Item 1A. Risk Factors.
The Company’s business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition and stock price can be affected by a number of factors, whether currently known or unknown, including those described below. When any one or more of these risks materialize from time to time, the Company’s business, reputation, results of operations, financial condition and stock price can be materially and adversely affected. The risks below are not the only ones we face. Because of the following factors, as well as other factors affecting the Company’s results of operations and financial condition, past financial performance should not be considered to be a reliable indicator of future performance, and investors should not use historical trends to anticipate results or trends in future periods. Therefore, you should review this section carefully, as well as our consolidated financial statements and notes thereto and other information appearing in this Annual Report on Form 10-K, for important information regarding these and other risks that may affect us. Additionally, you should consider these risk factors in connection with evaluating the forward-looking statements contained in this report.
Macroeconomic and External Risks
Our operations and financial performance depend on global and regional economic conditions. Inflation, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, changes in consumer confidence and demand, and general economic weakness and threats, or actual recessions, have and could in the future materially affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition.
Macroeconomic conditions impact consumer confidence and discretionary spending, which can adversely affect demand for our products. Consumer spending habits are affected by, among other things, inflation, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, general economic weakness, threats or actual recessions, pandemics, wars and military actions, employment levels, wages, debt obligations, discretionary income, interest rates, volatility in capital, and consumer confidence and perceptions of
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current and future economic conditions. Macroeconomic conditions can, among other things, reduce or shift spending away from elective procedures, drive patients to pursue less costly orthodontic treatments, decrease the number of orthodontic case starts, reduce patient traffic in dentists’ offices or reduce demand for dental services generally. Further, decreased demand for dental services can cause dentists and labs to postpone investments in capital equipment, such as intraoral scanners and CAD/CAM equipment and software. The declines in, or uncertain economic outlooks for, the U.S., Chinese, European and certain other international economies have and may continue to adversely affect consumer and dental practice spending. Increases in the cost of fuel and energy, food and other essential items as well as higher interest rates have and may continue to reduce consumers' disposable income, which could cause a decrease in discretionary spending for products like ours. Further, we cannot predict the impact of efforts by central banks and federal, state and local governments to combat inflation, which could result in an economic recession or have an adverse impact on consumer spending may for a prolonged period of time.
Inflation continues to adversely impact spending and trade activities, causing unpredictable impacts on global and regional economies. Higher inflation has also increased domestic and international shipping costs, raw material prices, and labor rates, which has adversely impacted the costs of producing, procuring and shipping our products. Our ability to recover these cost increases through price increases may continue to lag, resulting in downward pressure on our operating results. Attempts to offset cost increases with price increases may reduce sales, increase customer dissatisfaction or otherwise harm our reputation. Any of these events could materially affect our business and operating results.
We have significant international operations and sales and we are exposed to fluctuations in foreign currencies that have adversely impacted our business or results of operations. Although the U.S. dollar is our reporting currency, a large portion of our expenses, net revenues and net income are generated in foreign currencies. While we utilize forward contracts to moderate the impact of exchange rate fluctuations on certain assets and liabilities, our hedging strategies may not be successful, and currency exchange rate fluctuations have and may continue to materially adversely effect our operating results and cash flows. In addition, our foreign currency exposure on assets, liabilities and cash flows that we do not hedge have and could in the future materially impact our financial results in periods when the U.S. dollar significantly fluctuates in relation to foreign currencies.
Our business could be impacted by geopolitical events, trade and other international disputes, war, and terrorism, or major public health crises.
Political events, trade and other international disputes, war and terrorism, or major public health crises have and could in the future harm or disrupt international commerce and the global economy and could materially effect our business as well as our customers, suppliers, contract manufacturers, distributors, and other business partners. Such risks include supply chain and trade disruptions, tariffs, trade sanctions or restrictions, boycotts, reduced consumer spending, government shut downs, or cyberattacks, energy shortages or power outages, energy rationing that adversely impacts our manufacturing facilities, rising fuel or rising costs of producing, procuring and shipping our products, constraints, volatility or disruption in the financial markets, deaths or injuries to our employees, restrictions and shortages of food, water, shelter, and medical supplies, telecommunications failures or destruction of property.
