on new opportunities and projects which support our strategic plan. To this end, our opportunity pipeline has grown substantially in the past few quarters. We expect several new customers, Partners and project awards and announcements soon, which will add modestly to our order book, but more importantly will fuel larger returns in the future as these new projects Moving to production. Perhaps the most culturally important transformation is that Kopin remains focused on invention and innovation, but with more focus on cost controls and return on investment. These new inventions discussed today will help drive our innovations that solve our customers' most Our customers and stakeholders, thank you everyone for your time today and for showing interest in Kopin. Speaker 300:18:20I'd like to thank our employees, customers and stakeholders For their continued hard work and support and dedication. And with that operator, I'd like to offer some time to take some questions. Operator00:18:50Okay. Your first question comes from the line of Glenn Mattson from Ladenburg. Your line is open. Speaker 500:18:57Yes. Hi. Thanks for taking the questions guys and congrats on the quarter, especially that strong book to bill. Thanks, Glenn. So curious, I guess, on the just trying to think about how to How you expect it to kind of play out? Speaker 500:19:13I did I realize you have the strong $12,800,000 thermal weapons order. I saw one of your customers announced a couple of days ago they got a large purchase order as well. So I imagine that's where The follow on order that you're talking about might come from? And you mentioned that you may need to do some kind of retooling or whatever the fab. So would that mean downtime in the equipment? Speaker 500:19:39Would there be like a hiccup in the revenue line as you ramp that up? And if and you talked about it maybe in Quarter, but it sounds like it's going to come at some time or another or just can you just flesh out how to best think about that better, Michael? Speaker 300:19:53Sure. So we are expecting additional orders for our thermal weapon site program within the quarter. And if those orders are received, I believe that we'll have to take some time and reconfigure the fab, Clean it and make sure that the bays are operating at the highest levels to be able to extend that throughput. So that's what we're expecting, But we have not seen that follow on orders yet. Speaker 500:20:24Okay. And I guess and so that downtime would lead to Some modest obviously, it's a good problem to have, but maybe a little bit of a lumpiness in terms of the way the revenue comes through? Speaker 300:20:37We think so. It's possible this quarter. We would have to do it this quarter to make sure that we're running at full optimization in January. But we wouldn't require any additional large Capital expense for machinery, it would just be strictly downtime to move some things around and put in the additional jigs and Test benches that we would need. But in the clean room, as you know, once you start moving things around, you want to make sure that you do it, and then clean it thoroughly. Speaker 300:21:10So that would just The downtime of the fab. Right, right. Speaker 500:21:13Okay. Thanks for that color. And then, I just want to hear a little bit more about The new display architecture that you touched on, I think it's the first time we heard about it where you use sensors to kind of get feedback from the user To kind of balance out any whatever type of motion signature type or disruptions he's having when using An AR or VR device or whatever. So, it's an interesting approach. Can you just talk about how you came to Come at it from this angle and I guess there's a lot of different people trying to skin this cat in different ways. Speaker 500:21:51So what makes you think that This is the best approach to go with and just a little more history on how you got to this point and how long it's going to take to develop? Speaker 300:22:02Sure. So I visited many consumer companies here in the United States and Just as many defense companies that are all struggling with the same phenomenon, which is the nausea that some of these systems create. And what I learned was that putting perfect displays in front of imperfect eyes and by the way, my eyes are imperfect from my right to my left. So putting 2 perfect displays in front of my eyes actually makes me feel nauseous. So when we think about AR, We have to make sure that the technology adapts to the human and not force the human to adapt to the technology. Speaker 300:22:38And that's why it's not working, Because essentially the way that you view video specifically and the way I view video is very different. And that's what led us to believe that the display has to change and the display architecture itself isn't going to change that much. But when we looked at the overall system architecture, we realized that there were efficiencies to be made by adding sensors. If you look at my background, I spent a decade at Analog Devices running their high Sensing Group. There was lots of ways that we could improve that. Speaker 300:23:11And also some of the covenants that These devices have broken in consumer electronics size, weight, power consumption, user adaptation, Those are things that are getting AR adoption rates right now. So we took that challenge. We came up with what we call the neural display, Which is an AI powered display and a software defined backplane, which Glenn we already have by the way. Many of our backplanes are already software defined. So we have this capability and we think that we can solve the problems in the ARVR marketplace by those sensor fusion activities that we're embarking upon now. Speaker 300:23:50We're developing some partner networks and partnerships to help us get there. Speaker 400:23:57Great. Speaker 500:23:57Thanks for the evening. I look forward to Operator00:24:07Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Deed from H. C. Wainwright. Your line is open. Speaker 600:24:13Hi, Michael, Rich. Thanks for having me on. I'd like yes, yes. I'd just like to piggyback off Len's question, right? I get the Neuro Display. Speaker 600:24:26Appreciate the detail you've offered on it. Understand your prepared remarks noted a patent. Maybe you could talk a little bit about that and maybe you could talk given your analog device and sensor experience And that sensor capability or software capability embedded in the backplane, maybe you can talk a little bit about Including sensors, the timeline to prototypes And when you think you might be able to get stuff into people's hands? Speaker 300:25:01Great question. Thanks, Kevin. So I'll be