DATA I/O CORP - Quarter Report: 2021 September (Form 10-Q)

UNITED STATES

SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

FORM 10-Q 

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 Regulation S-T (§232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such 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 ☒

Shares of Common Stock, no par value, outstanding as of October 29, 2021: 8,621,007

PART I - FINANCIAL INFORMATION

Item 1. Financial Statements

DATA I/O CORPORATION

NOTES TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS

(UNAUDITED)

NOTE 1 - FINANCIAL STATEMENT PREPARATION

Data I/O Corporation (“Data I/O”, “We”, “Our”, “Us”) prepared the financial statements as of September 30, 2021 and September 30, 2020 according to the rules and regulations of the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). These statements are unaudited but, in the opinion of management, include all adjustments (consisting of normal recurring adjustments and accruals) necessary to present fairly the results for the periods presented. The balance sheet at December 31, 2020 has been derived from the audited financial statements at that date. We have condensed or omitted certain information and footnote disclosures normally included in financial statements prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America according to such SEC rules and regulations. Operating results for the nine months ended September 30, 2021 are not necessarily indicative of the results that may be expected for the year ending December 31, 2021. These financial statements should be read in conjunction with the annual audited financial statements and the accompanying notes included in our Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020.

Revenue Recognition

Topic 606 provides a single, principles-based five-step model to be applied to all contracts with customers. It generally provides for the recognition of revenue in an amount that reflects the consideration to which the Company expects to be entitled, net of allowances for estimated returns, discounts or sales incentives, as well as taxes collected from customers when control over the promised goods or services are transferred to the customer.

We expense contract acquisition costs, primarily sales commissions, for contracts with terms of one year or less and will capitalize and amortize incremental costs with terms that exceed one year. During 2021 and 2020, the impact of capitalization of incremental costs for obtaining contracts was immaterial. We exclude sales, use, value added, some excise taxes and other similar taxes from the measurement of the transaction price.

We recognize revenue upon transfer of control of the promised products or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration we expect to receive in exchange for those products or services. We have determined that our programming equipment has reached a point of maturity and stability such that product acceptance can be assured by testing at the factory prior to shipment and that the installation meets the criteria to be a separate performance obligation. These systems are standard products with published product specifications and are configurable with standard options. The evidence that these systems could be deemed as accepted was based upon having standardized factory production of the units, results from batteries of tests of product performance to our published specifications, quality inspections and installation standardization, as well as past product operation validation with the customer and the history provided by our installed base of products upon which the current versions were based.

The revenue related to products requiring installation that is perfunctory is recognized upon transfer of control of the product to customers, which generally is at the time of shipment. Installation that is considered perfunctory includes any installation that is expected to be performed by other parties, such as distributors, other vendors, or the customers themselves. This considers the complexity, skill and training needed as well as customer expectations regarding installation.

We enter into arrangements with multiple performance obligations that arise during the sale of a system that includes an installation component, a service and support component and a software maintenance component. We allocate the transaction price of each element based on relative selling prices. Relative selling price is based on the selling price of the standalone system. For the installation and service and support performance obligations, we use the value of the discount given to distributors who perform these components. For software maintenance performance obligations, we use what we charge for annual software maintenance renewals after the initial year the system is sold. Revenue is recognized on the system sale based on shipping terms, installation revenue is recognized after the installation is performed, and hardware service and support and software maintenance revenue is recognized ratably over the term of the agreement, typically one year. Deferred revenue includes service, support and maintenance contracts and represents the undelivered performance obligation of agreements that are typically for one year.

When we sell software separately, we recognize revenue upon the transfer of control of the software, which is generally upon shipment, provided that only inconsequential performance obligations remain on our part and substantive acceptance conditions, if any, have been met.

We recognize revenue when there is an approved contract that both parties are committed to perform, both parties’ rights have been identified, the contract has substance, collection of substantially all the consideration is probable, the transaction price has been determined and allocated over the performance obligations, the performance obligations including substantive acceptance conditions, if any, in the contract have been met, the obligation is not contingent on resale of the product, the buyer’s obligation would not be changed in the event of theft, physical destruction or damage to the product, the buyer acquiring the product for resale has economic substance apart from us and we do not have significant obligations for future performance to directly bring about the resale of the product by the buyer. We establish a reserve for sales returns based on historical trends in product returns and estimates for new items. Payment terms are generally 30 days from shipment.