Tariffs, such as those on Chinese goods, and responses to the tariffs may increase the cost of our products and the components and raw materials used to make them. Increased costs could adversely impact our gross margin and reduce demand for our products. Countries may also adopt other measures, such as controls on the import or export of goods, technology or data, that would adversely impact our operations and supply chains or limit our ability to offer products and services. These measures could require us to take various actions, including changing suppliers or restructuring business relationships. Complying with new or changed trade restrictions is expensive, time-consuming and disruptive to our operations. Such restrictions can be announced with little or no advance notice and we may be unable to effectively mitigate any adverse impacts.
Political events, trade and other international disputes, war, terrorism, or major public health crises involving key commercial, development or manufacturing markets such as China, Mexico, Israel, Europe, or other countries have and could again materially impact our international operations. The impact to us, our employees and customers would be uncertain, particularly if emergency circumstances, armed conflicts or an escalation in political instability or violence, or viral out-breaks disrupt our product development, data or information exchange, payroll or banking operations, product or materials shipping by us or our suppliers. Our internation operations would also be impacted by other unanticipated business disruptions, interruptions and limitations in telecommunication services or critical systems or applications reliant on a stable and uninterrupted communications infrastructure.
Military conflicts and global pandemicshave materially adversely impacted our global economies. For example, our commercial operations in Russia were impacted by the conflict in Ukraine and we were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Our iTero operations, headquartered in Israel, are close to areas that have been affected by ongoing violence and military action in the Middle East and this may impact our employees as well as our iTero business. Some employees and consultants in Israel have been called for military service in the current conflict in the Middle East and they may be absent for an unknown period of time. Furthermore, our facility may be damaged or supply chains impaired as a result of hostilities which could disrupt ongoing operations and impact our financial results. The conflict in the Middle East may materially impact the timing and cost of shipping of our products, our ability to operate out of Israel, or lead to sanctions or boycotts which could impact our sales and
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revenues. Additionally, the recent election in Taiwan and China’s territorial conflicts with other neighboring countries may impact our operations and sales in China. We cannot predict the progress or outcome of these events or the reactions by governments, businesses or consumers but they could materially adversely affect our business and operating results.
Our operations may be impacted by natural disasters, which may become more frequent or severe as a result of climate change, and may adversely impact our business and operating results as well as those of our customers and suppliers.
Natural disasters can impact our operations as well as those of our customers and suppliers. Natural disasters include earthquakes, tsunamis, floods, droughts, hurricanes, wildfires, and extreme weather conditions that cause deaths, injuries, and critical health crises, power outages, property damage restrictions and shortages of food, water, shelter, and medical supplies, telecommunications failures, materials scarcity, price volatility and other ramifications. Climate change is likely to increase the frequency and severity of natural disasters and, consequently, the risks to our operations and financial results. Our digital dental modeling and certain of our customer facing operations are primarily processed in our facilities in Costa Rica, our iTero scanners are primarily manufactured in China and Israel, and our aligner molds and finished aligners are fabricated in China, Mexico and Poland. These zones are susceptible to natural disasters and their indirect effects. If a natural disaster occurs in a region where one of these facilities or those of our customers or suppliers are located, our employees could be impacted, research lost, and ability to create treatment plans, respond to customer inquiries or manufacture and ship our aligners or intraoral scanners could be compromised, causing significant product and services delays.
The effects of climate change on regional and global economies could change the supply, demand or availability of sources of energy or other resources material to our products and operations and affect the availability or cost of natural resources and goods and services on which we and our suppliers rely.
Business and Industry Risks
Demand for our products may not increase or may decrease due to resistance to non-traditional treatment methods, which could have a material impact on our business and operating results.
Our products require our customers to change from traditional treatment methods. For example, Invisalign treatment is a significant change from traditional orthodontic metal wires and brackets, and customers and consumers may not find it cost-effective or preferable. A number of dental professionals believe Invisalign treatment is only appropriate for a limited percentage of patients. Additionally, our clear aligners and iTero products utilize digital technology and some dental professionals have been and may continue to resist moving to a digital platform. Increased acceptance of our products depends in part on the recommendations of dental professionals, as well as other factors including efficacy, safety, ease of use, reliability, aesthetics and price compared to competing products and treatment methods. If demand for our products fails to increase, or decreases, our business, including our financial and operating results, may be harmed.
Our net revenues depend primarily on our Invisalign system and iTero scanners and declines in sales or average selling price of these products may adversely affect net revenues, gross margin and net income.