Focused on this in 2 ways to answer your question. Number 1, the architecture itself It has been patented. We have 5 patents submitted currently. Speaker 300:25:21There's a 6th Patent that we are submitting shortly and we believe that those patents are going to be the foundation for where the neural display is going to come from. We've been working with 1 very large microdisplay company and We're looking for support from them. We're trying to create an organization with those folks for the consumer market. We're also looking at go to market activities with the defense market and with a specific office and the United States Department of Defense to enable this technology as well. Next year, we're looking at potential funding lines from not only our Consumer companies and customers, we're also looking at potential funding from U. Speaker 300:26:09S. DoD applications as well as potentially some congressional money that we've applied for. So that's where the money is going to come from to support this technology development. And when we see the money come in, we'll see how quickly we can get this in the hands of folks, specifically in the consumer marketplace, Where we have tremendous demand currently. Speaker 600:26:35Okay. Maybe I need to take a different tact on the Questioning line, Michael. So please excuse me. Sure. Obviously, you feel comfortable with the technology development, but How do you think we should look at timelines For you to get a display that incorporates your sensors and You might be able to serve as physical evidence for customers. Speaker 300:27:15Yes, I think we have a pretty targeted approach in that area. I'm going to Defer the question for proof of concept samples until a few more NDAs get signed. Speaker 600:27:30Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Thank you. Speaker 300:27:35I wish I could give you better answer, Kevin, but Paul, I'll defer for now. Speaker 600:27:40Well, it's just incredibly exciting and I don't know of anyone that's approaching, To paraphrase Glenn, skin in the cat this way, so congratulations on that development. Speaker 300:27:54Thank you. Speaker 600:27:55Pretty strong sequential growth in research and development revenue and up markedly from sort of the past 5 or 6 quarter trend. And I was wondering if you could talk to that a little bit. Is that multiple projects, a big lump in one particular project? Speaker 400:28:20Yes, Kevin, as we mentioned in our prepared remarks, we delivered on a $1,900,000 contract in the quarter. So it was a fairly substantial. Speaker 600:28:36Okay. So I guess you met all your deliverable specifications and you could recognize revenue. Does that mean that project is done? Yes. Okay. Speaker 600:28:51Can you give us a ballpark on, I guess maybe other sort of the span of different DoD development projects you have that might go from LRIP to full production next year? Speaker 400:29:14Well, I'm not sure I understand the question. I mean, FWSI, F-thirty five, all those, Those were several years in development than LRIP. We're working on the Color LED program, that's already been 2 or 3 years in the making and so on and so forth. So these They're fairly long development cycles. Speaker 600:29:42Okay. I Speaker 300:29:46will say Kevin, just to add some color to that. I do expect our Armored Tank Armored Vehicle Program to move through PPAP next year and we expect orders next year that we want to start shipping in terms of production. So once it gets out of PPAP, it basically goes into low rate initial production Pretty much right away. So we're expecting orders for that in 2024. I don't know if we'll be able to deliver in calendar 2024, But that's the goal. Speaker 600:30:23Would that be a press I mean that's exactly where my line of questioning was going, Michael. Would that be, I guess, moving from PPAP to LRIP, is that an event you might press release? Indeed. Okay. Because if I remember the June call, you mentioned that you should have better insight Into the development of that project later this year, which sort of thinking is now, was there Some delay there or is it just bureaucracy? Speaker 300:31:00So the set for upgrade Has been effectively canceled to my understanding. And General Dynamics has been gracious enough to speak with us and provide details of what their plans are, which I can't get into on this call. However, what I can say is we are continuing the PPAP Process, they're very excited about the technology. They're talking about new platforms and old upgrades that we could potentially Utilize this technology for us. So we're all ahead full steam. Speaker 300:31:37So that was great news. And That was what I was worried about in the last call as I wasn't sure what the set for upgrade schedule is going to look like, although I couldn't say anything, but I can now. So that was the reason for, I'd say, the lack of information on the last call. Speaker 600:31:56Okay. Okay. Speaker 300:31:58Hope that helps. Speaker 600:31:59Yes, yes, yes, yes. A couple of more, if I may. This transformation that you've been working so hard on, I would have thought Would begin to show in product margin, but it's not so evident. And so maybe you could help me reset my Expectations on timing? Speaker 500:32:32Sure. Speaker 400:32:33So Kevin, I think it's important to understand that We have multiple sources of revenue and but we have limited resources and so it's always a guns and butter bad pun analogy. If you look if you take our sources of revenue, product revenue and funded R and D and you subtract cost of sales And funded R and D expense, our gross margins this year year to date is about 7,800,000 Which is 150% increase over the prior year. So that's how we don't just look at the gross margin of the product because in many respects the fab is dual function and so that's one of the things that's got to be done. We got to Manage both aspects of it. They're all running through the same facility. Speaker 400:33:28We have an engineering group. So that's how we're looking at it. The overall absolute dollars has increased by 150% over the prior year to 9 months. Speaker 300:33:40And I'll add to that, Kevin. It's an important question. And one of the things that we've been messaging is, Our old existing contracts that were sole sourced and were on firm fixed prices, those or either running out or ending and we're replacing them with new contracts with new pricing that is More advantageous for Kopin and I think you'll see a gross margin lift there because we did have Conversations with our customers around price increases due to inflation, due to scope creep, due to lots of different things that have happened over the course of the