Markforged Q2 2024 Earnings Call Transcript

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August 8, 2024

There are 6 speakers on the call.

Operator

Greetings, and welcome to the Mark Ford Second Quarter 20 24 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen only mode. A brief question and answer session will follow the formal presentation. As a reminder, this conference is being recorded. It is now my pleasure to introduce your host, Austin Bowleg, Director of Investor Relations.

Operator

Thank you, Austin. You may begin.

Speaker 1

Good afternoon. I'm Austin Bolig, Director of Investor Relations of Mark Ford Tolling Corporation. Welcome to our Q2 of 2024 results conference call. We will be discussing the results announced in our earnings press release issued after market close today. With me on the call is our President and CEO, Shay Turem and CFO, Azaf Sipori.

Speaker 1

Before we get started, I'd like to remind everyone that management will be making statements during this call that include estimates and other forward looking statements, which are made pursuant to the Safe Harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Any statements contained in this call that are not statements of historical facts should be deemed to be forward looking statements. These statements represent management's views as of today, August 8, 2024, and are subject to material risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially. Description of these risks and uncertainties and other factors that could affect our financial results and performance are included in our SEC filings, including in our most recent annual report on Form 10 ks for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2023, and subsequent quarter reports on our Form 10 Q, which may be obtained on the SEC's website and on our Investor Relations website. Markforged disclaims any intention or obligation, except as required by law, to update or revise forward looking statements.

Speaker 1

Also during the course of today's call, we refer to certain non GAAP financial measures. These non GAAP measures should be considered as a supplement to and not a substitute for our GAAP financial measures. There is a reconciliation schedule showing the GAAP versus non GAAP results currently available in our press release issued after market close today, which can also be found on our Investor Relations website at investors. Markforge.com. I'll now turn the call over to Shai Turem, President and CEO of Markforged.

Speaker 2

Thank you, Austin, and thank you everyone for joining us on our Q2 2024 earnings call. We demonstrated strong execution in Q2, while effectively navigating industry sector challenges. We remain encouraged by the market response to our new products. The positive feedback and growing pipeline underscore the strength of our newest innovations and our ability to meet the needs of our manufacturing customers. As we look ahead to the second half of the year, we see a restoration of growth driven by the continued rollout of our newest platform innovations, the FX10, FX20, PX100 and new materials.

Speaker 2

To maximize our cash resources and best enable us to achieve sustainable growth, we're implementing a $25,000,000 cost reduction initiative that we expect will reduce our annual operating expenses run rate to approximately $70,000,000 in 2025. These cost reduction actions have been initiated and we expect to be completed by the end of the year. We have a strong product line and these cost reductions are not expected to compromise our ability to grow and keep us on a sustainable growth trajectory. In Q2, we also accelerated shipments of the FX10, underscoring the product's innovative features and superior capabilities for printing mission critical parts for the factory floor. We entered Q3 with a robust pipeline and intend to release additional capabilities, which increases our confidence that this momentum will continue to drive growth in the second half of the year.

Speaker 2

We also launched 2 new materials, Onyx FR flame retardant and Vega with high temperature continuous fiber. These new materials further expand the capabilities of the Digital Forge and especially the FX20, which will help our manufacturing customers to solve even more applications on the factory floor. We believe these innovations amplify the capabilities of our newest platforms and will support the increased adoption and growth. I'm also excited to announce that we have successfully shipped the first PX100 in Q2, marking a significant milestone in our company's journey. This milestone is the combination of extensive development and rigorous testing to ensure we deliver high quality, innovative solutions to our customers.

Speaker 2

Our customers believe in the PX-one hundred's potential to set new standards in highly regulated markets, such as automotive, medical, aerospace and luxury goods, thereby supporting Markforged's future growth. We remain on plan to ship additional units in the second half of this year. Our customers across the world increasingly recognize the Digital Forge as a powerful platform to reduce cost and improve manufacturing operations. Parison Corporation, which design and deliver custom automation and robotic systems to manufacturers provides a good example. A prominent American snack food company engaged Farson to automate the collection and transport of small food product line.

Speaker 2

When conventional manufacturing approached proved incapable of meeting their customers' needs, Firestone's team turned to the digital forge to boost design flexibility and production opportunities. Farson produced over 80 small package containers that were production ready for the packaging line, while meeting a lean manufacturing budget for the customer. This is just one of many examples of how Farson is solving its customer packaging challenges with the digital forge. Another example is with Sunturi Product Limited, a leading global company specializing in the production of premium non alcoholic beverages, which also solves manufacturing challenges using the Digital Forge. They have logged over 12000 hours with the Digital Forge, producing over 1,000 parts such as jigs for tube replacement for a fraction of the cost of traditional sourcing.