We transfer certain products out of service from their internal use and make them available for sale. The products transferred are typically our standard products in one of the following areas: service loaners, rental or test units; engineering test units; or sales demonstration equipment. Once transferred, the equipment is sold by our regular sales channels as used equipment inventory. These product units often involve refurbishing and an equipment warranty, and are conducted as sales in our normal and ordinary course of business. The transfer amount is the product unit’s net book value and the sale transaction is accounted for as revenue and cost of goods sold.

The following table represents our revenues by major categories:

Share-Based Compensation

All stock-based compensation awards are measured based on estimated fair values on the date of grant and recognized as compensation expense on the straight-line single-option method. Our share-based compensation is reduced for estimated forfeitures at the time of grant and revised as necessary in subsequent periods if actual forfeitures differ from those estimates.

Income Tax

Income taxes are computed at current enacted tax rates, less tax credits using the asset and liability method. Deferred taxes are adjusted both for items that do not have tax consequences and for the cumulative effect of any changes in tax rates from those previously used to determine deferred tax assets or liabilities. Tax provisions include amounts that are currently payable, changes in deferred tax assets and liabilities that arise because of temporary differences between the timing of when items of income and expense are recognized for financial reporting and income tax purposes, and any changes in the valuation allowance caused by a change in judgment about the realization of the related deferred tax assets. A valuation allowance is established when necessary to reduce deferred tax assets to amounts expected to be realized. The CARES Act, enacted in Q1 2020, accelerated the AMT credit refund of $640,000, which was previously carried as a current asset and was received in September, 2021.

COVID-19

In 2021, we have continued to react to and manage our business relative to the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2020, COVID-19 had impacted all aspects of our business, from customer demand, to supply chain integrity, employee safety, business processes, and financial management. As a global company, we had to manage each of these while working within the guidelines of local and national policy in the U.S., China and Germany. Our philosophy at the start of the outbreak was simple:

We have managed the COVID-19 impact successfully to date, with no known employee transmissions in the workplace and significant preservation of our cash and working capital. Our resilient supply chain model kept our facilities in Shanghai, China and Redmond, Washington open, and serving customers globally. We face continued international travel restrictions, shipping delays, and inability to meet with customers in person. As business has recovered we have been able to respond by having the working capital needed and the workforce in place. In the second quarter, we experienced a surge of demand as customers resumed operations and adding capacity. The backlog created by the surge resulted in the revenue growth in the third quarter. In supply chains around the world with the re-openings and now, in a believed ripple effect, factories are experiencing the impact of chip shortages on their production plans. This appears to be a shorter-term issue and the outlook by industry analysts for automotive electronics remains strong for a decade. Waves of COVID-19 infection rates and variants have kept or re-imposed revised travel restrictions. Customers largely have not permitted in-person sales and other visits. Converting these interactions to remote and virtual means has meant implementing new processes and technology.

In production, in addition to adding protective health measures for our employees, we have focused on supply chain resilience and duplicating production capability for some products in both our Shanghai, China and Redmond, USA facilities. We implemented additional supplier financial and other monitoring, as well as adding additional local suppliers and increasing inventory stock levels of key parts. Other than production employees who necessarily are onsite, most other Redmond employees are working remotely with hybrid flexibility to be onsite as desired or needed and this is expected to continue through year-end. China employees are generally onsite. We believe our exposure to COVID-19 risks are reduced by vaccination coverage, which is 98% in Redmond with our China and Germany facilities not far behind.

New Accounting Pronouncements

In June 2016, the Financial Accounting Standards Board ("FASB") issued Accounting Standards Update ("ASU") No. 2016-13, "Measurement of Credit Losses on Financial Instruments," which amends the impairment model by requiring entities to use a forward-looking approach based on expected losses rather than incurred losses to estimate credit losses on certain types of financial instruments. We are planning to adopt the standard effective for years after December 15, 2022 and do not expect this to have a material impact on our financial statements.

