Discussion Regarding the Use of Historical and Forward-Looking Non-GAAP Financial Measures
In addition to GAAP reporting, MACOM provides investors with financial measures that have not been calculated in accordance with United States Generally Accepted Accounting Principles ("GAAP"), such as: non-GAAP revenue, non-GAAP gross profit and gross margin, non-GAAP income from operations and operating margin, non-GAAP operating expenses, non-GAAP net income, non-GAAP diluted earnings per share, adjusted EBITDA, and Free Cash Flow. From time to time in this release or elsewhere, we may alternatively refer to such non-GAAP measures as “adjusted” measures. This non-GAAP information excludes the effect, where applicable, of discontinued operations, intangible amortization expense, share-based compensation costs, impairment and restructuring charges, changes in common stock warrant liability, financing and litigation costs, acquisition and integration related costs, equity investment gains and losses, divested business losses, other costs and the tax effect of each adjustment. The non-GAAP information includes income associated with a consulting agreement that we entered into in connection with the Automotive divestiture which ended in August 2017.
Management believes that these excluded items are not reflective of our underlying performance. Management uses these non-GAAP financial measures to: evaluate our ongoing operating performance and compare it against prior periods, make operating decisions, forecast future periods, evaluate potential acquisitions, compare our operating performance against peer companies and assess certain compensation programs. The exclusion of these and other similar items from our non-GAAP financial results should not be interpreted as implying that these items are non-recurring, infrequent or unusual. We believe this non-GAAP financial information provides additional insight into our ongoing performance and have therefore chosen to provide this information to investors for a more consistent basis of comparison and to help them evaluate the results of our ongoing operations and enable more meaningful period-to-period comparisons. These non-GAAP measures are provided in addition to, and not as a substitute for, or superior to, measures of financial performance prepared in accordance with GAAP.
A reconciliation between GAAP and non-GAAP financial data is included in the supplemental financial data attached to this press release. We have not provided a reconciliation with respect to any forward-looking non-GAAP financial data presented because we do not have and cannot reliably estimate certain key inputs required to calculate the most comparable GAAP financial data, such as the future price per share of our common stock for purposes of calculating the value of our common stock warrant liability, future acquisition costs, the possibility and impact of any litigation costs, changes in our GAAP effective tax rate and impairment charges. We believe these unknown inputs are likely to have a significant impact on any estimate of the comparable GAAP financial data.
Investors are cautioned against placing undue reliance on these non-GAAP financial measures and are urged to review and consider carefully the adjustments made by management to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures to arrive at these non-GAAP financial measures. Non-GAAP financial measures may have limited value as analytical tools because they may exclude certain expenses that some investors consider important in evaluating our operating performance or ongoing business performance. Further, non-GAAP financial measures may have limited value for purposes of drawing comparisons between companies because different companies may calculate similarly titled non-GAAP financial measures in different ways because non-GAAP measures are not based on any comprehensive set of accounting rules or principles.
Additional information and management’s assessment regarding why certain items are excluded from our Non-GAAP measures are summarized below:
Deferred Revenue - includes deferred revenue invoiced during the third fiscal quarter of 2018 which is associated with our new Data Center solutions business model. After multiple quarters of negotiation with the customer, we included the associated revenue in our financial guidance for the fiscal third quarter. In the fiscal third quarter, MACOM delivered materials required, and received customer written acceptance and the customer has made payment in accordance with the contractual terms. We believe that presenting this deferred revenue amount in the fiscal third quarter and fiscal year 2018 as non-GAAP revenue best aligns with our historical revenue recognition for product sales and other revenue offerings in line with presenting meaningful results of operations. We expect the deferred revenue to be recorded as GAAP revenue and be deducted from non-GAAP revenue when recorded. This non-GAAP revenue was not included in our fiscal year 2018 fourth quarter financial guidance and is being excluded from our fiscal year 2019 first quarter guidance.
Amortization Expense - is related to acquired intangible assets which are based upon valuation methodologies, and are generally amortized over the expected life of the intangible asset at the time of acquisition, which may result in amortization amounts that vary over time. The expense is not considered by management in making operating decisions, and the expense is non-cash.
Share-Based and Non-cash Compensation Expense - includes
share-based compensation including awards that are equity and liability
classified on our balance sheet as well as non-cash compensation expense
primarily associated with amounts due to employees of an acquired
business that were placed in escrow at the time of the acquisition and
amortized as expense over a 2-year period. Share Based Compensation
expense is partially outside of our control due to factors such as stock
price volatility and interest rates, which may be unrelated to our
operating performance during the period in which the expense is
incurred. It is an expense based upon valuation methodologies and
assumptions that vary over time, and the amount of the expense can vary
significantly between companies due to factors that can be outside of
their control. Share-based and non-cash compensation expense amounts are
not considered by management in making operating decisions.