Geospace Technologies Q3 2025 Earnings Call Transcript

Key Takeaways

  • Positive Sentiment: Q3 revenue of $24.8 M with net income of $0.8 M marked a return to profitability versus a $2.1 M loss in the prior-year quarter.
  • Positive Sentiment: The Smart Water segment achieved record nine-month revenue growth of 33%, fueled by Hydrocon AMI connectors and the new AquaLink IoT solution for sub-metering.
  • Positive Sentiment: Won an >$80 M Petrobras contract to supply and install a permanent reservoir monitoring system, with manufacturing revenues to be recognized over the next 16–18 months.
  • Positive Sentiment: Acquired the Oak Ridge–developed HeartBeat Detector on a subscription basis, adding a proven security tool and recurring revenue stream in border and perimeter security.
  • Negative Sentiment: Energy Solutions and Intelligent Industrial segments saw revenue declines (14% and 5% in Q3, respectively) while operating expenses rose, resulting in a nine-month net loss of $0.7 M.
AI Generated. May Contain Errors.
Earnings Conference Call
Geospace Technologies Q3 2025
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Operator

Welcome to the Geospace Technologies third quarter twenty twenty five earnings conference call. Hosting the call today from Geospace is Mr. Rich Kelly, President and Chief Executive Officer.

Operator

He is joined by mister Robert Curda, the company's chief financial officer. Today's call is being recorded and will be available on the Geospace Technologies Investor Relations website following the call. At this time, all participants have been placed in a listen only mode, and the floor will be open for your questions following the presentation. If you would like to ask a question at that time, please press 1 on your telephone keypad. If at any point your question has been answered, you may remove yourself from the queue by pressing 2.

Operator

We ask that you please pick up your handset to allow optimal sound quality. Lastly, if you should require operator assistance, press 0. It is now my pleasure to turn the floor over to Mr. Rich Kelly. Sir, you may begin.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Thank you, Angela. Good morning, and welcome to GSA Technologies conference call for the 2025. I am Rich Deli, the company's Chief Executive Officer and President. I am joined by Robert Curta, the company's Chief Financial Officer. In our prepared remarks, I will first provide an overview of the third quarter, and Robert will then follow-up with more in-depth commentary on our financial performance as well as an overview of our financials.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

I will then give some final comments before opening the line for questions. Today's commentary on markets, revenue, planned operations and capital expenditures may be considered forward looking as defined by the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These statements are based on what we know now, but actual outcomes are affected by uncertainties beyond our control or prediction. Both known and unknown risks can lead to results that differ from what is said or implied today. Some of these risks and uncertainties are discussed in our SEC Form 10 ks and 10 Q filings.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

For convenience, we will link a recording of this call on the Investor Relations page of our geospace.com website, which I invite everyone to browse through and learn more about Geospace, our subsidiaries and our products. Note that today's recorded information is time sensitive and may not be accurate at the time one listens to the replay. Yesterday, after the market closed, we released our financial results for the period ended June 30, our 2025. For the three months ended 06/30/2025, we reported revenue of $24,800,000 with a net income of $800,000 For the first nine months of our fiscal year, we had $80,100,000 in revenue with a net loss of $700,000 Strategic accomplishments during the third quarter in all of our business segments have reinforced the success of our diversification efforts, laying the foundation to further our revenue and profitability goals. In our smart water segment, we continue to generate strong organic growth with our Hydrocon Universal AMI connectors.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

They remain a reliable revenue and profit center, setting another revenue record for the first nine months. Our Quanta line of products continues to gain market acceptance, and we are seeing increased demand. We also announced the product launch of AquaLink. It is an advanced multi device and multiunit Internet of Things, or IoT, endpoint designed to transform sub metering and leak detection into multiunit residential and commercial properties. With AquaLink, we are providing a smart, scalable solution that addresses the growing demand for accurate water monitoring in multiunit properties.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

This multi device, multiunit capability, combined with advanced intelligent features, makes it an invaluable tool for property owners and managers to meet regulatory standards while smartly monitoring usage. These achievements continue to support our position as the Smartwater segment has great potential for growth. Our energy solutions team announced a permanent reservoir monitoring contract award for the marine field Merrill Field 3 And 4 from Petrobras, operator of the Merrell Field Consortium. The contract encompasses the supply and installation of nearly 500 kilometers of the Optisize permanent reservoir monitoring system or PRM, covering 140 square kilometers of seabed area located deep offshore in the Santos Basin off the coast of Brazil. The equipment manufacturing portion of this contract should generate in excess of $80,000,000 in revenue and is anticipated to take sixteen to eighteen months to complete.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

