Webcast and Conference Call
Semtech will be hosting a conference call today to discuss its fourth quarter and fiscal year 2024 results at 2:00 p.m. Pacific time. The dial-in number for the call is (877) 407-0312. Please use conference ID 13736084. An audio webcast and supplemental earnings materials for the quarter will be available on the Investor Relations section of Semtech's website at investors.semtech.com under "News & Events." A replay of the call will be available through April 25, 2024 at the same website or by calling (877) 660-6853 and entering conference ID 13736084.
Non-GAAP Financial Measures
To supplement the Company's consolidated financial statements prepared in accordance with GAAP, this release includes a presentation of select non-GAAP financial measures. The Company's non-GAAP measures of gross margin, SG&A expense, R&D expense, operating costs and expenses, net, operating income or loss, operating margin, interest expense, net, diluted (loss) earnings per share and normalized tax rate exclude the following items, if any, as set forth in the reconciliations in the tables below under "Supplemental Information: Reconciliation of GAAP to Non-GAAP Results:"
- Share-based compensation
- Intangible amortization
- Transaction and integration related costs or recoveries (including costs associated with the acquisition of Sierra Wireless)
- Restructuring and other reserves, including cumulative other reserves associated with historical activity including environmental, pension, deferred compensation and right-of-use asset impairments
- Share-based compensation acceleration expense related to the acquisition of Sierra Wireless
- Litigation costs or dispute settlement charges or recoveries
- Gain on sale of business
- Equity method income or loss
- Investment gains, losses, reserves and impairments, including interest income from debt investments
- Write-off and amortization of deferred financing costs
- Debt commitment fee
- Goodwill and intangible impairment
- Amortization of inventory step-up
Effective as of the third quarter of fiscal year 2024, the Company's non-GAAP measures have been adjusted to exclude amortization of deferred financing costs, which had the impact of decreasing non-GAAP interest expense, net and increasing non-GAAP net income or loss attributable to common stockholders and non-GAAP earnings or loss per diluted share. This adjustment was applied retrospectively and all prior period amounts have been revised to conform to the current presentation.
To provide additional insight into the Company's first quarter outlook, this release also includes a presentation of forward-looking non-GAAP financial measures. In the financial statements provided with this release, the Company also presents Adjusted EBITDA and free cash flow. Adjusted EBITDA is defined as net (loss) income plus interest expense, interest income, income taxes, depreciation and amortization and share-based compensation, and adjusted to exclude certain expenses, gains and losses that the Company believes are not indicative of its core results over time. The Company considers free cash flow, which may be positive or negative, a non-GAAP financial measure defined as cash flows provided by (used in) operating activities less net capital expenditures. Management believes that the presentation of these non-GAAP measures provides useful information to investors regarding the Company's financial condition and results of operations. These non-GAAP financial measures are adjusted to exclude the items identified above because such items are either operating expenses that would not otherwise have been incurred by the Company in the normal course of the Company's business operations, or are not reflective of the Company's core results over time. These excluded items may include recurring as well as non-recurring items, and no inference should be made that all of these adjustments, charges, costs or expenses are unusual, infrequent or non-recurring. For example: certain restructuring and integration-related expenses (which consist of employee termination costs, facility closure or lease termination costs, and contract termination costs) may be considered recurring given the Company's ongoing efforts to be more cost effective and efficient; certain acquisition and disposition-related adjustments or expenses may be deemed recurring given the Company's regular evaluation of potential transactions and investments; and certain litigation expenses or dispute settlement charges or gains (which may include estimated losses for which the Company may have established a reserve, as well as any actual settlements, judgments, or other resolutions against, or in favor of, the Company related to litigation, arbitration, disputes or similar matters, and insurance recoveries received by the Company related to such matters) may be viewed as recurring given that the Company may from time to time be involved in, and may resolve, litigation, arbitration, disputes, and similar matters.
Notwithstanding that certain adjustments, charges, costs or expenses may be considered recurring, in order to provide meaningful comparisons, the Company believes that it is appropriate to exclude such items because they are not reflective of the Company's core results and tend to vary based on timing, frequency and magnitude.
These non-GAAP financial measures are provided to enhance the user's overall understanding of the Company's comparable financial performance between periods. In addition, the Company's management generally excludes the items noted above when managing and evaluating the performance of the business. The financial statements provided with this release include reconciliations of these non-GAAP financial measures to their most comparable GAAP measures for the fourth quarter of fiscal year 2023, the third and fourth quarters of fiscal year 2024, and the full-year fiscal 2024 and fiscal 2023 periods.