Speaker 2

Success at the Haruna plant led to expansion across Santuri products and the entire Santuri Group, enhancing productivity and innovation at multiple sites. Driven by innovative new products as well as robust utilization rates across our growing installed base, we are on plan to return to growth in the second half of the year. There is a massive opportunity to help manufacturers bring industrial production to the point of need, and we remain confident that Markforged offers the best solution. With effective cost controls, prudent cash management and our new product lines, we remain excited about the future of the company and our ability to continue to drive the adoption of additive manufacturing on the factory floor. With that, I now turn the call over to Assaf Pippori, our CFO, who will offer more details on our financial performance and guidance for the remainder of the year.

Speaker 3

Thank you, Shay, and good evening, everyone. I will now be covering our financial results for the Q2 of 2024 and the outlook for the full year. Please note that my comments reflect our non GAAP results and outlook. For your reference, our earnings press release issued earlier this afternoon and posted to our Investor Relations website includes our GAAP to non GAAP reconciliations to assist with my commentary. Revenue for Q2 was $21,700,000 compared to $25,400,000 in the Q2 of 2023.

Speaker 3

Our revenue performance was largely driven by lower system revenue, which continues to be impacted by tough market conditions with high interest rates. Gross margins for the quarter was 51.9%, up 3.6% from the Q2 of 2023. This margin expansion was driven by operational efficiencies and product mix. Operating expenses were $23,300,000 in the second quarter 2024, down from CAD26.6 million in the Q2 of 2023. This improvement is a result of our ongoing efforts to reduce operating expenses and optimize our cash utilization.

Speaker 3

As we previously highlighted, we initiated an approximately 25,000,000 dollars annualized cost reduction initiative that is expected to reduce our annual OpEx run rate to approximately $70,000,000 in 2025. We expect savings to begin to be realized in Q3 2024 with the cost reduction program almost entirely completed by the end of the year 2024. I also want to note that in Q3, we reached an agreement to terminate the lease agreement covering our previous headquarters location in Watertown, Massachusetts. As consideration for the lease termination, we made a one time payment of $2,750,000 to the landlord avoiding approximately $600,000 of rent in 2024 and we expect to save a cumulative additional amount of approximately $6,200,000 in 2025 and beyond. Our operating loss for the quarter was $12,000,000 dollars an improvement from $14,300,000 in the Q2 of 2023.

Speaker 3

Net loss in the Q2 of 2024 was $10,800,000 an improvement from a loss of $12,500,000 in Q2 2023. 2nd quarter loss per share was $0.05 based on our weighted average shares outstanding for the quarter of 201,300,000. Our net cash used in operating activities in the 1st 6 months of 2024 was 21,900,000 dollars which is an improvement of approximately 29% from the 1st 6 months of 2023. We expect our cash utilized in operations to improve throughout 2025 as a result of higher revenues, gross margin expansion, cost saving initiatives and working capital efficiencies. Our cash and cash equivalents, including restricted cash, were $93,900,000 at the end of Q2, down from $109,400,000 from the end of Q1.

Speaker 3

Our restricted cash includes $19,100,000 to cover certain liabilities associated with the continuous composites lawsuit and the judgment of $17,300,000 in monetary damages, plus $1,800,000 of interest for the pre judgment period and the expected duration of the appeal process. We expect these funds will remain in restricted cash as we continue to explore and pursue all available options with respect to the continuous composites matter, including seeking to overturn the verdict through the appeal process. Following the verdict, Continuous Composites also asserted through post trial motions claims for royalty payments for sales of certain products manufactured and or sold in the United States after December 31, 2023. We anticipate a ruling on the post trial royalty claim to occur during the second half of twenty twenty four. As we note in our 10 Q filing for the period ended June 30, 2024, filed today with the SEC and available on our Investor Relations website.

Speaker 3

We estimated the loss contingency related to continuous composites royalty payments claims to be in the range of $0,000,000 to $2,700,000 for the 6 months ended June 30, 2024. In accordance with applicable accounting standards and guidance, we recorded no accrual for Q2 because the low end of this range was estimated to be 0 and we believe that no amount within this range was a better estimate than any other amount. These estimates were based on the information available to us at the time of assessment. As additional information becomes available or there are future developments in the case, we may reassess the potential liability related to this matter and may revise our estimates. In the event continuous composites post trial royalty payment claims are successful and royalties are awarded, we expect the court's remedy to be a fixed fee assessment of royalty payments for each machine sold and or manufactured in the United States after December 31, 2023.

