Applied Optoelectronics Reports Fourth Quarter and Full Year 2020 Results

SUGAR LAND, Texas, Feb. 25, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) --  Applied Optoelectronics, Inc. (NASDAQ: AAOI), a leading provider of fiber-optic access network products for the internet datacenter, cable broadband, telecom and fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) markets, today announced financial results for its fourth quarter and full year ended December 31, 2020.

“Despite the challenges presented by the pandemic and a slow end to the year, we are encouraged by the double-digit revenue growth we delivered in 2020, which was driven by growth in each of our three major business segments,” said Dr. Thompson Lin, Applied Optoelectronics Inc. Founder, President and Chief Executive Officer. “We are pleased to have secured an additional 30 total design wins in 2020, on par with last year’s total. We continue to see increased customer interest in our 400G product portfolio and we anticipate revenue contribution from these products in the second half of the year. The investments we have made in product development for our CATV customers have resulted in our best quarter of CATV revenue in several years. While we expect some of the headwinds we are seeing in the datacenter market to persist through the first quarter, we believe we are well positioned to meet our customers’ needs as demand begins to recover and we remain focused on driving shareholder value.”

Fourth Quarter 2020 Financial Summary

• GAAP revenue was $52.3 million, compared with $48.7 million in the fourth quarter of 2019 and $76.6 million in the third quarter of 2020. Non-GAAP revenue was $52.8 million.
  
• GAAP gross margin was 21.6%, compared with 23.3% in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 25.0% in the third quarter of 2020. Non-GAAP gross margin was 27.5%, compared with 27.6% in the fourth quarter of 2019 and 27.4% in the third quarter of 2020.
  
• GAAP net loss was $13.4 million, or $0.57 per basic share, compared with net loss of $35.4 million, or $1.76 per basic share in the fourth quarter of 2019, and a net loss of $9.6 million, or $0.42 per basic share in the third quarter of 2020.
  
• Non-GAAP net loss was $4.8 million, or $0.20 per basic share, compared with non-GAAP net loss of $3.6 million, or $0.18 per diluted share in the fourth quarter of 2019, and a non-GAAP net loss of $1.4 million, or $0.06 per basic share in the third quarter of 2020. Please refer to the section below on non-GAAP measures, especially regarding the treatment of deferred tax expense, for additional details.
  

Full Year 2020 Financial Summary

• GAAP revenue was $234.6 million, compared with $190.9 million in 2019, and non-GAAP revenue was $235.1 million.
  
• GAAP gross margin was 21.5%, compared with 24.2% in 2019. Non-GAAP gross margin was 24.9% compared to 27.2% in 2019.
  
• GAAP net loss was $58.5 million, or $2.67 per basic share, compared with net loss of $66.0 million, or $3.31 per basic share in 2019.
  
• Non-GAAP net loss was $20.0 million, or $0.92 per basic share, compared with non-GAAP net loss of $17.1 million, or $0.86 per basic share in 2019.
  

A reconciliation between all GAAP and non-GAAP information referenced above is contained in the tables below. Please also refer to “Non-GAAP Financial Measures” below for a description of these non-GAAP financial measures.

First Quarter 2021 Business Outlook ⁽⁺⁾

For the first quarter of 2021, the company currently expects:

• Revenue in the range of $47 million to $51 million.
• Non-GAAP gross margin in the range of 23.5% to 25%.
• Non-GAAP net loss in the range of $5.9 million to $7.3 million, and non-GAAP loss per share in the range of $0.23 to $0.28 using approximately 26.0 million shares.
  

⁽⁺⁾ Please refer to the note below on forward-looking statements and the risks involved with such statements as well as the note on non-GAAP financial measures.

Conference Call Information

The company will host a conference call and webcast for analysts and investors on February 25, 2021 to discuss its fourth quarter and full year 2020 results and outlook for its first quarter of 2021 at 4:30 p.m. Eastern time / 3:30 p.m. Central time. Open to the public, investors may access the call by dialing 844-890-1794 (domestic) or 412-717-9586 (international). A live audio webcast of the conference call along with supplemental financial information will also be accessible on the company's website at investors.ao-inc.com. Following the webcast, an archived version will be available on the website for one year. A telephonic replay of the call will be available one hour after the call and will run for five business days and may be accessed by dialing 877-344-7529 (domestic) or 412-317-0088 (international) and entering passcode 10151891.

Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. In some cases, you can identify forward-looking statements by terminology such as "believe," "may," "estimate," "continue," "anticipate," "intend," "should," "could," "would," "target," "seek," "aim," "predicts," "think," "objectives," "optimistic," "new," "goal," "strategy," "potential," "is likely," "will," "expect," "plan" "project," "permit" or by other similar expressions that convey uncertainty of future events or outcomes. These statements include management’s beliefs and expectations related to our outlook for the first quarter of 2021. Such forward-looking statements reflect the views of management at the time such statements are made. These forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, as well as assumptions and current expectations, which could cause the company's actual results to differ materially from those anticipated in such forward-looking statements. These risks and uncertainties include but are not limited to: the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business and financial results; reduction in the size or quantity of customer orders; change in demand for the company's products due to industry conditions; changes in manufacturing operations; volatility in manufacturing costs; delays in shipments of products; disruptions in the supply chain; change in the rate of design wins or the rate of customer acceptance of new products; the company's reliance on a small number of customers for a substantial portion of its revenues; potential pricing pressure; a decline in demand for our customers' products or their rate of deployment of their products; general conditions in the internet datacenter, cable television (CATV) broadband, telecom, or fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) markets; changes in the world economy (particularly in the United States and China); changes in the regulation and taxation of international trade, including the imposition of tariffs; changes in currency exchange rates; the negative effects of seasonality; and other risks and uncertainties described more fully in the company's documents filed with or furnished to the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2019 and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the periods ended March 31, 2020, June 30, 2020 and September 30, 2020. More information about these and other risks that may impact the company's business are set forth in the "Risk Factors" section of the company's quarterly and annual reports on file with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should not rely on forward-looking statements as predictions of future events. All forward-looking statements in this press release are based upon information available to us as of the date hereof, and qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement. Except as required by law, we assume no obligation to update forward-looking statements for any reason after the date of this press release to conform these statements to actual results or to changes in the company's expectations.

Non-GAAP Financial Measures

We provide non-GAAP revenue, non-GAAP gross margin, non-GAAP net income (loss), and non-GAAP earnings per share to eliminate the impact of items that we do not consider indicative of our overall operating performance. To arrive at our non-GAAP revenue, we exclude non-recurring adjustments to revenue, if any. To arrive at our non-GAAP gross margin, we exclude stock-based compensation expense, expenses associated with discontinued products, and non-recurring expenses, if any, from our GAAP gross margin. To arrive at our non-GAAP net income (loss), we exclude all amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, non-recurring expenses, unrealized foreign exchange gain (loss), losses from the disposal of idle assets, if any, non-recurring tax expenses (benefits), and expenses associated with discontinued products, if any, from our GAAP net income (loss).   Included in our non-recurring adjustments to revenue in Q4 2020 and CY2020, but not in 2019, is a non-recurring customer credit. Included in our non-recurring expenses in Q4 2020 and Q4 2019 are certain one-time legal (if any) and consulting fees (if any) and employee severance expenses (if any). Also included in our non-recurring (income) expenses in the year ended December 31, 2020, were a one-time customer reimbursement of certain incurred expenses, and non-recurring government subsidy income in our Taiwan subsidiary due to COVID-19.   Such events occurred in 2020 but not in 2019. And included in our non-recurring expenses in the year ended December 31, 2019, but not included in our results in 2020, was the unamortized debt issuance costs associated with the extinguishment of certain debt. Non-cash expenses associated with discontinued products in Q4 2020 and Q4 2019 include depreciation on certain equipment undergoing reconfiguration. Other expenses associated with discontinued products in Q4 2020 and Q4 2019 include inventory obsolescence charges associated with materials used in the manufacture of these discontinued products.   In computing our non-GAAP income tax expense (benefit), we have applied an estimate of our annual effective income tax rate and applied it to our net income before income taxes. 

Our non-GAAP earnings per share is calculated by dividing our non-GAAP net income by the fully diluted share count (for periods in which non-GAAP net income is positive) or basic share count (for periods in which our non-GAAP net income is negative). We believe that our non-GAAP measures are useful to investors in evaluating our operating performance for the following reasons:

• We believe that elimination of items such as amortization of intangible assets, stock-based compensation expense, non-recurring revenue and expenses, losses from the disposal of idle assets, unrealized foreign exchange gain or loss, unamortized debt issuance costs associated with the extinguishment of debt, and depreciation on certain equipment undergoing reconfiguration is appropriate because treatment of these items may vary for reasons unrelated to our overall operating performance;
• We believe that elimination of expenses associated with discontinued products, including depreciation and inventory obsolescence is appropriate because these expenses are not indicative of our ongoing operations;
• We believe that non-GAAP measures provide better comparability with our past financial performance, period-to-period results and with our peer companies, many of which also use similar non-GAAP financial measures; and
• We anticipate that investors and securities analysts will utilize non-GAAP measures as a supplement to GAAP measures to evaluate our overall operating performance.