The Company adopted a full-year, normalized tax rate for the computation of the non-GAAP income tax provision in order to provide better comparability across the interim reporting periods by reducing the quarterly variability in non-GAAP tax rates that can occur throughout the year. In estimating the full-year non-GAAP normalized tax rate, the Company utilized a full-year financial projection that considers multiple factors such as changes to the Company's current operating structure, existing positions in various tax jurisdictions, the effect of key tax law changes, and other significant tax matters to the extent they are applicable to the full fiscal year financial projection. In addition to the adjustments described above, this normalized tax rate excludes the impact of share-based awards and the amortization of acquisition-related intangible assets. For fiscal year 2024, the Company's projected non-GAAP normalized tax rate was 12% and was applied to each quarter of fiscal year 2024. For fiscal year 2025, the Company's projected non-GAAP normalized tax rate is 12% and will be applied to each quarter of fiscal year 2025. The Company's non-GAAP normalized tax rate on non-GAAP net income may be adjusted during the year to account for events or trends that the Company believes materially impact the original annual non-GAAP normalized tax rate including, but not limited to, significant changes resulting from tax legislation, acquisitions, entity structures or operational changes and other significant events. These additional non-GAAP financial measures should not be considered substitutes for any measures derived in accordance with GAAP and may be inconsistent with similar measures presented by other companies.
Forward-Looking and Cautionary Statements
This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, as amended, based on the Company's current expectations, estimates and projections about its operations, industry, financial condition, performance, results of operations, and liquidity. Forward-looking statements are statements other than historical information or statements of current condition and relate to matters such as future financial performance including the first quarter of fiscal year 2025 outlook; future operational performance; the anticipated impact of specific items on future earnings; the Company's expectations regarding near term growth trends; and the Company's plans, objectives and expectations. Statements containing words such as "may," "believes," "anticipates," "expects," "intends," "plans," "projects," "estimates," "should," "will," "designed to," "projections," or "business outlook," or other similar expressions constitute forward-looking statements.
Forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially from those projected. Potential factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from those in the forward-looking statements include, but are not limited to: the Company's ability to comply with, or pursue business strategies due to the covenants under the agreements governing its indebtedness; the Company's ability to remediate material weakness in its internal control over financial reporting, discovery of additional weaknesses, and its inability to achieve and maintain effective disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting; the Company's ability to forecast and achieve anticipated net sales and earnings estimates in light of periodic economic uncertainty; the inherent risks, costs and uncertainties associated with integrating Sierra Wireless successfully and risks of not achieving all or any of the anticipated benefits, or the risk that the anticipated benefits may not be fully realized or take longer to realize than expected; the uncertainty surrounding the impact and duration of supply chain constraints and any associated disruptions; export restrictions and laws affecting the Company's trade and investments, and tariffs or the occurrence of trade wars; worldwide economic and political disruptions, including as a result of inflation and current geopolitical conflicts; tightening credit conditions related to the United States banking system concerns; competitive changes in the marketplace including, but not limited to, the pace of growth or adoption rates of applicable products or technologies; downturns in the business cycle; decreased average selling prices of the Company's products; the Company's reliance on a limited number of suppliers and subcontractors for components and materials; changes in projected or anticipated end-user markets; future responses to and effects of public health crises; and the Company's ability to forecast its annual non-GAAP normalized tax rate due to material changes that could occur during the fiscal year, which could include, but are not limited to, significant changes resulting from tax legislation, acquisitions, entity structures or operational changes and other significant events. Additionally, forward-looking statements should be considered in conjunction with the cautionary statements contained in the risk factors disclosed in the Company's filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission (the "SEC"), including the Company's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended January 28, 2024, which the Company expects to file with the SEC on March 28, 2024, as such risk factors may be amended, supplemented or superseded from time to time by subsequent reports the Company files with the SEC. In light of the significant risks and uncertainties inherent in the forward-looking information included herein that may cause actual performance and results to differ materially from those predicted, any such forward-looking information should not be regarded as representations or guarantees by the Company of future performance or results, or that its objectives or plans will be achieved or that any of its operating expectations or financial forecasts will be realized. Reported results should not be considered an indication of future performance. Investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on any forward-looking information contained herein, which reflect management's analysis only as of the date hereof. Except as required by law, the Company assumes no obligation to publicly release the results of any update or revision to any forward-looking statements that may be made to reflect new information, events or circumstances after the date hereof or to reflect the occurrence of unanticipated or future events, or otherwise.