last few years. And as we reported in our remarks today is that we did increase prices on several programs. Speaker 600:34:31Past report. So thank you, gentlemen. The other thing I'm wondering, I guess, just from sort of a cash use perspective Was that inventories are up and I'm just looking sequentially, Rich. Inventories are up, contract assets are up. And I'm wondering Speaker 300:34:57if Speaker 600:35:00you're building in advance of The FWSI and the F-thirty five production? Speaker 400:35:11Yes. So the contract assets are up. We completed, as you saw, funded R and D Revenue was up in the quarter. We completed it. So that's associated with the receivables that we need to collect on those assets. Speaker 400:35:26But yes, I mean, Inventory is up because of the projected growth for next year. Speaker 100:35:34Okay. Speaker 400:35:35The reality is lead times are still out there For many of the parts that we need FPGAs and things like that. And so we're getting in what we can when we can get it Make sure we have full production. Speaker 600:35:51Okay. Gave us an update on Abrams, on FWSI and update on the F-thirty 5, but how about the common helmet mounted display? Speaker 400:36:06Yes, I mean that the Elbit program just keeps rolling along. Speaker 600:36:21Are those things what is contributing to your backlog? And how would you compare your backlog At the end of September versus the end of June? Speaker 400:36:33So it's a really interesting question. We have historically been very conservative and said that backlog as our understanding of definition is that it is Non cancelable. And so to the extent that we have purchase orders, which historically we've allowed companies either move to the right or frankly never we don't take delivery. We don't include those in backlog. But if you look at our footnotes, which should be filed in our 10 ks tomorrow, you'll see performance obligations are up, which is a proxy for backlog. Speaker 400:37:20But that number, Technically, we have more orders than we're actually showing there. But as I said, we don't put things there that Frankly, we might allow someone to cancel. So it's not exactly the right number. Speaker 600:37:37Is that you say they're up, that's up versus June versus Not September 22? Speaker 400:37:44Yes. Speaker 600:37:45Okay. Well, thank you gentlemen for indulging me. Sorry if I pushed it too far, but I really appreciate you working with me on it. Thank you. Speaker 300:37:56No problem, Kevin. Thank you. Operator00:38:00Your next question comes from the line of Victor Santiago from Stifel. Your line is open. Speaker 200:38:07Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my questions and congrats on the quarter. Just On the nice gross margin improvement, was there anything in particular that drove the sequential improvement? Or is that just a function of your ongoing improved execution? And Also is that level sustainable on a go forward basis or could we see that fluctuate a bit in the near term? Speaker 400:38:32It is a function of price increase and we have been able to drive raw materials costs down. It will fluctuate based on mix, because as Michael indicated, some products we're still rolling out And we don't have the new prices associated with them yet. So we probably won't really achieve good stability until Q1 of next year. And then after that, we would expect to see progression, consistent progression quarter to quarter. Speaker 200:39:05Got it. Thank you. And then, just I guess lastly on the hoping to get your updated thoughts on the or updated thoughts on the timeline of the ongoing lawsuit. Are you guys still expecting similar elevated legal expenses in Q4 and into Q1? And then also is the trial still set for Q1? Speaker 400:39:26Yes. The trial is currently set for late January. There is a couple of events that will occur in the early part of December, and so we may see a slight elevation in expense in December, not to the level that we had in Q2 though. And then, frankly, in 8 to 10 weeks, hopefully, we have a very positive answer. Operator00:40:08There are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back over to Michael Murray for any closing remarks. Speaker 300:40:16Thank you, operator. To everyone that joined, thank you very much for your interest in Kopin. To our friends, family, investors, customers, Happy holidays and we look forward to our next call. Take care.Read morePowered by Conference Call Audio Live Call not available Earnings Conference CallKopin Q3 202300:00 / 00:00Speed:1x1.25x1.5x2x Earnings DocumentsPress Release(8-K)Quarterly report(10-Q) Kopin Earnings HeadlinesKopin to Demonstrate Advanced Soldier & Pilot Vision Systems During SOF Week 2025May 1, 2025 | businesswire.comKopin Corporation: Legal Setback Undermines Progress Amid Ongoing LossesApril 30, 2025 | seekingalpha.comTrump wipes out trillions overnight…Is there anybody more powerful than Donald Trump right now? In a single tariff announcement, he wiped out nearly $5 trillion in wealth from the S&P 500 and $6.4 trillion from the Dow Jones… Not to mention the countless trillions of dollars lost in every market around the world… leaving the major political powers scrambling in fear of Trump’s next move.May 5, 2025 | Porter & Company (Ad)10 Years Of Losses And Counting: Can Kopin Beat The Odds?April 30, 2025 | seekingalpha.comKopin Awarded Soldier Color MicroLED Contract by U.S. Army Aimed at Extended Reality ApplicationsApril 24, 2025 | businesswire.comKopin awarded U.S. Army contractApril 24, 2025 | markets.businessinsider.comSee More Kopin Headlines Get Earnings Announcements in your inboxWant to stay updated on the latest earnings announcements and upcoming reports for companies like Kopin? Sign up for Earnings360's daily newsletter to receive timely earnings updates on Kopin and other key companies, straight to your email. Email Address About KopinKopin (NASDAQ:KOPN), together with its subsidiaries, invents, develops, manufactures, and sells microdisplays, subassemblies, and related components for defense, enterprise, industrial, and consumer products in the United States, the Asia-Pacific, Europe, and internationally. It offers miniature active-matrix liquid crystal displays, liquid crystal on silicon displays/spatial light modulators, organic light emitting diode displays, microLED display technologies, application specific integrated circuits, backlights, and optical lenses; and head-mounted and hand-held VR products. The company's products are used for soldier thermal weapon rifle sights, avionic fixed and rotary wing pilot helmets, armored vehicle targeting systems, and training and simulation headsets; industrial and medical headsets; 