A reconciliation of our GAAP net income (loss) and GAAP earnings (loss) per share for Q4 2020 to our non-GAAP net income (loss) and earnings (loss) per share is provided below, together with corresponding reconciliations for the annual period ended December 31, 2020.

Non-GAAP measures should not be considered as an alternative to net income (loss), earnings (loss) per share, or any other measure of financial performance calculated and presented in accordance with GAAP. Our non-GAAP measures may not be comparable to similarly titled measures of other organizations because other organizations may not calculate such other non-GAAP measures in the same manner. We have not reconciled the non-GAAP measures included in our guidance to the appropriate GAAP financial measures because the GAAP measures are not readily determinable on a forward-looking basis. GAAP measures that impact our non-GAAP financial measures may include stock-based compensation expense, non-recurring expenses, amortization of intangible assets, unrealized exchange loss (gain), asset impairment charges, and loss (gain) from disposal of idle assets. These GAAP measures cannot be reasonably predicted and may directly impact our non-GAAP gross margin, our non-GAAP net income and our non-GAAP fully-diluted earnings per share, although changes with respect to certain of these measures may offset other changes. In addition, certain of these measures are out of our control. Accordingly, a reconciliation of the non-GAAP financial measure guidance to the corresponding GAAP measures is not available without unreasonable effort.

About Applied Optoelectronics

Applied Optoelectronics Inc. (AOI) is a leading developer and manufacturer of advanced optical products, including components, modules and equipment. AOI's products are the building blocks for broadband fiber access networks around the world, where they are used in the internet datacenter, CATV broadband, telecom and FTTH markets. AOI supplies optical networking lasers, components and equipment to tier-1 customers in all four of these markets. In addition to its corporate headquarters, wafer fab and advanced engineering and production facilities in Sugar Land, TX, AOI has engineering and manufacturing facilities in Taipei, Taiwan and Ningbo, China. For additional information, visit www.ao-inc.com. 

Investor Relations Contacts:

The Blueshirt Group, Investor Relations
Monica Gould
+1-212-871-3927                
ir@ao-inc.com

Lindsay Savarese
+1-212-331-8417                
ir@ao-inc.com

	Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
	Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Balance Sheets
	(In thousands)
	(Unaudited)
		December 31, 2020		December 31, 2019
	ASSETS
	CURRENT ASSETS
	Cash, Cash Equivalents and Restricted Cash	$	50,114	$	67,028
	Accounts Receivable, Net		43,042		34,654
	Notes receivable		401		1
	Inventories		110,397		85,028
	Prepaid Income Tax		2		224
	Prepaid Expenses and Other Current Assets		5,213		5,869
	Total Current Assets		209,169		192,804
	Property, Plant And Equipment, Net		252,984		248,444
	Land Use Rights, Net		5,854		5,598
	Right of Use Asset		7,817		7,887
	Intangible Assets, Net		3,999		4,081
	Deferred Income Tax Assets		-		7,287
	Other Assets		982		724
	TOTAL ASSETS	$	480,805	$	466,825
	LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
	CURRENT LIABILITIES
	Accounts Payable	$	29,482	$	32,828
	Accrued Expenses		18,511		17,864
	Current Lease Liability		1,030		982
	Bank Acceptance Payable		15,860		6,310
	Current Portion of Notes Payable and Long Term Debt		38,265		33,371
	Total Current Liabilities		103,148		91,355
	Notes Payable and Long Term Debt		13,904		16,552
	Convertible Senior Notes		77,854		77,041
	Other Long-Term Liabilities		8,008		8,083
	TOTAL LIABILITIES		202,914		193,031
	STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
	TOTAL STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY		277,891		273,794
	TOTAL LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY	$	480,805	$	466,825