Our net revenues remain largely dependent on sales of our Invisalign system of clear aligners and iTero intraoral scanners. Of the two, we expect the Invisalign system will continue to account for the majority of our net revenues, making the widespread acceptance of the Invisalign system by orthodontists, GPs and consumers critical to our success.
The average selling prices of our products, particularly the Invisalign system, are influenced by numerous factors, including the type and timing of products sold (particularly the timing of orders for additional clear aligners for certain Invisalign products) and foreign currency exchange rates. In addition, we sell a number of products at different list prices which may differ based on country. Our average selling prices for our Invisalign system and iTero scanners have been impacted in the past and may be adversely affected in the future if:
•we introduce new promotions, change existing promotions, or offer general or volume-based discount programs, product or services bundles, large account sales or consumer rebate programs;
•participation in promotions or programs unexpectedly increases, decreases or changes demand in material ways;
•our geographic, channel or product mix shifts to lower priced products or to products with a higher percentage of deferred revenue;
•we decrease prices on one or more products or services in response to increasing competitive pricing pressures;
•we introduce new or change existing products or services, or modify how we market or sell any of our new or existing products or services;
•governments impose pricing regulations such as volume-based procurement regulations in China; or
•estimates used in the calculation of deferred revenue differ from actual average selling prices.
To stimulate product and services demand, we have a history of offering volume discounts, price reductions and other promotions to targeted customers and consumers and releasing lower priced products. These promotional campaigns and lower
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priced products have had, and may in the future have, unexpected and unintended consequences, including reduced gross margins, profitability and average selling prices, net revenues, volume growth, and net income.
Competition in the markets for our products is increasing and we expect aggressive competition from existing competitors, other companies that introduce new technologies or products in the future and customers who alone or with others create orthodontic appliances and solutions or other products or services that compete with us.
The dental industry is experiencing immense and rapid digital transformation. While solutions such as our Invisalign system, iTero scanners and CAD/CAM software facilitate this transition, we face competition from companies that also seek to introduce new technologies and products and companies that remain dedicated to conventional products. We may be unable to compete with these competitors or they may render our technology or products obsolete or economically unattractive.
The number and types of competitors are diverse and growing rapidly. The Invisalign system competes primarily with traditional metal wires and brackets and increasingly against clear aligners which are manufactured and distributed by new and existing market entrants, including traditional medical device companies, laboratories, startups and, in some cases, doctors and Dental Support Organizations (“DSOs”). Our competitors also include DTC companies that provide clear aligners using a remote business model requiring little or no in-office care from trained and licensed doctors, and doctors and DSOs who manufacture custom aligners in their offices using 3D printing technology. Large consumer product companies may also start supplying orthodontic products. Orthodontists, GPs and DSOs have and may continue to sample competitive and alternative products and take advantage of competitive promotions and sale opportunities.
Our iTero scanners are also facing increased competition. iTero scanners compete with polyvinyl siloxane (“PVS”) impressions and numerous new or existing intraoral scanners. They also compete with traditional bite wing 2D dental x-rays for detecting interproximal caries.
If we are unable to compete effectively with existing products, existing competitors, new market entrants, or respond effectively to new technologies, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially impacted.
Our success depends on our ability to successfully develop, introduce, achieve market acceptance of, and manage new products and services.
Our success depends on our ability to quickly and profitably develop, manufacture, market, obtain and maintain regulatory approval or clearance of new products and services along with improvements to existing products and services. We cannot assure successful development, sales or acceptance of our new or improved products and services. The extent and rate at which new products or services achieve market acceptance and penetration is a function of many variables, including our ability to:
•successfully predict, timely innovate and develop new technologies, applications and products preferred by customers and consumers that have features and functionality to meet the needs of patients;
•successfully, and in a timely fashion, obtain regulatory approval or clearance of new and improved products or services from government agencies such as the FDA and analogous agencies in other countries;
•cost-effectively and efficiently develop, manufacture, quality test, market, dispose of, and sell new or improved products and services offerings, including localized versions for international markets;
•properly forecast the amount and timing of new or improved product and services demand;
•allocate our research and development funding to products and services with higher growth prospects;
•ensure the compatibility of our technology, services and systems with those of our customers;
•anticipate and rapidly innovate in response to new competitive products and services offerings and technologies;
•differentiate our products and services from our competitors as well as other products and services in our own portfolio and successfully articulate the benefits to our customers;
•manage the impact of nationalism or initiatives encouraging consumer purchases from domestic vendors;
•qualify for third-party reimbursement for procedures involving our products or services;
•offer attractive and competitive service and subscription plans;
•encourage customers to adopt new technologies and provide the needed technical, sales and marketing support to make new product and services launches successful; and
•source and receive quality raw materials or parts from our suppliers.
