Dolby Laboratories Q3 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 3, 2023

There are 7 speakers on the call.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, thank you for standing by. Welcome to Adobe Laboratories Conference Call discussing fiscal 3rd quarter results. During the presentation, all participants will be in a listen only mode. Afterwards, you will be invited to participate in a question and answer session. Star 1 on your telephone.

Operator

As a reminder, this call is being recorded Thursday, August 3, 2023. I would now like to turn the conference call over to Liz Krakowski from Adobe Laboratories. Please go ahead, Liz.

Speaker 1

Good afternoon, and welcome to Dolby Laboratories' 3rd quarter 2023 earnings conference call. Joining me today are Kevin Yeman, Dolby Laboratories' CEO and Robert Park, the CFO. As a reminder, Today's discussion will include forward looking statements, including our Q4 and fiscal 2023 outlook and our assumptions underlying that outlook. These statements are subject to risks and uncertainties that may cause actual results to differ materially from statements made today, Including, among other things, the impact of current macroeconomic issues, ongoing supply chain issues, inflation, changes in consumer spending and geopolitical instability on our business and other risks and uncertainties specific to our business. A discussion of these and additional risks and uncertainties can be found in the earnings press release that we issued today under the section and forward looking statements as well as in the Risk Factors section of our most recent quarterly Form 10 Q.

Speaker 1

Dolby assumes no obligation and does not intend to update any forward looking statements made during the call as a result of new information or future events. During today's call, we will discuss non GAAP financial measures. A reconciliation between GAAP and non GAAP financial measures is available in our earnings press release and in the Interactive Analyst Center on their Investor Relations section of our website. So with that introduction behind us, Kevin, let's get started. What are you seeing in the business?

Speaker 2

Well, Q3 came in about where we expected and our outlook for the year is in line with what we shared last quarter. What we're focused on every day is driving towards sustainable double digit growth by bringing more Adobe experiences to more people and more types of content. With our foundational audio technologies, we have a diversified base and we continue to work to strengthen our position across each of our end markets. Over the long term having this diversified base of revenues is a very strong position to be in. As it relates to Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and Imaging patents, We're focused on the design wins that drive long term growth.

Speaker 2

And our three areas of focus continue to be movies and TV, music including automotive and user generated content.

Speaker 3

And if I take a

Speaker 2

step back, there's just never been a time where we're seeing greater demand for entertainment content and that's

Speaker 1

On the focus areas you just mentioned, can you talk about progress with movies and TV?

Speaker 2

Yes. So with movies and TV, We're focused on driving adoption across all your living room devices and beyond PCs, mobile devices. And driving that demand starts with being a part of the content that people care most about. We partner with the top creators who are passionate about continuing to push the boundaries on the experience that they're creating. There's been a lot of excitement this quarter around the summer's blockbusters in the cinema.

Speaker 2

Moviegoers can enjoy both Barbie and Oppenheimer in Dolby Cinema. We have a strong presence across movies and TV and that includes sports. And sports is an area where we continue to make progress. Sports is of course a big demand driver for devices particularly TVs. Many of you likely love the same sports team today that you did 10 or 25 years ago.

Speaker 2

And these events are what bring communities together. People are emotionally attached to these experiences and they want to have the best experience however they watch in their game or their match. This quarter, sports fans were able to enjoy the French Open and Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos, Wimbledon and Dolby Atmos on Sky Germany and the UEFA championship games, including the finals where Man City took home the win are available in Dolby Atmos. On the service side, Max launched their top tier service Max Ultimate with Dolby Atmos and Dolby Vision. So now consumers can enjoy more content in Dolby across services including HBO, discovery and Warner Brothers.

Speaker 2

As we've talked about, regional streaming partners and local OEMs are a significant part of the market. And so we continue to focus on increasing our presence. And this quarter TCL, who earlier this year announced that Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos will be included in all of their new 4 ks TV models in the U. S, announced that they are expanding Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos into all of their regional models in India. Acer launched a local line of TVs with Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos TVs in India, and we added our 1st pay TV partner in Vietnam.