3D optical inspection systems; and consumer augmented reality and virtual reality wearable headsets systems. Kopin Corporation was incorporated in 1984 and is headquartered in Westborough, Massachusetts.View Kopin 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 Amazon Earnings: 2 Reasons to Love It, 1 Reason to Be CautiousMeta Takes A Bow With Q1 Earnings - Watch For Tariff Impact in Q2Palantir Earnings: 1 Bullish Signal and 1 Area of ConcernVisa Q2 Earnings Top Forecasts, Adds $30B Buyback PlanMicrosoft Crushes Earnings, What’s Next for MSFT Stock?Qualcomm's Earnings: 2 Reasons to Buy, 1 to Stay AwayAMD Stock Signals Strong Buy Ahead of Earnings Upcoming Earnings Advanced Micro Devices (5/6/2025)American Electric Power (5/6/2025)Constellation Energy (5/6/2025)Marriott International (5/6/2025)Energy Transfer (5/6/2025)Mplx (5/6/2025)Brookfield Asset Management (5/6/2025)Arista Networks (5/6/2025)Duke Energy (5/6/2025)Zoetis (5/6/2025) Get 30 Days of MarketBeat All Access for Free Sign up for MarketBeat All Access to gain access to MarketBeat's full suite of research tools. 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There are 7 speakers on the call. Operator00:00:00Afternoon, everyone, and welcome to the Kopin Corporation Third Quarter 2023 Earnings Call. Please note that this event is being recorded. All lines have been placed on mute to prevent any background noise. And after the speakers' remarks, there will be a question and answer session. I'd like to turn the conference over to Quinn Callahan, Investor Relations for Kopin. Operator00:00:35Please go ahead. Speaker 100:00:37Thank you. Good afternoon, everyone. Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that during today's Call taking place on Thursday, November 9, 2023, we will be making forward looking statements as defined in the Private Securities Litigation Form Act of 1995. These statements are based on the company's current expectations, projections, beliefs and estimates and are subject to a number of risks and of certain uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those forward looking statements. Potential risks include, but are not limited to, demand for our products, operating results of our subsidiaries, Market conditions and other factors discussed in our most recent annual report on Form 10 ks and other documents filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. Speaker 100:01:25Although the company believes that the assumptions underlying these statements are reasonable, any of them can be proven inaccurate and there can be no assurances that the results will be realized. Company undertakes no obligation to update the forward looking statements made during today's call. In addition, references may be made to certain Non generally accepted accounting principles or non GAAP measures for which you should refer to the disclaimers and reconciliation in the company's SEC filings and press releases. Kopin Corporation's Chief Executive Officer, Michael Murray, We'll begin today's call with an overview of Kopin's progress within the company's strategy. Following Michael, Kopin's CFO, Richard Snyder, We'll review the company's 3rd quarter returns. Speaker 200:02:10I would now like to Speaker 100:02:11turn the conference over to Michael Murray. Speaker 300:02:16Thank you, Quinn. Good afternoon to everyone and welcome to our Q3 earnings call. I want to start with a brief explanation for rescheduling Our call, a technical accounting issue was raised on revenue recognition of a development contract that required additional research ensure proper accounting and was resolved earlier today. Moving on, I would like to welcome David Nussma, Who joined our Board of Directors this week. David joins us from Collins Aerospace where he spent over 32 years in several key senior leadership roles And as a former Air Force officer, he understands our customers, our technology and our culture deeply. Speaker 300:02:57We welcome David to the team and believe he will be a great asset for Kopin and our shareholders. Now I'm proud to announce that we've made significant progress on our transformation plan and turned in $10,600,000 in revenue for the quarter. Our 4th consecutive positive book to bill quarter at improved margins. Turning to our first strategic initiative, building the backlog. In the Q3 of 2023, We booked follow on orders of approximately $12,800,000 $3,400,000 and a $1,900,000 NRE order, as well as several smaller orders, which resulted in a book to bill ratio of approximately 2:one for the quarter. Speaker 300:03:43We believe this is a record order level for Kopin over the last 10 years. Our continually growing order book translated into good third quarter revenues at $10,600,000 as compared to $11,700,000 for the Q3 of 2022. Our industrial revenue were down $1,400,000 year over year due to continued weakness in the 3 d automated test market, specifically in China. I'll now introduce Cope and to those who might be less familiar Before diving more deeply into the events of the last quarter, Koppen is the only U. S. Speaker 300:04:23Manufacturer of human AR and VR application specific optical solutions and microdisplays used primarily to provide situational awareness for war fighters, for surgeons and gamers alike. You can find our solutions in weapon sites, armored vehicles, pilot helmet visors and soon Surgical Head Mounted Displays. The heart of these visual systems and solutions is composed of a micro display no larger than the human thumb. Kopin offers 4 different types of microdisplays, our proprietary AMLCD, FL Cos, OLED and MicroLEDs, which are the absolute cutting edge of display technology. Kopin is the vanguard of this technology and has developed a monochrome micro LED and has a color version within reach. Speaker 300:05:15If a micro display is the heart of our application specific Optical solutions, then the software that controls the knobs of the solution, that's the brain. Software will be critical to the next stage in Kopin's growth as we adapt our technologies to each individual unique user. Indeed, our new mission is to adapt technology to the user and not force the user to adapt to the technology. This compares to companies that require users to insert specialized lenses into their displays or systems to adapt that person's vision to the device. Software and artificial intelligence are new endeavors for Kopin and we recognize that we lack certain capabilities to tackle these on our own. Speaker 300:06:02This recognition has led Kopin to partner with MIT CSAIL Lab. This lab is the premier institution of technology and AI development. With this partnership, Kopin is looking to augment our internal