Harmonic Announces First Quarter 2021 Results

SAN JOSE, Calif., May 3, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — Harmonic Inc. (NASDAQ: HLIT) today announced its unaudited results for the first quarter of 2021.

“Harmonic delivered another quarter of solid results, including better than expected revenues and earnings driven by strong customer demand in both of our business segments,” said Patrick Harshman, president and chief executive officer of Harmonic. “We saw strong bookings during the first quarter and as a result, we again ended the quarter with near-record backlog and deferred revenue. This solid financial footing, combined with the continued differentiated technology leadership of our video streaming and CableOS^® solutions, positions us well for continued success.”  

Q1 Financial and Business Highlights

Financial

• Revenue: $111.6 million, up 42.3% year over year
• Cable Access segment revenue: $41.3 million, up 72% year over year
• Video segment revenue: $70.3 million, up 29% year over year
• Gross margin: GAAP 49.4% and non-GAAP 50.4%, compared to GAAP 46.8% and non-GAAP 48.9% in the year ago period
• Cable Access segment gross margin: 42.2% compared to 43.3% in the year ago period
• Video segment gross margin: 55.1% compared to 51.3% in the year ago period
• Operating income (loss): GAAP loss $3.8 million and non-GAAP income $5.1 million, compared to GAAP loss $18.0 million and non-GAAP loss $9.5 million in the year ago period
• Adjusted EBITDA: $9.1 million income compared to $7.0 million loss in the year ago period
• Net income (loss): GAAP net loss $6.1 million and non-GAAP net income of $4.5 million, compared to GAAP net loss $22.0 million and non-GAAP net loss $9.8 million in the year ago period
• EPS: GAAP net loss per share of $0.06 and non-GAAP net income per share of $0.04, compared to GAAP net loss per share of $0.23 and non-GAAP net loss per share of $0.10 in the year ago period
• Cash: $100.8 million, up $29.1 million year over year

Business

• CableOS solution commercially deployed with 53 customers, up 96% year over year
• CableOS deployments scaled to 3.0 million served cable modems, up 127% year over year
• 7 new VOS^® streaming SaaS customers added during the quarter, total up 72% year over year

Select Financial Information

Explanations regarding our use of non-GAAP financial measures and related definitions, and reconciliations of our GAAP and non-GAAP measures, are provided in the sections below entitled “Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures” and “GAAP to Non-GAAP Reconciliations”.

Financial Guidance 

Conference Call Information

Harmonic will host a conference call to discuss its financial results at 2:00 p.m. Pacific (5:00 p.m. Eastern) on Monday, May 3, 2021. The live webcast will be available on the Harmonic Investor Relations website at http://investor.harmonicinc.com.  An audio version of the webcast will be available by calling +1.574.990.1032 or +1.800.240.9147 (conference ID 8667518). A replay will be available after 5:00 p.m. PT on the same web site or by calling +1.404.537.3406 or +1.855.859.2056 (conference ID 8667518).

About Harmonic Inc.

Harmonic (NASDAQ: HLIT), the worldwide leader in virtualized cable access and video delivery solutions, enables media companies and service providers to deliver ultra-high-quality video streaming and broadcast services to consumers globally. The Company revolutionized cable access networking via the industry’s first virtualized cable access solution, enabling cable operators to more flexibly deploy gigabit internet service to consumers’ homes and mobile devices. Whether simplifying OTT video delivery via innovative cloud and software platforms, or powering the delivery of gigabit internet cable services, Harmonic is changing the way media companies and service providers monetize live and on-demand content on every screen. More information is available at www.harmonicinc.com.

Legal Notice Regarding Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, including statements related to our expectations regarding: net revenue, gross margins, operating expenses, operating income (loss), Adjusted EBITDA, tax expense and tax rate, EPS and cash. Our expectations regarding these matters may not materialize, and actual results in future periods are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those projected. These risks include, in no particular order, the following: the market and technology trends underlying our Video and Cable Access businesses will not continue to develop in their current direction or pace; the possibility that our products will not generate sales that are commensurate with our expectations or that our cost of revenue or operating expenses may exceed our expectations; the potential impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on our operations or the operations of our supply chain or our customers; the impact of general economic conditions on our sales and operations; the mix of products and services sold in various geographies and the effect it has on gross margins; delays or decreases in capital spending in the cable, satellite, telco, broadcast and media industries; customer concentration and consolidation; our ability to develop new and enhanced products in a timely manner and market acceptance of our new or existing products; losses of one or more key customers; risks associated with our international operations; exchange rate fluctuations of the currencies in which we conduct business; risks associated with our CableOS and VOS product solutions; dependence on various video and broadband industry trends; inventory management; the lack of timely availability or the impact of increases in the prices of parts or raw materials necessary to produce our products; the effect of competition, on both revenue and gross margins; difficulties associated with rapid technological changes in our markets; risks associated with unpredictable sales cycles; our dependence on contract manufacturers and sole or limited source suppliers; and the effect on our business of natural disasters. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release are also subject to other risks and uncertainties, including those more fully described in Harmonic’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, our most recent Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q and our Current Reports on Form 8-K. The forward-looking statements in this press release are based on information available to the Company as of the date hereof, and Harmonic disclaims any obligation to update any forward-looking statements.

Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures

The Company reports its financial results in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States (“GAAP” or referred to herein as “reported”). However, management believes that certain non-GAAP financial measures provide management and other users with additional meaningful financial information that should be considered when assessing our ongoing performance. Our management regularly uses our supplemental non-GAAP financial measures internally to understand, manage and evaluate our business, establish operating budgets, set internal measurement targets and make operating decisions.

These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with, or an alternative for, measures prepared in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles and may be different from non-GAAP measures used by other companies. In addition, these non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles. The Company believes that non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with Harmonic’s results of operations as determined in accordance with GAAP and that these measures should only be used to evaluate Harmonic’s results of operations in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures.

The Company believes that the presentation of non-GAAP measures when shown in conjunction with the corresponding GAAP measures, provides useful information to investors and management regarding financial and business trends relating to its financial condition and its historical and projected results of operations. Non-GAAP financial measures should be viewed in addition to, and not as an alternative to, the Company’s reported results prepared in accordance with GAAP.

The non-GAAP measures presented here are: segment revenue, gross profit, operating expenses, income (loss) from operations, non-operating expenses and net income (loss) (including those amounts as a percentage of revenue), Adjusted EBITDA and net income (loss) per diluted share. The presentation of non-GAAP information is not intended to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for results prepared in accordance with GAAP, and is not necessarily comparable to non-GAAP results published by other companies. A reconciliation of the historical non-GAAP financial measures discussed in this press release to the most directly comparable historical GAAP financial measures is included with the financial statements provided with this press release. The non-GAAP adjustments described below have historically been excluded from our GAAP financial measures.

Our non-GAAP financial measures reflect adjustments based on the following items, as well as the related income tax effects:

Stock-based compensation – Although stock-based compensation is a key incentive offered to our employees, we continue to evaluate our business performance excluding stock-based compensation expenses. We believe that management is limited in its ability to project the impact stock-based compensation would have on our operating results. In addition, for comparability purposes, we believe it is useful to provide a non-GAAP financial measure that excludes stock-based compensation in order to better understand the long-term performance of our core business and to facilitate the comparison of our results to the results of our peer companies. 

Amortization of intangibles – A portion of the purchase price of our acquisitions is generally allocated to intangible assets, and is subject to amortization. However, Harmonic does not acquire businesses on a predictable cycle. Additionally, the amount of an acquisition’s purchase price allocated to intangible assets and the term of its related amortization can vary significantly and is unique to each acquisition. Therefore, we believe that the presentation of non-GAAP financial measures that adjust for the amortization of intangible assets provides investors and others with a consistent basis for comparison across accounting periods. 

Restructuring and related charges – Harmonic from time to time incurs restructuring charges which primarily consist of employee severance, one-time termination benefits related to the reduction of its workforce, lease exit costs, and other costs.  These charges are associated with material business shifts. We exclude these items because we do not believe they are reflective of our ongoing long-term business and operating results. 

Loss on convertible debt extinguishment – In the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020, we recorded a loss of $0.5 million from the conversion and settlement of the remaining $8.1 million of our convertible notes due in December 2020. We have excluded this loss from our non-GAAP financial measures because we do not believe the loss is reflective of our ongoing long-term business and operating results.

Non-cash interest expense and other expenses related to convertible notes and other debt – We record the accretion of the debt discount related to the equity component and amortization of issuance costs as non-cash interest expense. We believe that excluding these costs provides meaningful supplemental information regarding operational performance and liquidity, along with enhancing investors’ ability to view the Company’s results from management’s perspective. In addition, we believe excluding these costs from the non-GAAP measures facilitates comparisons to our historical operating results and comparisons to peer company operating results. 

Discrete tax items and tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments – The income tax effect of non-GAAP adjustments relates to the tax effect of the adjustments that we incorporate into non-GAAP financial measures in order to provide a more meaningful measure of non-GAAP net income.

Depreciation – Depreciation expense, along with interest, tax and stock-based compensation expense, restructuring charges and amortization of intangible assets, is excluded from Adjusted EBITDA because we do not believe depreciation and the other items relate to the ordinary course of our business or are reflective of our underlying business performance.