Item 1. Legal Proceedings
The information set forth under Note 11. “Commitments and Contingencies” included in Part I, Item 1 of this Form 10-Q, is incorporated herein by reference. For an additional discussion of certain risks associated with legal proceedings, see “Risk Factors” immediately below.
Item 1A. Risk Factors
As noted above, Broadcom is the successor to Broadcom-Singapore. Following the Redomiciliation Transaction, after the close of market trading on April 4, 2018, Broadcom-Singapore became an indirect wholly-owned subsidiary of Broadcom.
Our business, operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described below, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, and the trading price of our common stock. The following important factors, among others, could cause our actual results to differ materially from historical results and those expressed in forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf in filings with the SEC, press releases, communications with investors and oral statements.
Risks Related to Our Business
The majority of our sales come from a small number of customers and a reduction in demand or loss of one or more of our significant customers may adversely affect our business.
We are dependent on a small number of end customers, original equipment manufacturers (“OEMs”), their respective contract manufacturers, and certain distributors for a majority of our business, revenue and results of operations. For the three fiscal quarters ended August 4, 2019, sales to distributors accounted for 44% of our net revenue. Direct sales to WT Microelectronics accounted for 15% of our net revenue for the three fiscal quarters ended August 4, 2019. We believe our aggregate sales to our top five end customers, through all channels, accounted for approximately 33% and 34% of our net revenue for the fiscal quarter and three fiscal quarters ended August 4, 2019, respectively. We believe aggregate sales to Apple Inc., through all channels, accounted for approximately 20% of our net revenue for each of the fiscal quarter and three fiscal quarters ended August 4, 2019. This customer concentration increases the risk of quarterly fluctuations in our operating results and our sensitivity to any material, adverse developments experienced by our significant customers.
In addition, our top customers’ purchasing power has, in some cases, given them the ability to make greater demands on us with regard to pricing and contractual terms in general. We expect this trend to continue, which may adversely affect our gross margin on certain products and, should we fail to comply with such terms, might also result in substantial liability that could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Moreover, the terms and conditions under which we do business with most of our customers generally do not include commitments by those customers to purchase any specific quantities of products from us. Even in those instances where we enter into an arrangement under which a customer agrees to source an agreed portion of its product needs from us (provided that we are able to meet specified development, supply and quality commitments), the arrangement often includes pricing schedules or methodologies that apply regardless of the volume of products purchased, and those customers may not purchase the amount of product we expect. As a result, we may not generate the amount of revenue or the level of profitability we expect under such arrangements. If we do not perform under these arrangements, we could also be liable for significant monetary damages. In addition, we are selling an increasing amount of our products through a limited number of distributors, which may expose us to additional customer concentration and related credit risks.
The loss of, or any substantial reduction in sales to, any of our major customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, results of operations and cash flows.
Dependence on contract manufacturing and suppliers of critical components within our supply chain may adversely affect our ability to bring products to market, damage our reputation and adversely affect our results of operations.
We operate a primarily outsourced manufacturing business model that principally utilizes third-party wafer foundry and module assembly and test capabilities, referred to as contract manufacturers. Our products require semiconductor wafer manufacturers with state-of-the-art fabrication equipment and techniques, and most of our products are designed to be manufactured in a specific process, typically at one particular fab or foundry, either our own or with a particular contract manufacturer.
We depend on our contract manufacturers to allocate sufficient manufacturing capacity to meet our needs, to produce products of acceptable quality at acceptable yields, and to deliver those products to us on a timely basis. Although we often have long-term contracts with our contract manufacturers, we do not generally have long-term capacity commitments. We obtain substantially all of our manufacturing services on a purchase order basis and our contract manufacturers have no
obligation to provide us with any specified minimum quantities of product. Further, from time to time, our contract manufacturers will cease to, or will become unable to, manufacture a component for us. As the lead time needed to identify, qualify and establish reliable production at acceptable yields, with a new contract manufacturer is typically lengthy, there is often no readily available alternative source for the wafers or other contract manufacturing services we require, and there may be other constraints on our ability to change contract manufacturers. In addition, qualifying such contract manufacturers is often expensive, and they may not produce products as cost-effectively as our current suppliers, which would reduce our margins. In any such circumstances, we may be unable to meet our customer demand and may fail to meet our contractual obligations. This could result in the payment of significant damages by us to our customers, and our net revenue could decline, adversely affecting our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We utilize Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company Limited (“TSMC”) to produce the substantial majority of our semiconductor wafers. TSMC manufactured approximately 85% of the wafers manufactured by our contract manufacturers during the three fiscal quarters ended August 4, 2019. Our wafer requirements represent a significant portion of the total production capacity of TSMC. However, TSMC also fabricates wafers for other companies, including certain of our competitors, and could choose to prioritize capacity for other customers or reduce or eliminate deliveries to us on short notice, or raise their prices to us, all of which could harm our business, results of operations and gross margin.
Any substantial disruption in TSMC’s supply of wafers to us, or in the other contract manufacturing services that we utilize, as a result of a natural disaster, political unrest, military conflict, economic instability, equipment failure or other cause, could materially harm our business, customer relationships and results of operations.
We also depend on our contract manufacturers to timely develop new, advanced manufacturing processes, including, in the case of wafer fabrication, transitions to smaller geometry process technologies. If these new processes are not timely developed or we do not have sufficient access to them, we may be unable to maintain or increase our manufacturing efficiency to the same extent as our competitors or to deliver products to our customers, which could result in loss of revenue opportunities and damage our relationships with our customers.
Adverse global economic conditions could have a negative effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition and liquidity.
A general slowdown in the global economy or in a particular region or industry, an increase in trade tensions with U.S. trading partners or a tightening of the credit markets could negatively impact our business, financial condition and liquidity. Adverse global economic conditions have from time to time caused or exacerbated significant slowdowns in the industries and markets in which we operate, which have adversely affected our business and results of operations. In recent periods, investor and customer concerns about the global economic outlook have adversely affected market and business conditions in general. Macroeconomic weakness and uncertainty also make it more difficult for us to accurately forecast revenue, gross margin and expenses, and may make it more difficult to raise or refinance debt. An escalation of recent trade tensions between the U.S. and China has resulted in trade restrictions and increased tariffs that harm our ability to participate in Chinese markets or compete effectively with Chinese companies. Sustained uncertainty about, or worsening of, current global economic conditions and further escalation of trade tensions between the U.S. and its trading partners, especially China, could result in a global economic slowdown and long-term changes to global trade. Such events may also (i) cause our customers and consumers to reduce, delay or forgo technology spending, (ii) result in customers sourcing products from other suppliers not subject to such restrictions or tariffs, (iii) lead to the insolvency or consolidation of key suppliers and customers, and (iv) intensify pricing pressures. Any or all of these factors could negatively affect demand for our products and our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We may pursue acquisitions, investments, joint ventures and dispositions, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Our growth strategy includes the acquisition of, and investment in, businesses that offer complementary products, services and technologies, augment our market coverage, or enhance our technological capabilities, such as our pending acquisition of the Symantec Business. We may also enter into strategic alliances or joint ventures to achieve these goals. We may not be able to identify suitable acquisition, investment, alliance, or joint venture opportunities, or to consummate any such transactions. In addition, our original estimates and assumptions used in assessing any transaction may be inaccurate and we may not realize the expected financial or strategic benefits of any such transaction, including the pending acquisition of the Symantec Business.
Any acquisitions, including the pending acquisition of the Symantec Business, we may undertake involve risks and uncertainties, such as unexpected delays, challenges and related expenses, and diversion of management’s attention. For example, regulatory approvals required in connection with an acquisition, such as those from the U.S. Department of Justice, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission (“FTC”), the European Commission Directorate-General for Competition or, where applicable, the China State Administration for Market Regulation, may take longer than anticipated to obtain, may not be
obtained at all or may contain materially burdensome conditions. If any conditions or changes to the structure of an acquisition are required to obtain these regulatory approvals, they may have the effect of jeopardizing or delaying completion of such acquisition or reducing our anticipated benefits of the transaction. If we agree to any material conditions in order to obtain any such approvals or if we fail to comply with any such conditions, our business and results of operations may be adversely affected. The acquisition of the Symantec Business is structured as an asset purchase and is also subject to additional risks, including our ability to effectively identify and timely transfer the assets and liabilities of the Symantec Business, the need to assign or novate Symantec Business customer contracts from Symantec and its subsidiaries to us, many of which require customer consent that may be withheld or delayed, the need to identify and directly hire Symantec Business employees, and the need to identify, manage and coordinate the performance of Symantec personnel who will not be our employees, but who will be required to provide services to us on a transitional basis under a transition services agreement following the closing of the transaction. If we fail to complete an acquisition, our stock price could fall to the extent the price reflects an assumption that such acquisition will be completed, and we may incur significant unrecoverable costs. Further, the failure to consummate an acquisition may result in negative publicity and adversely impact our relationships with our customers, vendors and employees. We may become subject to legal proceedings relating to the acquisition and the integration of acquired businesses may not be successful.
The integration of an acquired business involves significant challenges, including, among others: potential disruption of our business, diversion of management’s attention from daily operations and the pursuit of other opportunities; incurring significant restructuring charges and amortization expense, assuming liabilities and ongoing lawsuits, potential impairment of acquired goodwill and other intangible assets, and increasing our expenses and working capital requirements; and implementing our management information systems, operating systems and internal controls for the acquired operations. In addition, our due diligence process may fail to identify significant issues with the acquired company’s products, financial disclosures, accounting practices, legal, tax and other contingencies, compliance with local laws and regulations (and interpretations thereof) in multiple international jurisdictions, as well as compliance with U.S. laws and regulations.