If we fail to accurately predict the needs and preferences of customers and their patients, or fail to offer viable products or services, we may invest heavily in research and development that does not lead to significant revenues. Even if we successfully innovate and develop new products and product improvements, we may incur substantial costs doing so and our profitability may suffer. Introduction and acceptance of any products and services may take significant time and effort, particularly if they require doctor education and training to understand their benefits or doctors choose to withhold judgment on a product until patients complete their treatments.
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In addition, we periodically introduce new business and sales initiatives to meet customers’ needs and demands. In general, our internal resources support these initiatives without clear indications they will prove successful or be without short-term execution challenges. Should these initiatives fail, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially impacted.
We may invest in or acquire other businesses, products, technologies, or other assets which may require significant management attention, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value and adversely affect our results of operations.
Periodically, we have and may in the future acquire, or make investments in, companies, technologies, or other assets. Alternatively, we may be unable to find suitable investment or acquisition opportunities or be unable to complete investments or acquisitions on favorable terms. If we make investments or complete acquisitions, we may not ultimately strengthen our competitive position or achieve desired synergies, and investments or acquisitions we complete could be viewed negatively by our customers, securities analysts and investors. Opposition to acquisitions may lead to negative ratings by analysts or investors, give rise to stockholder objections or result in stockholder activism, any of which could disrupt our operations or harm our stock price. Moreover, to the extent we make strategic investments, the companies in which we invest may fail or we may ultimately own less than a majority of the outstanding shares of the company and be unable to control or have significant influence over critical issues that could harm the value of our investment.
As an organization we do not have a history of significant acquisitions or integrating their operations and cultures with our own. As such, we are subject to various risks when making a strategic investment or acquisition which could materially impact our business or results of operations, including that we may:
•fail to perform proper due diligence and inherit unexpected material issues or assets, including intellectual property (“IP”) or other litigation or ongoing investigations, accounting irregularities or compliance liabilities;
•fail to comply with regulations, governmental orders or decrees;
•experience IT security and privacy compliance issues;
•invest in companies that generate net losses or are slow or fail to develop;
•not realize a positive return on investment or determine that our investments have declined in value, necessitating we record impairments such as future impairments of intangible assets and goodwill;
•have to pay cash, incur debt or issue equity securities to pay for an acquisition, adversely affecting our liquidity, financial condition or the value of our common stock. The sale of equity or issuance of debt to finance any acquisition could result in dilution to our stockholders. The occurrence of indebtedness would result in increased fixed obligations and could also include covenants or other restrictions that impede our ability to manage our operations;
•find it difficult to implement and harmonize company-wide financial reporting, forecasting and budgeting, accounting, billing, IT and other systems due to inconsistencies in standards, internal controls, procedures and policies;
•require significant time and resources to effectuate the integration;
•fail to retain key personnel or harm our existing culture or the culture of an acquired entity;
•not realize material portions of the expected synergies and benefits of the investment or acquisition; or
•unsuccessfully evaluate or utilize the acquired technology or acquired company’s know-how or fail to successfully integrate the technologies acquired.
Operational Risks
Our operating results have and will continue to fluctuate in the future, which makes predicting the timing and amount of customer demand, our revenues, costs and expenditures difficult.
Our quarterly and annual operating results have and will continue to fluctuate for a variety of reasons. Some of the factors that have historically, and could in the future, cause our operating results to fluctuate include:
•changes in consumer and doctor demand;
•higher manufacturing, delivery and inventory costs;
•the creditworthiness, liquidity and solvency of our customers and their ability to timely make payments when due;
•changes in the timing of revenue recognition and our average selling prices;
•seasonal fluctuations;
•improvements to or changes in our products, capabilities or technologies that replace or shorten the life cycles of legacy products or cause customers to defer or stop purchasing legacy products until new products become available;
•longer customer payment cycles and greater difficulty in accounts receivable collection;
•costs and expenditures, including in connection with new treatment planning and fabrication facilities, the hiring and deployment of personnel and litigation;
•the timing of clear aligner treatment order submission, acceptance, processing and fulfillment, which can cause fluctuations in our backlog; and
•timing and fluctuation of spending around marketing and brand awareness campaigns and industry trade shows.