Speaker 2

So we continue to make good progress with these regional providers. We're focused on expanding further into the lineups with our global partners and that's what continues to drive growth in this area.

Speaker 1

Can you talk about what you're seeing with music?

Speaker 2

Yes. Once again, it all starts with content. And globally, the library of songs in Dolby Atmos from artists across genres continues to grow. And just this quarter, we added the Beach Boys, Snoop Dogg and many more. More than 85% of the global Billboard top 100 artists continue to create music in Dolby Atmos and we're expanding further into regional content.

Speaker 2

This quarter, Wink Music, a free streaming service available to India Airtel's 360,000,000 subscribers announced that they are going to support Dolby Atmos Music. We now have 3 of the top 5 streaming services in India and there are thousands of songs by local artists available in Dolby Atmos from the biggest music labels including Seregama, T Series and Yash Raj Films. Expanding local music catalogs and Dolby most music is important because it brings more consumers into the Dolby Atmos music experience and it creates more value for our hardware partners, which creates for us the opportunity to gain adoption across a much wider range of devices that includes sound bars, phones, smart speakers and particularly automotive anywhere that consumers enjoy music.

Speaker 1

You just mentioned several device categories where you're driving growth with Dolby Atmos Music. Can you talk more about bringing the Dolby Atmos music experience to the car?

Speaker 2

Yes. From the early days when we first started demonstrating Dolby Atmos music, one of the questions we always got whether it was artists or music labels is, are we going to be able to have this experience in the car? Because people love their music experience in the car and it's the perfect environment for Dolby Atmos Music. And our partners continue to add more models across more markets, which is increasing the availability of Dolby Atmos to consumers. Nearly half of our partners now have multiple car models with Dolby Atmos.

Speaker 2

This quarter, NIO and Lotus, which started in the domestic Chinese market, have now launched cars in Europe. And Mercedes has over a dozen car models available with Dolby Atmos and they continue to add and ship more models globally. So in just over 2 years, we went from our first announcement to having 9 car manufacturers and it's still early days. Our current partners are still ramping up and we continue to engage with more auto manufacturers.

Speaker 1

Today, you talked about the growing demand for different types of content. What are you seeing with user generated content?

Speaker 2

Well, with user generated content, more and more people are able to unleash their creativity and their storytelling. And It's increasing the amount and the types of content. And by bringing the power of Dolby Vision, we're enabling people to capture the experience that inspires them and to share those videos in the most realistic and lifelike way. We have great momentum in China where people can create and share their stories on social media platforms that include WeChat, Bilibili and QQ. From a device perspective, Dolby Vision Capture is a part of iOS globally.

Speaker 2

And with Android, we have our first device wins with Xiaomi, Oppo and Vivo. This quarter, India's largest short video platform, Mojo, became our latest social media platform to adopt Dolby Vision. It has more than 300,000,000 subscribers, and they can now create and share their stories in Dolby Vision with their iOS devices or their Xiaomi phones. We also added a partner in Singapore this quarter. Vidci is a short film video platform that now supports Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

Speaker 2

So their global community of storytellers can now create and share films in Dolby. And Motorola became our latest partner to announce and start shipping their 1st Dolby Vision playback phone. Growing our user generated content ecosystem is all about continuing to expand further, the services, giving access to creators to create in Dolby and that's what creates more demand for our device partners to expand further into their lineups and of course to bring on new partners.

Speaker 1

As you look beyond movies and TV, music and user generated content, what else is the team working on?

Speaker 2

Well, of course, we're really excited about the areas we just Sony made an announcement about PlayStation 5 and Dolby Atmos. As it relates to Dolby IO, we're seeing a lot of interest and online immersive experiences, personalized experiences that have the promise of increasing audience engagement. In particular, our ability to provide high quality audio and video streamed in ultra low latency along with the ability to have natural sounding conversations between participants opens up a possibility of new experiences tremendous amount of innovation on both content creation and storytelling. And those storytellers are always looking to push the boundaries of stories they can tell. And of course, we see the same thing with our hardware partners who are looking to push the boundaries of what's possible.

