ADTRAN Holdings, Inc. - Annual Report: 2019 (Form 10-K)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-K

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019

For the Transition Period from               to              

Commission file number 000-24612

ADTRAN, Inc.

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act: None

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 or Section 15 (d) of the Securities Exchange Act.    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the Registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data File required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulations S-T (232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for shorter period that the Registrant was required to submit such files).    Yes  ☒    No  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of “large accelerated filer,” “accelerated filer,” “smaller reporting company,” and “emerging growth company” in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act. 

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act.  ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).    Yes  ☐    No  ☒

The aggregate market value of the registrant's outstanding common stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant on June 30, 2019 was $724,323,806 based on a closing market price of $15.25 as reported on the NASDAQ Global Select Market (as of June 28, 2019, the most recent trading day prior to June 30, 2019). There were 48,086,618 shares of common stock outstanding as of February 21, 2020.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE

Portions of the Proxy Statement for the Annual Meeting of Stockholders to be held on May 13, 2020 are incorporated herein by reference in Part III.

ADTRAN, Inc.

Annual Report on Form 10-K

For the Fiscal Year Ended December 31, 2019

Table of Contents

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CAUTIONARY NOTE REGARDING FORWARD-LOOKING STATEMENTS

The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 provides a safe harbor for forward-looking statements made by or on behalf of ADTRAN, Inc. (“ADTRAN”, the “Company”, “we”, “our” or “us”). ADTRAN and its representatives may from time to time make written or oral forward-looking statements, including statements contained in this report, our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the “SEC”) and other communications with our stockholders. Any statement that does not directly relate to a historical or current fact is a forward-looking statement. Generally, the words, “believe”, “expect”, “intend”, “estimate”, “anticipate”, “will”, “may”, “could” and similar expressions identify forward-looking statements. We caution you that any forward-looking statements made by us or on our behalf are subject to uncertainties and other factors that could affect the accuracy of such statements. For a detailed description of the risk factors associated with our business, see Part I, Item 1A of this report. We caution investors that other factors may prove to be important in the future in affecting our operating results. New factors emerge from time to time, and it is not possible for us to predict all of these factors, nor can we assess the impact each factor, or a combination of factors, may have on our business. You are further cautioned not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements because they speak only of our views as of the date that the statements were made. We undertake no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.

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GLOSSARY OF SELECTED TERMS

Below are certain acronyms, concepts and defined terms commonly used in our industry and in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, along with their meanings:

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PART I

Company Overview

ADTRAN, Inc. (“ADTRAN” or the “Company”) is a leading global provider of networking and communications solutions and services. Our vision is to enable a fully connected world where the power to communicate is available to everyone, everywhere. Our unique approach, unmatched industry expertise and innovative solutions enable us to address almost any customer need. Our products and services are utilized by a diverse global customer base of network operators that range from those having national or regional reach, operating as telephone or cable television network operators, to alternative network providers such as municipalities or utilities, as well as managed service providers who serve small- and medium-sized businesses and distributed enterprises.

We operate in two business segments: (1) Network Solutions, which includes hardware and software products, and (2) Services & Support, which includes a portfolio of services that complement our product portfolio. These two segments span across our three revenue categories: (1) Access & Aggregation, (2) Subscriber Solutions & Experience and (3) Traditional & Other Products. A revenue category is distinguished by the types of products and services offered. Access & Aggregation is focused on solutions that are used by service providers to connect their network infrastructure to subscribers; Subscriber Solutions & Experience is concentrated on subscriber solutions that terminate broadband access in the home and/or business; and Traditional & Other Products encompasses prior-generation technologies, products and services and certain other offerings. See below for a detailed discussion of these reportable segments and revenue categories.

Our innovative solutions and services enable voice, data and video communications across a variety of network infrastructures. They are currently in use by millions of end users worldwide, making us a top supplier of broadband access solutions in both the North American and the EMEA regions.

We are focused on being a top supplier of communications infrastructure spanning from the cloud edge (data center) to the subscriber edge (subscriber device) serving both the residential internet and enterprise cloud services markets. We offer a broad portfolio of flexible network infrastructure solutions, customer premises equipment software, management and orchestration solutions and global services and support including network implementation, system integration and network maintenance and management services that enable service providers to meet their service demands now and in the future. These products and services enable service providers to transition to a common network supporting the simplified delivery of high-capacity services, regardless of subscriber density, network topology and infrastructure diversity.

ADTRAN was incorporated in Delaware in November 1985 and began operations in January 1986. Headquartered in Huntsville, Alabama, ADTRAN anchors Cummings Research Park—the second largest high-tech center in the U.S. and fourth largest in the world. The mailing address is 901 Explorer Boulevard, Huntsville, Alabama, 35806. Our telephone number at that location is (256) 963-8000. Our website is www.adtran.com. No information contained on our website is intended to be included as part of, or incorporated by reference into, this Annual Report on Form 10-K.

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Industry Overview

Communications solution providers are investing in their networks for growth in subscriber acquisition and retention, while streamlining their operations to reduce costs and complexity. Drivers for this network investment include the evolution of government funding programs, regulatory broadband policies, competition, increasing subscriber demand for broadband and merger obligations.

Subscriber demand for higher bandwidth continues to increase due to increasing numbers of connected devices, OTT video, the prevalence of IoT and cloud services and the increasing use of internet applications. Today, practically everything is or can be “connected.” Performance is directly related to bandwidth availability. As the demand for high-definition video streaming services, low-latency cloud gaming services and smart home video surveillance applications continues to increase, so too does the need for higher bandwidth to the home and business. ADTRAN serves as a trusted partner to our customers. Working side-by-side with our customers, we enable them to glean the maximum performance from their network, providing a flexible path for their networks to evolve cost effectively, and to further monetize their investments.

Our Strategy

Our strategy is to provide innovative and cost-effective solutions for SPs that enable them to address their increasing broadband demands. Our solutions focus on technology transformations that are happening in broadband network infrastructure, home and business CPE and software solutions, and services needed to help our customers address increasing complexity while scaling to meet increasing consumer demands. We aspire to be one of the top communication technology players in the world and plan to achieve this goal through innovation in network, home and business technology, leadership in open source solutions, disruptive and unique products timed to market use, diversifying our customer base, delivering end to end product and service solutions, evolving our organization to be more flexible and agile, effective cost management, expanding our global scale and growing our share of home and business devices during Wi-Fi and cloud service technology transformations.

Reportable Segments

Our business operates under two reportable segments: (1) Network Solutions and (2) Services & Support. We review our financial performance, specifically revenue and gross profit, based on these two segments.

Network Solutions Segment

Our Network Solutions segment includes hardware and software products that support fiber optic-, copper- and coaxial-based infrastructures as well as a growing number of fixed wireless solutions. We offer traditional chassis-based network solutions, such as the ADTRAN Total Access 5000 and ADTRAN hiX 5600.  We are also accelerating the industry’s transition to open, programmable and scalable SD-Access networks by providing CSPs with open and disaggregated network elements leveraging open-source software and reference designs that we have helped drive over the last several years.

Our SD-Access architecture consists of the ADTRAN Mosaic^TM Cloud Platform and the ADTRAN SDX Series of programmable network elements. Together, these solutions provide network operators with a highly agile and scalable networking architecture.

Also included in this segment are our subscriber solutions that terminate fiber optic, copper and coaxial cable access networks in the home and/or business and that extend access through our delivery of whole-home Wi-Fi solutions. These solutions also include connected home and enterprise software platforms that improve in-home visibility while leveraging subscriber insight and network analytics. These solutions are designed to elevate subscriber experience and empower customer care personnel, all leading to improving overall customer satisfaction and creating added revenue streams for the network operator.

Services & Support Segment

To complement our Network Solutions product portfolio and to enable our service provider customers to accelerate time to market, reduce costs and improve customer satisfaction, we offer a complete portfolio of services. These services include consulting, solutions integration, network implementation, maintenance and professional and managed services as described below.

Our consulting services allow service providers to leverage ADTRAN’s network engineering expertise to build and deploy best-of-breed networks. Our NetAssure Program offers a variety of ways to leverage ADTRAN networking expertise applied to networks.  One aspect of this program, resident engineering services, provides an on-site ADTRAN engineer, whose goal is to drive customer success by serving as the single point of contact for product knowledge, on-going network troubleshooting and technical expertise, enabling network operators to gain a strategic competitive advantage from our products.

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Our solution integration services enable network operators to design and build the open distributed access networks of the future. Our offerings in this area include the SD-Access Accelerator, which enables service providers to explore the benefits of SD-Access without impacting their network. The SD-Access Accelerator includes system integration services with a compact pod that includes all of the equipment needed to evaluate a SEBA solution. This fully functional SD-Access system enables network operators to cost-effectively perform functional testing, develop transition plans, access a variety of applications and environments and evaluate fully functional disaggregated solutions.

Our network implementation services enable network operators to increase service delivery velocity and improve their return on investment while increasing customer satisfaction. ADTRAN offers a full turn-key suite of services to help network operators accelerate network deployment. We partner with our customers to tailor a program to each specific service-delivery need.

Our maintenance services are specifically designed to protect customers' networks from unnecessary downtime through SLA services, such as managed spares and remote or on-site technical support beyond our standard warranty coverage. Network Care Plans offer prioritized remote or on-site support, after-hours emergency support, advanced replacement, early access to software patches and upgrades, as well as bundled training and network management vouchers. Element management is an option and can be included as part of the support plan.

ADTRAN’s ProServices include a full spectrum of professional services for end-user customers or network operators reselling to end-user customers. This is a comprehensive and flexible service program designed to offer complete networking lifecycle support. The ProServices portfolio consists of three distinct service offerings: ProStart (end-user network implementation), ProCare (maintenance and support), and ProCloud (cloud-based Wi-Fi services). Our ProCare program, which is available to all customers, is geared towards equipment located at the customer premises. It offers advanced hardware replacement and priority access to our product support engineers.

In addition to these professional services, we offer managed services to help customers manage their network components on a day-to- day basis. Our EliteCloud Plus service provides managed Wi-Fi with configuration changes, outage alerts, and on-site support with SLAs. For our Tier-3 service providers, we offer cloud-based device management services for day-to-day control of residential gateways and subscriber home analytics. In December 2019, we released a Network Performance Testing service to assist any network operator with FCC-mandated testing and reporting in support of the Connect America programs.

Revenue Categories

In addition to classifying our operations into two reportable segments, we report revenue across three categories of products and services: (1) Access & Aggregation, (2) Subscriber Solutions & Experience (formerly Customer Devices) and (3) Traditional & Other Products.

Our Access & Aggregation solutions are used by communications service providers to connect their network infrastructure to subscribers. This revenue category includes hardware- and software-based products and services that aggregate and/or originate access technologies. ADTRAN solutions within this category include a wide array of modular or fixed platforms designed to deliver the best technology and economy based on subscriber density and environmental conditions.

The Access & Aggregation category includes the following product and service families:

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Our Subscriber Solutions & Experience portfolio is used by service providers to terminate their access services infrastructure at the customer premises while providing an immersive and interactive experience for the subscriber. These solutions include copper and fiber WAN termination, LAN switching, Wi-Fi access and cloud software services for both residential and business markets.

In alignment with our increased focus on enhancing the customer experience for both business and consumer broadband customers as well as the addition of SmartRG, Inc. (“SmartRG”) at the end of 2018, what was previously known as our Customer Devices category became our Subscriber Solutions & Experience category in 2019, as this more accurately represents this revenue category and our vision moving forward.

The Subscriber Solutions & Experience category includes the following products, software and services:

Our Traditional & Other Products category generally includes a mix of prior-generation technologies’ products and services, as well as other products and services that do not fit within the other revenue categories.

The Traditional & Other Products category includes products and services such as:

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Customers

We have a diverse global customer base that includes Tier-1, -2 and -3 service providers, alternative service providers, such as utilities, municipalities and fiber overbuilders, cable/MSOs, SMBs and distributed enterprises. Many network operators require product approval before the purchase or installation of a product. The nature of our business involves a dynamic process of submitting new and succeeding generations of products for approval prior to orders being placed.

Three customers, CenturyLink, Inc., Deutsche Telekom, AG and Telmex, individually comprised more than 10% of our revenue in 2019. Additionally, our revenues in Germany and Mexico comprised more than 10% of our revenue in 2019. The revenues from these customers are reported in both our Network Solutions and Services & Support segments.

For a discussion of risks associated with customers, service providers and approval processes, see “Risk Factors – The lengthy sales and approval process required by major and other service providers for new products could result in fluctuations in our revenue,” “Risk Factors – We depend heavily on sales to certain customers; the loss of any of these customers would significantly reduce our revenues and net income,” and “Risk Factors – Consolidation and deterioration in the CLEC market could result in a significant decrease in our revenue,” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

Distribution, Sales and Marketing

We sell our products through our direct sales organization and our distribution network. Our direct sales organization supports major accounts and has offices in many domestic and international locations. Sales to most competitive service providers and independent telephone companies are fulfilled through a combination of direct sales and distributors. Our services offerings can be purchased directly from us, or through one of our service providers, channel partners or distribution partners.

Before placing an order, service providers typically require lengthy product qualification and standardization processes that can extend for several months or even years. Once approved, product orders are typically placed under single or multi-year supply agreements that are generally not subject to minimum volume commitments. Service providers generally prefer having two or more suppliers for most products. Therefore, individual orders are usually subject to competition based on some combination of total value, service, price, delivery and other terms.

Orders for end-user products are fulfilled through a combination of direct sales and distributors. This is supported by a direct sales organization for major accounts and a channel-based sales organization to facilitate sales to our partners. MSPs, VARs and SIs may be affiliated with the company as channel partners, or they may purchase from a distributor in an unaffiliated fashion. Affiliated partners participate with us at various program levels, based on sales volume and other factors, to receive benefits such as product discounts, market development funds, technical support and training. We maintain offices worldwide to support direct sales, distributors, MSPs, VARs and SIs.

Outside of the U.S., most service provider products are sold through our direct sales organization and end-user products are sold direct or through distribution arrangements customized for each region. Each region is supported by a field office that offers sales and support functions, and in some cases, warehousing and manufacturing support. Our field sales organizations, distributors and service provider customers receive support from regional-based marketing, sales and customer support groups.

Our marketing organization promotes all brands associated with ADTRAN to key stakeholders, including customers, partners and prospects throughout the world. Marketing is complemented by product marketing and management teams that work with our engineering teams to develop and promote new products and services as well as product enhancements.

Research and Development

Rapidly changing technologies, evolving industry standards, changing customer requirements and continuing developments in communications service offerings characterize the markets for our products. Our on-going ability to adapt to these changes and to develop new and enhanced products that meet or anticipate market demand is a significant factor influencing our competitive position and our ability to grow.

Our product development activities are an important part of our strategy. We plan to maintain our emphasis on product development to enable us to respond to rapidly changing technology and evolving industry standards. Our research and development and engineering functions are global. We maintain research and development functions at our Huntsville, Alabama headquarters and in Germany, India and other locations worldwide. During the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, research and development expenditures totaled $126.2 million, $124.5 million and $130.7 million, respectively.

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While we develop most of our products internally, in some cases, we license intellectual property, use ODM partners or acquire technologies. Internal development on advanced technology products gives us more control over design and manufacturing issues, while for traditional designs, ODM and/or licensed intellectual property provides us with the ability to leverage the economies of scale of our technology partners. This balanced approach ensures we provide best-in-class products for our customers.

As we continue to create more software-based intellectual property, such as our SDN/NFV portfolio, our use of lean agile practices in research and development ensures we remain responsive and customer-focused. This enables us to deliver products faster and more economically to our customers and the market on a continuous basis.