software capabilities and to turbocharge our firmware powering All of our products and ultimately resolve the AR induced nausea that currently bedevils users by allowing those knobs of the display to be turned either automatically or by the user. Custom optics and ruggedized solutions and housings Are the eyes and skeletons of an application specific solution? Arrays of custom optical lenses need to work harmoniously with the rugged housing to transmit crystal clear image produced by our microdisplays and that is where Kogan's expertise shines. Speaker 300:06:52The pairing of microdisplays, optics, housings and firmware continue to progress our application specific solutions Far from where we began, but as I mentioned, empowering software and algorithms will drive Koppen into the future. What is missing from this anatomical pairing is the optical nerve that transmits to the brain or the software in this case, what the eye see and what the user needs from the display to reduce eye fatigue, nausea and enhance the user experience. Kopin has the solution to bridge this gap and enable AR and VR marketplaces. We recently patented a revolutionary new display architecture that will be embedded within what we refer to as our neural display. This architecture will feature a non standard RGB pixel setup as in OLED or micro LEDs, but we've added several other elements Including sensors that relay to the firmware what is happening with the user's situational environment, their ergonomics and their eyes. Speaker 300:07:57As an example, are the user eyes dilating quickly, implying that they're in a state of fight or flight? In that case, the display's brightness should go down quickly and contrast must increase. Conversely, if the eyes of the user are reverting normally, the display should react in the opposite direction. This complete chain of heart, brain, optical nerve, eye and skin and skeleton provides the framework That we will allow the future realization of augmented reality's yet unfulfilled promise. Other companies have their own approach to monitoring the status of a user's eyes that rely largely on an array of cameras pointed back at the user. Speaker 300:08:40Our approach incorporates sensors within the display itself, which has the benefit of reducing size, weight, Power consumption, design complexity and ultimately cost. We will provide more information on this platform and our partnerships to deliver it to the market very soon. Now turning to the Q3, we announced a follow on order for 1 of our IP sub assemblies To a Department of Defense prime contractor that integrates our IPs into a very sophisticated augmented reality module. This $12,800,000 follow on order represents a significant increase in year over year volume and revenue from the strategic customer, and we expect significant additional orders shortly for the same product. The order is scheduled for If we receive this expected additional demand, Kopin will potentially ship triple the volume of weapon sites within the calendar year of 2024. Speaker 300:09:47If so, we do not require additional machinery in our plant, but we may need to take additional steps These orders are a result of improved customer relationships, program management focus and the dedication to improving on time in full processes and a great customer who has been very patient and supportive of our transformation plan. We also received a $3,400,000 follow on order for our high brightness liquid crystal display for the F-thirty 5 Joint Strike Fighter program. With the F-thirty five scheduled for production through 2,030, we expect additional orders over the program's life. This follow on order extends our backlog of scheduled deliveries into the Q4 of 2024, providing steady production rates. As we previously stated, the F-thirty five Helmet is scheduled to transition to an OLED display. Speaker 300:10:49We're also in process of finalizing that required production tooling have been told by General Dynamics that Kopin's weapon site program developed under the CEP-four upgrade will continue as planned Since our system reduces size, weight, power consumption, while improving accuracy, We are progressing well against our PPAP milestones and continue to engage with General Dynamics on opportunities for the platform to be integrated into previous upgrade packages and into light armored vehicle programs as well. Now I've said in the past, this year's focus is on returning the operation to cash breakeven levels As a milestone of our transformation plan and we've progressed well against that milestone in Q3, we approach closer to this milestone by improving margins and closely scrutinizing R and D and SG and A, spending by continually focused on what we can control and deliver, and we expect to deliver solid margins and the growth our investors look for. We now have the contracts in place for solid revenue growth and our goal remains to become a more predictable and profitable firm in the coming year. I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, Rich Snyder, To review our results in further detail, over to you, Rich. Speaker 400:12:17Thank you, Michael. Turning to our financial results, total revenues Q3 2023 were $10,600,000 versus $11,700,000 for the prior year, a 10% decrease. Product revenues for the Q1 ended September 30, 2023 were $5,500,000 compared with $8,300,000 for the Q3 ended September 30, 2022. The decrease in product revenues was driven by $1,700,000 or 82% decrease in industrial revenues over the prior year Due to continued weakness in the Chinese 3 d automated test market, defense revenues decreased $800,000 or 14% year over year. Decrease relates to the conclusion of the current purchase order and beginning of the next purchase order. Speaker 400:13:06Funded research and development revenues were $5,100,000 for the Q3 of 2023 compared with $3,500,000 for the Q3 of 2022, a 47% increase. The increase in funded R and D was due largely to a $1,900,000 order related to a thermal weapon site program. Cost of goods sold for the Q3 of 2023 was $5,400,000 or 99 percent of product revenues compared with $8,000,000 or 97 percent for the Q3 of last year, essentially flat. R and D expenses in Funded R and D expense for Q3 2023 was $2,300,000 as compared to $1,800,000 for Q3 2022, which was driven by higher funded R and D revenue. Internal R and D expense for Q3, 2023 was 744,000 as compared to $1,600,000 for the Q3 of 2022. Speaker 400:14:12This reflects the rationalization efforts Michael spoke about. SG and A expenses were $4,800,000 for the Q3 of 'twenty three compared to $4,300,000 in the Q3 of 2022. The SG and A increases for the 3 months ended September 30, 2023 as