These difficulties may be complicated by factors such as the size of the business or entity acquired, geographic and cultural differences, lack of experience operating in the industry or geographic markets of the acquired business, potential loss of key employees and customers, the potential for deficiencies in internal controls at the acquired or combined business, performance problems with the acquired business’ technology, failure to realize the benefits of transition services arrangements, exposure to unanticipated liabilities of the acquired business, insufficient revenue to offset increased expenses associated with the acquisition, adverse tax consequences and our potential inability to achieve the growth prospects or synergies expected from any such acquisition. In addition, to ensure that its products are continually enhanced to protect against constantly evolving, increasingly sophisticated and wide-spread cyber-threats, Symantec currently relies on threat intelligence gathered from both its enterprise and consumer businesses. We and Symantec have agreed to continue sharing threat intelligence relating to the Symantec Business and the remaining Symantec consumer business, respectively, following the closing of the transaction. Failure to continue to receive such threat intelligence could cause the Symantec Business products to become less effective and adversely affect our business. Failure to manage and successfully integrate acquired businesses, or to improve margins of the acquired businesses and products, could materially harm our business, operating results and margins.
Any future acquisitions we make (including the acquisition of the Symantec Business) may require significant additional debt or equity financing, which, in the case of debt financing, would increase our leverage and potentially negatively affect our credit ratings, and in the case of equity or equity-linked financing, would be dilutive to our existing stockholders. Any downgrades in our credit ratings could adversely affect our ability to borrow by resulting in more restrictive borrowing terms or increased borrowing costs. As a result, we may be unable to complete acquisitions or other strategic transactions in the future to the same extent as in the past, or at all. These and other factors could harm our ability to achieve anticipated levels of profitability of acquired businesses or realize other anticipated benefits of an acquisition, and could adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
From time to time, we may also seek to divest or wind down portions of our business, either acquired or otherwise, or we may exit minority investments, each of which could materially affect our cash flows and results of operations. Any future dispositions we may make could involve risks and uncertainties, including our ability to sell such businesses on terms acceptable to us, or at all. In addition, any such dispositions could result in disruption to other parts of our business, potential loss of employees or customers, or exposure to unanticipated liabilities or ongoing obligations to us following any such dispositions. For example, in connection with such dispositions, we often enter into transition services agreements or other strategic relationships, including long-term research and development arrangements and sales arrangements, or agree to provide certain indemnities to the purchaser, which may result in additional expenses and may adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. In addition, dispositions may include the transfer of technology and/or the licensing of certain IP rights to third-party purchasers, which could limit our ability to utilize such IP rights or assert these rights against such third-party purchasers or other third parties.
Failure to realize the benefits expected from the CA Merger could adversely affect the value of our common stock.
The completion of the CA Merger was a key step in strategically developing our business from being predominately a semiconductor solutions provider to being a broad-based infrastructure technology provider focused on mission critical technology. Although we expect significant benefits to result from the CA Merger, there can be no assurance that we will be able to successfully realize these benefits. Achieving these benefits will depend, in part, on our ability to effectively (i) manage a new business that licenses products under contracts that need to be regularly renewed, instead of selling products, (ii) continue to change the CA business strategy to focus on renewing contracts for mission critical software with existing core clients, and expanding the adoption of other existing CA offerings with these clients, (iii) compete in an industry in which we have limited experience and (iv) conduct business in countries in which we have not previously operated extensively or at all.
If we do not successfully manage these and related issues and challenges, we may not achieve the anticipated benefits of the CA Merger and our revenue, expenses, operating results, financial condition and stock price could be materially adversely affected. For example, goodwill and other intangible assets could be determined to be impaired, which could adversely impact our financial results. The successful integration of the CA business and the implementation of changes in CA’s business strategy described above will continue to require significant management attention and may divert management’s attention from our business and operational issues and opportunities.
Our business is subject to various governmental regulations, and compliance with these regulations may cause us to incur significant expense. If we fail to maintain compliance with applicable regulations, we may be forced to cease the manufacture and distribution of certain products, and we could be subject to civil or criminal penalties.
Our business is subject to various international laws and other legal requirements, including packaging, product content, labor and import/export regulations, such as the U.S. Export Administration Regulations, and applicable executive orders, and many of our semiconductor products are regulated or sold into regulated industries. These laws, regulations and orders are complex, may change frequently and with limited notice, have generally become more stringent over time and have intensified under the current U.S. administration, especially in light of recent trade tensions with China. We may be required to incur significant expense to comply with, or to remedy violations of, these regulations. In addition, if our customers fail to comply with these regulations, we may be required to suspend sales to these customers, which could damage our reputation and negatively impact our results of operations. For example, on May 15, 2019, the U.S. Department of Commerce added Huawei Technologies Co. Ltd., one of our customers, to its “Entity List” and placed certain export restrictions on Huawei and its suppliers, which required us to suspend certain sales to Huawei during the pendency of such restrictions and which has had a corresponding adverse effect on our revenue.
In addition, the manufacture and distribution of our semiconductors must comply with various laws and adapt to changes in regulatory requirements as they occur. For example, if a country in which our products are manufactured or sold sets technical standards that are not widely shared, it may require us to stop distributing our products commercially until they comply with such new standards, lead certain of our customers to suspend imports of their products into that country, require manufacturers in that country to manufacture products with different technical standards and disrupt cross-border manufacturing relationships, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. If we fail to comply with these requirements, we could also be required to pay civil penalties or face criminal prosecution. In addition, it is expected that the current U.S. administration’s trade policy will promote U.S. manufacturing and manufacturers. It is unclear what effect this will have on us as a multinational company that conducts business world-wide, or on our suppliers, customers, contract manufacturers and OEMs.
Our products and operations are also subject to the rules of industrial standards bodies, like the International Standards Organization, as well as regulation by other agencies, such as the FTC. If we fail to adequately address any of these rules or regulations, our business could be harmed.
Failure to adjust our manufacturing and supply chain to accurately meet customer demand could adversely affect our results of operations.
We make significant decisions, including determining the levels of business that we will seek and accept, production schedules, levels of reliance on contract manufacturing and outsourcing, internal fabrication utilization and other resource requirements, based on our estimates of customer requirements. Factors that can impact our ability to accurately estimate future customer requirements include the short-term nature of many customers’ commitments, our customers’ ability to reschedule, cancel and modify orders with little or no notice and without significant penalty, the accuracy of our customers’ forecasts and the possibility of rapid changes in demand for our customers’ products, as well as seasonal or cyclical trends in their industries or the semiconductor industry.
To ensure the availability of our products, particularly for our largest customers, we typically start manufacturing our relevant products based on our customers’ forecasts, which are not binding. As a result, we incur inventory and manufacturing costs in advance of anticipated sales that may never materialize or that may be substantially lower than expected. If actual demand for our products is lower than forecast, we may also experience higher inventory carrying and operating costs and product obsolescence. Because certain of our sales, research and development, and internal manufacturing overhead expenses are relatively fixed, a reduction in customer demand may also decrease our gross margin and operating income.
Conversely, customers often require rapid increases in production on short notice. We may be unable to secure sufficient materials or contract manufacturing capacity to meet such increases in demand. This could damage our customer relationships, reduce revenue growth and margins, subject us to additional liabilities, harm our reputation, and prevent us from taking advantage of opportunities.
We are subject to risks associated with our distributors, including product inventory levels and product sell-through.
We sell many of our semiconductor products through distributors who maintain their own inventory of our products for sale to dealers and end customers. Sales to distributors accounted for 44% of our net revenue in the three fiscal quarters ended August 4, 2019. If our distributors are unable to sell an adequate amount of their inventory of our products in a given quarter or if they decide to decrease their inventories for any reason, our sales to these distributors and our revenue may decline. We also face the risk that our distributors may increase inventory levels of our products in any particular quarter in excess of future anticipated sales. If such sales do not occur in the time frame anticipated by these distributors for any reason, these distributors may substantially decrease the amount of product they order from us in subsequent periods until their inventory levels realign with end customer demand, which would harm our business and could adversely affect our revenue in such subsequent periods. We have streamlined the number of distributors we use, making us increasingly dependent on our remaining distributors, which may exacerbate the foregoing risks and increase our related credit risk.
We do not always have a direct relationship with the end customers of our products. As a result, our products may be used in applications for which they were not necessarily designed or tested, including, for example, medical devices, and they may not perform as anticipated in such applications. In such event, failure of even a small number of parts could result in significant liabilities to us, damage our reputation and harm our business and results of operations.
Our business would be adversely affected by the departure of existing members of our senior management team.
Our success depends, in large part, on the continued contributions of our senior management team, and in particular, the services of Mr. Hock E. Tan, our President and Chief Executive Officer. Effective succession planning is also important for our long-term success. Failure to ensure effective transfers of knowledge and smooth transitions involving senior management could hinder our strategic planning and execution. None of our senior management is bound by written employment contracts. In addition, we do not currently maintain key person life insurance covering our senior management. The loss of any of our senior management could harm our ability to implement our business strategy and respond to the rapidly changing market conditions in which we operate.
Our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely affected by the political and economic conditions of the countries in which we conduct business and other factors related to our international operations.