Our ability to continually reduce product costs, while focusing on delivery and quality, are important parts of our overall business strategy. Our product development efforts are often centered on entering a market with improved technology, allowing us to offer products at competitive prices. We then compete for market share. We continually re-engineer successive generations of existing products to improve our product performance, costs and value.

Development activities focus on solutions that support both existing and emerging communications industry technologies in segments that we consider viable revenue opportunities. We are actively engaged in developing and refining technologies to support data, voice and video transport primarily over IP/Ethernet network architectures. This includes Ethernet aggregation, fiber-optic transport and access, DSL, access routing, Ethernet switching, wireless LANs, integrated access, converged services, VoIP, network management and professional services.

A centralized research function supports product development efforts throughout the company. This group guides our various product design and engineering teams in digital signal processing technologies, computer simulation and modeling, CAD/CAM toolsets, custom semiconductor design, optical transceiver design, industry standards, technological forecasting, product development methods and emerging networks standards.

Many communication requirements, processes and technologies are governed by SDOs. These SDOs consist of representatives from various manufacturers, service providers and testing laboratories who work to establish specifications and compliance guidelines for emerging communications technologies. We are an active participant in several SDOs and have assisted with the development of worldwide standards in many technologies.

Our SDO activities are primarily in the area of broadband access. This includes involvement with the ITU-T, ATIS, ETSI and the BBF. We are involved in the evolution of optical access technologies, participating in activities in the ITU-T, FSAN and BBF on next-generation PON. We are also involved in standards development efforts related to maximizing the bandwidth potential of the copper pair to enable new applications in the ITU-T. We continue to be involved with the industry-wide interoperability, performance-testing and system-level projects related to those standards in the BBF. We are also members of MEF, OCP, WFA, TIA, CableLabs, Quest Forum and TIP.

For a discussion of risks associated with our research and development activities, see “Risk Factors – We must continue to update and improve our products and develop new products in order to compete and to keep pace with improvements in communications technology” and “Risk Factors – We engage in research and development activities to develop new, innovative solutions and to improve the application of developed technologies, and as a consequence may miss certain market opportunities enjoyed by larger companies with substantially greater research and development effort and which may focus on more leading edge development,” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

Manufacturing and Operations

The principal steps in our manufacturing process include the purchase and management of materials, assembly, testing, final inspection, packing and shipping. We purchase parts and components for the assembly of some products from a large number of suppliers through a worldwide sourcing program. Additionally, we manage a process that identifies the components that are best purchased directly by contract manufacturers for use in the assembly of our products to achieve manufacturing efficiency, quality and cost objectives. Certain key components used in our products are currently available from a single source, and other key components are available from only a limited number of sources. In the past, we have experienced delays in the receipt of certain key components, which has resulted in delays in related product deliveries. We attempt to manage these risks through developing alternative sources, by staging inventories at strategic locations, through engineering efforts designed to prevent the necessity of certain components and by maintaining close contact and building long-term relationships with our suppliers.

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We rely on subcontractors for assembly and testing of certain printed circuit board assemblies, sub-assemblies, chassis, enclosures and equipment shelves, and to purchase some of the raw materials used in such assemblies. We typically manufacture our lower-volume, higher-mix products and build and test product prototypes and many of our initial production units at our manufacturing site in Huntsville, Alabama. We later transfer the production of higher-volume, lower-mix assemblies to our subcontractors. Subcontract assembly operations can lengthen fulfillment cycle times, but we believe we can respond more rapidly to uncertainties in incoming order rates by selecting assembly subcontractors that have significant reserve capacity and flexibility. Our subcontractors have proven to be flexible and able to meet our quality requirements. We conduct the majority of transactions with our foreign suppliers in U.S. dollars.

We ship the majority of products to our U.S. customers from our facilities in Huntsville, Alabama, although we also fulfill customer orders from other locations near our customers' sites, when possible. The majority of our products shipped to EMEA customers come from locations in that region. We also ship directly from subcontractors to a number of customers in the U.S. and international locations. Most of our facilities are certified pursuant to the most current releases of ISO 9001, TL 9000, ISO 14001 and ISO 27001. Our Huntsville, Alabama facilities and many of our key suppliers are C-TPAT certified. Our products are also certified to certain other customer, industry and privacy standards, including those relating to emission of electromagnetic energy and safety specifications as well as GDPR.

For a discussion of risks associated with manufacturing activities, see “Risk Factors – Our strategy of outsourcing a portion of our manufacturing requirements to subcontractors located in various international regions may result in us not meeting our cost, quality or performance standards” and “Risk Factors – Our dependence on a limited number of suppliers for certain raw materials and key components may prevent us from delivering our products on a timely basis, which could have a material adverse effect on customer relations and operating results,” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

Competition

We compete in markets for networking and communications services and solutions for service providers, businesses, government agencies and other organizations worldwide. Our products and services provide solutions supporting voice, data and video communications across fiber-, copper-, coaxial- and wireless-based infrastructure, as well as across wide area networks, local area networks and the internet.

The markets for our products are intensely competitive and numerous competitors exist in each of our product segments. These competitive conditions have resulted in competitor consolidations, bankruptcies and liquidations. Consumer acceptance of alternative communications technologies such as coaxial cable through cable/MSOs and cellular-based wireless services that compete with our products has grown in recent years. Our development of 10G EPON and RFoG products better positions us to compete in the MSO market. Competition might further increase if new technologies emerge, new companies enter the market or existing competitors expand their product lines.

We compete with a number of companies in the markets we serve. In our Access & Aggregation category, key competitors include Calix, Casa Systems, Ciena, CommScope, DASAN Zhone Solutions, Huawei, Nokia and ZTE. In the Subscriber Solutions & Experience category, our primary competitors include Calix, Cisco, CommScope, Hewlett Packard Enterprise, Ribbon Communications, Technicolor and Ubiquiti Networks. In addition to these OEM vendors, we face increasing competition from various ODM vendors who are being engaged directly by some of our service provider customers. Some of these companies compete in a single product segment, while others compete across multiple product lines. Competitors of our Services & Support business include Calix, Ericsson, Fujitsu Network Communications and Nokia.

For further discussion of risks associated with our competition, see “Risk Factors – We must continue to update and improve our products and develop new products in order to compete and to keep pace with improvements in communications technology” and “Risk Factors – We compete in markets that have become increasingly competitive, which may result in reduced gross profit margins and market share,” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

Seasonality

We have experienced quarterly fluctuations in customer activity due to seasonal considerations. These seasonal effects may continue to vary and do not always correlate to our operating results. Accordingly, they should not be considered a reliable indicator of our future revenue or operating results.

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Foreign Currency

Transactions with customers that are denominated in foreign currencies are recorded using the appropriate exchange rates from throughout the year. Assets and liabilities denominated in foreign currencies are remeasured at the balance sheet dates using the closing rates of exchange between those foreign currencies and the functional currency with any transaction gains or losses reported in other income (expense). Our primary exposures to foreign currency exchange rate movements are with our German subsidiary, whose functional currency is the Euro and our Australian subsidiary, whose functional currency is the Australian dollar. Adjustments resulting from translating financial statements of international subsidiaries are recorded as a component of accumulated other comprehensive income (loss).

Backlog and Inventory

A substantial portion of our shipments in any fiscal period relates to orders received and shipped within that fiscal period for customers under agreements containing nonbinding purchase commitments. Further, a significant percentage of orders require delivery within a few days. These factors normally result in very little order backlog or order flow visibility. Additionally, backlog levels may vary because of seasonal trends, the timing of customer projects and other factors that affect customer order lead times. We believe that because we fill a substantial portion of customer orders within the fiscal quarter of receipt, backlog is not a meaningful indicator of actual sales for any succeeding period.

To meet this type of demand, we have implemented supply chain management systems to manage the production process. We maintain substantial inventories of raw materials for long lead time components to support this demand and avoid expedite fees. We also maintain substantial finished goods inventories. Our practice of maintaining sufficient inventory levels to assure prompt delivery of our products and services increases the amount of inventory that may be considered excess and/or obsolete. This excess and obsolete inventory may require us to write down the value of the inventory, which may have an adverse effect on our operating results.

For further discussion of risks associated with managing our inventory, see “Risk Factors – Managing our inventory is complex and may include write-downs of excess or obsolete inventory,” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

Government Regulation

Our products must comply with various regulations and standards established by communications authorities in various countries, as well as those of certain international bodies. For instance, environmental legislation within the EU may increase our cost of doing business as we amend our products to comply with these requirements. The EU issued the RoHS directive, the WEEE directive and the REACH regulation. We continue to implement measures to comply with these directives and other similar directives and regulations from additional countries.

We strive to deliver innovative network access solutions that lower the total cost and reduce the time of deploying services, increase the level of performance achievable with established infrastructures, reduce operating and capital expenses for our customers, increase network bandwidth and functionality, and extend network reach. Our development process is conducted in accordance with ISO 9001, TL 9000, ISO 14001, and ISO 27001, all of which are international standards for quality and environmental management systems. Our corporate practices also conform to GDPR requirements, which protect digital data for all EU citizens, and to other applicable data protection laws. Additionally, ADTRAN holds a Privacy Shield certification providing adequate protection for the transfer of personal data from the EU to the U.S.

For further discussion of risks associated with government regulation, see “Risk Factors – Our products may not continue to comply with evolving regulations governing their sale, which may harm our business,” and “Risk Factors – Regulatory and potential physical impacts of climate change and other natural events may affect our customers and our production operations, resulting in adverse effects on our operating results.” and “Risk Factors – We are subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and other matters. Violations of these laws and regulations may harm our business.” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

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Employees

As of December 31, 2019, we had 1,790 full-time employees in the U.S. and our international subsidiaries located in North America, Latin America, EMEA and the APAC regions. Approximately 76% of employees of ADTRAN GmbH are subject to collective bargaining agreements of either the Association of Metal and Electrical Industry in Berlin and Brandenburg e.V. or NORDMETALL Association of Metal and Electrical Industry e.V. Additionally, a small number of our ADTRAN GmbH employees are represented by other collective bargaining agreements. Although these collective bargaining agreements expire during the next twelve months, we have never experienced a work stoppage and we believe that our relationship with our employees is good.

We also utilize contractors and temporary employees domestically and internationally in various manufacturing, engineering, sales, and general and administrative capacities, as needed.

Intellectual Property

The ADTRAN corporate logo is a registered trademark of ADTRAN, as is the name “ADTRAN” and the “SmartRG” trademark. We also claim rights to a number of unregistered trademarks.

We own over 600 patents worldwide related to our products and over 90 additional pending patent applications. Our patents expire at various dates between 2020 and 2038. We continue to seek additional patents from time-to-time related to our research and development activities. We do not derive any material amount of revenue from the licensing of our patents.

We protect our intellectual property and proprietary rights in accordance with good legal and business practices. We believe, however, that our competitive success will not depend on the ownership of intellectual property, but instead will depend primarily on the innovative skills, technical competence and marketing abilities of our personnel.

The communications industry is characterized by the existence of an ever-increasing volume of patent litigation and licensing activities. We have received, and may continue to receive, notices of claims alleging that we are infringing upon patents or other intellectual property. We cannot predict whether we will prevail in any claims or litigation over alleged infringements, or whether we will be able to license any valid and infringed patents, or other intellectual property, on commercially reasonable terms. It is possible that such litigation may result in significant legal costs and judgments and that intellectual property infringement claims, or related litigation against or by us could have a material adverse effect on our business and operating results.

For a discussion of risks associated with our intellectual property and proprietary rights, see “Risk Factors – Our failure to maintain rights to intellectual property used in our business could adversely affect the development, functionality, and commercial value of our products.” in Part I, Item 1A of this report.

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Information about our Executive Officers

Set forth below, in accordance with General Instruction G(3) of Form 10-K and the Instruction to Item 401 of Regulation S-K, is certain information regarding the executive officers of ADTRAN. Unless otherwise indicated, the information set forth is as of December 31, 2019.

There are no family relationships among our directors or executive officers.

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Availability of Information

We file annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K, proxy statements and other information as required with the SEC. The SEC maintains an Internet website, www.sec.gov, that contains reports, proxy and information statements, and other information regarding issuers, including ADTRAN, that file electronically with them. Additionally, our annual reports on Form 10-K, quarterly reports on Form 10-Q, current reports on Form 8-K and amendments to those reports, if applicable, filed or furnished pursuant to Section 13(a) or 15(d) of the Securities and Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, are available free of charge under the Investor Relations section of our website, www.adtran.com, as soon as reasonably practicable after we electronically file them with, or furnish them to, the SEC. The reference to our website address does not constitute incorporation by reference of the information contained on the website, which information should not be considered part of this report.

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Our business involves substantial risks. Any of the risk factors described below or elsewhere in this report could significantly and adversely affect our business prospects, financial condition and results of operations. The risks described below are not the only ones facing us. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us or that we currently deem to be immaterial may also adversely affect us.

Our operating results may fluctuate in future periods, which may adversely affect our stock price.

Our operating results have been, and will continue to be, subject to quarterly and annual fluctuations as a result of numerous factors. These factors include, but are not limited to:

As a result, operating results for a particular future period are difficult to predict, and prior results are not necessarily indicative of results to be expected in future periods. Any of the above-mentioned factors, or other factors discussed elsewhere in this report, could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows that could adversely affect our stock price.

17

Our revenue for a particular period can be difficult to predict, and a shortfall in revenue may harm our operating results.

As a result of the many factors discussed in this report, our revenue for a particular quarter is difficult to predict and will fluctuate from quarter to quarter. Our typical pattern of customer orders requests product delivery within a short period following receipt of an order. Consequently, we do not typically carry a significant order backlog and are dependent upon obtaining orders and completing delivery in accordance with shipping terms that are predominantly within each quarter to achieve our targeted revenues. Our net sales may grow at a slower rate than in previous quarters or may decline. Our deployment/installation cycle can vary depending on the customer’s schedule, site readiness, network size and complexity and other factors, which can cause our revenue to fluctuate from period to period. Our ability to meet financial expectations could also be affected if the variable sales patterns seen in prior quarters recur in future quarters. We have experienced periods of time during which manufacturing issues have delayed shipments, leading to variable shipping patterns. In addition, to the extent that manufacturing issues and any related component shortages result in delayed shipments in the future, and particularly in quarters in which we and our subcontractors are operating at higher levels of capacity, it is possible that revenue for a quarter could be adversely affected, and we may not be able to remediate the conditions within the same quarter.

In the past, under certain market conditions, long manufacturing lead times have caused our customers to place the same order multiple times. When this multiple ordering occurs, along with other factors, it may cause difficulty in predicting our sales and, as a result, could impair our ability to manage parts inventory effectively.

We plan our operating expense levels based primarily on forecasted revenue levels. These expenses and the impact of long-term commitments are relatively fixed in the short term. A shortfall in revenue could lead to operating results being below expectations because we may not be able to quickly reduce these fixed expenses in response to short-term business changes.

General economic conditions may reduce our revenues and harm our operating results.