Speaker 2

And that's what creates opportunities for us. We're always hard at work reinventing what it means to have Adobe experience and bringing the experiences that are most important people to life.

Speaker 1

Kevin, do you want to do a quick wrap up before Robert comes on to talk about the numbers?

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, this is our passion. It's enabling artists and the creator and all of us to tell better stories and to bring out the full emotion of those experiences. There's been a significant increase in the amount of content available to us as consumers. There are more types of content.

Speaker 2

There are more ways to enjoy that content. There's more ways to receive and experience that content. And across the board that's what creates opportunities for Dolby to make a difference in each of those experiences and all the ways in which they're delivered. So we're going to continue to focus on raising the bar on the quality of those experiences. We've been doing that for decades and I'm confident in the growth opportunities ahead.

Speaker 1

Thanks, Kevin. Robert, can you walk us through the financials for the quarter?

Speaker 3

Of course. Before we get into the details, I'd like to highlight a couple of things. First, Total revenue of $298,000,000 was in line with the guidance we provided last quarter. 2nd, based on what we're seeing today, revenue outlook for the year is expected to range from $1,285,000,000 to $1,315,000,000 This results in 2% to 5% growth year over year, also in line with what we shared last quarter. With that as context, let's turn to the details for Q3.

Speaker 3

Q3 revenue of $298,000,000 was up 3% year over year. Licensing revenue was $273,000,000 Up 1% year over year. Growth in our Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and Imaging patent category, primarily in other markets, PC and broadcast, more than offset lower revenue from foundational audio category, primarily in mobile, CE and PC. Products and services revenue was $25,000,000 As a reminder, our licensing business is based on unit shipments. We also have transactions that reflect revenue from units shipped in prior periods, which we call recoveries and minimum volume commitments were all or a portion of the revenue for a given period is recognized upfront.

Speaker 3

These transactions are all related to unit shipments and the only difference is timing. Broadcast represented about 38% of total licensing in Q3 2023, up $4,000,000 or 4% year over year with higher revenue from minimum volume commitments and imaging patents. Revenue from foundational technologies were roughly flat and higher recoveries offsetting lower revenue from unit shipments and minimum volume commitments. Mobile represented about 18% of total licensing in Q3 Q3 2023, down $13,000,000 or 20% on a year over year basis, driven by lower revenue from minimum volume commitments, primarily impacting foundational technologies. PC represented about 11% of total licensing in Q3 'twenty three, Up $3,000,000 or 9% on a year over year basis, driven by higher revenue from minimum volume commitments and imaging patents, partially offset by lower unit shipments, primarily impacting foundational technologies.

Speaker 3

Consumer Electronics represented about 13% of total licensing in Q3 'twenty three, down $4,000,000 or 11% on a year over year basis, driven primarily by lower unit shipments of soundbars and DMAs, primarily impacting foundational technologies. Other markets represented about 20% of total licensing in Q3 'twenty three, up $15,000,000 or 36% on a year over year basis, driven by higher patent pool admin fees related to imaging patents, a higher true up in gaming and increased adoption of Dolby Atmos and auto. Now let's turn to expenses and margins. Total non GAAP gross margin in the 3rd quarter was 87% of revenue versus 88% in the Q3 of last year due to higher mix of products and services revenue. Non GAAP operating expenses in the 3rd quarter were $193,000,000 compared to $179,000,000 in the Q3 of fiscal year 2022.

