Cautionary Note Concerning Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Forward-looking statements include, among others, statements concerning our future financial performance (including our current guidance for second quarter 2018 revenue, gross margins, operating expenses, interest expenses, and tax rates). These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors that may cause actual results to be materially different from any future results expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements are based on management’s current, preliminary expectations and are subject to various risks and uncertainties. In particular, our future operating results are substantially dependent on our assumptions about market trends and conditions and our expectations with respect to recently completed acquisitions. With respect to recently completed acquisitions, Exar’s target markets and business operations differ substantially from those of MaxLinear, and we may be unable to realize anticipated strategic, financial, and operating synergies to the same relative extent as we were able to achieve in other recent acquisitions. In addition, our decisions with respect to all our acquisitions were based on management’s current expectations with respect to the size of the available markets and growth opportunities presented by these acquisitions, all of which are subject to material risks and uncertainties. In connection with the acquisition of Exar, we incurred substantial acquisition-related indebtedness, which materially changed our financial profile and presents specific risks relating to our ability to service interest and principal payments and limitations on our operating flexibility based on operating covenants in the applicable term loan agreements, including (without limitation) debt covenant restrictions that limit our ability to obtain additional financing, issue guarantees, create liens, make certain restricted payments or repay certain obligations or to pursue future acquisitions. Additional risks and uncertainties arising from our operations generally and our recently completed acquisitions include intense competition in our industry; our dependence on a limited number of customers for a substantial portion of our revenues; uncertainties concerning how end user markets for our products will develop; potential uncertainties arising from continued consolidation among cable television and satellite operators in our target markets and continued consolidation among competitors within the semiconductor industry generally; our ability to develop and introduce new and enhanced products on a timely basis and achieve market acceptance of those products, particularly as we seek to expand outside of our historic markets; potential decreases in average selling prices for our products; risks relating to intellectual property protection and the prevalence of intellectual property litigation in our industry; indemnification obligations of Exar arising from a recent divestiture; the impact on our financial condition of the incurred acquisition indebtedness and cash usage arising from the Exar transaction; our reliance on a limited number of third party manufacturers; and our lack of long-term supply contracts and dependence on limited sources of supply. Our forward-looking GAAP income tax rate includes preliminary assumptions regarding the Tax Act, whereas our forward-looking non-GAAP income tax rate excludes impacts of the Tax Act. The final impact of the Tax Act on our income taxes may differ from our estimates, possibly materially, due to, among other things, changes in interpretations and assumptions made, additional guidance that may be issued, and actions taken by MaxLinear as a result of the Tax Act. In addition to these risks and uncertainties, investors should review the risks and uncertainties contained in our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including our most recent Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2017 filed with the SEC on February 20, 2018 and our Current Reports on Form 8-K, as well as the information to be set forth under the caption “Risk Factors” in MaxLinear’s Quarterly Report on Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2018, which we expect to file shortly. All forward-looking statements are based on the estimates, projections and assumptions of management as of May 8, 2018, and MaxLinear is under no obligation (and expressly disclaims any such obligation) to update or revise any forward-looking statements whether as a result of new information, future events, or otherwise.
Use of Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement our unaudited consolidated financial statements presented on a basis consistent with GAAP, we disclose certain non-GAAP financial measures, including non-GAAP gross margin, operating expenses, operating expenses as a percentage of revenue, income from operations as a percentage of revenue, pre-tax margins, effective tax rate, net income and diluted earnings per share. These supplemental measures exclude the effects of (i) stock-based compensation expense; (ii) an accrual related to our performance based bonus plan for 2018, which we currently intend to settle in shares of our common stock; (iii) accruals related to our performance based bonus plan for 2017, which we settled in shares of our common stock in 2018; (iv) amortization of purchased intangible assets and inventory step up; (v) depreciation of fixed assets step-up; (vi) acquisition and integration costs related to our recently completed acquisitions; (vii) professional fees and settlement costs related to our previously disclosed IP and commercial litigation matters; (viii) severance and other restructuring charges; and (ix) non-cash income tax benefits and expenses and effects of the Tax Act. These non-GAAP measures are not in accordance with and do not serve as an alternative for GAAP. We believe that these non-GAAP measures have limitations in that they do not reflect all of the amounts associated with our GAAP results of operations. These non-GAAP measures should only be viewed in conjunction with corresponding GAAP measures. We compensate for the limitations of non-GAAP financial measures by relying upon GAAP results to gain a complete picture of our performance.
We believe that non-GAAP financial measures can provide useful information to both management and investors by excluding certain non-cash and other one-time expenses that are not indicative of our core operating results. Among other uses, our management uses non-GAAP measures to compare our performance relative to forecasts and strategic plans and to benchmark our performance externally against competitors. In addition, management’s incentive compensation will be determined in part using these non-GAAP measures because we believe non-GAAP measures better reflect our core operating performance.
The following are explanations of each type of adjustment that we incorporate into non-GAAP financial measures:
Stock-based compensation expense relates to equity incentive awards granted to our employees, directors, and consultants. Our equity incentive plans are important components of our employee incentive compensation arrangements and are reflected as expenses in our GAAP results. Stock-based compensation expense has been and will continue to be a significant recurring expense for MaxLinear.
Bonuses under our executive and non-executive bonus programs have been excluded from our non-GAAP net income for all periods reported. Bonus payments for the 2017 performance periods were settled through the issuance of shares of common stock under our equity incentive plans in February 2018. We currently expect that bonus awards under our fiscal 2018 program will be settled in common stock in the first quarter of fiscal 2019. While we include the dilutive impact of equity awards in weighted average shares outstanding, the expense associated with stock-based awards reflects a non-cash charge that we exclude from non-GAAP net income.
Expenses incurred in relation to acquisitions include amortization of purchased intangible assets and step-up of inventory to fair value, depreciation of step-up of property and equipment to fair value, and acquisition and integration costs primarily consisting of professional and consulting fees.
Restructuring charges incurred are related to our restructuring plans which address issues primarily relating to the integration of the Company and acquired businesses or internal operations and primarily include severance and restructuring costs related to exiting certain facilities.
Expenses incurred in relation to our intellectual property and commercial litigation include professional fees incurred.
Income tax benefits and expense adjustments are those that do not affect cash income taxes payable. Effects of the Tax Act were excluded from Non-GAAP effective tax rate.
Reconciliations of non-GAAP measures for the historic periods disclosed in this press release appear below. Because of the inherent uncertainty associated with our ability to project future charges, particularly related to stock-based compensation and its related tax effects as well as potential impairments, we have not provided a reconciliation for non-GAAP guidance provided for the second quarter 2018.
About MaxLinear, Inc.
MaxLinear, Inc. (NYSE:MXL) is a leading provider of radio frequency (RF) and mixed-signal and high-performance analog integrated circuits for the connected home, wired and wireless infrastructure, and industrial and multi-market applications. MaxLinear is headquartered in Carlsbad, California. For more information, please visit www.maxlinear.com.
MXL is MaxLinear’s registered trademark. Other trademarks appearing herein are the property of their respective owners.