compared to the 3 months ended September 2022 But primarily due to an increase in legal expenses and non cash stock compensation expenses of approximately $1,700,000 for the Q3 of 'twenty three as compared to $500,000 for the Q3 of 2022. These increases were offset by a decrease Other income was approximately $316,000 for the Q3 of 'twenty three compared with an expense of $2,100,000 for the Q3 of 2022. The Q3 of 'twenty three, we had foreign currency losses of $14,000 as compared to a loss of $112,000 in Q3 2022. Speaker 400:15:26Also in the Q3 of 2022, We recorded non cash mark to market impairment on an equity investment of $2,000,000 Turning to the bottom line, the net loss attributable to Kopin during the 3rd quarter was approximately As Michael mentioned in his opening remarks, when removing the litigation costs and non cash items, we were very close to cash breakeven. Net cash used in operating activities for the 9 months ended September 30, 2023 was approximately $11,800,000 Copeland's cash and marketable securities were approximately 21 point We have no long term debt. The amounts discussed above are based on our current estimates and listeners should review our Form 10 Q for the quarter ended September 30, 23 for any possible changes and of course any additional filings. And with that, I'll turn the call back over to Michael closing remarks. Speaker 300:16:34Thanks, Rich. As evidenced in our Q3 results, our focus continues to be on strengthening our record order book, Achieving higher on time and full rates, cost controls and making the strategic investments in products and people which in the aggregate will improve cash flow and provide long term sustainable profitability and growth. We've also been working very hard on our brand, external marketing and website development efforts And we are ecstatic to announce that we will have a new website to debut very shortly. Looking forward, we are Very fortunate to have world leading and market making customers who are supporting Kopin during this transformational period. We have put tremendous focus on working with our customers to move up the value chain and gain more share of their system and spending. Speaker 300:17:19Furthermore, We have carefully selected new strategic partners and customers to work with and are focused on new opportunities and projects which support our strategic plan. To this end, our opportunity pipeline has grown substantially in the past few quarters. We expect several new customers, Partners and project awards and announcements soon, which will add modestly to our order book, but more importantly will fuel larger returns in the future as these new projects Moving to production. Perhaps the most culturally important transformation is that Kopin remains focused on invention and innovation, but with more focus on cost controls and return on investment. These new inventions discussed today will help drive our innovations that solve our customers' most Our customers and stakeholders, thank you everyone for your time today and for showing interest in Kopin. Speaker 300:18:20I'd like to thank our employees, customers and stakeholders For their continued hard work and support and dedication. And with that operator, I'd like to offer some time to take some questions. Operator00:18:50Okay. Your first question comes from the line of Glenn Mattson from Ladenburg. Your line is open. Speaker 500:18:57Yes. Hi. Thanks for taking the questions guys and congrats on the quarter, especially that strong book to bill. Thanks, Glenn. So curious, I guess, on the just trying to think about how to How you expect it to kind of play out? Speaker 500:19:13I did I realize you have the strong $12,800,000 thermal weapons order. I saw one of your customers announced a couple of days ago they got a large purchase order as well. So I imagine that's where The follow on order that you're talking about might come from? And you mentioned that you may need to do some kind of retooling or whatever the fab. So would that mean downtime in the equipment? Speaker 500:19:39Would there be like a hiccup in the revenue line as you ramp that up? And if and you talked about it maybe in Quarter, but it sounds like it's going to come at some time or another or just can you just flesh out how to best think about that better, Michael? Speaker 300:19:53Sure. So we are expecting additional orders for our thermal weapon site program within the quarter. And if those orders are received, I believe that we'll have to take some time and reconfigure the fab, Clean it and make sure that the bays are operating at the highest levels to be able to extend that throughput. So that's what we're expecting, But we have not seen that follow on orders yet. Speaker 500:20:24Okay. And I guess and so that downtime would lead to Some modest obviously, it's a good problem to have, but maybe a little bit of a lumpiness in terms of the way the revenue comes through? Speaker 300:20:37We think so. It's possible this quarter. We would have to do it this quarter to make sure that we're running at full optimization in January. But we wouldn't require any additional large Capital expense for machinery, it would just be strictly downtime to move some things around and put in the additional jigs and Test benches that we would need. But in the clean room, as you know, once you start moving things around, you want to make sure that you do it, and then clean it thoroughly. Speaker 300:21:10So that would just The downtime of the fab. Right, right. Speaker 500:21:13Okay. Thanks for that color. And then, I just want to hear a little bit more about The new display architecture that you touched on, I think it's the first time we heard about it where you use sensors to kind of get feedback from the user To kind of balance out any whatever type of motion signature type or disruptions he's having when using An AR or VR device or whatever. So, it's an interesting approach. Can you just talk about how you came to Come at it from this angle and I guess there's a lot of different people trying to skin this cat in different ways. Speaker 500:21:51So what makes you think that This is the best approach to go with and just a little more history on how you got to this point and how long it's going to take to develop? Speaker 300:22:02Sure. So I visited many consumer companies here in the United States and Just as many defense companies that are all struggling with the same phenomenon, which is the nausea that some of these systems create. And what I learned was that putting perfect displays in front of imperfect eyes and by the way, my eyes are imperfect from my right to my left. So putting 2 perfect displays in front of my eyes