Economic conditions may contribute to a slowdown in communications industry spending, including in the specific market segments in which we operate. The potential reoccurrence of these trends and their duration and depth are difficult to predict. Capital spending for network infrastructure projects of our largest customers could be delayed or canceled in response to reduced consumer spending, tight capital markets or declining liquidity trends. Sustained trends of this nature could have a material, adverse effect on our revenues, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our exposure to the credit risks of our customers and distributors may make it difficult to collect accounts receivable and could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

Most of our sales are made on an open credit basis, generally with payment terms of 30 days in the U.S. and typically longer in many geographic markets outside the U.S. As our international sales grow, our total accounts receivable balance will likely increase. Our days sales outstanding (“DSO”) could also increase as a result of a greater mix of international sales. Additionally, international laws may not provide the same degree of protection against defaults on accounts receivable as provided under U.S. laws governing domestic transactions; therefore, as our international business grows, we may be subject to higher bad debt expense compared to historical trends. Overall, we monitor individual customer payment capability in granting such open credit arrangements, seek to limit such open credit to amounts that we believe customers can pay, and maintain reserves we believe are adequate to cover exposure for doubtful accounts. In the course of our sales to customers, we may encounter difficulty collecting accounts receivable and could be exposed to risks associated with uncollectible accounts receivable due to various reasons, including potential declining operating cash flows or bankruptcy filings of our customers. We may be exposed to similar credit risks relating to collections from distributors of our products, and we apply similar processes to monitor and reserve for any exposures. Turmoil in the financial markets could impact certain of our customers’ ability to maintain adequate credit facilities with financial institutions, thereby potentially impacting their ability to pay their debts. While we attempt to monitor these situations carefully and attempt to take appropriate measures to collect accounts receivable balances, there are no assurances we can avoid accounts receivable write-downs or write-offs of doubtful accounts as a result of declining financial conditions for our customers, including bankruptcy. Such write-downs or write-offs could negatively affect our operating results for the period in which they occur and could potentially have a material adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

18

We expect gross margins to vary over time, and our levels of product and services gross margins may not be sustainable.

Our level of gross margins may not be sustainable and may be adversely affected by numerous factors, including:

We must continue to update and improve our products and develop new products to compete and to keep pace with improvements in communications technology.

The markets for our products are characterized by rapidly changing technology, evolving industry standards and continuing improvements in the communications service offerings of service providers. If technologies or standards applicable to our products, or service provider offerings based on our products, become obsolete or fail to gain widespread commercial acceptance, our existing products or products under development may become obsolete or unmarketable. Moreover, the introduction of products embodying new technologies, the emergence of new industry standards, or changes in service provider offerings could adversely affect our ability to sell our products. For instance, we offer a large number of products that apply primarily to the delivery of high-speed digital communications over the local loop utilizing copper wire. We compete favorably with our competitors by developing a high-performance line of these products. We market products that apply to fiber optic transport in the local loop. We expect, however, that use of coaxial cable and fixed and mobile wireless access in place of local loop access will increase. Also, MSOs are increasing their presence in the local loop. To meet the requirements of these new delivery systems and to maintain our market position, we expect to continue to develop new products and/or modify existing products. We expect that the addition of fiber-based products focused on the cable MSO operators, using EPON and RFoG technologies, and fixed wireless access solutions will better position us to benefit from spending in these adjacent markets.

19

Our sales and profitability in the past have, to a significant extent, resulted from our ability to anticipate changes in technology, industry standards and service provider offerings, and to develop and introduce new and enhanced products. Our continued ability to adapt will be a significant factor in maintaining or improving our competitive position and our prospects for growth. We cannot assure that we will be able to respond effectively to changes in technology, industry standards, service provider offerings or new product announcements by our competitors. We also cannot assure that we will be able to successfully develop and market new products or product enhancements, or that these products or enhancements will achieve market acceptance. Any failure by us to continue to anticipate or respond in a cost-effective and timely manner to changes in technology, industry standards, service provider offerings or new product announcements by our competitors, or any significant delays in product development or introduction, could have a material adverse effect on our ability to competitively market our products and on our revenues, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our products may not continue to comply with evolving regulations governing their sale, which may harm our business.

Our products must comply with various regulations, regional standards established by communications authorities, import/export control authorities or other authorities who control the execution of trade agreements in various countries, as well as those of certain international bodies. Although we believe our products are currently in compliance with domestic and international standards and regulations in countries in which we currently sell, there can be no assurance that we will be able to design our products to comply with evolving standards and regulations in the future. Changes in domestic or international communications regulations, tariffs, potential changes in trade policies by the U.S. and other nations, application requirements, import/export controls or expansion of regulation to new areas, including access, communications or commerce over the Internet, may affect customer demand for our products or slow the adoption of new technologies which may affect our sales. Further, the cost of complying with the evolving standards and regulations, or the failure to obtain timely domestic or foreign regulatory approvals or certification such that we may not be able to sell our products where these standards or regulations apply, may adversely affect our revenues, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

We are subject to complex and evolving U.S. and foreign laws and regulations regarding privacy, data protection and other matters. Violations of these laws and regulations may harm our business.

A wide variety of provincial, state, national and international laws and regulations apply to the collection, use, retention, protection, disclosure, transfer and other processing of data, including personal data. Foreign data protection, privacy and other laws and regulations, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation, are often more restrictive than those in the U.S. These data protection and privacy-related laws and regulations are varied, evolving, can be subject to significant change, may be augmented or replaced by new or additional laws and regulations and may result in ever-increasing regulatory and public scrutiny and escalating levels of enforcement and sanctions. For example, California’s Consumer Privacy Act becomes effective in 2020, proving new data privacy rights for consumers and new operational requirements for companies. New and changing laws, regulations and industry practices regarding our employees’ and users’ data could require us to modify our business, products or services offered, potentially in a material manner, and may limit our ability to develop new products, services and features. There is also a risk that we, directly or as the result of a third-party service provider we use, could be found to have failed to comply with the laws and regulations applicable in a jurisdiction regarding the collection, consent, handling, transfer or disposal of personal data. If we violate these laws and regulations, governmental authorities in the U.S., the EU and elsewhere could seek to impose civil and/or criminal fines and penalties which could have an adverse effect on our reputation, as well as, our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

A material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting could, if not remediated, materially adversely affect us.

Section 404 of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 (“Section 404”) requires us to include in our Annual Reports on Form 10-K an assessment by the Company’s management of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, as well as a report from our independent registered public accounting firm on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting. We must perform system and process evaluation and testing of our internal control over financial reporting to allow management and our independent registered public accounting firm to report on the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting, as required by Section 404. Our compliance with Section 404 may require that we incur substantial accounting expense and expend significant management efforts. In addition, if management or our independent registered public accounting firm is unable to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, we could lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial statements, which could have an adverse effect on our stock price.

20

As further described in Part II, Item 9A of this report, and as reported in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018 (as amended) and our Quarterly Reports on Form 10-Q for the quarterly periods ended June 30, 2019 and September 30, 2019, management previously concluded that certain material weaknesses in our internal control over financial reporting existed as of December 31, 2018 and continued through September 30, 2019. Specifically, management determined that controls were not effectively designed, documented and maintained to verify that the existence of all inventories subject to our cycle count program were included and counted at the frequency required under the Company’s internal policies, and that the key reports and related data used to monitor the results of this program were not validated to ensure completeness and accuracy. Furthermore, management determined that controls were not effectively designed and maintained over the determination of the estimated reserve for excess and obsolete inventory, including the review of significant inputs and assumptions used to determine our excess and obsolete inventory reserve, and to ensure the completeness and accuracy of key reports and related data used in the calculation of this reserve.

Management has been working to further strengthen the Company’s internal controls relating to inventory. Specifically, as discussed in Item 9A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company has redesigned, enhanced and added certain controls and procedures to ensure the completeness of our cycle count program and the completeness and accuracy of key reports and related data used to monitor the results of this cycle count program. As a result of these remediation efforts, management has determined that, as of December 31, 2019, our controls related to our cycle count program were effectively designed, documented and maintained, and the material weakness related to these controls no longer existed.

Additionally, as discussed in Item 9A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, the Company has been working to redesign and implement enhanced controls and procedures related to the review of significant inputs and assumptions used to determine our excess and obsolete inventory reserve, and to ensure the completeness and accuracy of key reports and related data used in the calculation of the excess and obsolete inventory reserve. The implementation of these measures is ongoing, and, while we believe that they will ultimately be effective in remediating the material weakness, management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2019, our controls related to our excess and obsolete inventory reserve were not effectively designed and maintained, and the material weakness related to these controls continued to exist.

Our initiatives to remediate this material weakness related to our excess and obsolete inventory reserve or any other material weakness in our internal control over financial reporting identified in the future may not prove successful, and management may not be able to conclude that our internal control over financial reporting is effective. Furthermore, even if management were to reach a conclusion that our internal control over financial reporting is effective, if our independent registered public accounting firm is not satisfied with the adequacy of our controls, or if the independent registered public accounting firm interprets the requirements, rules or regulations differently than we do, then they in the future may decline to issue a report on our internal control over financial reporting or may issue a report that is qualified. Any of these events could result in a loss of investor confidence in the reliability of our financial statements, which in turn could negatively affect the price of our common stock.

Failure to comply with the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act and similar laws associated with our global activities could subject us to penalties or other adverse consequences.

A significant portion of our total revenues is generated from sales outside of the U.S. As a result, we are subject to the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), which prohibits U.S. companies and their intermediaries from making corrupt payments to foreign officials for the purpose of directing, obtaining or keeping business, and requires companies to maintain reasonable books and records and a system of internal accounting controls. The FCPA applies to companies, individual directors, officers, employees and agents. Under the FCPA, U.S. companies may be held liable for the corrupt actions taken by employees, strategic or local partners or other representatives. If we or our intermediaries fail to comply with the requirements of the FCPA or similar legislation, governmental authorities in the U.S. and elsewhere could seek to impose civil and/or criminal fines and penalties which could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows. To help ensure that we remain compliant with FCPA, we have proactively implemented internally and externally focused measures and controls to address this risk. We help ensure that our employees understand the key requirements of FCPA compliance and the consequences of non-compliance through training courses and detective controls. ADTRAN senior management and employees whose responsibilities include international activities are required to complete an online training program and pass an exam every two years. We have put processes in place to help detect non-compliance through providing our employees access to a worldwide reporting “hotline,” available by phone and online, that is maintained by a third-party provider. Finally, we perform annual reviews of our employees’ expense reports and corporate credit card activity to identify possible corruption concerns. We have also implemented controls to help ensure our third-party partners and customers observe FCPA requirements. Prior to selling to new international distributors, resellers or agents, we review third-party data and check them against over 200 denied party lists from government institutions worldwide for potential FCPA concerns. We also require international distributors, resellers and agents to complete an Anti-Corruption Due Diligence Questionnaire, which is reviewed and assessed by a cross-functional compliance committee and our export-compliance function.

21

Our operating results may be adversely affected due to uncertain global economic and financial market conditions.

The global macroeconomic environment has been challenging and inconsistent due to uncertainty in the global central bank monetary policy and uncertainty in global credit markets and the geopolitical environment in many areas of the world. In June 2016, the UK held a referendum, commonly referred to as “Brexit,” in which the majority of voters elected to withdraw from the EU. The UK formally departed from the EU on Friday, January 31, 2020, subject to a transition period expected to last until December 31, 2020 (the “Transition Period”). During the Transition Period, most EU rules and regulations will continue to apply to the UK as negotiations between the UK and the EU take place regarding the customs and trading relationship between the UK and the EU. Such negotiations are expected to continue after the expiration of the Transition Period. Although the terms of withdrawal remain in negotiation, the referendum has created global economic uncertainty, including anticipation of a possible slowdown in the global economy. Brexit has resulted in, and likely will continue to result in, significant volatility in the value of the British Pound Sterling and Euro currencies. In addition, economic and trade and tariff challenges in China, and the global economic ramifications of these challenges, may continue to put pressure on global economic conditions. The past year has been challenging for the credit markets due to going from a time of quantitative easing to a time of quantitative tightening by central banks around the world.  If global economic and market conditions, or economic conditions in key markets, remain uncertain or further deteriorate, we may experience material impacts on our business and operating results. We may also be adversely affected by Brexit, and other global economic challenges, in ways that we do not currently anticipate.

Our failure or the failure of our contract manufacturers to comply with applicable environmental regulations could adversely impact our results of operations.

The manufacture, assembly and testing of our products may require the use of hazardous materials that are subject to environmental, health and safety regulations. Our failure or the failure of our contract manufacturers to comply with any of these applicable requirements could result in regulatory penalties, legal claims or disruption of production. In addition, our failure or the failure of our contract manufacturers to properly manage the use, transportation, emission, discharge, storage, recycling or disposal of hazardous materials could subject us to increased costs or liabilities. Existing and future environmental regulations may restrict our use of certain materials to manufacture, assemble and test products. Any of these consequences could adversely impact our results of operations by increasing our expenses and/or requiring us to alter our manufacturing processes.

If our products do not interoperate with our customers’ networks, installations may be delayed or canceled, which could harm our business.

Our products must interface with existing networks, each of which may have different specifications, utilize multiple protocol standards and incorporate products from other vendors. Many of our customers’ networks contain multiple generations of products that have been added over time as these networks have grown and evolved. Our products may be required to interoperate with many or all of the products within these networks, as well as future products to meet our customers’ requirements. If we find errors in the existing software or defects in the hardware used in our customers’ networks, we may have to modify our software or hardware to fix or overcome these errors so that our products will interoperate with the existing software and hardware. Implementation of product corrections involving interoperability issues could increase our costs and adversely affect our results of operations. Such issues may affect our ability to obtain product acceptance from other customers.

The lengthy sales and approval process required by major and other service providers for new products could result in fluctuations in our revenue.

In the industry in which we compete, sales and approval cycles are often lengthy. Selling efforts often involve a significant commitment of time and resources by us and our customers that may include extensive product testing, laboratory or network certification, or region-specific product certification and homologation requirements for deployment in networks. Additionally, a supplier must first obtain product approval from a major or other service provider to sell its products to them. This process can last from six to eighteen months, or longer, depending on the technology, the service provider and the demand for the product from the service provider’s subscribers. Consequently, we are involved in a constant process of submitting for approval succeeding generations of products, as well as products that deploy new technology or respond to new technology demands from a major or other service provider. We have been successful in the past in obtaining these approvals; however, we cannot be certain that we will obtain these approvals in the future or that sales of these products will continue to occur. Any attempt by a major or other service provider to seek out additional or alternative suppliers, or to undertake, as permitted under applicable regulations, the production of these products internally, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results. Furthermore, the delay in sales until the completion of the approval process, the length of which is difficult to predict, could result in fluctuations of revenue and uneven operating results from quarter to quarter or year to year. Further, once customer approval or certifications are met, our supply chain customers typically do not guarantee us a minimum, or any, volume of sales. We are dependent on individual purchase orders as discussed elsewhere in this report.

22

We engage in research and development activities to develop new, innovative solutions and to improve the application of developed technologies, and as a consequence may miss certain market opportunities enjoyed by larger companies with substantially greater research and development effort and which may focus on more leading edge development.

We engage in research and development activities to develop new, innovative solutions and to improve the application of developed technologies, and as a consequence may miss certain market opportunities enjoyed by larger companies with substantially greater research and development efforts. A portion of our research and development activities are focused on the continued innovation of currently accepted access technologies in order to deliver faster internet speeds, more capacity, better quality of service and operational efficiency. These research and development efforts result in improved applications of technologies for which demand already exists or is latent. We also focus our research and development efforts on developing software, solutions and platforms that enable service providers to increase revenue-generating service velocity, reducing operational costs, increasing scale and providing service agility. We rarely engage in research projects that represent a vast departure from the current business practices of our key customers. While we believe our strategy provides a higher likelihood of producing nearer term or more sustainable revenue streams, this strategy could result in lost revenue opportunities should a new technology achieve rapid and widespread market acceptance. When we do engage in research and development activities for new, leading-edge technologies and market approaches, there is no guarantee that those technologies or market approaches will be successful or that they will be adopted and purchased by our customers.

We depend heavily on sales to certain customers; the loss of any of these customers would significantly reduce our revenues and net income.