A majority of our products are produced and sourced internationally and our international revenue represents a significant percentage of our overall revenue. In addition, as of August 4, 2019, approximately 49% of our employees are located outside the U.S. Multiple factors relating to our international operations and to particular countries in which we operate could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations. These factors include:
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in political, regulatory, legal or economic conditions or geopolitical turmoil, including terrorism, war or political or military coups, or civil disturbances or political instability;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
restrictive governmental actions, such as restrictions on the transfer or repatriation of funds and foreign investments, data privacy regulations and trade protection measures, including increasing protectionism, import/export restrictions, import/export duties and quotas, trade sanctions and customs duties and tariffs, all of which have increased under the current U.S. administration;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
difficulty in obtaining product distribution and support, and transportation delays;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
potential inability to localize software products for a significant number of international markets;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
difficulty in conducting due diligence with respect to business partners in certain international markets;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
public health or safety concerns;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
nationalization of businesses and expropriation of assets; and
|
A significant legal risk associated with conducting business internationally is compliance with the various and differing laws and regulations, including anti-corruption and anti-bribery laws and regulations, of the countries in which we do business, antitrust and competition laws, data privacy laws, money-laundering regulations and export regulations. In addition, the laws in various countries are constantly evolving and may, in some cases, conflict with each other. Although our Code of Ethics and Business Conduct and other policies prohibit us, our employees and our agents from engaging in unethical business practices, there can be no assurance that all of our employees or agents will refrain from acting in violation of our related anti-corruption policies and procedures. Any such violation could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We may be involved in legal proceedings, including IP, anti-competition and securities litigation, employee-related claims and regulatory investigations, which could, among other things, divert efforts of management and result in significant expense and loss of our IP rights.
We are often involved in legal proceedings, including cases involving our IP rights and those of others, anti-competition and commercial matters, acquisition-related suits, securities class action suits, employee-related claims and other actions. Some of these actions may seek injunctive relief, including injunctions or exclusion orders against the sale of our products and substantial monetary damages, which if granted or awarded could materially harm our business, financial condition and results of operations. From time to time, we may also be involved or required to participate in regulatory investigations or inquiries, such as the ongoing investigations by the FTC and the European Commission into certain of our contracting practices, which may evolve into legal or other administrative proceedings. Litigation or settlement of such actions, regardless of their merit, or involvement in regulatory investigations or inquiries, can be complex, can extend for a protracted period of time, can divert the efforts and attention of our management and technical personnel, and is frequently costly, with the related expenditures unpredictable. An unfavorable resolution of a governmental investigation may include, among others, fines or other orders to disgorge profits or make other payments, and/or the issuance of orders to cease certain conduct and/or modify our contracting practices, any or all of which could materially adversely affect our reputation and our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The semiconductor and software industries are characterized by companies holding large numbers of patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets and by the vigorous pursuit, protection and enforcement of IP rights, including actions by patent-holding companies that do not make or sell products. From time to time, third parties assert against us and our customers and distributors their patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret and other IP rights to technologies that are important to our business.
Many of our customer agreements, and in some cases our asset sale agreements, and/or the laws of certain jurisdictions may require us to indemnify our customers or purchasers for third-party IP infringement claims, including costs to defend those claims, and payment of damages in the case of adverse rulings. However, our contract manufacturers and suppliers may or may not be required to indemnify us should we or our customers be subject to such third-party claims. Claims of this sort could also harm our relationships with our customers and might deter future customers from doing business with us. We do not know whether we will prevail in such proceedings, given the complex technical issues and inherent uncertainties in IP litigation. If any pending or future proceedings result in an adverse outcome, we could be required to:
|
|
|
|
•
|
cease the manufacture, use or sale of the infringing products, processes or technology and/or make changes to our processes or products;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
pay substantial damages for past, present and future use of the infringing technology;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
expend significant resources to develop non-infringing technology;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
license technology from the third-party claiming infringement, which license may not be available on commercially reasonable terms, or at all;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
enter into cross-licenses with our competitors, which could weaken our overall IP portfolio and our ability to compete in particular product categories;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
indemnify our customers or distributors and/or recall, or accept the return of, infringing products;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
pay substantial damages to our direct or end customers to discontinue use or replace infringing technology with non-infringing technology; or
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
relinquish IP rights associated with one or more of our patent claims, if such claims are held invalid or otherwise unenforceable.
|
Any of the foregoing results could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
In addition, we may be obligated to indemnify our current or former directors or employees, or former directors or employees of companies that we have acquired, in connection with litigation or regulatory investigations. These liabilities could be substantial and may include, among other things, the cost of defending lawsuits against these individuals, as well as stockholder derivative suits; the cost of government, law enforcement or regulatory investigations; civil or criminal fines and penalties; legal and other expenses; and expenses associated with the remedial measure, if any, which may be imposed.
We purchase a significant amount of the materials used in our products from a limited number of suppliers.
Our manufacturing processes rely on many materials, including silicon, gallium arsenide and indium phosphide wafers, copper lead frames, precious and rare earth metals, mold compound, ceramic packages and various chemicals and gases. We purchase a significant portion of our semiconductor materials, components and finished goods used in our products from a few materials providers, some of which are single source suppliers. During the three fiscal quarters ended August 4, 2019, we purchased approximately two-thirds of the materials for our manufacturing processes from 5 materials providers. Substantially all of our purchases are on a purchase order basis, and we do not generally have long-term contracts with our materials providers. Suppliers may extend lead times, limit supplies or increase prices due to commodity price increases, capacity constraints or other factors, which may lead to interruption of supply or increased demand in the industry. In the event that we cannot timely obtain sufficient quantities of materials or at reasonable prices, the quality of the material deteriorates or we are not able to pass on higher materials or energy costs to our customers, our business, financial condition and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
Our operating results are subject to substantial quarterly and annual fluctuations.
Our revenue and operating results have fluctuated in the past and are likely to fluctuate in the future. These fluctuations may occur on a quarterly and annual basis and are due to a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. These factors include, among others:
|
|
|
|
•
|
customer concentration and the gain or loss of significant customers;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
the timing of launches by our customers of new products, such as mobile handsets, in which our products are included and changes in end-user demand for the products manufactured and sold by our customers;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in our product mix or customer mix and their effect on our gross margin;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
the shift to cloud-based IT solutions and services, such as hyperscale computing, which may adversely affect the timing and volume of sales of our products for use in traditional enterprise data centers;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
the timing of receipt, reduction or cancellation of significant product orders by customers;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
the timing of new software contracts and renewals, as well as the timing of any terminations of software contracts that require us to refund to customers any pre-paid amounts under the contract, which may adversely affect our cash flows;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
fluctuations in the levels of component inventories held by our customers;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
utilization of our internal manufacturing facilities and fluctuations in manufacturing yields;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
our ability to successfully and timely integrate, and realize the benefits of acquisitions we may make and the timing of acquisitions or dispositions of, or making and exiting investments in, other entities, businesses or technologies;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
our ability to develop, introduce and market new products and technologies on a timely basis;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
the timing and extent of our software license and subscription revenue, and other non-product revenue, such as product development revenue and royalty and other payments from IP sales and licensing arrangements;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
new product announcements and introductions by us or our competitors;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
seasonality or other fluctuations in our markets;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
IP disputes and associated litigation expense;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
timing and amount of research and development and related new product expenditures, and the timing of receipt of any research and development grant monies;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
significant warranty claims, including those not covered by our suppliers or our insurers;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
availability and cost of raw materials and components from our suppliers;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
timing of any regulatory changes, particularly with respect to trade sanctions and customs duties and tariffs, and tax reform;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
fluctuations in currency exchange and interest rates;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in taxation of international businesses, which could increase our overall cash tax costs;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in our tax structure or incentive arrangements, which may adversely affect our net tax expense and our cash flow in any quarter in which such an event occurs;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
loss of key personnel or the shortage of available skilled workers; and
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
the effects of competitive pricing pressures, including decreases in average selling prices of our products.
|
The foregoing factors are often difficult to predict, and these, as well as other factors, could materially adversely affect our quarterly or annual operating results. In addition, a significant amount of our operating expenses are relatively fixed in nature due to our significant sales, research and development, and internal manufacturing overhead expenses. Any failure to adjust spending quickly enough to compensate for a revenue shortfall could magnify the adverse impact of such revenue shortfall on our results of operations. As a result, we believe that quarter-to-quarter comparisons of our revenue and operating results may not be meaningful or a reliable indicator of our future performance. If our operating results in one or more future quarters fail to meet the expectations of securities analysts or investors, a significant decline in the trading price of our common stock may occur, which may happen immediately or over time.
If we are unable to attract and retain qualified personnel, especially our engineering and technical personnel, we may not be able to execute our business strategy effectively.
Our future success depends on our ability to retain, attract and motivate qualified personnel. We also seek to acquire talented engineering and technical personnel, as well as effective sales professionals, through acquisitions we may make from time to time or otherwise. We have historically encountered some difficulties in hiring and retaining qualified engineers, particularly in Silicon Valley and Southeast Asia where qualified engineers are in high demand. In addition, current or future immigration laws make it more difficult to hire or retain qualified engineers further limiting the pool of available talent. Further, our employees, including employees whom we have retained as a result of an acquisition, may decide not to continue working for us and may leave with little or no notice. As the source of our technological and product innovations, our engineering and technical personnel are a significant asset. We have granted multi-year equity awards to most of our employees, including CA employees, many of whom were not eligible to receive equity awards prior to the CA Merger. These awards approximate four consecutive annual grants that vest in four tranches with successive four-year vesting periods. While we believe these awards provide a powerful long-term retention incentive to employees, we may be incorrect in this assumption, particularly if there is a material and persistent decline in the price of our stock. Any inability to retain, attract or motivate such personnel could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We operate in the highly cyclical semiconductor industry, which is subject to significant downturns.