We will be recognizing this revenue throughout the project for normal revenue recognition rules. We do not anticipate any revenue recognition in this fiscal year. The contract also includes installation of the system, which is to be completed by Blue Marine Telecom, a Brazilian subsea cable company. Full installation of this system and any associated revenue is anticipated in fiscal year twenty twenty seven. Energy Solutions also achieved its first sale of the newly released Pioneer, an ultra lightweight land node used for seismic surveys.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

The first units were purchased by a global engineering and professional services firm based in Canada. As part of our ongoing review and modernization of our product portfolio, we sold the assets associated with our Trima Recovery Device product line to SizeGear in June. We have confidence that SizeGear will support SRD customers with outstanding service and experience. While we continue to face headwinds in the ocean bottom node markets, these accomplishments indicate there are still opportunities to generate revenue and profitability in this segment. The increased success in our Smartwater and Energy Solutions segment have further improved utilization of our Houston facility and should positively impact operational efficiencies.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Building off this success, we invested in the growth of our Intelligent Industrial segment this quarter with the recently announced acquisition of HeartBee Detector, a security technology developed by The United States Department Of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Used in more than a dozen countries to address human trafficking and prison security, the heartbeat detector is a small, portable device that uses advanced sensors to rapidly identify people hidden in vehicles, providing a modern user user friendly interface in as little as ten seconds. The product, which relies on the GSO and E low frequency single element geophones manufactured in our facility, has been proven 99% effective by Oak Ridge, Sandia, and Thunder Mountain National Laboratories. Domestically, the heartbeat detector is used extensively by departments of corrections and prison systems. Globally, the product has been leveraged for border crossings and prisons in many countries. There are more than 300 man border checkpoint crossings in The United States and more than double that in Europe based on EU estimates.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

We intend to offer the heartbeat detector on a subscription basis, aligning with our strategy to grow recurring revenue streams. As we increase the emphasis on our security and defense product portfolio, we have engaged former US Border Patrol chief, Carla Provost, to educate fellow national and homeland security professionals and accelerate end user adoption of our advanced analytics and sensing solutions for border and perimeter security applications. We remain well positioned to exploit the tremendous potential we have created with our products and services portfolio, our talented staff and our continuing diversification into new high margin markets. Additionally, our current backlog places us in a strong position going into the remainder of this year and beyond. Executive leadership continues to address workforce costs and development expenses on our path to sustained profitability.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

We will continue to pursue growth through acquisition with immediately accretive additions to top line revenue. Overall, I have continued optimism that our company is well positioned to perform going forward. I will now turn the call over to Robert to provide more detail of our financial performance.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

Thanks, Rich, and good morning. Before I begin, I'd like to remind everyone that we will not provide any specific revenue or earnings guidance during our call this morning.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

In yesterday's press release of our third quarter ended 06/30/2025, we reported revenue of 24,800,000.0 compared to last year's revenue of 24.9. The net income for the quarter was 760,000 or $06 per diluted share compared to last year's net loss of 2,100,000.0 or $0.16 per diluted share. For the nine months ended 06/30/2025, we reported revenue of $80,100,000 compared to revenue of $100,200,000 last year. Our net loss for the nine month period was $662,000 or $05 per diluted share compared to last year's net income of 6,300,000.0 or $4.47 cents per diluted share. Our smart water segment produced revenue of 10,500,000.0 for the three months ended 06/30/2025.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

This compares with revenue of 9,900,000.0 for the same period of the prior fiscal year, an increase of 6%. For the nine month period, the segment contributed revenue of $27,300,000 versus $20,600,000 an increase of 33%. The increase in revenue of both periods is due to higher demand for our hydrogen connectors. The nine months revenue marks a new high revenue for our smart water segment. Revenue from our energy solutions segment totaled 8,100,000.0 for the three month period ended 06/30/2025.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

This compares to $9,400,000 in revenue for the same prior year period, representing a decrease of 14%. Revenue for the nine month period is 35 point 35,000,000, a decrease of 42% over the equivalent prior year period. The decrease in revenue for the three month and nine month period was due to lower utilization and sales of our marine ocean bottom nodes. Our Intelligent Industrial segment revenue totaled 6,100,000.0 for the three month period ended 06/30/2025. This compares with 6,500,000.0 for the equivalent year ago period, representing a decrease of 5%.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