Speaker 3

The increase was primarily driven by higher labor, timing of patent program sent and higher travel. During the quarter, we recorded a non GAAP restructuring charge of about $17,000,000 in the quarter comprised of severance and related benefits along with charges related to the exit of a lease facility as we continue to align resources to our most impactful opportunities and optimize our geo footprint. Non GAAP operating income was $65,000,000 or 22 percent of revenue compared to 26% of revenue in Q3 of last year. The non GAAP income tax rate was 25.6% compared to 13.9% in Q3 of last year, which included more discrete items in this year. Net income on a non GAAP basis was $54,000,000 or $0.55 per diluted share compared to 69,000,000 or $0.68 per diluted share in Q3 of last year.

Speaker 3

During the Q3, we generated $121,000,000 in cash from operations During the Q3, we bought back about 295,000 shares of our common stock and ended the quarter with 237,000,000 stock repurchase authorization available going forward. We also announced today a cash dividend of $0.27 per share. The dividend will be payable on August 22, 2023 to shareholders of record on August 14, 2023.

Speaker 1

Thank you, Robert. With that, let's turn to FY 2023 guidance.

Speaker 3

We continue to operate in a challenging and uncertain environment. For the full year fiscal 2023, we continue to expect that our revenue from foundational audio technologies will decline low single digits year over year, reflecting lower unit shipments in PC, CE, broadcast and mobile, consistent with what we've said previously. We are on track to hit our target of 15% to 25% growth in Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and Imaging Patents, driven by growth in broadcast and other markets. We expect this will more than offset the declines in foundational audio that we are expecting. With these assumptions, our full year 2023 revenue expenses expected to range from $1,285,000,000 to $1,315,000,000 Within this, we anticipate licensing revenue to range from 1,185,000,000 to $1,210,000,000 with growth in other markets and broadcast driven by Dolby Atmos, Dolby Vision and Imaging patents outpacing the decline in PC and CE, primarily impacting revenue from foundational technologies.

Speaker 3

Products and services revenue is expected to range from $100,000,000 to $105,000,000 Non GAAP gross margin is estimated to be roughly 88%. Non GAAP operating expenses are expected to range from $760,000,000 to 770,000,000 We continue to be disciplined with our spend and review our resource envelope and allocation on a regular basis. We expect operating margins

Speaker 4

to $3.50

Speaker 1

Thanks, Robert. Any closing thoughts before we open it up for questions?

Speaker 3

Of course. We continue to make progress, are confident in our long term growth opportunities and believe the fundamentals of Dolby's durable operating model, balance sheet and cash flows remain strong.

Speaker 1

All right. With that, we are ready for questions, operator.

Operator

Question and answer

Speaker 2

session.

Operator

To be fair to all participants. We ask that you limit yourself to one question and a follow-up question and to all participants have had a chance in the 1st round. If time allows, we will then come back to answer any remaining questions. We'll pause for just a moment to rearrange the queue. Our first question comes from Ralph Schallper from William Blair.

Operator

Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Good afternoon. Thanks for taking

Speaker 5

the question. Kevin, just maybe on the macro, if you just kind of take a step back, where you're sitting today, maybe relative to, let's say, last quarter? And perhaps if you could sort of go back to when you provided the initial outlook for this fiscal year, how would you sort of characterize the macro now versus when you provide your that outlook as well?

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, I think When we entered the year, we expected that we would see lower unit shipments across a number of our end markets, Philly PC and mobile and that's what we've seen play out. So I guess I would say some of the things we're expecting at the beginning of the year have transpired. And as I look to where we are on macro now. We're it's encouraging to see economists and pundits increasingly giving chances for a soft landing in the U.

Speaker 2

S. At the same time, when we're talking to our partners, particularly in areas like mobile or PC, I would say they're still understandably cautious. It's been dynamic period of time and they're still working through some of those issues. And of course, we're a global company. So the real feel of the economic environment differs depending on where you are.

Speaker 5

Okay, great. And then just looking at products and services gross margin, looks like there's a little break in trend there. Just curious what's driving that?