Historically, a large percentage of our sales have been made to major service providers and larger independent communications companies. In 2019, these customers continued to comprise over half of our revenue. As long as the major and larger independent communications companies represent such a substantial percentage of our total sales, our future success will significantly depend upon certain factors which are not within our control, including:

In the past, sales to our large customers have fluctuated, and may fluctuate in the future, significantly from quarter to quarter and year to year. The loss of, or a significant reduction or delay in, sales to any such customer or the occurrence of sales fluctuations could have a material adverse effect on our business and results of operations. Further, any attempt by a major or other service provider to seek out additional or alternative suppliers or to undertake, as permitted under applicable regulations, the production of these products internally, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results.

There has been a trend toward industry consolidation in our markets for several years. We expect this trend to continue as companies attempt to strengthen or hold their market positions or are unable to continue operations. This could lead to variability in our operating results and could have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flow. In addition, particularly in the service provider market, rapid consolidation will lead to fewer customers, with the effect that a loss of a major customer could have a material impact on our results that we would not have anticipated in a marketplace composed of more numerous participants.

23

If we are unable to integrate recent and future acquisitions successfully, it could adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

We may make acquisitions to improve or expand our product offerings, customer base, talent or intellectual property. Our current and future acquisition strategy will depend on our ability to identify, negotiate, complete and integrate acquisitions. Acquisitions involve numerous risks, including, but not limited to:

Our strategy of outsourcing a portion of our manufacturing requirements to subcontractors located in various international regions may result in us not meeting our cost, quality or performance standards.

We are heavily dependent on subcontractors for the assembly and testing of certain printed circuit board assemblies, subassemblies, chassis, enclosures and equipment shelves, and the purchase of some raw materials used in such assemblies. This reliance involves several risks, including the unavailability of, or interruptions in, access to certain process technologies and reduced control over product quality, delivery schedules, transportation, manufacturing yields and costs. We may not be able to provide product order volumes to our subcontractors that are high enough to achieve sufficient cost savings. If shipments fall below forecasted levels, we may incur increased costs or be required to take ownership of excess inventory. Changes in international tariff structures could adversely impact our product costs. In addition, a significant component of maintaining cost competitiveness is the ability of our subcontractors to adjust their costs to compensate for possible adverse exchange rate movements. To the extent that the subcontractors are unable to do so, and we are unable to procure alternative product supplies, then our competitiveness and results of operations could be adversely impaired. These risks may be exacerbated by economic, regulatory or political changes or uncertainties, terrorist actions, the effects of climate change, natural disasters or pandemics in the foreign countries in which our subcontractors are located. We do not utilize contract manufacturing for our products in China, though we do source some ODM products from China which are, or may become, subject to import tariffs. Additionally, concerns and additional costs associated with imports tariffs imposed on certain products from China has resulted in manufacturers seeking to secure production capabilities outside of China, including in countries where we currently utilize contract manufacturing.

To date, we believe that we have successfully managed the risks of our dependence on these subcontractors through a variety of efforts, which include seeking and developing alternative subcontractors while maintaining existing relationships; however, we cannot be assured that delays in product deliveries will not occur in the future because of shortages resulting from this limited number of subcontractors or from the financial or other difficulties of these parties. Our inability to develop alternative subcontractors if and as required in the future, or the need to undertake required retraining and other activities related to establishing and developing a new subcontractor relationship, could result in delays or reductions in product shipments which, in turn, could have a negative effect on our customer relationships and operating results.

24

Changes in trade policy in the United States and other countries, specifically China, including the imposition of additional tariffs and the resulting consequences, may adversely impact our gross profits, gross margins, results of operations and financial condition.

The U.S. government has imposed tariffs on a wide-range of products and goods manufactured in China and imported into the U.S. These tariffs are intended to address trade imbalances, which include decreasing imports from China and encouraging increased production of these products in the U.S. These proposals have, and could continue to, result in increased customs duties and tariffs. We import an increasing percentage of our products into the U.S from China and an increase in customs duties and tariffs with respect to these imports could negatively impact our gross profit, gross margins and results of operations. These customs duties and tariffs may also cause other U.S. trading partners to take certain actions with respect to U.S. imports in their respective countries. Any potential changes in trade policies in the U.S. and the potential actions by other countries in which we do business could adversely impact our financial performance.

Our dependence on a limited number of suppliers for certain raw materials, key components and ODM products may prevent us from delivering our products on a timely basis, which could have a material adverse effect on customer relations and operating results.

Certain raw materials and key components used in our products are currently available from only one source, and others are available from only a limited number of sources. The availability of these raw materials and supplies may be subject to market forces beyond our control, such as merger and acquisition activity of our suppliers and consolidation in some segments of our supplier base. From time to time, there may not be sufficient quantities of raw materials and supplies in the marketplace to meet customer demand. Many companies utilize the same raw materials and supplies that we do in the production of their products. Companies with more resources than our own may have a competitive advantage in obtaining raw materials and supplies due to greater buying power. These factors can result in reduced supply, higher prices of raw materials and delays in the receipt of certain of our key components, which in turn may generate increased costs, lower margins and delays in product delivery, with a corresponding adverse effect on revenues and customer relationships. Furthermore, due to general economic conditions in the U.S. and globally, our suppliers may experience financial difficulties, which could result in increased delays, additional costs or loss of a supplier. We attempt to manage these risks through developing alternative sources, by staging inventories at strategic locations, through engineering efforts designed to obviate the necessity of certain components and by building long-term relationships and close contact with each of our key suppliers; however, we cannot assure that delays in or failures of deliveries of key components, either to us or to our contract manufacturers, and consequent delays in product deliveries, will not occur in the future.

In particular, if the current novel coronavirus outbreak continues and results in a prolonged period of travel, commercial and other similar restrictions, we could experience global supply disruptions. These restrictions could disrupt our ability to receive ODM products from China and may disrupt our suppliers located elsewhere who rely on products from China. Although we have not experienced material effects from the disruptions through the date of this Annual Report on Form 10-K, if we experience additional supply disruptions, we may become dependent on alternative sources outside the region. We may not be able to develop such alternate sourcing quickly enough to avoid production delays. Any disruption of our production schedule caused by an unexpected shortage of ODM products could cause us to alter production schedules, which could cause a loss of revenues, which would adversely affect our operations.

In addition, the SEC has adopted disclosure requirements regarding the use of “conflict minerals” mined from the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries and procedures to identify the source of such minerals included in manufactured products. The disclosures will require us to incur additional costs to verify the origins of the identified minerals used and comply with disclosure requirements. These requirements could affect the availability of minerals used in the manufacture of a limited number of parts contained in our products. This may reduce the number of suppliers who provide conflict-free minerals and may affect our ability to obtain products in sufficient quantities or at competitive prices. Our material sourcing is broad-based and multi-tiered. While we are taking steps to identify sourcing based on recommended standards for our industry, we may not be able to conclusively verify the origins for all minerals used in our products. An inability to make a sourcing determination of minerals in our products could impact our revenues and harm our financial condition should our customers require that we certify that all components used in our products are free of minerals from this region.

25

We compete in markets that have become increasingly competitive, which may result in reduced gross profit margins and market share.

The markets for our products are intensely competitive. Additional manufacturers have entered the markets in recent years to offer products in competition with us. Additionally, certain companies have, in recent years, developed the ability to deliver competing products using coaxial cable and cellular transmission, especially in high-density metropolitan areas. Competition will further increase if new companies enter the market or existing competitors expand their product lines. Some of these potential competitors may have greater financial, technological, manufacturing, sales and marketing, and personnel resources than we have. As a result, these competitors may be able to respond more rapidly or effectively to new or emerging technologies and changes in customer requirements, withstand significant price decreases, or devote greater resources to the development, promotion and sale of their products than we can.

In addition, our present and future competitors may be able to enter our existing or future markets with products or technologies comparable or superior to those that we offer. An increase in competition could cause us to reduce prices, decrease our market share, require increased spending by us on product development and sales and marketing, or cause delays or cancellations in customer orders, any one of which could reduce our gross profit margins and adversely affect our business and results of operations.

Our estimates regarding future warranty obligations may change due to product failure rates, installation and shipment volumes, field service repair obligations and other rework costs incurred in correcting product failures. If our estimates change, our liability for warranty obligations may increase or decrease, impacting future cost of goods sold.

Our products are highly complex, and we cannot ensure that our extensive product development, manufacturing and integration testing will be adequate to detect all defects, errors, failures and quality issues. Quality or performance problems for products covered under warranty could adversely impact our reputation and negatively affect our operating results, financial position and cash flows. The development and production of new products with high complexity often involves problems with software, components and manufacturing methods. If significant warranty obligations arise due to reliability or quality issues arising from defects in software, faulty components or manufacturing methods, our operating results, financial position and cash flows could be negatively impacted by:

Managing our inventory is complex and may include write-downs of excess or obsolete inventory.

Managing our inventory of components and finished products is complicated by a number of factors, including the need to maintain a significant inventory of certain components that are in short supply, that have been discontinued by the component manufacturer, that must be purchased in bulk to obtain favorable pricing or that require long lead times. These issues may result in our purchasing and maintaining significant amounts of inventory, which if not used or expected to be used based on anticipated production requirements, may become excess or obsolete. Any excess or obsolete inventory could also result in sales price reductions and/or inventory write- downs, which could adversely affect our business and results of operations.

26

The continuing growth of our international operations could expose us to additional risks, increase our costs and adversely affect our operating results, financial condition and cash flows.

We are expanding our presence in international markets, which represented 43.2% of our net sales for 2019, and as a result, we anticipate increased sales and operating costs in these markets. This international expansion may increase our operational risks and impact our results of operations, including:

If we are unable to successfully address the potential risks associated with our overall international expansion, our operating results, financial condition and cash flows may be negatively impacted.

We may be adversely affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates.

As our international sales increase or as utilization of international suppliers expands, we may transact additional business in currencies other than U.S. currency. As a result, we will be subject to the possibility of greater effects of foreign currency exchange translation on our financial statements. Sales contract commitments and accounts receivable balances based on foreign currency expose us to the potential risk of loss as the value of the U.S. dollar fluctuates over time. In addition, for those countries outside the U.S. where we have significant sales or significant purchases of supplies, devaluation in the local currency could make our products more expensive for customers to purchase or increase our costs, thereby adversely affecting our competitiveness or results of operation. When appropriate, we may enter into various derivative transactions to enhance our ability to manage the volatility relating to these typical business exposures. If used, the derivative transactions will be intended to reduce, but not eliminate, the impact of foreign currency exchange rate movements; therefore, we generally would not anticipate hedging all outstanding foreign currency risk. There can be no assurance that exchange rate fluctuations in the future will not have a material adverse effect on our revenue from international sales, manufacturing costs, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

27

Our success depends on our ability to reduce the selling prices of succeeding generations of our products.

Our strategy is to increase unit sales volumes and market share each year by introducing succeeding generations of products having lower selling prices and increased functionality as compared to prior generations of products. To maintain or increase our revenues and margins while continuing this strategy, we must continue, in some combination, to increase sales volumes of existing products, introduce and sell new products, or reduce our per unit costs at rates sufficient to compensate for the reduced revenue effect of continuing reductions in the average sales prices of our products. We cannot ensure that we will be able to maintain or increase revenues or margins by increasing unit sales volumes of our products, introducing and selling new products or reducing unit costs of our products.

We are currently evaluating the implementation of a new enterprise resource planning (“ERP”) software solution. If we do not effectively implement this project, our operations could be significantly disrupted.

We are currently evaluating the implementation of a new ERP software solution. This project could have a significant impact on our business processes, financial reporting, information systems and internal controls, and will require significant change management, meaningful investment in capital and personnel resources and coordination of numerous software and system providers and internal business teams. We may experience difficulties as we manage these changes and transition to a new ERP solution, including loss or corruption of data, delayed shipments, delayed financial reporting, decreases in productivity as our personnel implement and become familiar with the new systems and processes, unanticipated expenses (including increased costs of implementation, costs of conducting business or the potential impairment of previously capitalized ERP implementation costs) and lost revenues. Difficulties in implementing a new ERP solution could disrupt our operations, divert management’s attention from key strategic initiatives and have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Breaches of our information systems and cyber-attacks could compromise our intellectual property and cause significant damage to our business and reputation.

We maintain sensitive data on our information systems and the networks of third-party providers, including intellectual property, financial data and proprietary or confidential business information relating to our business, customers, suppliers and business partners. We also produce networking equipment solutions and software used by network operators to ensure security and reliability in their management and transmission of data. Our customers, particularly those in regulated industries, are increasingly focused on the security features of our technology solutions and maintaining the security of information sensitive to us and our business partners is critical to our business and reputation. We rely upon a number of internal business processes and information systems to support key operations and financial functions, and the efficient operation of these processes and systems is critical. Companies are increasingly subjected to cyber-attacks and other attempts to gain unauthorized access. We have multiple layers of access control and devote significant resources to data encryption and other security measures to protect our information technology and communications systems. We test our vulnerability periodically and take action to further secure our networks, yet our network and storage applications and those systems and storage applications maintained by our third-party providers may be subject to unauthorized access by cyber-attack or breached due to operator error, fraudulent activity or other system disruptions. In some cases, it is difficult to anticipate or immediately detect damage caused by such incidents. Unauthorized access or disclosure of our information could compromise our intellectual property and expose sensitive business information. Our information systems are designed to appropriate industry standards to reduce downtime in the event of power outages, weather or climate events and cyber-security issues. A significant failure of our systems due to these issues could result in significant remediation costs, disrupt business operations and divert management attention, which could result in harm to our business reputation, operating results, financial condition and cash flow.

Our failure to maintain rights to intellectual property used in our business could adversely affect the development, functionality and commercial value of our products.

Our future success depends in part upon our proprietary technology. Although we attempt to protect our proprietary technology by contract, trademark, copyright and patent registration, and internal security, including trade secret protection, these protections may not be adequate. Furthermore, our competitors can develop similar technology independently without violating our proprietary rights. From time to time, we receive and may continue to receive notices of claims alleging that we are infringing upon patents or other intellectual property. Any of these claims, whether with or without merit, could result in significant legal fees, divert our management’s time, attention and resources, delay our product shipments or require us to enter into royalty or licensing agreements. We cannot predict whether we will prevail in any claims or litigation over alleged infringements, or whether we will be able to license any valid and infringed patents, or other intellectual property, on commercially reasonable terms. If a claim of intellectual property infringement against us is successful and we fail to obtain a license or develop or license non-infringing technology, our business, operating results, financial condition and cash flows could be affected adversely.

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Software under license from third-parties for use in certain of our products may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms.

We integrate third-party software into certain of our products. Licenses for this technology may not be available or continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms. Difficulties with third-party technology licensors could result in the termination of such licenses, which may result in increased costs or require us to purchase or develop a substitute technology. Difficulty obtaining and maintaining third-party technology licenses may disrupt the development of our products and increase our costs, which could harm our business.

Our use of open source software could impose limitations on our ability to commercialize our products.

Several of our solutions utilize elements of open source or publicly available software. Although we closely monitor our use of open source software, the terms of many open source software licenses have not been interpreted by the courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to sell our products. In such event, we could be required to make our proprietary software generally available to third parties, including competitors, at no cost, to seek licenses from third-parties in order to continue offering our products, to re-engineer our products or to discontinue the sale of our products in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis or at all, any of which could adversely affect our revenues and operating expenses.

We may incur liabilities or become subject to litigation that would have a material effect on our business.