Revenue for the nine month period was 17,600,000.0. This compares to the prior year period of 19,100,000.0, a decrease of 8%. The decrease in revenue for both periods is due to lower demand from our surveillance and defense products and our imaging products. The decrease for the both periods is partially offset by an increase in demand for our contract manufacturing services. Our operating expenses increased by $900,000 for the 2025 or 8% and increased by $5,400,000 or 18% for the nine month period.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

The increase for both periods is due to the higher personnel costs and increased sales and marketing costs. Our nine month cash investments into plant, property and equipment was $5,800,000 and additions to our rental fleet was $1,100,000 Our balance sheet at the end of the third floor quarter reflects twenty five point six million dollars of cash and short term investments, and our credit facility has available borrowings of $15,000,000 with no borrowings outstanding. As of 06/30/2025, the company's working capital is 75,000,000, which includes 32,000,000 of trade accounts and financing financing receivables. Additionally, the company owns unencumbered property and real estate in both domestic and international location. This concludes my discussion, and I'll turn the call back to Rich.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Thank you, Robert. This concludes our prepared commentary, and I will now turn the call back to the moderator for any questions from our listeners.

Operator

Once again, that is star one to ask a question. We will pause for a moment to allow questions to queue. We'll go first to investor Michael Cox. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Analyst

Hi, guys. I just wanted to start with a couple of questions about the PRM announcement. I I just you know, the announcement itself came as a bit of a surprise. I think from previous quarters, discussions around us, it sound like, you know, there were complications happening, but but didn't feel it the announcement of a of the contract was imminent. Can you just talk about sort of the how we got to the point where all of sudden, this announcement came out?

Analyst

And I I know it wasn't something to you guys that had a sort of the the fact that that it became a a rather surprising announcement.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Well, you, Michael, the call. Yeah. As you know, we really don't discuss in detail operations going ongoing. This contract is actually in discussions for many months with Petrobras.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Mhmm. Lots of back and forth with regards to technical requirements and con and commercial requirements. So it was nice to be able to land that contract, you know, going against our the the competitor that's already on barrel one and two. So Mhmm. It it I would say, overall, we worked on that con we worked on the negotiation of the contract around six months. K.

Analyst

Okay. Well and and in comparing you know, obviously, the when the announcement came out, we didn't have a whole lot of numbers to go on, and you just talked about $80,000,000 of equipment manufacturing revenue. Size wise, you know, just just by a kilometer, it's it's similar to the Snorfield, you know, from a decade ago. But I don't recall that being broken down into equipment versus installation versus other revenues.

Analyst

Is this you know, that was the least headline number was was big. But can you help us think about what this is going to overall impact over the course of the contract will be from a revenue perspective beyond the 80?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So it's slightly different than Sonora and the other Equinor contracts in the sense that, that was the older PRM technology with electromechanical devices versus an optical solutions we have now. The other thing, too, is that our end customer Petrobras has announced the overall value of the contract in their press release, but they did not break down the details between the good portion and the installation portion. So we're not at liberty to discuss the details of that as well.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

But what we can say is the majority of the installation revenue will be recognized by our partner in Brazil Blue Marine. So that's why I can address what the good portion is, but I can't really address the overall services contract.

Analyst

Okay. And then it it so so, obviously, because it sounds like the the new technology versus the old electromechanical is is it is it higher margin lower revenue, right, for you guys? Higher margin?

Analyst

I mean, what what's or is it just the the state of the world these days and you're just not gonna make as much money on CRM as you used to?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Mean, we still anticipate good margins on it, but just the cost breakdown and the components themselves put forth a a completely different financial model with regards to calculating revenue and and cost.

Analyst

Got it. Okay. Well, how are there other discussions going on on the PRM front now that this this one is has been announced?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So what what I can say is, yes. I mean, there are ongoing discussions with other other partners, including Petrobras. I mean, they have a multiyear plan for their fields. Of course, each of those are subject to final approval by their management team where it makes financial sense. So I mean, we will continue to discuss with partners who are interested in CRM, you know, advising them on these opportunities and the benefits of our technology.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

But I I would I would not I would not want you to read into that. There are other contracts pending.

Analyst

Got it. Okay. I'll step back and let someone else ask some questions.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Thank you, Michael.