NOTE 2 – INVENTORIES

Inventories consisted of the following components:

NOTE 3 – PROPERTY, PLANT AND EQUIPMENT, NET

Property and equipment consisted of the following components:

NOTE 4 – OTHER ACCRUED LIABILITIES

Other accrued liabilities consisted of the following components:

The changes in our product warranty liability for the nine months ending September 30, 2021 are as follows:

NOTE 5 – LEASES

Our leasing arrangements are primarily for facility leases we use to conduct our operations. The following table presents our future lease payments for long-term operating leases as of September 30, 2021:

Cash paid for operating lease liabilities for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 was $203,000 and $605,000, respectively. There were three new operating leases during the nine months ended September 30, 2021.

Cash paid for operating lease liabilities for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 was $194,000 and $568,000, respectively.

The following table presents supplemental balance sheet information related to leases:

At September 30, 2021, the weighted average remaining lease term is 2.90 years and the weighted average discount rate used is 5%.

The components of our lease expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 include operating lease costs of $172,000 and $515,000, respectively, and short-term lease costs of $7,000 and $22,000, respectively.

The components of our lease expense for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2020 include operating lease costs of $168,000 and $494,000, respectively, and short-term lease costs of $9,000 and $26,000, respectively.

Our lease for the Redmond, Washington headquarters facility ran through July 31, 2022. On October 4, 2021, we signed a lease amendment effective August 1, 2022 extending the lease to January 31, 2026. This lease is for approximately 20,460 square feet.

Our lease for a facility located in Shanghai, China ran through October 31, 2021. In April 2021, we signed a lease extension effective November 1, 2021 that extends the lease through October 31, 2024. This lease is for approximately 19,400 square feet.

Our lease near Munich, Germany runs through February 28, 2022 with a five year extension available. This lease is for approximately 4,895 square feet.

NOTE 6 – OTHER COMMITMENTS

We have purchase obligations for inventory and production costs as well as other obligations such as capital expenditures, service contracts, marketing, and development agreements. Arrangements are considered purchase obligations if a contract specifies all significant terms, including fixed or minimum quantities to be purchased, a pricing structure and approximate timing of the transaction. Most arrangements are cancelable without a significant penalty, and with short notice, typically less than 90 days. At September 30, 2021, the purchase commitments and other obligations totaled $2.1 million of which all but $58,000 are expected to be paid over the next twelve months.

NOTE 7 – CONTINGENCIES

As of September 30, 2021, we were not a party to any legal proceedings or aware of any indemnification agreement claims, the adverse outcome of which in management’s opinion, individually or in the aggregate, would have a material adverse effect on our results of operations or financial position.

NOTE 8 – INCOME TAXES

Income tax benefit (expense) for the third quarter of both 2021 and 2020, primarily related to foreign and state taxes.

The effective tax rate differed from the statutory tax rate primarily due to the effect of valuation allowances, as well as foreign taxes. We have a valuation allowance of $8.0 million as of September 30, 2021. As of September 30, for both 2021 and 2020, our deferred tax assets and valuation allowance have been reduced by approximately $381,000 and $370,000, respectively, associated with the requirements of accounting for uncertain tax positions. Given the uncertainty created by our loss history, as well as the volatile and uncertain economic outlook for our industry and capital spending, we have limited the recognition of net deferred tax assets including our net operating losses and credit carryforwards and continue to maintain a valuation allowance for the full amount of the net deferred tax asset balance.

NOTE 9 – EARNINGS PER SHARE

Basic earnings per share is calculated based on the weighted average number of common shares outstanding during each period. Diluted earnings per share is calculated based on these same weighted average shares outstanding plus the effect of potential shares issuable upon assumed exercise of stock options based on the treasury stock method.

Potential shares issuable upon the exercise of stock options are excluded from the calculation of diluted earnings per share to the extent their effect would be anti-dilutive.

The following table sets forth the computation of basic and diluted earnings per share:

Weighted average options to purchase 12,500 shares for the three month period ending September 30, 2021 were excluded from the computation of diluted earnings per share as the options were anti-dilutive. Other periods presented are net loss, and thus weighted average options to purchase anti-dilutive shares were excluded from the diluted earnings per share for those periods. For the nine months ending September 30, 2021, there were 20,421 weighted average options to purchase anti-dilutive share. For both the three and nine months ending September 30, 2020, there were 25,000 weighted average options to purchase anti-dilutive shares.