The semiconductor industry is highly cyclical and is characterized by constant and rapid technological change and price erosion, evolving technical standards, frequent new product introductions, short product life cycles (for semiconductors and for many of the end products in which they are used) and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand. From time to time, these factors, together with changes in general economic conditions, cause significant upturns and downturns in the industry in general, and in our business in particular. Periods of industry downturns have been characterized by diminished demand for end-user products, high inventory levels and periods of inventory adjustment, under-utilization of manufacturing capacity, changes in revenue mix and accelerated erosion of average selling prices. We expect our business to continue to be subject to cyclical downturns even when overall economic conditions are relatively stable. If we cannot offset industry or market downturns, our net revenue may decline and our financial condition and results of operations may suffer.
Winning business in the semiconductor solutions industry is subject to a lengthy process that often requires us to incur significant expense, from which we may ultimately generate no revenue.
Our semiconductor business is dependent on us winning competitive bid selection processes, known as “design wins”. These selection processes are typically lengthy and can require us to dedicate significant development expenditures and scarce engineering resources in pursuit of a single customer opportunity. Failure to obtain a particular design win may prevent us from obtaining design wins in subsequent generations of a particular product. This can result in lost revenue and can weaken our position in future competitive bid selection processes.
Winning a product design does not guarantee sales to a customer or that we will realize as much revenue as anticipated, if any. A delay or cancellation of a customer’s plans could materially and adversely affect our financial results, as we incur significant expense in the design process and may generate little or no revenue from it. In addition, the timing of design wins is unpredictable and implementing production for a major design win, or multiple design wins occurring at the same time, may strain our resources and those of our contract manufacturers. In such event, we may be forced to dedicate significant additional resources and incur additional, unanticipated costs and expenses. Often customers will only purchase limited
numbers of evaluation units from us until they qualify the products and/or the manufacturing line for those products. The qualification process can take significant time and resources and we may not always be able to satisfy customers’ qualification requirements. Delays in qualification or failure to qualify our products may cause a customer to discontinue use of our products and result in a significant loss of revenue. Finally, customers could choose at any time to stop using our products or could fail to successfully market and sell their products, which could reduce demand for our products, and cause us to hold excess inventory, materially adversely affecting our business, financial condition and results of operations. These risks are exacerbated by the fact that many of our products, and the end products into which our products are incorporated, often have very short life cycles.
Competition in our industries could prevent us from growing our revenue.
The industries in which we operate are highly competitive and characterized by rapid technological changes, evolving industry standards, changes in customer requirements, often aggressive pricing practices and, in some cases, new delivery methods. We expect competition in these industries to continue to increase as existing competitors improve or expand their product offerings or as new competitors enter our markets.
In addition, the competitive landscape is changing in these industries as a result of a trend toward consolidation. Some of our direct competitors have merged with or been acquired by other competitors. We expect this consolidation trend to continue, which may result in the combined competitors having greater manufacturing, distribution, financial, research and development or marketing resources than us. In addition, some of our competitors may also receive financial and other support from their home country government or may have a greater presence in key markets, a larger customer base or more comprehensive IP portfolio and patent protection than us.
We compete with integrated device manufacturers and fabless semiconductor companies, as well as the internal resources of large, integrated OEMs. Because our products are often building block semiconductors, providing functions that in some cases can be integrated into more complex integrated circuits (“ICs”), we also face competition from manufacturers of ICs, as well as customers that may develop their own IC products. Our competitors in these markets range from large, international companies offering a wide range of semiconductor products and devices to smaller companies specializing in niche markets and new technologies.
Our competitors also include large vendors of hardware and operating system software and cloud service providers. Some of our competitors have longer operating histories, greater name recognition, a larger installed base of customers in any particular market, larger technical staffs, more established relationships with hardware vendors, or greater financial, technical and marketing resources than us. We also face competition from numerous start-ups and smaller companies that specialize in specific aspects of the highly fragmented software industry, open source authors who may provide software and intellectual property for free, competitors who may offer their products through try-and-buy or freemium models, and customers who may develop competing products.
The actions of our competitors, in the areas of pricing and product bundling in particular, could have a substantial adverse impact on us. Further, competitors may leverage their IP or other proprietary information, including interface or interoperability information, in new and emerging technologies and platforms that may inhibit our ability to compete effectively. If we are unable to compete successfully, we may lose market share for our products or incur significant reduction in our gross margins, either of which could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations.
A prolonged disruption of our manufacturing facilities, research and development facilities or other significant operations, or those of our suppliers, could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Although we operate a primarily outsourced manufacturing business model, we also rely on our own manufacturing facilities, in particular in Fort Collins, Colorado, Singapore, and Breinigsville, Pennsylvania. We use these internal fabrication facilities for products utilizing our innovative and proprietary processes, in order to protect our IP, to accelerate time to market of our products and to ensure supply of certain components. Our Fort Collins and Breinigsville facilities are the sole sources for the film bulk acoustic resonator components used in many of our wireless devices and for the indium phosphide-based wafers used in our fibre optics products, respectively. Many of our facilities, and those of our contract manufacturers and suppliers, are located in California and the Pacific Rim region, which has above average seismic activity and severe weather activity. In addition, our research and development personnel are primarily concentrated in China, Czech Republic, India, Israel, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Colorado, California and Pennsylvania, with the expertise of the personnel at each such location tending to be focused on one or two specific areas.
A prolonged disruption at one or more of our manufacturing facilities for any reason, especially our Colorado, Singapore and Pennsylvania facilities, or those of our contract manufacturers or suppliers, due to natural- or man-made disasters or other events outside of our control, such as equipment malfunction or widespread outbreaks of acute illness at one or more of these facilities, would limit our capacity to meet customer demands and delay new product development until a replacement facility and equipment, if necessary, were found. Any such event would likely disrupt our operations, delay
production, shipments and revenue, result in us being unable to timely satisfy customer demand, expose us to claims by our customers resulting in significant expense to repair or replace our affected facilities, and, in some instances, could significantly curtail our research and development efforts in a particular product area or target market. As a result, we could forgo revenue opportunities, potentially lose market share, damage our customer relationships and be subject to litigation and additional liabilities, all of which could materially and adversely affect our business. Although we purchase insurance to mitigate certain losses, such insurance often carries a high deductible amount and any uninsured losses could negatively affect our operating results. In addition, even if we were able to promptly resume production of our affected products, if our customers cannot timely resume their own manufacturing following such an event, they may cancel or scale back their orders from us and this may in turn adversely affect our results of operations. Such events could also result in increased fixed costs relative to the revenue we generate and adversely affect our results of operations.
We may be unable to maintain appropriate manufacturing capacity at our own manufacturing facilities, which could adversely affect our relationships with our customers, and our business, financial condition and results of operations.
We must maintain appropriate capacity at our own manufacturing facilities to meet anticipated customer demand for our proprietary products. From time to time, this requires us to invest in expansion or improvements of those facilities, which often involves substantial cost and other risks, such as delays in completion. Such expanded manufacturing capacity may still be insufficient, or may not come online soon enough, to meet customer demand and we may have to put customers on product allocation, forgo sales or lose customers as a result. Conversely, if we overestimate customer demand, we would experience excess capacity and fixed costs at these facilities, all of which could adversely affect our results of operations.
Any failure of our IT systems or one or more of our corporate infrastructure vendors to provide necessary services could have a material adverse effect on our business.
We depend on various IT systems, including networks, applications, internal IT systems and personnel, and outsourced services for, among other things, financial reporting and product orders and shipments. We rely on third-party vendors to provide critical corporate infrastructure services on a timely and effective basis and to adequately address cybersecurity threats to their own systems. Services provided by these third parties include certain services related to shipping, human resources, benefit plan administration, IT network development and network monitoring. While we may be entitled to damages if our vendors fail to perform under their agreements with us, we may be unable to collect on any award of damages and any award may be insufficient to cover the actual costs we may incur as a result of a vendor’s failure to perform under its agreement with us. Upon expiration or termination of any of our third-party vendor agreements we may not be able to timely replace the vendor on terms and conditions, including service levels and costs, which are favorable to us. In addition, a transition from one vendor to another vendor could subject us to operational delays and inefficiencies until the transition is complete.
Any failure of these internal or third-party systems and services to operate effectively could disrupt our operations and could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations by harming our ability to accurately forecast sales demand, manage our supply chain and production facilities, fulfill customer orders, and report financial and other information on a timely and accurate basis.
Our gross margin is dependent on a number of factors, including our product mix, price erosion, acquisitions we may make, level of capacity utilization and commodity prices.
Our gross margin is highly dependent on product mix, which is susceptible to seasonal and other fluctuations in our markets. A shift in sales mix away from our higher margin products, as well as the timing and amount of our software licensing and non-product revenue, could adversely affect our future gross margin percentages. In addition, increased competition and the existence of product alternatives, more complex engineering requirements, lower demand or reductions in our technological lead, compared to our competitors, and other factors may lead to further price erosion, lower revenue and lower margin for us in the future.
Our gross margin may also be adversely affected by expenses related to the acquisitions of businesses, such as amortization of intangible assets and restructuring and impairment charges. Furthermore, businesses or companies that we acquire may have different gross margin profiles than us and could, therefore, also affect our overall gross margin.