In the ordinary course of business, we accept purchase orders, and enter into sales and other related contracts, for the marketing, sale, manufacture, distribution or use of our products and services. We may incur liabilities relating to our performance under such agreements, or which result from damage claims arising from certain events as outlined within the particular contract. While we attempt to include reasonable limitations of liability and other protective measures to all agreements, such agreements may not always contain, or be subject to, maximum loss clauses and liabilities arising from them may result in significant adverse changes to our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

In the ordinary course of business, we may be subject to various legal proceedings and claims, including employment disputes, patent claims, disputes over contract agreements and other commercial disputes. In some cases, claimants seek monetary recovery, or other relief, including damages such as royalty payments related to patents, lost profits or injunctive relief, which, if granted, could require significant expenditures. Any such disputes may be resolved before trial, or if tried, may be resolved in our favor; however, the cost of claims sustained in litigation, and costs associated with the litigation process, may not be covered by our insurance. Such costs, and the demands on management time during such an event, could harm our business and have a material adverse effect on our liquidity, results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Consolidation and deterioration in the CLEC market could result in a significant decrease in our revenue.

We sell a moderate volume of products directly or indirectly to CLECs who compete with the established Incumbent Local Exchange Carriers (“ILEC”). The CLEC market is experiencing a process of consolidation. Many of our CLEC customers do not have a strong financial position and have limited ability to access the public financial markets for additional funding for growth and operations. If one or more of these CLECs fail, we could face a loss in revenue and an increased bad debt expense, due to their inability to pay outstanding invoices, as well as the corresponding decrease in customer base and future revenue. Furthermore, significant portions of our sales to CLECs are made through independent distributors. The failure of one or more CLECs could also negatively affect the financial position of a distributor to the point that the distributor could also experience business failure and/or default on payments to us.

We depend on distributors who maintain inventories of our products. If the distributors reduce their inventories of these products, our sales could be adversely affected.

We work closely with our distributors to monitor channel inventory levels and ensure that appropriate levels of our products are available to resellers and end users. If our distributors reduce their levels of inventory of our products, our sales would be negatively impacted during the period of change.

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If we are unable to successfully develop and maintain relationships with SIs, service providers and enterprise VARs, our sales may be negatively affected.

As part of our sales strategy, we are targeting SIs, service providers and enterprise VARs. In addition to specialized technical expertise, SIs, service providers and VARs typically offer sophisticated service capabilities that are frequently desired by enterprise customers. To expand our distribution channel to include resellers with such capabilities, we must be able to provide effective support to these resellers. If our sales, marketing or service capabilities are not sufficient to provide effective support to such SIs, service providers and VARs, our sales may be negatively affected, and current SI, service provider and VAR partners may terminate their relationships with us, which would adversely impact our sales and overall results of operations.

If we fail to manage our exposure to worldwide financial and securities markets successfully, our operating results and financial statements could be materially impacted.

We are exposed to financial market risks, including changes in interest rates and prices of marketable equity and fixed-income securities. The primary objective of the majority of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time achieving appropriate yields without significantly increasing risk. To achieve this objective, a majority of our marketable securities are investment grade corporate and municipal fixed-rate bonds, U.S. government bonds and municipal money market instruments denominated in U.S. dollars. While we do invest a portion of our investment portfolio in equities, which are subject to market risks, including the loss of principal, our equity investments are generally invested in professionally-managed portfolios with the objective of exceeding the performance of their underlying benchmarks. All of our fixed income and equity portfolios are reviewed regularly for performance and policy compliance. Our investment policy provides limitations for issuer concentration, which limits, at the time of purchase, the concentration in any one issuer to 5% of the market value of our total investment portfolio.

We have significant investments in corporate bonds, municipal fixed-rate bonds, asset-backed bonds, mortgage/agency-backed bonds, U.S. government bonds and foreign government bonds. Through December 31, 2019, we have not been required to impair any of these investments; however, we may experience a reduction in value or loss of liquidity in these investments, which may have an adverse effect on our results of operations, liquidity and financial condition. Fixed-rate interest securities may have their fair value adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates, while variable-rate securities may produce less income than expected if interest rates fall. Our investments are subject to general credit, liquidity, market and interest rate risks, which may increase because of conditions in the financial markets and related credit liquidity issues. Consequently, our future investment income may fall short of expectations due to changes in interest rates, or we may suffer losses in principal if we are forced to sell securities that decline in fair value due to changes in interest rates.

See “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Liquidity and Capital Resources” in Part II,  Item 7 of this report, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk” in Part II, Item 7A of this report and Note 5 of Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this report for more information about our investments.

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New or revised tax regulations, changes in our effective tax rate, recognition of a valuation allowance or assessments arising from tax audits may have an adverse impact on our results.

We are subject to taxation in various jurisdictions, both domestically and internationally, in which we conduct business. Significant judgment is required in the determination of our provision for income taxes, and this determination requires the interpretation and application of complex and sometimes uncertain tax laws and regulations. Our effective tax rate may be adversely impacted by changes in the mix of earnings between jurisdictions with different statutory tax rates, in the valuation of our deferred tax assets, and by changes in tax rules and regulations. We continually monitor our deferred tax assets and when it becomes more likely than not that a tax benefit will not be recognized a valuation allowance is recorded against those assets. During 2019, we received corporate income tax credits under a program administered by the Alabama State Industrial Development Authority in connection with revenue bonds issued to provide funding for the expansion of our corporate facilities. The credit program administered by the Alabama State Industrial Development Authority ended on January 2, 2020 with the repayment of the revenue bonds, which will result in an increased effective tax rate in the future. These employment-related tax benefits are currently accounted for in our effective tax rate. In addition, we are subject to examination of our income tax returns by the Internal Revenue Service and various other jurisdictions in which we conduct business. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes resulting from these examinations to determine the adequacy of our provision for income taxes. There can be no assurance that the outcomes from these continuous examinations will not have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flow. Additionally, we continually review the adequacy of the valuation allowance and recognize the benefits of deferred tax assets only as the reassessment indicates that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will be recognized. As such, we may release a portion of the valuation allowance or establish a new valuation allowance based on operations in the jurisdictions in which these assets arose. Management continues to evaluate all evidence including historical operating results, the existence of losses in the most recent year, forecasted earnings, future taxable income and tax planning strategies. Should management determine that a valuation allowance is needed in the future due to not being able to absorb loss carryforwards, it would have a material impact on our consolidated financial statements.

We are required to periodically evaluate the value of our long-lived assets, including the value of intangibles assets acquired and goodwill resulting from business acquisitions. Any future impairment charges required may adversely affect our operating results.

Valuation of our long-lived assets requires us to make assumptions about future sales prices and sales volumes for our products. These assumptions are used to forecast future, undiscounted cash flows. Forecasting future business trends is difficult and subject to modification. Should actual market conditions differ, or our forecasts change, we may be required to reassess long-lived assets and could record an impairment charge. Any impairment charge relating to long-lived assets would have the effect of decreasing our earnings or increasing our losses in such period.

We may not fully realize the anticipated benefits of our ongoing restructuring plans. Our restructuring efforts may adversely affect our business and our operating results.

We have undertaken restructuring efforts to realign our organization to better match our market opportunities, technology development initiatives and improve efficiencies. There can be no assurance that we will fully realize the anticipated benefits to future financial results from our efforts. This realignment could adversely affect our ability to execute our business strategy by diverting management’s attention from normal daily operations, decreasing cash flows and operating results due to severance payments and facility termination costs, and could be disruptive to our business. If we fail to realize some or all of the expected benefits of this realignment, it could have an adverse effect on our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

Our success depends on attracting and retaining key personnel.

Our business has grown significantly since its inception. Our success is dependent in large part on the continued employment of our executive officers, including Thomas R. Stanton, our Chief Executive Officer, and other key management personnel. The unplanned departure of one or more of these individuals could adversely affect our business. In addition, for ADTRAN to continue as a successful entity we must also be able to attract and retain key engineers and software developers and architects whose expertise helps us maintain competitive advantages. We believe that our future success will depend, in large part, upon our ability to continue to attract, retain, train and motivate highly-skilled employees who are in great demand. Stock awards are designed to reward employees for their long-term contributions and to provide incentives for them to remain with us. Changes to our overall compensation program, including our stock incentive program, may adversely affect our ability to retain key employees. Properly managing our continued growth, avoiding the problems often resulting from such growth and expansion and continuing to operate in the manner which has proven successful to us to date will be critical to the future success of our business.

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Regulatory and potential physical impacts of climate change and other natural events may affect our customers and our production operations, resulting in adverse effects on our operating results.

There is a growing political and scientific consensus that emissions of greenhouse gases continue to alter the composition of the atmosphere, affecting large-scale weather patterns and the global climate. It appears that some form of U.S. federal regulation related to greenhouse gas emissions may occur, and any such regulation could result in the creation of additional costs in the form of taxes or emission allowances. The impact of any future legislation, regulations or product specification requirements on our products and business operations is dependent on the design of the final mandate or standard, so we are unable to predict its significance at this time.

The potential physical impacts of climate change and other natural events on our customers, suppliers and on our operations are highly uncertain, and will be particular to the circumstances developing in various geographical regions. These events may include changes in weather patterns (including drought and rainfall levels), water availability, storm patterns and intensities, ocean levels, temperature levels, earthquakes and tsunamis. These potential physical effects may adversely affect our revenues, costs, production and delivery schedules, and cause harm to our results of operations, financial condition and cash flows.

The price of our common stock has been volatile and may continue to fluctuate significantly.

Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol ADTN. Since our initial public offering in August 1994, there has been, and may continue to be, significant volatility in the market for our common stock, based on a variety of factors, including factors listed in this section, some of which are beyond our control.

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None.

Our headquarters and principal administrative, engineering and manufacturing facilities are located on an 82-acre campus in Cummings Research Park in Huntsville, Alabama. Two office buildings serve both our Network Solutions and our Services & Support segments. We lease engineering facilities in the U.S., Europe and India that are used to develop products sold by our Network Solutions segment. In addition, we lease office space in North America, Latin America, EMEA and APAC, providing sales and service support for both of our segments. These cancelable and non-cancelable leases expire at various times through 2025. For more information, see Note 9 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report.

We also have numerous sales and support staff operating from home-based offices serving both our Network Solutions and our Services & Support segments, which are located within the U.S. and abroad.

Securities Class Action Lawsuit

On October 17, 2019, a purported stockholder class action lawsuit, captioned Burbridge v. ADTRAN, Inc. et al., Docket No. 19-cv-09619, was filed in the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York against the Company, two of its current executive officers and one of its former executive officers. The complaint alleges violations of federal securities laws and seeks unspecified compensatory damages on behalf of purported purchasers of ADTRAN securities between February 28, 2019 and October 9, 2019. The lawsuit claims that the defendants made materially false and misleading statements regarding, and/or failed to disclose material adverse facts about, the Company’s business, operations and prospects, specifically relating to the Company’s internal control over financial reporting, excess and obsolete inventory reserves, financial results and shipments to a Latin American customer.  Investors in ADTRAN securities had until December 16, 2019 to move the court to serve as lead plaintiff in this action. 

On December 16, 2019, two purported investors in ADTRAN securities filed motions seeking to be appointed lead plaintiff in the case. On January 6, 2020, the United States District Court for the Southern District of New York granted Defendants’ unopposed request to transfer the case to the United States District Court for the Northern District of Alabama, where the case is now pending as Burbridge v. ADTRAN, Inc. et al., Docket No. 5:20-cv-00050-LCB. On January 27, 2020, the two prospective lead plaintiff movants filed a stipulation among plaintiffs seeking to be appointed as co-lead plaintiffs in the case.

We disagree with the claims made in the complaint and intend to vigorously defend against this lawsuit. At this time, we are unable to predict the outcome of or estimate the possible loss or range of loss, if any, associated with this lawsuit.

Other Legal Matters

In addition to the litigation described above, from time to time we are subject to or otherwise involved in various lawsuits, claims, investigations and legal proceedings that arise out of or are incidental to the conduct of our business (collectively, “Legal Matters”), including those relating to employment matters, patent rights, regulatory compliance matters, stockholder claims, and contractual and other commercial disputes. Such Legal Matters, even if not meritorious, could result in the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. Additionally, an unfavorable outcome in a legal matter, including in a patent dispute, could require the Company to pay damages, entitle claimants to other relief, such as royalties, or could prevent the Company from selling some of its products in certain jurisdictions. While the Company cannot predict with certainty the results of the Legal Matters in which it is currently involved, the Company does not expect that the ultimate outcome of such Legal Matters will individually or in the aggregate have a material adverse effect on its business, results of operations, financial condition or cash flows.

Not applicable.

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PART II

ADTRAN's common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol ADTN. As of February 19, 2020, ADTRAN had 163 stockholders of record and approximately 6,972 beneficial owners of shares held in street name. The following table shows the high and low closing prices per share for our common stock as reported by NASDAQ for the periods indicated.

Stock Repurchases

The following table sets forth repurchases of our common stock for the months indicated.

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Income Statement Data

(In thousands, except per share amounts) 

Balance Sheet Data

(In thousands) 

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You should read the following discussion of our financial condition and results of operations in conjunction with our audited consolidated financial statements and the related notes included in Part II, Item 8 of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. We have omitted discussion of the earliest of the three years of financial condition and results of operations and this information can be found in Part I, Item 7, “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” of our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2018, filed with the SEC on February 28, 2019, which is available free of charge on the SEC's website at sec.gov and on our website at www.adtran.com.

Overview

ADTRAN is a leading global provider of networking and communications equipment, serving a diverse domestic and international customer base in multiple countries that includes Tier-1, -2 and -3 service providers, cable/MSOs and distributed enterprises. Our innovative solutions and services enable voice, data, video and internet communications across a variety of network infrastructures and are currently in use by millions worldwide. We support our customers through our direct global sales organization and our distribution networks. Our success depends upon our ability to increase unit volume and market share through the introduction of new products and succeeding generations of products having lower selling prices and increased functionality as compared to both the prior generation of a product and to the products of competitors. In order to service our customers and grow revenue, we are constantly conducting research and development of new products addressing customer needs and testing those products for the particular specifications of the particular customers. We are focused on being a top global supplier of access infrastructure and related value-added solutions from the cloud edge to the subscriber edge. We offer a broad portfolio of flexible software and hardware network solutions and services that enable service providers to meet today’s service demands, while enabling them to transition to the fully-converged, scalable, highly-automated, cloud-controlled voice, data, internet and video network of the future. In addition to our corporate headquarters in Huntsville, Alabama, we have research and development facilities in strategic global locations.

An important part of our strategy is to reduce the cost of each succeeding product generation and then lower the product’s selling price based on the cost savings achieved in order to gain market share and/or improve gross margins. As a part of this strategy, we seek to be a high-quality, and in most instances the low-cost, provider of products in our markets. Our success to date is attributable in large measure to our ability to design our products initially with a view to their subsequent redesign, allowing both increased functionality and reduced manufacturing costs in each succeeding product generation. This strategy enables us to sell succeeding generations of products to existing customers, while increasing our market share by selling these enhanced products to new customers.

We ended the first half of 2019 with 20.6% year-over-year revenue growth and good geographical diversity with 50.8% of our revenue coming from international markets.  During the third quarter of 2019, we experienced a slowdown in capital spending by a Tier-1 customer in Europe and an unforeseen pause in spending from a LATAM Tier-1 customer. While shipments to the LATAM customer resumed in the fourth quarter, these delays, combined with seasonality, resulted in a softer than expected second half of the year. During 2019, we had three 10% revenue customers geographically diversified with one each in the U.S., Europe and LATAM. Our domestic revenue growth of 4.2% year-over-year was driven by an increase in sales to RSPs and additional fiber deployments across all customers. In addition, we saw an increase in sales to a Tier-1 customer with diversified business among our fiber access and CPE, service provider CPE and services as well as sales to a Tier-2 customer. Our LATAM Tier-1 customer expanded their FTTx deployments in 2019 with ADTRAN solutions. In Europe, a Tier-1 customer continued expansion of their vectoring and super-vectoring VDSL2 solutions. We also experienced increases in our service provider CPE business in 2019. Among our customers, we made progress with our fiber and fiber-extension solutions, including Gfast and PON, while also continuing to engage various Services & Support opportunities that we expect will contribute in 2020 and beyond. In addition, we believe we are at the beginning of a significant investment cycle for fiber deployment driven by technology advancements, regulatory influences and vendor disruption. The transition to next-generation network architectures is beginning, and we are seeing demand for our next-generation SD-Access solutions. In the latter part of 2020, we anticipate that payments to service providers under government funding programs such as the FCC Rural Digital Opportunity Fund will begin and continue into 2021.