actually makes me feel nauseous. So when we think about AR, We have to make sure that the technology adapts to the human and not force the human to adapt to the technology. Speaker 300:22:38And that's why it's not working, Because essentially the way that you view video specifically and the way I view video is very different. And that's what led us to believe that the display has to change and the display architecture itself isn't going to change that much. But when we looked at the overall system architecture, we realized that there were efficiencies to be made by adding sensors. If you look at my background, I spent a decade at Analog Devices running their high Sensing Group. There was lots of ways that we could improve that. Speaker 300:23:11And also some of the covenants that These devices have broken in consumer electronics size, weight, power consumption, user adaptation, Those are things that are getting AR adoption rates right now. So we took that challenge. We came up with what we call the neural display, Which is an AI powered display and a software defined backplane, which Glenn we already have by the way. Many of our backplanes are already software defined. So we have this capability and we think that we can solve the problems in the ARVR marketplace by those sensor fusion activities that we're embarking upon now. Speaker 300:23:50We're developing some partner networks and partnerships to help us get there. Speaker 400:23:57Great. Speaker 500:23:57Thanks for the evening. I look forward to Operator00:24:07Your next question comes from the line of Kevin Deed from H. C. Wainwright. Your line is open. Speaker 600:24:13Hi, Michael, Rich. Thanks for having me on. I'd like yes, yes. I'd just like to piggyback off Len's question, right? I get the Neuro Display. Speaker 600:24:26Appreciate the detail you've offered on it. Understand your prepared remarks noted a patent. Maybe you could talk a little bit about that and maybe you could talk given your analog device and sensor experience And that sensor capability or software capability embedded in the backplane, maybe you can talk a little bit about Including sensors, the timeline to prototypes And when you think you might be able to get stuff into people's hands? Speaker 300:25:01Great question. Thanks, Kevin. So I'll be Focused on this in 2 ways to answer your question. Number 1, the architecture itself It has been patented. We have 5 patents submitted currently. Speaker 300:25:21There's a 6th Patent that we are submitting shortly and we believe that those patents are going to be the foundation for where the neural display is going to come from. We've been working with 1 very large microdisplay company and We're looking for support from them. We're trying to create an organization with those folks for the consumer market. We're also looking at go to market activities with the defense market and with a specific office and the United States Department of Defense to enable this technology as well. Next year, we're looking at potential funding lines from not only our Consumer companies and customers, we're also looking at potential funding from U. Speaker 300:26:09S. DoD applications as well as potentially some congressional money that we've applied for. So that's where the money is going to come from to support this technology development. And when we see the money come in, we'll see how quickly we can get this in the hands of folks, specifically in the consumer marketplace, Where we have tremendous demand currently. Speaker 600:26:35Okay. Maybe I need to take a different tact on the Questioning line, Michael. So please excuse me. Sure. Obviously, you feel comfortable with the technology development, but How do you think we should look at timelines For you to get a display that incorporates your sensors and You might be able to serve as physical evidence for customers. Speaker 300:27:15Yes, I think we have a pretty targeted approach in that area. I'm going to Defer the question for proof of concept samples until a few more NDAs get signed. Speaker 600:27:30Okay, fair enough. Fair enough. Thank you. Speaker 300:27:35I wish I could give you better answer, Kevin, but Paul, I'll defer for now. Speaker 600:27:40Well, it's just incredibly exciting and I don't know of anyone that's approaching, To paraphrase Glenn, skin in the cat this way, so congratulations on that development. Speaker 300:27:54Thank you. Speaker 600:27:55Pretty strong sequential growth in research and development revenue and up markedly from sort of the past 5 or 6 quarter trend. And I was wondering if you could talk to that a little bit. Is that multiple projects, a big lump in one particular project? Speaker 400:28:20Yes, Kevin, as we mentioned in our prepared remarks, we delivered on a $1,900,000 contract in the quarter. So it was a fairly substantial. Speaker 600:28:36Okay. So I guess you met all your deliverable specifications and you could recognize revenue. Does that mean that project is done? Yes. Okay. Speaker 600:28:51Can you give us a ballpark on, I guess maybe other sort of the span of different DoD development projects you have that might go from LRIP to full production next year? Speaker 400:29:14Well, I'm not sure I understand the question. I mean, FWSI, F-thirty five, all those, Those were several years in development than LRIP. We're working on the Color LED program, that's already been 2 or 3 years in the making and so on and so forth. So these They're fairly long development cycles. Speaker 600:29:42Okay. I Speaker 300:29:46will say Kevin, just to add some color to that. I do expect our Armored Tank Armored Vehicle Program to move through PPAP next year and we expect orders next year that we want to start shipping in terms of production. So once it gets out of PPAP, it basically goes into low rate initial production Pretty much right away. So we're expecting orders for that in 2024. I don't know if we'll be able to deliver in calendar 2024, But that's the goal. Speaker 600:30:23Would that be a press I mean that's exactly where my line of questioning was going, Michael. Would that be, I guess, moving from PPAP to LRIP, is that an event you might press release? Indeed. Okay. Because if I remember the June call, you mentioned that you should have better insight Into the development of that project later this year, which sort of thinking is now, was there Some delay there or is it just bureaucracy? Speaker 300:31:00So the set for upgrade Has been effectively canceled to my understanding. And General Dynamics has been gracious enough to speak with us and provide details of what their plans are, which I can't get into on this call. However, what I can say is we are continuing the