In addition, semiconductor manufacturing requires significant capital investment, leading to high fixed costs, including depreciation expense. If we are unable to utilize our owned manufacturing facilities at a high level, the fixed costs associated with these facilities, such as depreciation expense, will not be fully absorbed, resulting in higher average unit costs and a lower gross margin. Furthermore, fluctuations in commodity prices, either directly in the price of the raw materials we buy, or as a result of price increases passed on to us by our suppliers, could negatively impact our margins. We do not hedge our exposure to commodity prices, some of which (including gold and fuel prices) are very volatile, and sudden or prolonged increases in commodities prices may adversely affect our gross margin.
We utilize a significant amount of IP in our business. If we are unable or fail to protect our IP, our business could be adversely affected.
Our success depends in part upon protecting our IP. To accomplish this, we rely on a combination of IP rights, including patents, copyrights, trademarks and trade secrets, as well as customary contractual protections with our customers, suppliers, employees and consultants. We may be required to spend significant resources to monitor and protect our IP rights, including the usage rates of the software seat licenses and subscriptions that we sell, and even with significant expenditures we may not be able to protect the IP rights that are valuable to our business. We are unable to predict or assure that:
|
|
|
|
•
|
the IP rights that we presently employ in our business will not lapse or be invalidated, circumvented, challenged, or, in the case of third-party IP rights licensed to us, be licensed to others;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
our IP rights will provide competitive advantages to us;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
rights previously granted by third parties to IP licensed or assigned to us, including portfolio cross-licenses, will not hamper our ability to assert our IP rights against potential competitors or hinder the settlement of currently pending or future disputes;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
any of our pending or future patent, trademark or copyright applications will be issued or have the coverage originally sought;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
our IP rights will be enforced in certain jurisdictions where competition may be intense or where legal protection may be weak; or
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
we have sufficient IP rights to protect our products or our business.
|
In addition, our competitors or others may develop products or technologies that are similar or superior to our products or technologies, duplicate our products or technologies or design around our protected technologies. Effective patent, trademark, copyright and trade secret protection may be unavailable or more limited in other jurisdictions, relative to those protections available in the U.S., and may not be applied for or may be abandoned in one or more relevant jurisdictions. We may elect to abandon or divest patents or otherwise not pursue prosecution of certain pending patent applications, due to strategic concerns or other factors. In addition, when patents expire, we lose the protection and competitive advantages they provided to us.
We also generate some of our revenue from licensing royalty payments and from technology claim settlements relating to certain of our IP. Licensing of our IP rights, particularly exclusive licenses, may limit our ability to assert those IP rights against third parties, including the licensee of those rights. In addition, we may acquire companies with IP that is subject to licensing obligations to other third parties. These licensing obligations may extend to our own IP following any such acquisition and may limit our ability to assert our IP rights. From time to time, we pursue litigation to assert our IP rights, including, in some cases, against third parties with whom we have ongoing relationships, such as customers and suppliers. Claims of this sort could also harm our relationships with our customers and might deter future customers from doing business with us. Conversely, third parties may pursue IP litigation against us, including as a result of our IP licensing business. An adverse decision in such types of legal action could limit our ability to assert our IP rights and limit the value of our technology, including the loss of opportunities to sell or license our technology to others or to collect royalty payments based upon successful protection and assertion of our IP against others. In addition, such legal actions or adverse decisions could otherwise negatively impact our business, financial condition and results of operations.
From time to time, we may need to obtain additional IP licenses or renew existing license agreements. We are unable to predict whether these license agreements can be obtained or renewed on acceptable terms or at all.
If our software products do not remain compatible with ever-changing operating environments, platforms, or third-party products, demand for our products and services could decrease, which could materially adversely affect our business.
The largest suppliers of systems and computing software are, in most cases, the manufacturers of the computer hardware systems used by most of our customers, particularly in the mainframe space. These companies periodically modify or introduce new operating systems, systems software and computer hardware, which could require substantial modification of our products to maintain compatibility with these companies’ hardware or software. There can be no assurance that we will be able to adapt our products in response to these developments.
Further, our software solutions interact with a variety of software and hardware developed by third parties. If we lose access to third-party code and specifications for the development of code, this could negatively impact our ability to develop compatible software. In addition, if software providers and hardware manufacturers, including some of our largest vendors, adopt new policies restricting the use or availability of their code or technical documentation for their operating systems, applications, or hardware, or otherwise impose unfavorable terms and conditions for such access, this could result in higher research and development costs for the enhancement and modification of our existing products or development of new
products. Any additional restrictions could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results and cash flow.
Failure to enter into software license agreements on a satisfactory basis could materially adversely affect our business.
Many of our existing customers have multi-year enterprise license agreements, some of which involve substantial aggregate fee amounts. These customers have no contractual obligation to purchase additional solutions. Customer renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including the level of customer satisfaction with our solutions or customer support, customer budgets and the pricing of our solutions as compared with the solutions offered by our competitors, any of which may cause our revenue to grow more slowly than expected, if at all. The failure to renew customer agreements of similar scope, on terms that are commercially attractive to us, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results and cash flow.
Our sales to government clients subject us to uncertainties regarding fiscal funding approvals, renegotiations or terminations at the discretion of the government, as well as audits and investigations, which could result in litigation, penalties and sanctions including early termination, suspension and debarment.
Our multi-year contracts signed with the U.S. federal government and other U.S. state and local government agencies are generally subject to annual fiscal funding approval and may be renegotiated or terminated at the discretion of the government. Termination, renegotiation or the lack of funding approval for a contract could adversely affect our sales, revenue and reputation. Additionally, our government contracts are generally subject to certain requirements, some of which are generally not present in commercial contracts and/or may be complex, as well as to audits and investigations. Failure to meet contractual requirements could result in various civil and criminal actions and penalties, and administrative sanctions, including termination of contracts, refund of a portion of fees received, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, fines and suspensions or debarment from doing business with the government and could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flow.
Certain software that we use in our products is licensed from third parties and may not be available to us in the future, which may delay product development and production or cause us to incur additional expense.
Some of our solutions contain software licensed from third parties, some of which may not be available to us in the future on terms that are acceptable to us or allow our products to remain competitive. The loss of these licenses or the inability to maintain any of them on commercially acceptable terms could delay development of future products or the enhancement of existing products.
Certain software we use is from open source code sources, which, under certain circumstances could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition, operating results and cash flow.
Some of our products contain software from open source code sources, the use of which may subject us to certain conditions, including the obligation to offer such products for no cost or to make the proprietary source code of those products publicly available. Further, although some open source vendors provide warranty and support agreements, it is common for such software to be available “as-is” with no warranty, indemnity or support. Although we monitor our use of such open source code to avoid subjecting our products to unintended conditions, such use, under certain circumstances, could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and operating results and cash flow, including if we are required to take remedial action that may divert resources away from our development efforts.
We are subject to warranty claims, product recalls and product liability.
From time to time, we may be subject to warranty or product liability claims that may in the future lead to significant expense. Our customer contracts typically contain warranty and indemnification provisions, and in certain cases may also contain liquidated damages provisions, relating to product quality issues. The potential liabilities associated with such provisions are significant, and in some cases, including in agreements with some of our largest customers, are potentially unlimited. Any such liabilities may greatly exceed any revenue we receive from the relevant products. Costs, payments or damages incurred or paid by us in connection with warranty and product liability claims and product recalls could materially adversely affect our financial condition and results of operations. We may also be exposed to such claims as a result of any acquisition we may undertake in the future.
Product liability insurance is subject to significant deductibles and there is no guarantee that such insurance will be available or adequate to protect against all such claims, or we may elect to self-insure with respect to certain matters. For example, it is possible for one of our customers to recall a product containing one of our semiconductor devices. In such an event, we may incur significant costs and expenses, including among others, replacement costs, contract damage claims from our customers and reputational harm. Although we maintain reserves for reasonably estimable liabilities and purchase product liability insurance, our reserves may be inadequate to cover the uninsured portion of such claims. Conversely, in some cases, amounts we reserve may ultimately exceed our actual liability for particular claims and may need to be reversed.
The complexity of our products could result in unforeseen delays or expense or undetected defects or bugs, which could adversely affect the market acceptance of new products, damage our reputation with current or prospective customers, and materially and adversely affect our operating costs.
Highly complex products, such as those we offer, may contain defects and bugs when they are first introduced or as new versions, software documentation or enhancements are released, or their release may be delayed due to unforeseen difficulties during product development. If any of our products, including the products of companies we have acquired, or third-party components used in our products, contain defects or bugs, or have reliability, quality or compatibility problems, we may not be able to successfully design workarounds. Furthermore, if any of these problems are not discovered until after we have commenced commercial production of or deployed a new product, we may be required to incur additional development costs and product recall, repair or replacement costs. Significant technical challenges also arise with our software products because our customers license and deploy our products across a variety of computer platforms and integrate them with a number of third party software applications and databases. As a result, if there is system-wide failure, it may be difficult to determine which product is at fault and we could ultimately be harmed by the failure of another supplier’s product. Consequently, our reputation may be damaged and customers may be reluctant to buy our products, which could materially and adversely affect our ability to retain existing customers and attract new customers. To resolve these problems, we may have to invest significant capital and other resources. These problems may also result in claims against us by our customers or others. For example, if a delay in the manufacture and delivery of our products causes the delay of a customer’s end-product delivery, we may be required, under the terms of our agreement with that customer, to compensate the customer for the adverse effects of such delays. In addition, these problems may divert our technical and other resources from other development efforts, and we would likely lose, or experience a delay in, market acceptance of the affected product or products. As a result, our financial results could be materially adversely affected.