We made two acquisitions in 2018, strengthening our position in both the cable/MSOs and connected home markets. In the first quarter of 2018, we acquired Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corp.’s North American EPON business and certain assets for North America and entered into a technology license and original equipment manufacturer supply agreement with Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. These solutions, combined with our organic fiber access product portfolio and our distributed access expertise, present new opportunities in the cable/MSO market. Also, in the fourth quarter of 2018, we acquired U.S.-based SmartRG, an industry-leading provider of carrier-class, connected-home software platforms and cloud services for broadband service providers. With this acquisition, ADTRAN now offers a complete cloud-to-consumer portfolio of virtualized management, data analytics, Wi-Fi-enabled residential gateways and software platforms.

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In addition to classifying our operations into two reportable segments, we report revenue across three categories of products and services – (1) Access & Aggregation, (2) Subscriber Solutions & Experience (formerly Customer Devices) and (3) Traditional & Other Products.

Our Access & Aggregation solutions are used by CSPs to connect their network infrastructure to subscribers. This revenue category includes hardware- and software-based products and services that aggregate and/or originate access technologies. ADTRAN solutions within this category include a wide array of modular or fixed platforms designed to deliver the best technology and economy based on subscriber density and environmental conditions.

Our Subscriber Solutions & Experience portfolio is used by service providers to terminate their infrastructure at the customers premises while providing an immersive and interactive experience for the subscriber. These solutions include copper and fiber WAN termination, LAN switching, Wi-Fi access, and cloud software services, for both residential and business markets.

In alignment with our increased focus on enhancing the customer experience for both business and consumer broadband customers as well as the addition of SmartRG during 2018, what was previously known as our Customer Devices category became our Subscriber Solutions & Experience category, as this more accurately represents this revenue category and our vision moving forward.

Our Traditional & Other Products category generally includes a mix of prior-generation technologies’ products and services, as well as other products and services that do not fit within the other revenue categories.

Our operating results have fluctuated, and may continue to fluctuate, on a quarterly basis due to a number of factors, including customer order activity and backlog. A substantial portion of our shipments in any fiscal period relates to orders received and shipped within that fiscal period for customers under agreements containing non-binding purchase commitments. Further, a significant percentage of orders require delivery within a few days. These factors normally result in a varying order backlog and limited order flow visibility. Additionally, backlog levels may vary because of seasonal trends, the timing of customer projects, and other factors that affect customer order lead times. Because many of our customers require prompt delivery of products, we are required to maintain sufficient inventory levels to satisfy anticipated customer demand. If near-term demand for our products declines, or if potential sales in any quarter do not occur as anticipated, our financial results could be adversely affected. Operating expenses are relatively fixed in the short term; therefore, a shortfall in quarterly revenues could significantly impact our financial results in a given quarter.

Our operating results may also fluctuate as a result of a number of other factors, including a decline in general economic and market conditions, foreign currency exchange rate movements, increased competition, customer order patterns, changes in product and services mix, timing differences between price decreases and product cost reductions, product warranty returns, expediting costs, tariffs and announcements of new products by us or our competitors. Additionally, maintaining sufficient inventory levels to assure prompt delivery of our products increases the amount of inventory that may become obsolete and increases the risk that the obsolescence of this inventory may have an adverse effect on our business and operating results. Also, not maintaining sufficient inventory levels to assure prompt delivery of our products may cause us to incur expediting costs to meet customer delivery requirements, which may negatively impact our operating results in a given quarter. During 2019, the Company implemented restructuring plans to realign its expense structure with the reduction in revenue experienced in recent years and with overall Company objectives. Management assessed the efficiency of our operations and consolidated locations and personnel, among other things, and has implemented certain cost savings initiatives, where possible. We expect to see a reduction in our operating expenses, both in the U.S. and internationally, as a result of our implementation of these restructuring plans.

Our historical financial performance is not necessarily a meaningful indicator of future results, and, in general, management expects that our financial results may vary from period to period. See Note 19 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements, included in Part II, Item 8 of this report, for additional information on quarterly results for 2018 and 2019. For a discussion of risks associated with our operating results, see Part I, Item 1A of this report.    

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Results of Operations

The following table presents selected financial information derived from our Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss) expressed as a percentage of sales for the years indicated. Amounts may not foot due to rounding.

The following discussion and financial information are presented to aid in an understanding of our current consolidated financial position, changes in financial position, results of operations and cash flows and should be read in conjunction with the audited Consolidated Financial Statements and notes thereto included herein. The emphasis of the discussion is a comparison of the years ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018.  For a discussion of a comparison of the years ended December 31, 2018 and December 31, 2017, please refer to Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations included in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2018, filed with the SEC on February 28, 2019.

Comparison of Years Ended December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018

Sales

Our sales increased 0.1% from $529.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to $530.1 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Our Services & Support sales increased $3.8 million compared to 2018 and our Network Solutions sales decreased $3.0 million versus the prior year. The increase in our 2019 sales was primarily attributable to an increase in Subscriber Solutions & Experience sales of $18.5 million, partially offset by decreases in Access & Aggregation sales of $10.0 million and Traditional & Other Products sales of $7.7 million.  

Network Solutions sales decreased by 0.7% from $458.2 million in 2018 to $455.2 million in 2019, due primarily to a decrease in sales of our Access & Aggregation products and Traditional & Other Products. The decrease in sales of 3.9% of our Access & Aggregation products for 2019 was primarily attributable to decreased FTTN products, offset by an increase in sales of Gfast DPUs. The increase of 12.1% in 2019 for sales of our Subscriber Solutions & Experience products was primarily attributable to increased residential CPE and fiber CPE sales, partially offset by a decrease in sales of SP Business CPE and WiFi access points and infrastructure. While we expect that revenues from Traditional & Other Products will continue to decline over time, these revenues may fluctuate and continue for years because of the time required for our customers to transition to newer technologies.

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Services & Support sales increased by 5.3% from $71.0 million in 2018 to $74.8 million in 2019. The increase in sales for 2019 was primarily attributable to an increase in network installation and maintenance services for Access & Aggregation products and Subscriber Solutions & Experience.

Domestic sales increased 4.2% from $288.8 million in 2018 to $300.9 million in 2019. Our domestic growth was driven by an increase in sales to the RSP market segment and additional fiber deployments across all customers. In addition, such growth was driven by an increase in sales to a Tier-1 customer with diversified business among our fiber access and CPE, service provider CPE and services, as well as increased sales to a Tier-2 customer.

International sales, which are included in the amounts for the Network Solutions and Services & Support segments amounts discussed above, decreased 4.7% from $240.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to $229.2 for the year ended December 31, 2019. International sales, as a percentage of total sales, decreased from 45.4% for the year ended December 31, 2018 to 43.2% for the year ended December 31, 2019.  The decrease in international sales for 2019 was primarily attributable to the slowdown in shipments to two international Tier-1 customers.  

Our international revenue is largely focused on broadband infrastructure and is affected by the decisions of our customers as to timing for installation of new technologies, expansion of their networks and/or network upgrades. Our international customers must make these decisions in the regulatory and political environment in which they operate – both nationally and in some instances, regionally – whether of a multi-country region or a more local region within a country. The competitive landscape in certain international markets is also affected by the increased presence of Asian manufacturers that seek to compete aggressively on price. Our revenue and operating income in some international markets can be negatively impacted by a strengthening U.S. dollar. Consequently, while we expect the global trend towards deployment of more robust broadband speeds and access to continue creating additional market opportunities for us, the factors described above may result in negative pressure on revenue and operating income.

Cost of Sales

As a percentage of sales, cost of sales decreased from 61.5% for the year ended December 31, 2018 to 58.7% for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease was primarily attributable to regional revenue shifts, changes in customer and product mix, changes in services and support mix and a decrease in labor expense as a result of restructuring programs which were initiated in 2018 and continued throughout 2019.

Network Solutions cost of sales, as a percent of that segment’s sales, decreased from 60.9% of sales in 2018 to 57.9% of sales in 2019. The decrease in Network Solutions cost of sales as a percentage of that segment’s sales was primarily attributable to regional revenue shifts, changes in customer and product mix and a decrease in labor expense due to restructuring programs which were initiated in 2018 and continued throughout 2019, offset by an increase in freight and shipping charges.

An important part of our strategy is to reduce the cost of each succeeding generation of product and then lower the product’s selling price based on the cost savings achieved in order to gain market share and/or improve gross margins. This may cause variations in our gross profit percentage due to timing differences between the recognition of cost reductions and the lowering of product selling prices.

Services & Support cost of sales, as a percent of that segment’s sales, decreased from 65.8% of sales in 2018 to 63.1% of sales in 2019. The decrease in Services & Support cost of sales as a percentage of that segment’s sales in 2019 was primarily attributable to lower fixed personnel costs due to restructuring programs which were initiated in 2018 and continued throughout 2019, changes in customer mix, changes in services support mix and an increase in volume.

Our Services & Support revenue is comprised of network planning and implementation, maintenance, support and cloud-based management services, with network planning and implementation being the largest and fastest growing component in the long-term. Compared to our other services, such as maintenance, support and cloud-based management services, our network planning and implementation services typically utilize a higher percentage of internal and subcontracted engineers, professionals and contractors to perform the work for customers. The additional costs incurred to perform these infrastructure and labor-intensive services inherently result in lower average gross margins as compared to maintenance and support services.

As our network planning and implementation revenue grew to become the largest component of our Services & Support segment business, our Services & Support segment gross margins decreased versus those reported when maintenance and support comprised the majority of the business. Further, because the growth in our network planning and implementation services has resulted in our Services & Support segment revenue comprising a larger percentage of our overall revenue, and because our Services & Support segment gross margins are generally below those of the Network Solutions segment, our overall corporate gross margins may decline as that business continues to grow. Within the Services & Support segment, we do expect variability in gross margins from quarter-to-quarter based on the mix of the services recognized.

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Selling, General and Administrative Expenses

Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales increased from 23.5% for the year ended December 31, 2018 to 24.6% for the year ended December 31, 2019. Selling, general and administrative expenses as a percentage of sales will generally fluctuate whenever there is a significant fluctuation in revenues for the periods being compared as these costs are relatively fixed in the short term.

Selling, general and administrative expenses increased by 4.7% from $124.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to $130.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. Selling, general and administrative expenses include personnel costs for administration, finance, information technology, human resources, sales and marketing and general management, as well as rent, utilities, legal and accounting expenses, advertising, promotional material, trade show expenses and related travel costs. The increase in selling, general and administrative expenses was primarily attributable to deferred compensation related costs, incremental expenses as a result of the SmartRG acquisition, IP litigation and other legal related costs, partially offset by decreases in labor expense and use tax expense.

Research and Development Expenses

Research and development expenses as a percentage of sales increased from 23.5% for the year ended December 31, 2018 to 23.8% for the year ended December 31, 2019. Research and development expenses as a percentage of sales will fluctuate whenever there are incremental product development activities or significant fluctuations in revenues for the periods being compared.

Research and development expenses increased by 1.3% from $124.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to $126.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in research and development expenses was primarily attributable to increases in incremental expenses as a result of the SmartRG acquisition and lease expense offset by a decrease in labor expense, certain material engineering costs and contract services.

We expect to continue to incur research and development expenses in connection with our new and existing products and our expansion into international markets. We continually evaluate new product and market opportunities and engage in significant research and development efforts which provide for new product development, enhancement of existing products and product cost reductions. We may incur significant research and development expenses prior to the receipt of revenues from a major new product group.

Asset Impairments

Asset impairments, which were $3.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, relate to the abandonment of certain information technology implementation projects which we had previously capitalized costs for these projects. There were no asset impairments recognized during the year ended December 31, 2018. See Note 1 and Note 8 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

Gain on Contingency

Gain on contingency, which was $1.2 million for the year ended December 31, 2019, relates to the reversal of contingent liabilities which were initially recognized upon the acquisition of SmartRG in the fourth quarter of 2018. See Note 2 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information. There was no gain on contingency recognized during the year ended December 31, 2018.

Interest and Dividend Income

Interest and dividend income decreased by 31.3% from $4.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to $2.8 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The decrease in interest and dividend income was primarily attributable to a decrease in interest income. Our investments increased from $112.1 million as of December 31, 2018 to $127.7 million as of December 31, 2019.

Interest Expense

Interest expense, which is primarily related to our taxable revenue bond, remained constant at $0.5 million for the years ended December 31, 2019 and 2018, as we had no substantial change in our fixed-rate borrowing. See “Financing Activities” in “Liquidity and Capital Resources” below for additional information on our taxable revenue bond.

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Net Investment Gain (Loss)

We recognized a net investment loss of $4.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 and a net investment gain of $11.4 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The fluctuation in our net investment gain was primarily attributable to changes in fair value of equity securities recognized during the period. We expect that any future equity market volatility will result in continued volatility in gains or losses from our equity investment portfolios. See “Investing Activities” in “Liquidity and Capital Resources” and Note 1 and Note 5 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

Other Income (Expense), net

Other income (expense), net, which is comprised primarily of miscellaneous income, gains and losses on foreign currency transactions, net periodic pension costs, investment account management fees and gains and losses on foreign exchange forward contracts, increased 16.5% from income of $1.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to income of $1.5 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. The change was primarily attributable to a gain on a life insurance recovery recognized in 2019 partially offset by losses on foreign exchange contracts and transactions in 2019 as compared to foreign exchange gains in 2018.

Gain on Bargain Purchase of a Business

Gain on bargain purchase of a business is related to our acquisition of Sumitomo Electric Lightwave Corp.’s North American EPON business and entry into a technology license and supply agreement with Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. in March 2018. See Note 2 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

Income Tax (Expense) Benefit

Our effective tax rate increased from a benefit of 42.0%, excluding the tax effect of the bargain purchase gain, for the year ended December 31, 2018 to an expense of (113.9%) for the year ended December 31, 2019. The increase in the effective tax rate between the two periods was primarily driven by the establishment of a valuation allowance against our domestic deferred tax assets in the amount of $42.8 million during the year ended December 31, 2019, offset by a 15.5% rate reduction related to the generation of federal research and development credits, and a 16.7% rate reduction for the generation of foreign tax credits. See Note 13 of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

Net Loss

As a result of the above factors, our net loss increased from $19.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2018 to a net loss of $53.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2019. As a percentage of sales, net loss increased from 3.7% for the year ended December 31, 2018 to 10.0% for the year ended December 31, 2019.

Liquidity and Capital Resources

Liquidity

We have historically and we currently expect to finance our ongoing business with existing cash and cash flow from operations. We have used, and expect to continue to use, existing cash and cash generated from operations for working capital, business acquisitions, purchases of treasury stock, shareholder dividends and other general corporate purposes, including product development activities to enhance our existing products and develop new products, expansion of our sales and marketing activities and capital expenditures. We believe our cash and cash equivalents, investments and cash generated from operations to be adequate to meet our operating and capital needs for at least the next 12 months.

As of December 31, 2019, cash on hand was $73.8 million and short-term investments were $33.2 million, which resulted in available short-term liquidity of $107.0 million, of which $52.3 million was held by our foreign subsidiaries. As of December 31, 2018, cash on hand was $105.5 million and short-term investments were $3.2 million, which resulted in available short-term liquidity of $108.7 million, of which $87.1 million was held by our foreign subsidiaries. The decrease in short-term liquidity from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2019 was primarily attributable to the use of cash for operating, investing and financing activities and income tax payments, offset by the reclassification of our certificate of deposit from long-term to short-term investments.