Operator

We'll go next to Scott Bundy with Moores and Cabot. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Morning, guys. Couple of questions for OpteSize allow you guys to go deeper than existing equipment out there provided by Ocotel, for example?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

I think the depth performance between the two are very similar. I mean, in sense that they're already going to be on Mero one and two, we're on Mero three and four. I think, you know, the depth performance is the same.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

However, we differentiate on the fact that our technology does not require any kind of in water wet make connectors, which improve improves the reliability of the product over the life of the reservoir. There are some other technologies with regards to how we actually interpret the the optical signals that give us an advantage over our competitors as well.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

And just for Rob, Rob, going back to December '3 when we produced something in the vicinity of $50,000,000 of revenues and gross margins around pushing 40%. In a 45,000,000 to $50,000,000 revenue per quarter, are we capable of getting back to that 40% gross margin?

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

I think you said 2023. That's the did you mean 2013?

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

No. 2020 and so we we sold the product that produced roughly $50,000,000 in revenues in the December 2023, and margins back then were roughly 40%. That was on a that that was the the product that was originally gonna be rented, and it was converted to a sale.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

Oh, yes. We sold some Mariners at that time.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Correct.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

Yeah. I think, you know, part of the things that that affect the gross margin at that time is is we had some manufacturing times manufacturing activity that went on to build that equipment. So we had nice absorption also.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

That's a a high profitability product to begin with. And through the PRM contract, we will certainly have a higher level of absorption and which will lead to a higher profitability. I would expect it to be somewhere in the 40 to 45% range overall.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Okay. Great.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

And and just while I have you, there there's a receivable for that particular contract that I believe comes due in late September or early October that's somewhere in the vicinity of 25,000,000 to $30,000,000 Do do I have that No.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

From October '20 December '23, no. We that we do not have a receivable on the books associated with that transaction.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

I I could be wrong, but there is a receivable that that, if I'm correct, that comes due on October year for 25 or 30,000,000. Am I wrong?

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

We do have receivables on the books that one second, Scott. We're just reviewing the numbers real quick. Yeah. We have receivables on the books for customers that have bought energy solutions equipment, but their their due dates are a little bit further out than that.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Okay. But this calendar year, is that correct?

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

No. I think they extend beyond this calendar year.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Okay.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

They're on they're on a progress payment plan.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

So we'll we'll have some this year and some next year.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Okay. Got it. Rich, if you can you just talk a little bit about this product that you just purchased? Can you give any indication of did we buy it for stock, cash, what sort of revenues?

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

The only thing you've really told us is that it would be accretive. Can you give us a little more detail about this particular product and why you're excited about it?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Sure. So with regards to the deal itself, it was a cash deal. It had an upfront component and then an earn out component for the overall purchase.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So depending on performance of the product over the next five years, we'll spend on what the total purchase price is. So first, there are two things that are exciting to us. One is it's really our first foray into a fully subscription model. So we provide the solution to in The U. S, it's mostly used in prisons.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So anywhere you have a gate where you control about you're concerned about security, you got a man with a gun standing post, and you got trucks coming and going, you're concerned about any kind of trafficking or in prison, example, people coming out. This allows a very low cost effective solution for the guard to very quickly mount a couple of sensors on the vehicle, and it can detect if there's a human inside the truck within ten seconds. And this has been proven for over twenty five years. This was a technology developed by Oak Ridge National Labs for their own security of their own labs. And we have the exclusive license from ORNL for this technology, and that was what we were going after.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

It fits very well with our security and perimeter detection solutions portfolio. It ties in very well with if you think about the SADAR solution regards perimeter security, it ties in very well with that as well. So it's a nice spin into our overall portfolio. It has great growth potential. The former solution the former company had an older solution that was more of a big CapEx expenditure for the end client.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

This has now been redeveloped and repackaged into a low cost subscription model. And so we think it's got a great opportunity not only in The U. S, but also internationally. The other thing that we're very excited about is, there's obviously intense focus on the borders with regard to human trafficking. This gives a great solution for the U.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

S. Border Patrol to take advantage of the technology at the truck checkpoints. And that's one of the things we talked about bringing Carla Provost on. You know, she has experience with those with those teams and and those people, and she's a firm believer in this technology. So we feel like they're a strong champion in her and promoting this within The US.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So speaking of Carla, was Carla involved in the original Homeland Security $10,000,000 sale back in '20 late early twenty twenty, I think. She was not directly involved, but she was aware of it. I mean, she was obviously the it's in board control at the time. What she'll tell you is she was in the in the room when that tunnel was detected by our technology.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Okay.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