We make substantial investments in research and development to enhance existing and develop new technologies to keep pace with technological advances and to remain competitive in our business, and unsuccessful investments could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
The industries in which we compete are characterized by rapid technological change, changes in customer requirements, frequent new product introductions and enhancements, short product cycles and evolving industry standards, new delivery methods and require substantial investment in our research and development in order to develop and bring to market new and enhanced technologies and products. In addition, semiconductor products transition over time to increasingly smaller line width geometries. This requires us to adapt our products and manufacturing processes to these new technologies, which requires expertise in new procedures. Our failure to successfully transition to smaller geometry process technologies could impair our competitive position. In order to remain competitive, we have made, and expect to continue to make, significant investments in research and development. We expect the dollar amount of research and development expenses to increase for the foreseeable future, due to the increasing complexity and number of products we plan to develop. If we fail to develop new and enhanced products and technologies, if we focus on technologies that do not become widely adopted, or if new competitive technologies that we do not support, become widely accepted, demand for our products may be reduced. Significant investments in unsuccessful research and development efforts could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. In addition, increased investments in research and development could cause our cost structure to fall out of alignment with demand for our products, which would have a negative impact on our financial results.
Data privacy regulations are expanding and compliance with, and any violations of, these regulations may cause us to incur significant expenses.
Privacy legislation, enforcement and policy activity in this area are expanding rapidly in many jurisdictions and creating a complex regulatory compliance environment. The cost of complying with and implementing these privacy-related and data protection measures could be significant. In addition, even our inadvertent failure to comply with federal, state or international privacy-related or data protection laws and regulations could result in proceedings against us by governmental entities or others, and substantial fines and damages. The theft, loss or misuse of personal data collected, used, stored or transferred by us to run our business could result in significantly increased business and security costs or costs related to defending legal claims.
We are subject to environmental, health and safety laws, which could increase our costs, restrict our operations and require expenditures that could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.
We are subject to a variety of international laws and regulations relating to the use, disposal, clean-up of and human exposure to, hazardous materials. Compliance with environmental, health and safety requirements could, among other things, require us to modify our manufacturing processes, restrict our ability to expand our facilities, or require us to acquire pollution control equipment, all of which can be very costly. Any failure by us to comply with such requirements could result in the limitation or suspension of the manufacture of our products, and could result in litigation against us and the payment of
significant fines and damages by us in the event of a significant adverse judgment. In addition, complying with any cleanup or remediation obligations for which we are or become responsible could be costly and have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Changing requirements relating to the materials composition of our semiconductor products, including the restrictions on lead and certain other substances in electronics that apply to specified electronics products sold in various countries, including the U.S., China, Japan, and in the European Union, increase the complexity and costs of our product design and procurement operations and may require us to re-engineer our products. Such re-engineering may result in excess inventory or other additional costs and could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations. We may also experience claims from employees from time to time with regard to exposure to hazardous materials or other workplace related environmental claims.
Social and environmental responsibility regulations, policies and provisions, as well as customer demand, may make our supply chain more complex and may adversely affect our relationships with customers.
There is an increasing focus on corporate social and environmental responsibility in the semiconductor industry, particularly with OEMs that manufacture consumer electronics. A number of our customers have adopted, or may adopt, procurement policies that include social and environmental responsibility provisions that their suppliers should comply with, or they may seek to include such provisions in their procurement terms and conditions. An increasing number of participants in the semiconductor industry are also joining voluntary social responsibility initiatives such as the U.N. Global Compact, a voluntary initiative for businesses to develop, implement and disclose sustainability policies and practices. These social and environmental responsibility provisions and initiatives are subject to change, can be unpredictable, and may be difficult and expensive for us to comply with, given the complexity of our supply chain and our significant outsourced manufacturing. If we are unable to comply, or are unable to cause our suppliers or contract manufacturers to comply, with such policies or provisions, a customer may stop purchasing products from us, and may take legal action against us, which could harm our reputation, revenue and results of operations.
In addition, as part of their corporate social and environmental responsibility programs, an increasing number of OEMs are seeking to source products that do not contain minerals sourced from areas where proceeds from the sale of such minerals are likely to be used to fund armed conflicts, such as in the Democratic Republic of Congo. This could adversely affect the sourcing, availability and pricing of minerals used in the manufacture of semiconductor devices, including our products. Since our supply chain is complex, we are not currently able to definitively ascertain the origins of all of the minerals and metals used in our products. As a result, we may face difficulties in satisfying these customers’ demands, which may harm our sales and operating results.
The average selling prices of semiconductor products in our markets have often decreased rapidly and may do so in the future, which could harm our revenue and gross profit.
The semiconductor products we develop and sell are used for high volume applications. As a result, the prices of those products have often decreased rapidly. Gross profit on our products may be negatively affected by, among other things, pricing pressures from our customers. In the past, we have reduced the average selling prices of our products in anticipation of future competitive pricing pressures, new product introductions by us or our competitors and other factors. In addition, some of our customer agreements provide for volume-based pricing and product pricing roadmaps, which can also reduce the average selling prices of our products over time. Our margins and financial results will suffer if we are unable to offset any reductions in our average selling prices by increasing our sales volumes, reducing manufacturing costs, or developing new and higher value-added products on a timely basis.
A breach of our security systems may have a material adverse effect on our business.
Our security systems are designed to maintain the physical security of our facilities and protect our customers’, suppliers’ and employees’ confidential information, as well as our own proprietary information. However, we are also dependent on a number of third-party cloud-based and other service providers of critical corporate infrastructure services relating to, among other things, human resources, electronic communication services and certain finance functions, and we are, out of necessity, dependent on the security systems of these providers.
Accidental or willful security breaches or other unauthorized access by third parties or our employees or contractors of our facilities, our information systems or the systems of our cloud-based or other service providers, or the existence of computer viruses or malware in our or their data or software could expose us to a risk of information loss and misappropriation of proprietary and confidential information, including information relating to our products or customers and the personal information of our employees. In addition, we have, from time to time, also been subject to unauthorized network intrusions and malware on our own IT networks.
Certain of our software products are intended to manage and secure IT infrastructures and environments, and as a result, we expect these products to be ongoing targets of cybersecurity attacks. Open source code or other third-party software used in these products could also be targeted. Additionally, we use third-party data centers, including for part of our SaaS business, which may also be subject to hacking incidents. Although we continually seek to improve our countermeasures to prevent such incidents, we may be unable to anticipate every scenario and it is possible that certain cyber threats or vulnerabilities will be undetected or unmitigated in time to prevent an attack on us and our customers. Cybersecurity attacks could require significant expenditures of our capital and diversion of our resources. Additionally, efforts by malicious cyber actors or others could cause interruptions, delays or cessation of our product licensing, or modification of our software, which could cause us to lose existing or potential customers. A successful cybersecurity attack involving our products and IT infrastructure could also negatively impact the market perception of their effectiveness.
Any theft or misuse of confidential, personally identifiable or proprietary information could disrupt our business and result in, among other things, unfavorable publicity, damage to our reputation, loss of our trade secrets and other competitive information, difficulty in marketing our products, allegations by our customers that we have not performed our contractual obligations, litigation by affected parties and possible financial obligations for liabilities and damages related to the theft or misuse of such information, as well as fines and other sanctions resulting from any related breaches of data privacy regulations (such as the General Data Protection Regulation), any of which could have a material adverse effect on our business, profitability and financial condition. Since the techniques used to obtain unauthorized access to systems or to otherwise sabotage them, change frequently and are often not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventative measures.
We are required to assess our internal control over financial reporting on an annual basis and any adverse findings from such assessment could result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports, significant expense to remediate any internal control deficiencies and ultimately have an adverse effect on our stock price.
We are required to assess the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting annually, as required by Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act. Even though, as of November 4, 2018, we concluded that our internal control over financial reporting was effective, we need to maintain our processes and systems and adapt them as our business grows and changes, including to reflect our integration of CA, as well as any future acquisitions we may undertake. This continuous process of maintaining and adapting our internal controls and complying with Section 404 is expensive, time consuming and requires significant management attention. We cannot be certain that our internal control measures will continue to provide adequate control over our financial processes and reporting and ensure compliance with Section 404. Furthermore, as we grow our business or acquire other businesses, our internal controls may become more complex and we may require significantly more resources to ensure they remain effective. Failure to implement required new or improved controls, or difficulties encountered in the implementation of such controls, either in our existing business or in businesses that we acquire, could harm our operating results or cause us to fail to meet our reporting obligations. If we or our independent registered public accounting firm identify material weaknesses in our internal controls, the disclosure of that fact, even if quickly remedied, may cause investors to lose confidence in our financial statements and the trading price of our common stock may decline.
Remediation of a material weakness could require us to incur significant expenses and if we fail to remedy any material weakness, our financial statements may be inaccurate, we may be required to restate our financial statements, our ability to report our financial results on a timely and accurate basis may be adversely affected, our access to the capital markets may be restricted, the trading price of our common stock may decline, and we may be subject to sanctions or investigation by regulatory authorities, including the SEC or The Nasdaq Global Select Market.
Current and future accounting pronouncements and other financial reporting standards, especially concerning revenue recognition, may negatively impact our financial results.