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If we underestimate product demand, it may exceed our manufacturing capacity or that of one or more of our suppliers, we may be understaffed and we may not have sufficient materials for production. Specifically, our manufacturing process relies on sophisticated computer software and requires new technicians to undergo a long training process, often 120 days or longer. As a result, if we fail to accurately predict demand, we may have an insufficient number of trained technicians to timely manufacture and deliver products to meet customers’ expectations, which could damage our relationships with our existing customers or harm our ability to attract new customers. Specifically, production levels for our iTero scanners are generally set based on forecasts and historic product demand and we often place orders with suppliers for materials, components and sub-assemblies (“materials and components”) as well as finished products weeks or more in advance of projected customer orders.
Conversely, if we overestimate customer demand, we may have excessive staffing, materials, components and finished products, or capacity. If we hire and train too many technicians in anticipation of demand that does not materialize or materializes slower than anticipated, our costs and expenditures may outpace our revenues or revenue growth, harming our gross margin and financial results. Additionally, to secure supplies for production of products, we periodically enter into non-cancelable minimum purchase commitments with vendors, which could impact our ability to adjust inventory for declining demand. If product demand decreases or increases more than forecast, we may be required to purchase or lease additional or larger facilities and additional equipment, or we may be unable to timely fulfill customer demand. Responding to unanticipated changes in demand may take time, lower our gross margin, inhibit sales or harm our reputation.
We may make business decisions that adversely affect our operating results such as modifications to our pricing policies and payment terms, promotions, development efforts, product releases, business structure or operations. Most of our expenses, such as employee compensation and lease obligations, are relatively fixed in the short term. Moreover, our expense levels are based, in part, on our expectations for future revenues. As a result, if our net revenues for a particular period are below expectations, we may be unable to timely or effectively reduce spending to offset any net revenues shortfall.
We are subject to operating risks, including excess or constrained capacity and operational inefficiencies, which could adversely affect our results of operations.
We are subject to operating risks, including excess or constrained capacity and pressure on our internal systems, personnel and suppliers. To manage current and anticipated future operations effectively, we must continually implement and improve our operational, financial and management information systems, hire, train, motivate, manage and retain employees, and ensure our suppliers remain diverse and capable of meeting demand for the systems, raw materials, parts and components essential to product manufacturing and delivery. We may fail to balance near-term efforts to meet existing demand with future demand, including adding personnel, creating scalable, secure and robust systems and operations, and automating processes for long term efficiencies. Production of our Invisalign system and iTero scanners could also be limited by capacity constraints due to a variety of factors, including labor shortages, shipping delays, our dependency on third-party vendors for key materials, parts, components and equipment, and limited production yields. Any such failure could materially impact our business, operations and prospects.
Additionally, we have established treatment planning and manufacturing facilities closer to our international customers to provide better experiences, create efficiencies, and provide redundancy should other facilities become unavailable. If a facility is temporarily, partially or fully shut down, we may be unable to timely fulfill orders, which may negatively impact our financial results, reputation and overall business.
Our products and IT systems are critical to our business. Issues with product development or enhancements, IT system and software integration, implementation, updates and upgrades have previously and could again in the future disrupt our operations and have a material impact on our business, our reputation and operating results.
We rely on the efficient, uninterrupted and secure operation of our complex IT systems and are dependent on key third party software embedded in our products and IT systems as well as third-party hosted IT systems to support our operations. All software and IT systems are vulnerable to damage, cybersecurity attacks or interruption from a variety of sources. To effectively manage and improve our operations, our IT systems and applications require an ongoing commitment of significant expenditures and resources to maintain, protect, upgrade, enhance and restore existing systems and develop new systems to keep pace with continuing changes in information processing technology, evolving industry and regulatory standards, increasingly sophisticated cybersecurity threats, and changing customer preferences. Usage of online and hosted technology platforms by us, our customers and suppliers, including remote working, teledentistry and new or expanded use of online service platforms, products and solutions such as doctor, consumer and patient apps have increased the demands on and risks to our IT systems and personnel. Moreover, we continue to transform certain business processes, extend established processes to new subsidiaries and/or implement additional functionality in our enterprise resource planning, product development, manufacturing, and other software and IT systems which entails certain risks, including disruption of our operations, such as our ability to develop and update products that are safe and secure, track orders and timely ship products, manage our supply chain and aggregate financial and operational data. Failure to adequately protect and maintain the integrity of our products and our IT systems and those of our suppliers and customers may materially impact our financial position, results of operations and cash flows.