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Operating Activities

Our working capital, which consists of current assets less current liabilities, decreased 12.6% from $237.4 million as of December 31, 2018 to $207.6 million as of December 31, 2019. The current ratio, defined as current assets divided by current liabilities, decreased from 3.01 as of December 31, 2018 to 2.84 as of December 31, 2019. The decrease in our working capital and current ratio was primarily attributable to a decrease in cash and cash equivalents, net accounts receivable and other receivables as described below. The quick ratio, defined as cash and cash equivalents, short-term investments, and net accounts receivable, divided by current liabilities, decreased from 1.76 as of December 31, 2018 to 1.75 as of December 31, 2019. The decrease in the quick ratio was primarily attributable to a decrease in cash and cash equivalents and net accounts receivable.  This decrease was offset by an increase in short-term investments.

Net accounts receivable decreased 8.91% from $99.4 million as of December 31, 2018 to $90.5 million as of December 31, 2019. Our allowance for doubtful accounts was $0.1 million as of December 31, 2018 and $38 thousand as of December 31, 2019. Quarterly accounts receivable DSO increased from 65 days as of December 31, 2018 to 72 days as of December 31, 2019. The decrease in net accounts receivable and increase in DSO was attributable to the timing of sales in the fourth quarter, customer specific payment terms and other collections during the quarter.

Other receivables decreased 54.9% from $36.7 million as of December 31, 2018 to $16.6 million as of December 31, 2019. The decrease in other receivables was primarily attributable to a decrease in current lease payments receivable related to our sales-type leases, income tax receivables and purchasing shipments.

Annual inventory turnover increased from 2.93 turns as of December 31, 2018 to 3.14 turns as of December 31, 2019. Inventory decreased 1.6% from $99.8 million as of December 31, 2018 to $98.3 million as of December 31, 2019. We expect inventory levels to fluctuate as we attempt to maintain sufficient inventory in response to seasonal cycles of our business ensuring competitive lead times while managing the risk of excess inventory.

Accounts payable decreased 25.3% from $60.1 million as of December 31, 2018 to $44.9 million as of December 31, 2019. Accounts payable will fluctuate due to variations in the timing of the receipt of supplies, inventory and services and our subsequent payments for these purchases.

Investing Activities

Capital expenditures totaled approximately $9.5 million, $8.1 million and $14.7 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively. These expenditures were primarily used to purchase computer hardware, software, manufacturing and test equipment and for building improvements.

Our combined short-term and long-term investments increased $15.7 million from $112.1 million as of December 31, 2018 to $127.7 million as of December 31, 2019. This increase reflects the increase in fair market value of our equity investments.

We invest all available cash not required for immediate use in operations primarily in securities that we believe bear minimal risk of loss. See Note 5 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information. As of December 31, 2019, our corporate bonds, municipal fixed-rate bonds, asset-backed bonds, mortgage/agency-backed bonds, U.S. government bonds, and foreign government bonds were classified as available-for-sale and had a combined duration of 1.71 years with an average credit rating of AA. Because our bond portfolio has a high-quality rating and contractual maturities of short duration, we are able to obtain prices for these bonds derived from observable market inputs, or for similar securities traded in an active market, on a daily basis.

Our long-term investments decreased 16.5% from $108.8 million as of December 31, 2018 to $94.5 million as of December 31, 2019. Long-term investments as of December 31, 2018 included an investment in a certificate of deposit of $25.6 million, which served as collateral for our revenue bonds. This certificate of deposit was included in short-term investments as of December 31, 2019, as these bonds matured on January 1, 2020, and were repaid in full on January 2, 2020. We also have investments in various marketable equity securities classified as long-term investments with a fair market value of $35.8 million and $27.0 million, as of December 31, 2019 and December 31, 2018, respectively. Long-term investments as of December 31, 2019 and 2018 also included $21.7 million and $18.3 million, respectively, related to our deferred compensation plan, and $0.3 million and $0.4 million, respectively, of other investments, consisting of interests in two private equity funds.

No businesses were acquired during the year ended December 31, 2019. Acquisition of businesses, net of cash acquired, totaled $22.0 million for the year ended December 31, 2018. See Note 2 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

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Financing Activities

In conjunction with the 1995 expansion of our Huntsville, Alabama, facility, we were approved for participation in an incentive program offered by the State of Alabama Industrial Development Authority (“the Authority”). Pursuant to the program, on January 13, 1995, the Authority issued $20.0 million of its taxable revenue bonds (the “Taxable Revenue Bonds”) and loaned the proceeds from the sale of the Taxable Revenue Bonds to ADTRAN. Further advances on the Taxable Revenue Bonds were made by the Authority, bringing the total amount outstanding to $50.0 million. The bonds matured on January 1, 2020, and the current outstanding balance of $24.6 million was repaid in full on January 2, 2020. We were required to make payments to the Authority in amounts necessary to pay the interest on the Taxable Revenue Bonds which totaled $1.0 million, $1.1 million and $1.1 million, respectively, for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017. See Note 12 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

Dividends

During 2019, 2018 and 2017, we paid shareholder dividends totaling $17.2 million, $17.3 million and $17.4 million, respectively. The Board of Directors presently anticipates that it will declare a regular quarterly dividend so long as the present tax treatment of dividends exists and adequate levels of liquidity are maintained. The following table shows dividends per common share paid to our shareholders in each quarter of 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Stock Repurchase Program

Since 1997, our Board of Directors has approved multiple share repurchase programs that have authorized open market repurchase transactions of our common stock, which are implemented through open market or private purchases from time to time as conditions warrant. For the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, we repurchased 13 thousand shares, 1.0 million shares and 0.9 million shares, respectively, for $0.2 million, $15.5 million and $17.3 million, respectively, at an average price of $14.06, $15.52 and $20.27 per share, respectively. We currently have authorization to repurchase an additional 2.5 million shares of our common stock under the current authorization of up to 5.0 million shares.

Stock Option Exercises

To accommodate employee stock option exercises, we issued 34 thousand shares of treasury stock for $0.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2019, 0.1 million shares of treasury stock for $1.5 million during the year ended December 31, 2018 and 0.7 million shares of treasury stock for $13.4 million during the year ended December 31, 2017.

Employee Pension Plan

We maintain a defined benefit pension plan, covering employees in certain foreign countries. Pension benefit plan obligations are based on various assumptions used by our actuaries in calculating these amounts. These assumptions include discount rates, compensation rate increases, expected return on plan assets, retirement rates and mortality rates. Actual results that differ from the assumptions and changes in assumptions could affect future expenses and obligations.

Our defined benefit plan assets consist of a balanced portfolio of equity funds, bond funds, real estate funds and managed futures. Our investment policy includes various guidelines and procedures designed to ensure assets are invested in a manner necessary to meet expected future benefits earned by participants and consider a broad range of economic conditions. Central to the policy are target allocation ranges by asset class, which is currently 50% for bond funds, 40% for equity funds and 10% cash, real estate and managed futures. The objectives of the target allocations are to maintain investment portfolios that diversify risk through prudent asset allocation parameters, achieve asset returns that meet or exceed the plans’ actuarial assumptions and achieve asset returns that are competitive with like institutions employing similar investment strategies. The investment policy is periodically reviewed by us and a designated third-party fiduciary for investment matters. The policy is established and administered in a manner that is compliant at all times with applicable government regulations. At December 31, 2019, the estimated fair market value of our defined benefit pension plans assets increased to $28.0 million from $24.2 million at December 31, 2018.

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The defined benefit pension plan is accounted for on an actuarial basis, which requires the use of various assumptions, including an expected rate of return on plan assets and a discount rate. The expected return on our German plan assets that is utilized in determining the benefit obligation and net periodic benefit cost is derived from periodic studies, which include a review of asset allocation strategies, anticipated future long-term performance of individual asset classes, risks using standard deviations, and correlations of returns among the asset classes that comprise the plans' asset mix. While the studies give appropriate consideration to recent plan performance and historical returns, the assumptions are primarily long-term, prospective rates of return. The discount rate has been derived from the returns of high-quality, corporate bonds denominated in Euro currency with durations close to the duration of our pension obligations. The projected benefit obligation for our defined benefit pension plans was $43.9 million and $37.2 million as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively.

The components of net periodic pension cost, other than the service cost component, are included in other income (expense), net in the Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss). The components of net periodic pension cost and amounts recognized in other comprehensive income (loss) for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 was $3.2 million, $6.1 million and $(0.2) million, respectively.

Actuarial gains and losses are recorded in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss). To the extent unamortized gains and losses exceed 10% of the higher of the market-related value of assets or the projected benefit obligation, the excess is amortized as a component of net periodic pension cost over the remaining service period of active participants. We estimate that $0.8 million will be amortized from accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) into net periodic pension cost in 2020 for the net actuarial loss. The net actuarial loss recognized in accumulated other comprehensive income (loss) as of December 2019 and 2018 was $(13.0) million and $(11.3) million, respectively.

See Note 14 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements and Contractual Obligations

We do not have off-balance sheet financing arrangements and have not engaged in any related party transactions or arrangements with unconsolidated entities or other persons that are reasonably likely to materially affect liquidity or the availability of, or requirements for, capital resources.

Contractual Obligations

We have various contractual obligations and commercial commitments. The following table sets forth the annual payments we are required to make under contractual cash obligations and other commercial commitments as of December 31, 2019:

⁽¹⁾ As of December 31, 2019, we were required to make payments necessary to pay the interest on the Taxable Revenue Bonds, which were outstanding in the aggregate principal amount of $24.6 million as of December 31, 2019. The bonds had an interest rate of 2% per annum and matured on January 1, 2020. Included in short-term investments as of December 31, 2019 was a certificate of deposit of $25.6 million, which served a collateral deposit against the principal amount of the bonds. See Note 12 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

⁽²⁾ Primarily relates to open purchase orders to our contract manufacturers, component suppliers, service partners and other vendors.

⁽³⁾ Primarily relates to future minimum rental payments under non-cancelable operating leases, including renewals determined to be reasonably assured, with original maturities of greater than 12 months.

We have committed to invest up to an aggregate of $7.9 million in two private equity funds, of which $7.7 million has been applied to these commitments. The additional $0.2 million commitment has been excluded from the table above due to the uncertainty of when it will be applied.

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Certain contracts, customers and/or jurisdictions in which we do business require us to provide various guarantees of performance such as bid bonds, performance bonds and customs bonds. As of December 31, 2019, we had commitments related to these bonds totaling $9.3 million, which expire at various dates through August 2024. Although the triggering events vary from contract to contract, in general we would only be liable for the amount of these guarantees in the event of default in our performance under each contract, the probability of which we believe is remote.

We also have obligations related to uncertain income tax positions that have been excluded from the table above due to the uncertainty of when the related expense will be recognized. See Note 13 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information.

Critical Accounting Policies and Estimates

An accounting policy is deemed to be critical if it requires an accounting estimate to be made based on assumptions about matters that are highly uncertain at the time the estimate is made, if different estimates reasonably could have been used or if changes in the accounting estimate that are reasonably likely to occur could materially impact the results of financial operations. Several accounting policies, as described in Note 1 of Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report, require material subjective or complex judgment and have a significant impact on our financial condition and results of operations, as applicable. We believe the following critical accounting policies affect our more significant judgments and estimates used in the preparation of our Consolidated Financial Statements:

Revenue Recognition

Revenue is measured based on the consideration we expect to receive in exchange for transferring goods or providing services to a customer and as performance obligations under the terms of the contract are satisfied. Generally, this occurs with the transfer of control of a product or service to the customer. For transactions where there are multiple performance obligations, we account for individual products and services separately if they are distinct (if a product or service is separately identifiable from other items and if a customer can benefit from it on its own or with other resources that are readily available to the customer). The consideration, including any discounts, is allocated between separate products and services based on their stand-alone selling prices. The stand-alone selling prices are determined based on the prices at which we sell the separate products and services and are allocated based on each item’s relative value to the total value of the products and services in the arrangement. For items that are not sold separately, we estimate stand-alone selling prices primarily using the “expected cost plus a margin” approach. Payment terms are generally 30 days in the U.S. and typically longer in many geographic markets outside the U.S. Shipping fees are recorded as revenue and the related cost is included in cost of sales. Sales, value-added and other taxes collected concurrently with revenue-producing activities are excluded from revenue. Costs of obtaining a contract are capitalized and amortized over the period that the related revenue is recognized if greater than one year. We have elected to apply the practical expedient related to the incremental costs of obtaining contracts and recognize those costs as an expense when incurred if the amortization period of the assets is one year or less. These costs are included in selling, general and administrative expenses. Capitalized costs with an amortization period greater than one year were immaterial.

The following is a description of the principal activities from which we generate our revenue by reportable segment.

Network Solutions Segment

Network Solutions includes software and hardware products and software defined next-generation virtualized solutions used in service provider or business networks, as well as prior generation products. The majority of the revenue from this segment is from hardware sales.

Hardware and Software Revenue

Revenue from hardware sales is recognized when control is transferred to our customers, which is generally when we ship the products. Shipping terms are generally FOB shipping point. This segment also includes revenues from software license sales which is recognized at delivery and transfer of control to the customer. Revenue is recorded net of estimated discounts and rebates using historical trends. Customers are typically invoiced when control is transferred and revenue is recognized. Our products generally include assurance-based warranties of 90 days to five years for product defects, which are accrued at the time revenue is recognized.

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In certain transactions, we are also the lessor in sales-type lease arrangements for network equipment that have terms of 18 months to five years. These arrangements typically include network equipment, network implementation services and maintenance services. Product revenue for these leases is generally recorded when we transfer control of the product to our customers. Revenue for network implementation and maintenance services is recognized as described below. Customers are typically invoiced and pay in equal installments over the lease term. In relation to these lease agreements, during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017 we recognized revenue of $1.7 million, $13.7 million and $16.5 million, respectively.

Services & Support Segment

To complement our Network Solutions segment, we offer a complete portfolio of maintenance, network implementation, and solutions integration and managed services, which include hosted cloud services and subscription services.

Maintenance Revenue

Our maintenance service periods range from one month to five years. Customers are typically invoiced and pay for maintenance services at the beginning of the maintenance period. We recognize revenue for maintenance services on a straight-line basis over the maintenance period in services revenue as our customers benefit evenly throughout the contract term and deferred revenues are recorded in current and non-current unearned revenue.

Network Implementation Revenue

We recognize revenue for network implementation, which primarily consists of engineering, execution and enablement services, at a point in time when each performance obligation is complete. If we have recognized revenue, but have not billed the customer, the right to consideration is recognized as a contract asset that is included in other receivables in the Consolidated Balance Sheets. The contract asset is transferred to accounts receivable when the completed performance obligation is invoiced to the customer.

Inventory

We carry our inventory at the lower of cost and net realizable value, with cost being determined using the first-in, first-out method. Standard costs for material, labor, and manufacturing overhead are used to value inventory and are updated at least a quarterly. Any variances are expensed in the current period, therefore, our inventory costs approximate actual costs at the end of each reporting period. We establish reserves for estimated excess and obsolete inventory equal to the difference between the cost of the inventory and the estimated net realizable value of the inventory based on estimated reserve percentages, which consider historical usage, known trends, inventory age and marketing conditions. If actual trends and market conditions are less favorable than those projected by management, we may be required to make additional inventory write-downs. Our reserve for excess and obsolete inventory was $34.1 million and $30.0 million at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. Inventory disposals charged against the reserve were $1.8 million, $0.4 million and $8.3 million for the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017, respectively.