Speaker 3

Hey, Ralph. It's Robert here. In terms of product service gross margin, in the Q3, the lower gross margins attributable to higher excess and obsolete reserves in the quarter. But if you look at in terms of the full year, it should be closer to mid teens. We're not quite back to what I'd say the pre pandemic levels.

Speaker 3

That's what we'd like to get back to. But in the current period, the volumes are lower than they were in the pre pandemic levels. They are slightly depressed.

Operator

Our next question comes from Steven Frankel from Rosenblatt Securities. Please go ahead.

Speaker 6

Last quarter, I think one of the dynamics was some of the deals kind of got pulled in and signed earlier than expected. What's the environment like now if you go to do annual negotiations with some of these larger customers. Are you seeing them wanting to push back and take their time? Or do you think the decision making patterns are going to return to normal?

Speaker 2

That's a tough one to generalize, Steve. I think even last quarter we observed in the latter part of last year, we had some deals that took longer and then the first half of this year we had some deals that came in earlier in the year. It really is facts and circumstances based where what's the partner, what's the what are they prioritizing, what's their dynamic. But of course, all of that is considered into our guidance for the quarter the year, which is coming in about in line with what we expected when we last spoke. I think stepping back a level, what we're really focused on is the demand signals around our key focus areas.

Speaker 2

And on that front, We've been able to add the partners we're seeking to add for Dolby Vision Capture in mobile with this year, including Oppo, Vivo and Xiaomi. We've continued to add auto partners and we've continued to make progress in TV, particularly with some of the regional partners. India was a highlight again this quarter. So the demand is there and I don't think I can generalize on deal timing except that it can always vary and the climate is about what we expected it would be.

Speaker 6

Okay. And so there was a big step up in goodwill and intangibles for the quarter. Was that related to managing IP pools or is there something else that you acquired in the quarter?

Speaker 3

Hey, Steve. Yes, the step up in intangibles and goodwill is related to the acquisition we talked about last quarter, which was MPEG LA, to strengthen and diversify our imaging patent portfolio.

Speaker 6

I think that's that. I just wanted to make sure. And then what were true ups in the quarter and were there any material recoveries in the quarter that you would call out?

Speaker 3

Hey, Steve. Yes. The true ups are really impact this quarter positive about $1,000,000 So nothing really to note in terms of our true ups from last quarter's volume. Of course, they vary by end device, but overall, it's about $1,000,000

Speaker 6

Okay. And then there's a noticeable decrease pace of the buyback versus last year. So what does that say about your capital allocation strategy going forward?

Speaker 3

Yes. Steve, With respect to the buyback, what we've said is our policy is really to at least offset dilution from stock based compensation. And that's what you're seeing we're doing right now is executing on that plan. Last year was a little accelerated or heightened level of buyback, but for this year, we're kind of going with the policy of offsetting our dilution.

Speaker 6

Okay. And then on the restructuring, can you give us any details on kind of what particular areas you were deemphasizing or projects you might be pulling people off of versus areas where you're investing?

Speaker 2

Most of it, Steve, it was across a range of areas and they were areas that we identified for efficiency across a broad range of areas. I wouldn't attribute to any one project or initiative, some of it was facilities related. And so nothing that is directly certainly no nothing as it relates to a change in any of the business focus areas we've been talking about.

Operator

Our next question comes from Jim Goss from Dougherty. Please go ahead.

Speaker 4

Hi. I don't I got on a couple of moments late, so maybe I missed this, but I didn't hear a lot of comments about music. And I'm wondering if there were any further developments in that particular application?

Speaker 2

Yes. We talked about the fact that we continue to add artists and songs, great momentum on the artist side. We did add new service in India, Wink, which We now have 3 of the top music services in India and a large catalog of vocal music with 3 major labels. So on the content and services side, a lot of progress. That's what creates the demand for the device side and all the ways that people experience music.

Speaker 2

And then on that front, we noted that NIO and Lotus, who had initially launched in China, have now launched in Europe, Mercedes launched more models. So and we continue to have strong engagement, a strong pipeline for bringing more auto manufacturers on board.