Speaker 3

That includes our carbon fiber reinforcement technology. In the near term, we would expect royalty payments if awarded to result in a 5 to 7 percentage point reduction in our gross margins. There may be additional impacts as well, which are discussed in our Form 10 Q filing for the period ended June 30, 2024, a copy of which is available on our Investor Relations website. As discussed previously, we continue to strongly disagree with the verdict in the continuous composite case and the associated post trial royalty claims. We have engaged a leading law firm to support us through the appeal process and defend against the post trial royalty claims and continue to explore all other available options.

Speaker 3

We are also exploring measures to help mitigate the impact of an ongoing royalty payment obligation if awarded by the court such as shifting more of our manufacturing operations to sites outside of the United States. Now moving on to our guidance. At this time, our guidance does not reflect any additional relief continuous composites may receive as a result of its post trial claim. Our guidance does not include adjustment in future quarters to account for developments in the ongoing continuous composite litigation. We anticipate fiscal year 2024 revenues to be between $90,000,000 $95,000,000 which acknowledges more persistent macroeconomic headwinds than previously anticipated.

Speaker 3

However, we expect revenues to grow low single digit quarter over quarter in Q3 and continue to see double digit year over year growth return in the second half driven by sales of new products particularly the FX10. Given strong execution over the first half, we now expect non GAAP gross margins to be in the upper range of our previous 48% to 50% guidance. Non GAAP operating loss is expected to be in the range of 42.5 dollars to $47,000,000 for the year, resulting in a non GAAP loss per share in the range of $0.19 to $0.22 per share. That concludes our prepared remarks today. Please open the call for questions.

Operator

Thank you. Our first question is from Brian Drab with William Blair. Please proceed with your question.

Speaker 4

Hi. Thanks for taking my questions. Just as we were closing talking about the legal issues, I'm wondering and maybe I missed, but can you talk about how much the legal issues have cost you at this point just in terms of legal fees cumulatively and where we're seeing that in the P and L?

Speaker 3

So Brian, this is Asaf. The legal fees are available in the GAAP to non GAAP reconciliation. It's excluded from the non GAAP P and L. You can see that number over there.

Speaker 4

Okay. Do you have a top of mind? I guess I'll look for it. No problem. Yes, I can provide you with that.

Speaker 4

I'll just look for it, Asaf. No problem. No problem. I'll look for it in the final. I just haven't had time to look through all the numbers yet.

Speaker 4

And can you elaborate a little bit on the cost reduction initiative and what areas are you focused on? What functions or a little bit more? I think you touched on some of the areas, but can you just put a little more detail around where you're cutting?

Speaker 5

Sure. So thank you for the question, Brian. As you see, we announced a €25,000,000 cost saving initiative. We are really committed to get to what we see sustainable growth for our company. The majority of the savings are now coming from the R and D side.

Speaker 5

And now as we released 3 new platforms, we're ready to start growing with them. That's the right prudent thing to do, get to sustainable growth.

Speaker 4

Okay. And just last one is, you have I know the guidance has come down a little bit and it's really tough macro environment. But can you just talk a little bit about why we're going to see an increase in revenue from a little over $40,000,000 in the first half to 50 ish, 50 ties in the second half? Thanks. Sure.

Speaker 5

So you see there's a slight growth between Q2 and Q1. And we see our pipelines growing and that's our leading indicator. So assuming that the convergence stayed the same, we believe that we will see the growth. It's highly based on the new innovation. We see the pipeline growing significantly with the FX10.

Speaker 5

As you see, we shipped the first PX-one hundred and there's more to come. So I think it consists of kind of still challenging interest environment for capital equipment, but the new innovation definitely supports the growth in the second half.

Speaker 4

Yes. Okay. All right. Thanks very much.

Speaker 5

Thank you,

Operator

Brian. Thank you. There are no further questions at this time. I'd like to hand the floor back over to Shay Terem for any closing comments.

Speaker 5

Thank you everyone for joining us for our 2nd quarter results. We'll talk again in Q3.

Operator

This concludes today's conference. You may disconnect your lines at this time. Thank you for your participation.

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