Stock-Based Compensation

For purposes of determining the estimated fair value of our stock option awards on the date of grant, we use the Black-Scholes Model. This model requires the input of certain assumptions that require subjective judgment. These assumptions include, but are not limited to, expected stock price volatility over the term of the awards and actual and projected employee stock option exercise behaviors. Because our stock option awards have characteristics significantly different from those of traded options, and because changes in the input assumptions can materially affect the fair value estimate, the existing model may not provide a reliable, single measure of the fair value of our stock option awards. For purposes of determining the estimated fair value of our market-based performance stock unit (PSU) awards on the date of grant, we use a Monte Carlo Simulation valuation method. These PSUs are subject to a market condition based on the relative total shareholder return of ADTRAN against all of the companies in the NASDAQ Telecommunications Index and vest at the end of a three-year performance period. The fair value of performance-based PSUs, restricted stock units (RSUs) and restricted stock is equal to the closing price of our stock on the business day immediately preceding the grant date. Compensation expense related to unvested performance-based PSUs will be recognized over the requisite service period of three years as the achievement of the performance obligation becomes probable. Management will continue to assess the assumptions and methodologies used to calculate the estimated fair value of stock-based compensation. Circumstances may change and additional data may become available over time, which could result in changes to these assumptions and methodologies and thereby materially impact our fair value determination. If factors change in future periods, the compensation expense that we record may differ significantly from what we have recorded in the current period.

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Business Combinations

The Company records assets acquired, liabilities assumed, contractual contingencies, when applicable, and intangible assets recognized as part of business combinations based on their fair values on the date of acquisition. The excess of the purchase price over the estimated fair values of the net tangible and intangible assets acquired is recorded as goodwill. If the estimated fair values of net tangible and intangible assets acquired exceed the purchase price, a bargain purchase gain is recorded. The Company’s estimates of fair value are based on historical experience, industry knowledge, certain information obtained from the management of the acquired company and, in some cases, valuations performed by independent third-party firms. The results of operations of acquired companies are included in the accompanying Consolidated Statements of Operations since their dates of acquisition. Costs incurred to complete the business combination, such as legal, accounting, or other professional fees, are charged to general and administrative expenses as they are incurred.

Goodwill

Goodwill represents the excess purchase price over the fair value of net assets acquired. We evaluate the carrying value of goodwill during the fourth quarter of each year and between annual evaluations if events occur or circumstances change that would more likely than not reduce the fair value of the reporting unit below its carrying amount. We have elected to by-pass a qualitative assessment to determine whether it is more likely than not that the fair value of the reporting unit to which the goodwill is assigned is less than its carrying amount and, in turn, performed a step-1 analysis of goodwill. Based on the results of our step-1 analysis, no impairment charges on goodwill were recognized during the years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017.

Income Taxes

We estimate our income tax provision or benefit in each of the jurisdictions in which we operate, including estimating exposures related to examinations by taxing authorities. We also make judgments regarding the realization of deferred tax assets and establish valuation allowances where we believe it is more likely than not that future taxable income in certain jurisdictions will be insufficient to realize these deferred tax assets. Our estimates regarding future taxable income and income tax provision or benefit may vary due to changes in market conditions, changes in tax laws, or other factors. If our assumptions, and consequently our estimates, change in the future, the valuation allowances we have established may be increased or decreased, impacting future income tax expense. We continually review the adequacy of our valuation allowance and recognize the benefits of deferred tax assets only as the reassessment indicates that it is more likely than not that the deferred tax assets will be realized in accordance with ASC 740, Income Taxes (ASC 740). Due to our recent decrease in revenue and profitability for 2019, and all other positive and negative objective evidence considered as part of our analysis, our ability to consider other subjective evidence such as projections for future growth is limited when evaluating whether our deferred tax assets will be realized. As such, the Company is no longer able to conclude that it is more likely than not that our domestic deferred tax assets will be realized and a valuation allowance against our Domestic deferred tax assets was established in the third quarter of 2019. The amount of the deferred tax assets considered realizable, however, could be adjusted in future periods in the event sufficient evidence is present to support a conclusion that it is more likely than not that all or a portion of our domestic deferred tax assets will be realized.

We establish reserves to remove some or all of the tax benefit of any of our tax positions at the time we determine that the positions become uncertain.  We adjust these reserves, including any impact on the related interest and penalties, as facts and circumstances change.

Liability for Warranty

Our products generally include warranties of 90 days to five years for product defects. We accrue for warranty returns at the time revenue is recognized based on our historical return rate and an estimate of the cost to repair or replace the defective products. We engage in extensive product quality programs and processes, including actively monitoring and evaluating the quality of our component suppliers. Our products continue to become more complex in both size and functionality as many of our product offerings migrate from line card applications to total systems. The increasing complexity of our products will cause warranty incidences, when they arise, to be more costly. Our estimates regarding future warranty obligations may change due to product failure rates, material usage, and other rework costs incurred in correcting a product failure. In addition, from time to time, specific warranty accruals may be recorded if unforeseen problems arise. Should our actual experience relative to these factors be worse than our estimates, we will be required to record additional warranty expense. Alternatively, if we provide for more reserves than we require, we will reverse a portion of such provisions in future periods. The liability for warranty obligations totaled $8.4 million and $8.6 million at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. These liabilities are included in accrued expenses in the accompanying consolidated balance sheets.

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Pension Benefit Obligations

Pension benefit plan obligations are based on various assumptions used by our actuaries in calculating these amounts. These assumptions include discount rates, compensation rate increases, expected return on plan assets, retirement rates and mortality rates. Actual results that differ from the assumptions and changes in assumptions could affect future expenses and obligations. Our net pension liability totaled $15.9 million and $13.1 million at December 31, 2019 and 2018, respectively. This liability is included in pension liability in the accompanying Consolidated Balance Sheets.

Recently Issued Accounting Pronouncements

For a discussion of recently issued accounting pronouncements, see Note 1 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report for additional information. 

Subsequent Events

On January 2, 2020, we paid off the outstanding balance of $24.6 million of the Taxable Revenue Bonds upon their maturity. We used a certificate of deposit which was held as collateral to repay the outstanding balance.

On February 5, 2020, the Board declared a quarterly cash dividend of $0.09 per common share to be paid to shareholders of record at the close of business on February 20, 2020. The quarterly dividend payment will be paid on March 5, 2020 in the aggregate amount of approximately $4.3 million. In July 2003, our Board of Directors elected to begin declaring quarterly dividends on our common stock considering the tax treatment of dividends and adequate levels of Company liquidity.

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We are exposed to financial market risks, including changes in interest rates, foreign currency rates and prices of marketable equity and fixed-income securities. The primary objective of the large majority of our investment activities is to preserve principal while at the same time achieving appropriate yields without significantly increasing risk. To achieve this objective, a majority of our marketable securities are investment grade, fixed-rate bonds and municipal money market instruments denominated in U.S. dollars. Our investment policy provides limitations for issuer concentration, which limits, at the time of purchase, the concentration in any one issuer to 5% of the market value of our total investment portfolio.

We maintain depository investments with certain financial institutions. Although these depository investments may exceed government insured depository limits, we have evaluated the credit-worthiness of these financial institutions and determined the risk of material financial loss due to exposure of such credit risk to be minimal. As of December 31, 2019, $71.6 million of our cash and cash equivalents, primarily certain domestic money market funds and foreign depository accounts, were in excess of government provided insured depository limits.

As of December 31, 2019, approximately $39.0 million of our cash and investments may be directly affected by changes in interest rates. As of December 31, 2019, we held $3.7 million of cash and variable-rate investments where a change in interest rates would impact our interest income. A hypothetical 50 basis points (“bps”) decline in interest rates, assuming all other variables remain constant, as of December 31, 2019 would reduce annualized interest income on our cash and investments by approximately $19 thousand. In addition, we held $35.3 million of fixed-rate bonds whose fair values may be directly affected by a change in interest rates. A hypothetical 50 bps increase in interest rates, assuming all other variables remain constant, as of December 31, 2019 would reduce the fair value of our fixed-rate bonds by approximately $0.3 million.

We are exposed to changes in foreign currency exchange rates to the extent that such changes affect our revenue and gross margin on revenue derived from some international customers, expenses and assets and liabilities held in non-functional currencies related to our foreign subsidiaries. Our primary exposures to foreign currency exchange rate movements are with our German subsidiary, whose functional currency is the Euro, and our Australian subsidiary, whose functional currency is the Australian dollar. Our revenue is primarily denominated in the respective functional currency of the subsidiary and paid in that subsidiary’s functional currency or certain other local currency, our global supply chain predominately invoices us in the respective functional currency of the subsidiary and is paid in U.S. dollars and some of our operating expenses are invoiced and paid in certain local currencies (approximately 13% of total operating expense for the year ended December 31, 2019). Therefore, our revenues, gross margins, operating expense and operating income are all subject to foreign currency fluctuations. As a result, changes in currency exchange rates could cause variations in our operating income.

We have certain international customers who are invoiced or pay in a non-functional currency. Changes in the monetary exchange rates used to invoice such customers versus the functional currency of the entity billing such customers may adversely affect our results of operations and financial condition. To manage the volatility relating to these typical business exposures, we may enter into various derivative transactions, when appropriate. We do not hold or issue derivative instruments for trading or other speculative purposes. All non-functional currencies billed would result in a combined hypothetical gain or loss of $1.2 million if the U.S. dollar weakened or strengthened 10% against the billing currencies. This change represents a decrease in the amount of hypothetical gain or loss compared to prior periods and is mainly due to a decrease in U.S. dollar-denominated billings in a non-U.S. dollar denominated subsidiary. Although we do not currently hold any derivative instruments, any gain or loss would be partially mitigated by any derivative instruments held.

As of December 31, 2019, we had certain material contracts subject to currency revaluation, including accounts receivable, accounts payable and lease liabilities denominated in foreign currencies. As of December 31, 2019, we did not have any forward contracts outstanding.

For further information about the fair value of our available-for-sale investments and our derivative and hedging activities as of December 31, 2019, see Notes 5 and 6 of Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8 of this report.

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The following consolidated financial statements are contained in this report.

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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm

To the Board of Directors and Stockholders of ADTRAN, Inc.

Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting

We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of ADTRAN, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, and the related consolidated statements of income (loss), comprehensive income (loss), changes in stockholders’ equity and cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2019, including the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the accompanying index (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (COSO).

In our opinion, the consolidated financial statements referred to above present fairly, in all material respects, the financial position of the Company as of December 31, 2019 and 2018, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2019 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company did not maintain, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2019, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO because a material weakness in internal control over financial reporting existed as of that date related to  ineffective controls over the Company’s determination of its estimated reserve for excess and obsolete inventory.

A material weakness is a deficiency, or a combination of deficiencies, in internal control over financial reporting, such that there is a reasonable possibility that a material misstatement of the annual or interim financial statements will not be prevented or detected on a timely basis. The material weakness referred to above is described in Management’s Report on Internal Control over Financial Reporting appearing under Item 9A. We considered this material weakness in determining the nature, timing, and extent of audit tests applied in our audit of the 2019 consolidated financial statements, and our opinion regarding the effectiveness of the Company’s internal control over financial reporting does not affect our opinion on those consolidated financial statements.

Basis for Opinions

The Company's management is responsible for these consolidated financial statements, for maintaining effective internal control over financial reporting, and for its assessment of the effectiveness of internal control over financial reporting, included in management's report referred to above. Our responsibility is to express opinions on the Company’s consolidated financial statements and on the Company's internal control over financial reporting based on our audits. We are a public accounting firm registered with the Public Company Accounting Oversight Board (United States) (PCAOB) and are required to be independent with respect to the Company in accordance with the U.S. federal securities laws and the applicable rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission and the PCAOB.

We conducted our audits in accordance with the standards of the PCAOB. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audits to obtain reasonable assurance about whether the consolidated financial statements are free of material misstatement, whether due to error or fraud, and whether effective internal control over financial reporting was maintained in all material respects.

Our audits of the consolidated financial statements included performing procedures to assess the risks of material misstatement of the consolidated financial statements, whether due to error or fraud, and performing procedures that respond to those risks. Such procedures included examining, on a test basis, evidence regarding the amounts and disclosures in the consolidated financial statements. Our audits also included evaluating the accounting principles used and significant estimates made by management, as well as evaluating the overall presentation of the consolidated financial statements. Our audit of internal control over financial reporting included obtaining an understanding of internal control over financial reporting, assessing the risk that a material weakness exists, and testing and evaluating the design and operating effectiveness of internal control based on the assessed risk. Our audits also included performing such other procedures as we considered necessary in the circumstances. We believe that our audits provide a reasonable basis for our opinions.

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Definition and Limitations of Internal Control over Financial Reporting

A company’s internal control over financial reporting is a process designed to provide reasonable assurance regarding the reliability of financial reporting and the preparation of financial statements for external purposes in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles. A company’s internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that (i) pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of the company; (ii) provide reasonable assurance that transactions are recorded as necessary to permit preparation of financial statements in accordance with generally accepted accounting principles, and that receipts and expenditures of the company are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of the company; and (iii) provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use, or disposition of the company’s assets that could have a material effect on the financial statements.

Because of its inherent limitations, internal control over financial reporting may not prevent or detect misstatements. Also, projections of any evaluation of effectiveness to future periods are subject to the risk that controls may become inadequate because of changes in conditions, or that the degree of compliance with the policies or procedures may deteriorate.

Critical Audit Matters

The critical audit matter communicated below is a matter arising from the current period audit of the consolidated financial statements that was communicated or required to be communicated to the audit committee and that (i) relates to accounts or disclosures that are material to the consolidated financial statements and (ii) involved our especially challenging, subjective, or complex judgments. The communication of critical audit matters does not alter in any way our opinion on the consolidated financial statements, taken as a whole, and we are not, by communicating the critical audit matter below, providing a separate opinion on the critical audit matter or on the accounts or disclosures to which it relates.

Excess and Obsolete Inventory Reserve

As described in Notes 1 and 7 to the consolidated financial statements, the Company’s consolidated net inventory and inventory reserves as of December 31, 2019 were $98.3 million and $34.1 million, respectively. Management establishes reserves for estimated excess and obsolete inventory equal to the difference between the cost of the inventory and the estimated net realizable value of the inventory based on estimated reserve percentages, which consider historical usage, known trends, inventory age, and market conditions.  

The principal considerations for our determination that performing procedures relating to the excess and obsolete inventory reserve is a critical audit matter are there was significant judgment by management in estimating the excess and obsolete inventory reserve, which in turn led to a high degree of auditor judgment, subjectivity and effort in performing procedures and evaluating the reasonableness of the significant assumptions used in developing the reserve, including the estimated reserve percentages. As described in the "Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting" section, a material weakness was identified as of December 31, 2019 related to ineffective controls over the Company’s determination of its estimated reserve for excess and obsolete inventory.

Addressing the matter involved performing procedures and evaluating audit evidence in connection with forming our overall opinion on the consolidated financial statements. These procedures included, among others, testing management’s process for developing the excess and obsolete inventory reserve; evaluating the appropriateness of the approach; testing the completeness and accuracy of underlying data used in the approach, including historical usage and inventory age; and evaluating the reasonableness of the estimated reserve percentages used by management to determine the excess and obsolete inventory reserve. Evaluating the reasonableness of the estimated reserve percentages involved assessing whether they were consistent with the historical data and evidence obtained in other areas of the audit.

/s/ PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

Birmingham, Alabama

February 25, 2020

We have served as the Company’s auditor since 1986.

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Financial Statements

ADTRAN, INC.

Consolidated Balance Sheets

(In thousands, except per share amount)

December 31, 2019 and 2018

See accompanying notes to consolidated financial statements.

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ADTRAN, INC.

Consolidated Statements of Income (Loss)

(In thousands, except per share amounts)

Years ended December 31, 2019, 2018 and 2017