Our reported financial results are impacted by the accounting standards promulgated by the SEC and national accounting standards bodies and the methods, estimates and judgments that we use in applying those standards in our accounting policies. New standards, changes to existing standards and changes in their interpretation, have required and, in the future, may require us to change our accounting policies and procedures, or implement new or enhance existing systems. For example, Topic 606 became effective for us starting with fiscal year 2019. In connection with the CA Merger and our changes to CA’s business strategy, including our adoption of a policy that allows customers to terminate their CA software contracts for convenience, we have been required to establish revenue recognition accounting policies and procedures under Topic 606 that we believe are appropriate for the business as we intend to conduct it. While we believe our policies and procedures are reasonable and appropriate, they are based on methods, estimates and judgments that are subject to risks, uncertainties, assumptions and changes that could adversely affect our reported financial position and financial results.
Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates could result in losses.
We operate global businesses and our consolidated financial results are reported in U.S. dollars. However, some of the revenue and expenses of our foreign subsidiaries are denominated in local currencies. Fluctuations in foreign exchange rates against the U.S. dollar could result in substantial changes in reported revenues and operating results due to the foreign exchange impact of translating these transactions into U.S. dollars.
In the normal course of business, we employ various hedging strategies to partially mitigate these risks, including the use of derivative instruments. These strategies may not be effective in protecting us against the effects of fluctuations in foreign exchange rates. As a result, fluctuations in foreign exchange rates could result in financial losses.
The enactment of legislation implementing changes in taxation of international business activities, the adoption of other corporate tax reform policies, or changes in tax legislation or policies could materially impact our financial position and results of operations.
Corporate tax reform, base-erosion efforts and tax transparency continue to be high priorities in many tax jurisdictions where we have business operations. As a result, policies regarding corporate income and other taxes in numerous jurisdictions are under heightened scrutiny and tax reform legislation is being proposed or enacted in a number of jurisdictions. For example, the 2017 Tax Reform Act adopted broad U.S. corporate income tax reform, which among other things, reduced the U.S. corporate income tax rate, but imposed base-erosion prevention measures on earnings of non-U.S. subsidiaries of U.S. entities as well as the transition tax on mandatory deemed repatriation of accumulated non-U.S. earnings of U.S. controlled foreign corporations.
In addition, many countries are beginning to implement legislation and other guidance to align their international tax rules with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Base Erosion and Profit Shifting recommendations and action plan that aim to standardize and modernize global corporate tax policy, including changes to cross-border tax, transfer pricing documentation rules, and nexus-based tax incentive practices. As a result of the heightened scrutiny of corporate taxation policies, prior decisions by tax authorities regarding treatments and positions of corporate income taxes could be subject to enforcement activities, and legislative investigation and inquiry, which could also result in changes in tax policies or prior tax rulings. Any such changes in policies or rulings may also result in the taxes we previously paid being subject to change.
Any substantial changes in domestic or international corporate tax policies, regulations or guidance, enforcement activities or legislative initiatives may materially adversely affect our business, the amount of taxes we are required to pay and our financial condition and results of operations generally.
If the tax incentive or tax holiday arrangements we have negotiated in Singapore and other jurisdictions change or cease to be in effect or applicable, in part or in whole, for any reason, or if our assumptions and interpretations regarding tax laws and incentive or holiday arrangements prove to be incorrect, the amount of corporate income taxes we have to pay could significantly increase.
Our operations are currently structured to benefit from the various tax incentives and tax holidays extended to us in various jurisdictions to encourage investment or employment. For example, our principal tax incentive from the Singapore Economic Development Board, an agency of the Government of Singapore, provides that any qualifying income we earn in Singapore is subject to a tax incentive or reduced rates of Singapore income tax. Absent this tax incentive, the corporate income tax rate that would otherwise apply to our Singapore taxable income would be 17%. This Singapore tax incentive is expected to expire in November 2025, subject to potential extensions, which we may or may not be able to obtain, and any subsequent changes in incentive scope or legislative developments. We also have a tax holiday on our qualifying income in Malaysia, which is scheduled to expire in fiscal year 2028. The tax incentives and tax holiday that we have obtained are also subject to our compliance with various operating and other conditions and may, in some instances, be amended or terminated prior to their scheduled termination date by the relevant governmental authority. If we cannot, or elect not to, comply with the operating conditions included in any particular tax incentive or tax holiday, we could, in some instances, be required to refund previously realized material tax benefits, or if such tax incentive or tax holiday is terminated prior to its expiration absent a new incentive applying, we will lose the related tax benefits earlier than scheduled. Depending on the incentive at issue, we could also be required to modify our operational structure and tax strategy in order to keep the incentive, which may not be as beneficial to us as the present structure or tax strategy. Our tax incentives and tax holiday increased the benefit from income taxes by approximately $590 million in the aggregate and increased diluted net income per share by $1.37 for fiscal year 2018.
Our interpretations and conclusions regarding the tax incentives are not binding on any taxing authority, and if our assumptions about tax and other laws are incorrect or if these tax incentives are substantially modified or rescinded, we could suffer material adverse tax and other financial consequences, which would increase our expenses, reduce our profitability and adversely affect our cash flows.
Our provision for income taxes and overall cash tax costs are affected by a number of factors, including reorganizations or restructurings of our businesses or assets, jurisdictional revenue mix and changes in tax regulations or policy, and may be further impacted by corporate transactions, all of which could materially, adversely affect financial results.
We are a multinational company subject to tax in various tax jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in determining our worldwide provision for income taxes. In the ordinary course of our business, there are many transactions where the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Additionally, our calculations of income taxes payable currently and on a deferred basis are based on our interpretations of applicable tax laws in the jurisdictions in which we are required to file tax returns.
Our provision for income taxes is subject to volatility and could be adversely affected by numerous factors including:
|
|
|
|
•
|
reorganization or restructuring of our businesses, tangible and intangible assets, outstanding indebtedness and corporate structure, such as the Redomiciliation Transaction or in connection with acquiring businesses;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
jurisdictional mix of our income and assets, and the resulting tax effects of differing tax rates in different countries;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in the allocation of income and expenses, including adjustments related to changes in our corporate structure, acquisitions or tax law;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in transfer pricing rules or methods of applying these rules;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in tax laws, including in the U.S., changes to the taxation of earnings of foreign subsidiaries, the deductibility of expenses attributable to income and foreign tax credit rules;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
tax effects of increases in non-deductible employee compensation;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in tax accounting rules or principles and in the valuation of deferred tax assets and liabilities;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
outcomes of income tax audits; and
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
modifications, expiration, lapses or termination of tax credits or incentives.
|
We have also adopted transfer pricing policies between our affiliated entities. Our policies call for the provision of services, the sale of products, the advance of financing and grant of licenses from one affiliate to another at prices that we believe are negotiated on an arm’s length basis. Our taxable income in any jurisdiction is dependent upon acceptance of our operational practices and intercompany transfer pricing by local tax authorities as being on an arm’s length basis. Due to inconsistencies in application of the arm’s length standard among taxing authorities, as well as lack of comprehensive treaty-based protection, transfer pricing challenges by tax authorities could, if successful, result in adjustments for prior or future years. As a result of these adjustments, we could become subject to higher taxes and our earnings and results of operations would be adversely affected in any period in which such determination is made.
Although we believe our tax estimates are reasonable, there is no assurance that the final determination of our income tax liability will not be materially different than what is reflected in our income tax provisions and accruals. Significant judgment is required to determine the recognition and measurement of tax liabilities prescribed in the relevant accounting guidance for uncertainty in income taxes. The accounting guidance for uncertainty in income taxes applies to all income tax positions, which, if resolved unfavorably, could adversely impact our provision for income taxes and our payment obligation with respect to any such taxes.
In addition, we are subject to, and are under, tax audit in various jurisdictions, and such jurisdictions may assess additional income tax against us. Although we believe our tax positions are reasonable, the final determination of tax audits could be materially different from our income tax provisions and accruals. The ultimate result of an audit could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and cash flows in the period or periods for which that determination is made.
The Internal Revenue Service may not agree that prior to the Redomiciliation Transaction Broadcom-Singapore should have been treated as a foreign corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
Although Broadcom-Singapore is a Singapore entity, the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”) may assert that following our acquisition of BRCM, Broadcom-Singapore should have been treated as a U.S. corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes pursuant to Section 7874 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, as amended (the “Code”). If the IRS were to determine that under Section 7874 of the Code, the former shareholders of BRCM held at least 60% of the vote or value of the ordinary shares of Broadcom-Singapore immediately after our acquisition of BRCM, such percentage referred to as the “Section 7874 Percentage”, Broadcom-Singapore would be treated as a “surrogate foreign corporation” and several limitations could then apply to BRCM. For example, BRCM would be prohibited from using its net operating losses, foreign tax credits or other tax attributes to offset the income or gain recognized by reason of the transfer of property to a foreign related person during the 10-year period following our acquisition of BRCM or any income received or accrued during such period by reason of a license of any property by BRCM to a foreign related person. Moreover, in such case, Section 4985 of the Code and rules related
thereto would impose an excise tax on the value of certain stock compensation held directly or indirectly by certain BRCM “disqualified individuals” (including former officers and directors of BRCM) at a rate equal to 15%, but only if a gain is otherwise recognized by BRCM former shareholders as a result of our acquisition of BRCM. If the IRS were to determine the Section 7874 Percentage was 80% or more, then Broadcom-Singapore would be treated as a U.S. corporation for U.S. federal income tax purposes.
While we believe the Section 7874 Percentage was significantly less than 60%, determining the Section 7874 Percentage is complex and is subject to factual and legal uncertainties. There can be no assurance that the IRS will agree with our position.