NOTE 10 – SHARE-BASED COMPENSATION

For share-based awards granted, we have recognized compensation expense based on the estimated grant date fair value method. For these awards we have recognized compensation expense using a straight-line amortization method reduced for estimated forfeitures.

The impact on our results of operations of recording share-based compensation, net of forfeitures, for the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020, respectively, were as follows:

Equity awards granted during the three and nine months ended September 30, 2021 and 2020 were as follows:

Non-employee directors Restricted Stock Units (“RSUs”) vest over one year and options vest over three years and have a six-year exercise period. Employee RSUs typically vest over four years and employee Non-Qualified stock options typically vest quarterly over 4 years and have a six-year exercise period.

The remaining unamortized expected future equity compensation expense and remaining amortization period associated with unvested option grants, restricted stock awards and restricted stock unit awards at September 30, 2021 are:

NOTE 11 – SUBSEQUENT EVENTS

The Company has evaluated events through November 12, 2021, the date the condensed consolidated financial statements were available to be issued.

Item 2. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations

General

Forward-Looking Statements

This Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q includes forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. This Act provides a “safe harbor” for forward-looking statements to encourage companies to provide prospective information about themselves as long as they identify these statements as forward-looking and provide meaningful cautionary statements identifying important factors that could cause actual results to differ from the projected results. All statements other than statements of historical fact made in this Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q are forward-looking. In particular, statements herein regarding economic outlook, impact of COVID-19; industry prospects and trends; expected business recovery; industry partnerships; future results of operations or financial position; future spending; breakeven revenue point; expected market decline, bottom or growth; market acceptance of our newly introduced or upgraded products or services; the sufficiency of our cash to fund future operations and capital requirements; development, introduction and shipment of new products or services; changing foreign operations; trade issues and tariffs; expected inventory levels; expectations for unsupported platform or product versions and related inventory and other charges; supply chain expectations; semiconductor chip shortages; and any other guidance on future periods are forward-looking statements Forward-looking statements reflect management’s current expectations and are inherently uncertain. Although we believe that the expectations reflected in these forward-looking statements are reasonable, we cannot guarantee future results, levels of activity, performance, achievements, or other future events. Moreover, neither Data I/O nor anyone else assumes responsibility for the accuracy and completeness of these forward-looking statements. We are under no duty to update any of these forward-looking statements after the date of this Quarterly Report. The Reader should not place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements. The discussions above and in the section in Item 1A., Risk Factors “Cautionary Factors That May Affect Future Results” in our Annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020, describe some, but not all, of the factors that could cause these differences.

OVERVIEW

In 2021, we have continued to react to and manage our business relative to the COVID-19 pandemic. During 2020, COVID-19 had impacted all aspects of our business, from customer demand, to supply chain integrity, employee safety, business processes, and financial management. As a global company, we had to manage each of these while working within the guidelines of local and national policy in the U.S., China and Germany. Our philosophy at the start of the outbreak was simple:

We have managed the COVID-19 impact successfully to date, with no known employee transmissions in the workplace and significant preservation of our cash and working capital. Our resilient supply chain model kept our facilities in Shanghai, China and Redmond, Washington open, and serving customers globally. We face continued international travel restrictions, shipping delays, and inability to meet with customers in person. As business has recovered we have been able to respond by having the working capital needed and the workforce in place. In the third quarter, we experienced a slowdown of demand as customers, we believe, were unable to secure an adequate silicon supply for planned capacity expansion. In supply chains around the world with the re-openings and now, in a believed ripple effect, factories are experiencing the impact of chip shortages on their production plans. This appears to be a shorter-term issue, but expected to have some continuing impact into 2022. However, the outlook by industry analysts for automotive electronics remains strong for a decade. Waves of COVID-19 infection rates and variants have kept or re-imposed revised travel restrictions. Customers largely have not permitted in-person sales and other visits. Converting these interactions to remote and virtual means has meant implementing new processes and technology.