Speaker 4

Okay. Are you seeing these applications is having any significant impact in terms of any of the licensing revenues or any other way?

Speaker 2

Yes. Well, if we look at it on it's always best for us to look at this on an annual basis. And automotive has consistently been one of the categories, Robert, highlights as a driver of 1 of the categories Robert highlights as a driver of increases in other markets. And that's that really is a result of Dolby Atmos in cars. Other areas for music, of course, or soundbar, speakers, etcetera, that falls in our CE category, which on the foundational side has lower unit volumes this year, but then that's being partially offset or being yes, that's being offset to some extent by increased adoption of Atmos and Vision and some of that would be driven by music.

Speaker 4

Okay. Is that gaming another 20% roughly equally split them between gaming and automotive?

Speaker 2

We haven't broken the categories Yes, but it is as you point out, it's gaming, it's automotive, it's Dolby Cinema that to contribute to that category, also our patent administrator fees licensing pools. So those are the categories and when they rise to individually large enough then that's when we would make it a category of its own.

Speaker 4

You're very focused on Atmos and Vision, which you should be obviously and that's Increased penetration is driving the company right now. We always look for the next big thing. Are there any things more that can be done in terms of sound quality and placement that their immortals are probably not considering right now. It always seems that something might come along. And I'm just wondering if your engineers are developing things that might not be obvious on the surface that could create that extra category or even a nuance that can command some higher royalty rates in the future, say, with the top level products?

Speaker 2

They're always focused on the next thing. We just had our Tech Summit a couple of weeks ago and it's combination of tech talks, kind of a hackathon, if you will, of top ideas. And what they're doing that week and hopefully what they're doing year and I believe what they're doing year round is, yes, they're looking at the current state of technology, the future state of technology, what types of experience is that going to make possible. Obviously, we engage across the ecosystem, whether it's creators, content owners and distributors and where hardware manufacturers are pushing the boundaries and looking to solve the problems that are going to pave the way for that next set of experiences. And in that respect, There's a lot of things that go into that equation of the types of things you're thinking about whether it's where AR and VR take us, what the implications of AR AI are.

Speaker 2

But that's what they are always thinking about. And yes, we have a lot of things we're

Operator

I will now turn the call over to Kevin for closing remarks.

Speaker 2

Okay, great. Well, thank you everybody for joining us today and we look forward to updating you again soon. Fiscal.

Operator

Ladies and gentlemen, that concludes today's call. Thank you for all joining. You may now disconnect.

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Key Takeaways

  • Dolby reported Q3 revenue of $298 million, up 3% year-over-year, and reiterated its full-year 2023 outlook of $1.285 billion to $1.315 billion, expecting low-single-digit declines in foundational audio to be offset by 15–25% growth in Dolby Atmos, Vision and imaging patents.
  • The company expanded its movies & TV footprint with Dolby Cinema screenings of blockbuster titles (Barbie, Oppenheimer), live sports broadcasts in Dolby Vision/Atmos (French Open, Wimbledon, UEFA finals), and new OEM partnerships in India and Vietnam.
  • In music & automotive, Dolby added legacy artists (Beach Boys, Snoop Dogg) and regional streaming partners in India, while nearly half of its auto partners now offer multiple Dolby Atmos car models, including NIO, Lotus in Europe, and Mercedes.
  • Growth in user-generated content continued as Dolby Vision capture rolled out on iOS globally and Android devices (Xiaomi, Oppo, Vivo), with major social media adopters Mojo (India) and Vidci (Singapore) enabling creators to share Dolby-quality videos.
  • Looking ahead, Dolby is pursuing new immersive experiences via Dolby I/O low-latency audio/video streaming and partnerships like PlayStation 5, while executing a $17 million restructuring to optimize resources and maintain disciplined cost management.
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Earnings Conference Call
Dolby Laboratories Q3 2023
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