And there were high fives all around.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

So just a couple of others regarding budget and homeland. The the annual review that comes out of February has a pretty significant number over years associated with a 30 mile project. The recent budget looks a little different. Can can you square that up for me?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Yeah. I think that the you're you're you're thinking about the general accounting office report that we have reviewed earlier compared to the one big beautiful bill that's got roughly $30,000,000 allocated for that.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Correct.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So I think I think that if you look at the way that that line is structured, even though it does mention Tumble Detection specifically, it also mentions other expenditures on that line.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Correct.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Talking to CDP, I mean, they do anticipate still to issue another request for proposals for more mileage. That number is still not finalized, and the timing of that has been delayed until probably next calendar year. So we do anticipate with the availability of funds, we do anticipate CBP wanting to do more mileage on tunnel detection. We just don't have much more insight than that at this time.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

But the committee has directed the CBP to provide tunnel detection technology no later than ninety days, which is ninety days from July. Is that gonna help the cause here?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

I don't think so. I mean, I know that they were directed at it. I'm sure you know you know what's going on in DC and in in all these agencies. I mean, they are scrambling.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

They're losing people, and so they're resource constrained. The procurement people are prioritizing, you know, were they were given the directive to review all of their contracts, review and and justify them again and and renew them. So as far as this is being a priority for them, I don't see it as being a top priority, given all the other directives they have to follow.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

So so your best guess is that that this is an a a 2026 event, not a twenty calendar 2026 event, not a 2025 event.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

That's the feedback we're getting, Scott, is that we can anticipate an RFP sometime early next calendar year.

Scott Bundy
SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot

Okay. All right. Guys, thanks very much. Appreciate the time.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Thanks, Scott.

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

Thanks, Scott.

Operator

We'll go next to Bill Dezellem with Tieton Capital. Your line is open. Please go ahead.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Thank you. Let let's start with the Petrobras comment or contract for just a a moment, and then we'll jump to a couple other areas. So relative to that contract, given that there's some confusion about the revenue versus for you all versus contractors, etcetera, etcetera, is and I guess electromechanical versus the fiber optic. Is it fair to say that this is the second largest contract in Geospace's history based off of the operating income or gross margin dollar contribution that you that you will ultimately receive over the life of the contract?

Robert Curda
Robert Curda
Executive VP & CFO at Geospace

Yes. Absolutely.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Okay. That's helpful. Thank you. And And congratulations, by the way.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

It's not every day one wins the second largest contract in your history, so well done. And that revenue, you are going to begin recognizing that revenue in your first fiscal quarter of of the coming fiscal year. Is is that what we heard or or am I confused?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So I I was very careful about that because we are still working with our customers to define the actual revenue recognition milestones and the timing of those. So we are hoping to be able to recognize revenue in q one, but that has not been finalized yet.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Understood. Okay. That's that's helpful. Explains why I was a little bit confused.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Yeah.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Let let me shift then to to the Border Patrol. And and first of all, why is the Border Patrol not adopted the heartbeat detector technology up to this point?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

That's a great question, one that gets asked frequently. So we had long conversations with the team from GeoBox about how the border works, and there are two technologies that are currently used down there. One is backscatter and the other one is X-ray.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

And neither one of those are ideal, but they are used. They've already made the investment. So the uphill climb that we have, I guess, for Carla and the team is to sell them on the efficiency of using this technology. So there's other ones, they take a long time to set up. They're very capital intensive.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

This takes us a minute to less than a minute to set up, less than ten seconds to detect when the truck is on its way. So we can vastly improve their operational efficiency at the border. The other thing too is at the border, with their current technology, they scan less than 1% of the trucks that come through the border. This should vastly improve the percentage of trucks that they can actually scan and detect. So we think we have some winning arguments going forward.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

And I think with this current environment and the current focus on the border that we'll have a much better success at selling the solution.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Great. That's helpful. And then let's circle back to the to the one big beautiful bill act if we could. What funding I think you already gave the answer in in a previous comment.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

But what funding is in that bill for for subterranean tunnel detection?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

There's a particular line in there that is $30,000,000, but it it it addresses it several different solutions in their mission tunnel detection.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

And so, you know, if this is correction of CDP to how they actually allocate those funds. So it is not a it is not a a for sure that that will be that the full 30,000,000 would be for for tunnels?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