PPAP Process, they're very excited about the technology. They're talking about new platforms and old upgrades that we could potentially Utilize this technology for us. So we're all ahead full steam. Speaker 300:31:37So that was great news. And That was what I was worried about in the last call as I wasn't sure what the set for upgrade schedule is going to look like, although I couldn't say anything, but I can now. So that was the reason for, I'd say, the lack of information on the last call. Speaker 600:31:56Okay. Okay. Speaker 300:31:58Hope that helps. Speaker 600:31:59Yes, yes, yes, yes. A couple of more, if I may. This transformation that you've been working so hard on, I would have thought Would begin to show in product margin, but it's not so evident. And so maybe you could help me reset my Expectations on timing? Speaker 500:32:32Sure. Speaker 400:32:33So Kevin, I think it's important to understand that We have multiple sources of revenue and but we have limited resources and so it's always a guns and butter bad pun analogy. If you look if you take our sources of revenue, product revenue and funded R and D and you subtract cost of sales And funded R and D expense, our gross margins this year year to date is about 7,800,000 Which is 150% increase over the prior year. So that's how we don't just look at the gross margin of the product because in many respects the fab is dual function and so that's one of the things that's got to be done. We got to Manage both aspects of it. They're all running through the same facility. Speaker 400:33:28We have an engineering group. So that's how we're looking at it. The overall absolute dollars has increased by 150% over the prior year to 9 months. Speaker 300:33:40And I'll add to that, Kevin. It's an important question. And one of the things that we've been messaging is, Our old existing contracts that were sole sourced and were on firm fixed prices, those or either running out or ending and we're replacing them with new contracts with new pricing that is More advantageous for Kopin and I think you'll see a gross margin lift there because we did have Conversations with our customers around price increases due to inflation, due to scope creep, due to lots of different things that have happened over the course of the last few years. And as we reported in our remarks today is that we did increase prices on several programs. Speaker 600:34:31Past report. So thank you, gentlemen. The other thing I'm wondering, I guess, just from sort of a cash use perspective Was that inventories are up and I'm just looking sequentially, Rich. Inventories are up, contract assets are up. And I'm wondering Speaker 300:34:57if Speaker 600:35:00you're building in advance of The FWSI and the F-thirty five production? Speaker 400:35:11Yes. So the contract assets are up. We completed, as you saw, funded R and D Revenue was up in the quarter. We completed it. So that's associated with the receivables that we need to collect on those assets. Speaker 400:35:26But yes, I mean, Inventory is up because of the projected growth for next year. Speaker 100:35:34Okay. Speaker 400:35:35The reality is lead times are still out there For many of the parts that we need FPGAs and things like that. And so we're getting in what we can when we can get it Make sure we have full production. Speaker 600:35:51Okay. Gave us an update on Abrams, on FWSI and update on the F-thirty 5, but how about the common helmet mounted display? Speaker 400:36:06Yes, I mean that the Elbit program just keeps rolling along. Speaker 600:36:21Are those things what is contributing to your backlog? And how would you compare your backlog At the end of September versus the end of June? Speaker 400:36:33So it's a really interesting question. We have historically been very conservative and said that backlog as our understanding of definition is that it is Non cancelable. And so to the extent that we have purchase orders, which historically we've allowed companies either move to the right or frankly never we don't take delivery. We don't include those in backlog. But if you look at our footnotes, which should be filed in our 10 ks tomorrow, you'll see performance obligations are up, which is a proxy for backlog. Speaker 400:37:20But that number, Technically, we have more orders than we're actually showing there. But as I said, we don't put things there that Frankly, we might allow someone to cancel. So it's not exactly the right number. Speaker 600:37:37Is that you say they're up, that's up versus June versus Not September 22? Speaker 400:37:44Yes. Speaker 600:37:45Okay. Well, thank you gentlemen for indulging me. Sorry if I pushed it too far, but I really appreciate you working with me on it. Thank you. Speaker 300:37:56No problem, Kevin. Thank you. Operator00:38:00Your next question comes from the line of Victor Santiago from Stifel. Your line is open. Speaker 200:38:07Hi, guys. Thank you for taking my questions and congrats on the quarter. Just On the nice gross margin improvement, was there anything in particular that drove the sequential improvement? Or is that just a function of your ongoing improved execution? And Also is that level sustainable on a go forward basis or could we see that fluctuate a bit in the near term? Speaker 400:38:32It is a function of price increase and we have been able to drive raw materials costs down. It will fluctuate based on mix, because as Michael indicated, some products we're still rolling out And we don't have the new prices associated with them yet. So we probably won't really achieve good stability until Q1 of next year. And then after that, we would expect to see progression, consistent progression quarter to quarter. Speaker 200:39:05Got it. Thank you. And then, just I guess lastly on the hoping to get your updated thoughts on the or updated thoughts on the timeline of the ongoing lawsuit. Are you guys still expecting similar elevated legal expenses in Q4 and into Q1? And then also is the trial still set for Q1? Speaker 400:39:26Yes. The trial is currently set for late January. There is a couple of events that will occur in the early part of December, and so we may see a slight elevation in expense in December, not to the level that we had in Q2 though. And then, frankly, in 8 to 10 weeks, hopefully, we have a very positive answer. Operator00:40:08There are no further questions at this time. I'll now turn the call back over to Michael Murray for any closing remarks. Speaker 300:40:16Thank you, operator. To everyone that joined, thank you very much for your interest in Kopin. To our friends, family, investors, customers, Happy holidays and we look forward to our next call. Take care.Read morePowered by