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
Preliminary Condensed Consolidated Statements of Operations
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended December 31,							Twelve Months Ended December 31,
Revenue		2020			2019				2020			2019
Datacenter	$	32,305		$	39,252			$	173,437		$	143,562
CATV		15,937			6,753				37,944			37,328
Telecom		3,492			2,193				21,092			8,429
FTTH		42			41				110			190
Other		550			419				2,040			1,363
Total Revenue		52,326			48,658				234,623			190,872
Total Cost of Goods Sold		41,049			37,322				184,082			144,671
Total Gross Profit		11,277			11,336				50,541			46,201
Operating Expenses:
Research and Development		10,826			10,597				43,393			43,399
Sales and Marketing		3,230			2,615				14,087			10,060
General and Administrative		10,382			10,178				41,903			41,489
Total Operating Expenses		24,438			23,390				99,383			94,948
Operating Loss		(13,161	)		(12,054	)			(48,842	)		(48,747	)
Other Income (Expense):
Interest Income		35			196				255			925
Interest Expense		(1,211	)		(1,402	)			(5,635	)		(5,405	)
Other Income		883			383				2,997			1,820
Foreign Exchange Gain (Loss)		19			(286	)			1			20
Total Other Expense:		(274	)		(1,109	)			(2,382	)		(2,640	)
Net loss before Income Taxes		(13,435	)		(13,163	)			(51,224	)		(51,387	)
Income Tax Expense		(4	)		(22,267	)			(7,228	)		(14,662	)
Net loss		(13,439	)		(35,430	)			(58,452	)		(66,049	)
Net loss per share attributable to common stockholders
basic	$	(0.57	)	$	(1.76	)		$	(2.67	)	$	(3.31	)
diluted	$	(0.57	)	$	(1.76	)		$	(2.67	)	$	(3.31	)
Weighted-average shares used to compute net loss per share attributable to common stockholders
basic		23,626			20,109				21,867			19,982
diluted		23,626			20,109				21,867			19,982

Applied Optoelectronics, Inc.
Reconciliation of Statements of Operations under GAAP and Non-GAAP
(In thousands, except per share data)
(Unaudited)
	Three Months Ended December 31,							Twelve Months Ended December 31,
		2020			2019				2020			2019
GAAP revenue	$	52,326		$	48,658			$	234,623		$	190,872
Non-recurring customer credit		449			-				449			-
Non-GAAP revenue		52,775			48,658				235,072			190,872
GAAP total gross profit (a)	$	11,277		$	11,336			$	50,541		$	46,201
Non-recurring customer credit		449			-				449			-
Share-based compensation expense		225			189				937			774
Non-recurring expense		-			-				971			-
Expenses associated with discontinued products		2,585			1,891				5,582			5,000
Non-GAAP total gross profit (a)		14,536			13,416				58,480			51,975
GAAP net loss		(13,439	)		(35,430	)			(58,452	)		(66,049	)
Non-recurring customer credit		449			-				449			-
Amortization of intangible assets		149			140				579			540
Share-based compensation expense		3,242			2,864				13,046			11,804
Non-recurring (income) expense		(95	)		94				(90	)		1,716
Expenses associated with discontinued products		2,585			1,891				5,583			5,000
Non-cash expenses associated with discontinued products		661			1,067				3,133			4,314
Unrealized exchange loss (gain)		(669	)		79				(856	)		(157	)
Non-GAAP tax benefit		2,276			25,736				16,572			25,736
Non-GAAP net loss		(4,841	)		(3,559	)			(20,036	)		(17,096	)
GAAP diluted net loss per share	$	(0.57	)	$	(1.76	)		$	(2.67	)	$	(3.31	)
Non-recurring customer credit		0.02			-				0.02			-
Amortization of intangible assets		0.01			0.01				0.03			0.03
Share-based compensation expense		0.14			0.14				0.60			0.59
Non-recurring (income) expense		(0.01	)		0.00				(0.01	)		0.09
Expenses associated with discontinued products		0.11			0.09				0.26			0.25
Non-cash expenses associated with discontinued products		0.03			0.05				0.13			0.21
Unrealized exchange loss (gain)		(0.03	)		0.00				(0.04	)		(0.01	)
Non-GAAP tax benefit		0.10			1.29				0.76			1.29
Non-GAAP diluted net loss per share	$	(0.20	)	$	(0.18	)		$	(0.92	)	$	(0.86	)
Shares used to compute diluted loss per share		23,626			20,109				21,867			19,982
Shares used to compute diluted earnings per share		23,626			20,109				21,867			19,982
(a) Provided for the purpose of calculating gross profit as a percentage of revenue (gross margin).