Risks Relating to Our Indebtedness
Our substantial indebtedness could adversely affect our financial health and our ability to raise additional capital to fund our operations or potential acquisitions, could limit our ability to react to changes in the economy or our industry, and exposes us to interest rate risk to the extent of our variable rate indebtedness and prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under our indebtedness.
As of August 4, 2019, our indebtedness under the 2017 Senior Notes, the 2019 Senior Notes and the Assumed CA Senior Notes was $17,550 million, $11,000 million and $2,250 million, respectively. In addition, $6,000 million was outstanding under the 2019 Term Loans. This amount does not reflect any debt that we may incur in connection with the acquisition of the Symantec Business. We expect to maintain significant levels of indebtedness going forward.
Our substantial indebtedness could have important consequences including:
|
|
|
|
•
|
increasing our vulnerability to adverse general economic and industry conditions;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
exposing us to interest rate risk due to our variable rate term facilities, which we do not typically hedge against;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes in the economy and the semiconductor industry;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
placing us at a competitive disadvantage compared to our competitors with less indebtedness;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
making it more difficult to borrow additional funds in the future to fund growth, acquisitions, working capital, capital expenditures and other purposes; and
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
potentially requiring us to dedicate a substantial portion of our cash flow from operations to payments on our indebtedness, thereby reducing the availability of our cash flow to fund our other business needs.
|
In addition, our variable rate indebtedness may use LIBOR as a benchmark for establishing the rate. LIBOR is the subject of recent national, international and other regulatory guidance and proposals for reform. These reforms and other pressures may cause LIBOR to disappear entirely or to perform differently than in the past. The consequences of these developments cannot be entirely predicted, but could include an increase in the cost of our variable rate indebtedness.
We receive debt ratings from the major credit rating agencies in the U.S. Factors that may impact our credit ratings include debt levels, planned asset purchases or sales and near-term and long-term production growth opportunities. Liquidity, asset quality, cost structure, reserve mix and commodity pricing levels could also be considered by the rating agencies. While we are focused on maintaining investment grade ratings from these agencies, we may be unable to do so. Any downgrade in our credit rating or the ratings of our indebtedness, or adverse conditions in the debt capital markets, could:
|
|
|
|
•
|
adversely affect the trading price of, or market for, our debt securities;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
increase interest expense under our term facilities;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
increase the cost of, and adversely affect our ability to refinance, our existing debt; and
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
adversely affect our ability to raise additional debt.
|
The instruments governing our indebtedness impose certain restrictions on our business.
The instruments governing our indebtedness contain certain covenants imposing restrictions on our business. These restrictions may affect our ability to operate our business, to plan for, or react to, changes in the market conditions or our capital needs and may limit our ability to take advantage of potential business opportunities as they arise. The restrictions placed on us include maintenance of an interest coverage ratio and limitations on our ability to incur certain secured debt, enter into certain sale and lease-back transactions and consolidate, merge, sell or otherwise dispose of all or substantially all of our assets. In addition, the instruments contain customary events of default upon the occurrence of which, after any applicable grace period, the indebtedness could be declared immediately due and payable. In such event, we may not have sufficient available cash to repay such debt at the time it becomes due, or be able to refinance such debt on acceptable terms or at all. Any of the foregoing could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.
Servicing our debt requires a significant amount of cash, and we may not have sufficient cash flow from our business to pay our substantial debt.
Our ability to make scheduled payments of the principal of, to pay interest on, and to refinance our debt, depends on our future performance, which is subject to economic, financial, competitive and other factors. Our business may not continue to generate cash flow from operations in the future sufficient to satisfy our obligations under our current indebtedness and any future indebtedness we may incur and to make necessary capital expenditures. If we are unable to generate such cash flow, we may be required to adopt one or more alternatives, such as reducing or delaying investments or capital expenditures, selling assets, refinancing or obtaining additional equity capital on terms that may be onerous or highly dilutive. Our ability to refinance our outstanding indebtedness or future indebtedness will depend on the capital markets and our financial condition at such time. We may not be able to engage in any of these activities or engage in these activities on desirable terms when needed, which could result in a default on our indebtedness.
Risks Relating to Owning Our Common Stock
At times, our stock price has been volatile and it may fluctuate substantially in the future, which could result in substantial losses for our investors as well as class action litigation against us and our management which could cause us to incur substantial costs and divert our management’s attention and resources.
The trading price of our common stock has, at times, fluctuated significantly and could be subject to wide fluctuations in response to any of the risk factors listed in this “Risk Factors” section, and others, including:
|
|
|
|
•
|
actual or anticipated fluctuations in our financial condition and operating results;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
issuance of new or updated research or other reports by securities analysts;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
fluctuations in the valuation and results of operations of our significant customers as well as companies perceived by investors to be comparable to us;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
announcements of proposed acquisitions by us or our competitors;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
announcements of, or expectations of, additional debt or equity financing transactions;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
stock price and volume fluctuations attributable to inconsistent trading volume levels of our common stock;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
changes in our dividend or stock repurchase policies;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
the initiation or conclusion of legal proceedings or government inquiries or investigations involving Broadcom;
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
announcement or imposition of restrictive governmental actions, such as import/export restrictions, duties and quotas, trade sanctions or customs duties and tariffs that may affect our business; and
|
|
|
|
|
•
|
unsubstantiated news reports or other inaccurate publicity regarding us or our business.
|
These fluctuations are often unrelated or disproportionate to our operating performance. Broad market and industry fluctuations, as well as general economic, political and market conditions such as recessions, interest rate changes or currency fluctuations, may negatively impact the market price of our common stock. You may not realize any return on your investment in us and may lose some or all of your investment. In the past, companies that have experienced volatility in the market price of their stock have been subject to securities class action litigation. We may be the target of this type of litigation in the future. We are also the subject of a number of lawsuits stemming from our acquisitions. Securities litigation against us, including the lawsuits related to such transactions, could result in substantial costs and divert our management’s attention from other business concerns, which could seriously harm our business.
The amount and frequency of our stock repurchases may fluctuate.
The amount, timing and execution of our stock repurchase program may fluctuate based on our priorities for the use of cash for other purposes. These purposes include operational spending, capital spending, acquisitions, repayment of debt and returning cash to our stockholders as dividend payments. Changes in cash flows, tax laws and our stock price could also impact our stock repurchase program.
A substantial amount of our stock is held by a small number of large investors and significant sales of our common stock in the public market by one or more of these holders could cause our stock price to fall.
As of June 30, 2019, we believe 11 of our 20 largest stockholders were active institutional investors who held approximately 32% of our outstanding shares of common stock in the aggregate, with Capital World Investors being our largest stockholder with approximately 11% of our outstanding shares of common stock. These investors may sell their shares at any time for a variety of reasons and such sales could depress the market price of our common stock. In addition, any such
sales of our common stock by these entities could also impair our ability to raise capital through the sale of additional equity securities.
There can be no assurance that we will continue to declare cash dividends.
Our Board of Directors has adopted a dividend policy pursuant to which we currently pay a cash dividend on our common stock on a quarterly basis. The declaration and payment of any dividend is subject to the approval of our Board of Directors and our dividend may be discontinued or reduced at any time. There can be no assurance that we will declare cash dividends in the future in any particular amounts, or at all.
Future dividends, if any, and their timing and amount, may be affected by, among other factors: management’s views on potential future capital requirements for strategic transactions, including acquisitions; earnings levels; contractual restrictions; our stock repurchase program; cash position and overall financial condition; and changes to our business model. The payment of cash dividends is restricted by applicable law, contractual restrictions and our corporate structure. Because we are a holding company, our ability to pay cash dividends is also limited by restrictions or limitations on our ability to obtain sufficient funds through dividends from subsidiaries.
Our actual operating results may differ significantly from our guidance.
From time to time, we release guidance regarding our future performance that represents our management’s estimates as of the date of release. This guidance, which consists of forward-looking statements, is prepared by our management and is qualified by, and subject to, the assumptions and the other information contained or referred to in the release. Our guidance is not prepared with a view toward compliance with published guidelines of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants, and neither any independent registered public accounting firm nor any other independent expert or outside party compiles, examines or reviews the guidance and, accordingly, no such person expresses any opinion or any other form of assurance with respect thereto.
Guidance is based upon a number of assumptions and estimates that, while presented with numerical specificity, is inherently subject to significant business, economic and competitive uncertainties and contingencies, many of which are beyond our control and are based upon specific assumptions with respect to future business decisions, some of which will change. We generally state possible outcomes as high and low ranges which are intended to provide a sensitivity analysis as variables are changed but are not intended to represent that actual results could not fall outside of these ranges. The principal reason that we release this data is to provide a basis for our management to discuss our business outlook with analysts and investors. We do not accept any responsibility for any projections or reports published by any such persons.
Guidance is necessarily speculative in nature, and it can be expected that some or all of the assumptions of the guidance furnished by us will not materialize or will vary significantly from actual results, particularly any guidance relating to the results of operations of acquired businesses or companies as our management will, necessarily, be less familiar with their business, procedures and operations. Accordingly, our guidance is only an estimate of what management believes is realizable as of the date of release. Actual results will vary from the guidance and the variations may be material. Investors should also recognize that the reliability of any forecasted financial data will diminish the farther in the future that the data are forecast. In light of the foregoing, investors are urged to put the guidance in context and not to place undue reliance on it.
Any failure to successfully implement our operating strategy or the occurrence of any of the events or circumstances set forth in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q could result in the actual operating results being different than the guidance, and such differences may be adverse and material.