No.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

No. And given the way that the administration today, how they're deciding to apportion and allocate funds, I mean, all of that's going to be a question mark at this point.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Right. Okay. That is helpful.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

And then relative to your comment in response to a prior questioner that you anticipate an RFP in the first calendar quarter, so the March next year. You all have, and I don't understand the government contracting that well, so bear with me here. But I believe you have s b r three certification. And it was our understanding that that the implications of that, that if there is a government need and an acquisition of tunnel detection equipment, that it would be the contract would go to Geospace because you have the SBR three certification. But you mentioned an RFP.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Can you would you please reconcile these things and maybe help me understand what I don't understand about the whole process?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

That's a great question, Bill. So the SBIR-three, we certainly have that, that's certainly in place with regards to the technology. However, and we've asked, we've sought legal guidance on this as well as far as what that really means for the government, whether they're actually forced to buy from us or what that actually means. So I don't have a good answer for you on that.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

I do know that there were three solutions that were that are existing on the border today being evaluated. Until the RFP comes out, we don't really know we don't really have we can't really defend our SBIR three position with regards to the RFP until we see it. So this I know it's not very clear. And and and we have the same question, Bill. So I I don't have a good answer for you today, but it's something we're definitely investigating that.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

And so we're looking forward to the actual RFP to see what the wording is, what the technology is referenced in there to see if we can, you know, apply the exact degree that we have to it.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Great. That is that that is helpful. And what do you know about the, I'll call it, the bake off between you and the two other competitors on the border?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Absolutely nothing.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

As I've said in previous calls and previous meetings, CDP has been very tight lipped about the three solutions.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Great. That's helpful. Then coming back to the one big beautiful bill act, what allocations are in that bill for military and or navy that would be interesting and relevant to geospace?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

That was not as clear.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

I mean, obviously, they have money in there for harbor protection, threat detection, things like that, but they weren't weren't as specific as the the the appropriations we've seen earlier, which they had specifically $12,800,000 allocated to that. So we're still working with our partners to understand and you know, what the priorities are and the timing of that. I will say that we don't anticipate talking to our partners on that particular topic. We don't anticipate any decisions until either late this calendar year or early next calendar year.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

So the 12,800,000.0 that was in maybe the house bill, if I recall correctly, that is not did not make it specifically into the final bill?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

That's correct.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Okay. That is appreciated. And and yet, you think that there is some activity going on later this year or early next year that could that could be relevant to you all?

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Yes.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

So the discussions that we're having both with our partners and with the US Navy, there's always concern about harbor protection and threat detection, especially with regards to unmanned underwater vehicles. And so they are seeking solutions, commercially available solutions, which we obviously, with between our, say, our technology and PRM technology, we bring a commercially viable solution for that. So those discussions are ongoing. We're having good discussions, good progress. But at this time, we don't anticipate in the near term any kind of commercial agreement.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Great. That's appreciated. And then relative to Aquana, that has essentially been the star of the company here for excuse me, not Aquana, Hydrocon.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Hydrocon, yes.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Has been the star.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Would you provide some more commentary around it? I know that connectors aren't near as exciting as $80 plus million contracts and heartbeat detection, etcetera, etcetera. But talk to us about the workforce, if you would, please.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Hydrocon, as you say, it's been great performer for us being organically developed and working with our partners to get it out to the market. As I said in previous calls, that water space offers a 10% to 15% growth year on year overall.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Hydrocon is in that range and actually outperforms that some quarters more than others. It's still the industry standard. You may have seen there was a recent announcement where Nycor, our partner, was acquired by Hubbell. We've had great conversations with Hubbell on how to grow that relationship. So we continue expect to see continued growth and acceptance of this solution in the water space going forward.

Bill Dezellem
Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management

Great. Thank you, and appreciate you taking all these questions.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Thanks, Bill. Have a good day. Thank you.

Operator

This does conclude today's question and answer session. I will now turn the program back over to Rich Kelly for any additional or closing remarks.

Richard Kelley
Richard Kelley
President, CEO & Director at Geospace

Thank you, Angela, and thanks to all of you who joined our call today. We look forward to speaking with you again on our conference call for the 2025. Goodbye, and have a good day.

Operator

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

Analysts
    • Richard Kelley
      President, CEO & Director at Geospace
    • Robert Curda
      Executive VP & CFO at Geospace
    • Analyst
    • Scott Bundy
      SVP - Investments at Moors & Cabot
    • Bill Dezellem
      Founder, President & Chief Investment Officer at Tieton Capital Management