In production, in addition to adding protective health measures for our employees, we have focused on supply chain resilience and duplicating production capability for some products in both our Shanghai, China and Redmond, USA facilities. We implemented additional supplier financial and other monitoring, as well as adding additional local suppliers and increasing inventory stock levels of key parts. Other than production employees who necessarily are onsite, most other Redmond employees are working remotely with hybrid flexibility to be onsite as desired or needed and this is expected to continue through year-end. China employees are generally onsite. We believe our exposure to COVID-19 risks are reduced by vaccination coverage, which is 98% in Redmond with our China and Germany facilities not far behind.

Our short-term challenge continues to be operating in a cyclical, COVID-19 impacted, and rapidly evolving industry environment, which saw significant improvement of revenue, up 27%, in the first three quarters of 2021 as compared to the same period of 2020. Bookings were up 30% for the same comparative periods, but declined in the third quarter, we believe, due to silicon chip shortages discussed above. Our focus has been dealing with COVID-19 related issues, especially supply chain shortages and lead-times, which have been managed though carefully maintaining inventory levels. We also continue to balance a host of current issues including industry changes, industry partnerships, new technologies, business geography shifts, travel and customer restrictions, customer shut downs, exchange rate volatility, trade issues and tariffs, semiconductor chip shortages, shipping challenges, increasing costs (inflation) and strategic investments in our business with the level of demand and mix of business we expect. We continue to manage our costs carefully and execute strategies for cash preservation, protecting our employee base and managing supply chain price increases.

We are focusing our research and development efforts in our strategic growth markets, namely automotive electronics and IoT new programming technologies, secure supply chain solutions, automated programming systems and their enhancements for the manufacturing environment and software. At Data I/O, we are investing for the long-term to retain and extend our leadership position in automotive electronics and security deployment. We are continuing to develop technology to securely provision newer categories of semiconductors, including Secure Elements, Authentication Chips, and Secure Microcontrollers. In late 2020, we released updated SentriX hardware and tools which simplify the customer acquisition process, and reduce dependency on third party suppliers. We also upgraded SentriX® security deployment systems in the field to this new architecture. We plan to deliver new programming technology and automated handling systems for managed and secure programming in the manufacturing environment. We continue to focus on extending the capabilities and support for our product lines and supporting the latest semiconductor devices, including various configurations of NAND Flash, e-MMC, UFS and microcontrollers on our newer products.

Our customer focus has been on global and strategic high-volume manufacturers in key market segments like automotive electronics, IoT, industrial controls and consumer electronics as well as programming centers.

Although the long-term prospects for our strategic growth markets should be good, these markets and our business have been, and are likely to continue to be, adversely impacted by the global COVID-19 pandemic. Chip shortages are causing issues and some automotive plant or production shutdowns. This appears to be temporary and in some cases, for us, drives consumable adapter demand in order to support alternative chips.

As a global company with 93% of our 2020 sales in international markets, we have been and expect to continue to be significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. Although our facilities in Shanghai, Redmond and Germany are currently operating in some pandemic-related restricted ways, we believe that our classification as essential by certain U.S. customer groups will continue to keep operations open. We source some components from China and other countries that are used to manufacture our equipment in China and in our Redmond, Washington facility and these components may not be readily available or subject to delays. Our manufacturing facilities in Shanghai and Redmond have helped us to be part of a resilient supply chain to our customers with dual production of some products and local sourcing of many suppliers. Many of our employees and executives are still working from home, and we are limiting visitors to our facilities as the pandemic continues. All of our facilities are subject to restrictions, rapid regulation changes, and closure by governmental entities. The pandemic has and may continue to impact our revenues in some geographies, our ability to obtain key components and to manufacture our products, as well as sell, install and support our products around the world. We expect wide-spread vaccinations to help restore business interactions with customers, however we expect continued customer site restrictions on sales and service visits, travel restrictions, closed borders, cancelled trade shows and industry gatherings, and modifications in our operations. See also the detailed discussion of the impacts of COVID-19 on our business and markets in Item 1A, Risk Factors in our annual report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2020. The pandemic could have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in our Form 10-K. Annual projections on spending, growth, mix, and profitability have been and are likely to be further revised substantially as new information is obtained.

CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICY JUDGMENTS AND ESTIMATES

Our critical accounting policies have not changed from those discussed in our 2020 Form 10-K.

Results of Operations:

Net Sales