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We have a complex, global iTero scanner installed base of older and newer models. These models are continually updated to add, expand or improve features with new hardware, or to provide repair or replacement parts. We have experienced hardware issues in the past and may in the future, including issues relating to manufacturing, design, quality, or safety, of which we become aware only after products or changes have been introduced into the market. We also have not been and may continue to be unable to ensure that third party components or changes to them will be compatible with, or will not have a negative impact on the functionality of, our iTero scanners. As a result, there have been and may be widespread failures of our iTero scanners or we may experience epidemic failures of our iTero scanners to perform as anticipated. Previously, we have not been and in the future may not be prepared for, or have the infrastructure to, timely and adequately remediate or implement corrective measures for such failures, including due to our dependency on third party providers or suppliers. Consequently, any remediation may be time-consuming and difficult to achieve, which may materially impact our customers and business partners, damage our reputation and result in lost business and revenue opportunities, and could be materially costly.
A significant portion of our clear aligner production is dependent on digital scans from our globally dispersed and decentralized installed base of iTero and third-party intraoral scanners. Failures of all or any portion of our or third-party software or other components or systems to interoperate with iTero or third-party scanners, termination of interoperability with third-party scanners, malware or ransomware attacks, product or system vulnerabilities or defects, interference or disruptions for us, our customers, labs or other business partners in the use of our products or the transmission or processing of data needed for the use or ordering of our products, or a system outage for any reason have harmed our operations previously and in the future could materially and adversely affect our ability to accept scans, manufacture clear aligners or restorative procedures or treatments and services or otherwise service our customers. Any of these events harm our sales, damage our reputation, adversely impact our strategic partners or result in litigation.
Additionally, we continuously upgrade and issue new releases of software applications upon which customer facing manufacturing and treatment planning operations depend. Software applications and products containing software frequently contain errors or defects, especially when first introduced or released. Additionally, the third-party software integrated into or interoperable with our products and services will routinely reach end of life, and as a consequence, certain applications and models of our iTero scanners may be exposed to additional vulnerabilities, including increased security risks, errors and malfunctions that may be irreparable or difficult to repair. The discovery of a defect, error or security vulnerability in our products, software applications or IT systems, incompatibility with customers’ computer operating systems and hardware configurations with a new release or upgraded version or the failure of our products or primary IT systems may cause adverse consequences, including delay or loss of revenues, significant remediation costs, delay in market acceptance, loss of data, disclosure of financial, health or other personal information of our customers or their patients, product recalls, damage to our reputation, loss of market share or increased service costs, any of which could have a material effect on our business, financial condition or results of our operations and the operations of our customers or our business partners.
We are highly dependent on third-party suppliers, some of whom are sole source suppliers, for certain key machines, components and materials, and our business and operating results could be harmed if supply is restricted or ends, or if the price of raw materials used in our manufacturing process increases.
We are highly dependent on our supply chain, particularly manufacturers of specialized scanning equipment, rapid prototyping machines, resin and other advanced materials, as well as the optics, electronic and other mechanical components of our iTero scanners. We maintain single supply relationships for many of these machines and materials. By using single suppliers in limited locations for materials and manufacturing, we are exposed to multiple supply chain vulnerabilities.
Because of our dependence on our suppliers, changes in key relationships can materially disrupt our supply chain. For instance, we may be unable to quickly establish or qualify replacement suppliers creating production interruptions, delays and inefficiencies. Finding substitute manufacturers may be expensive, time-consuming or impossible and could result in significant interruptions in the supply of one or more products, product retesting or additional product registration causing us to lose revenues and damage customer relationships. Technology changes by our service providers, vendors, and other third parties could disrupt access to required manufacturing capacity or require expensive, time-consuming development efforts to adapt and integrate new equipment or processes. In the event of technology changes, delivery delays, labor stoppages or shortages, or shortages of, or increases in price for these items, sales may decrease and our business and prospects may be harmed.
We use distributors for a portion of the importation, marketing and sales of our products and services, which exposes us to risks to our sales, operations and reputation, including the risk that these distributors do not comply with applicable laws or our internal procedures.
In addition to our direct sales force, we have and expect to continue to use distributors to import, market, sell, service and support our products. Our distribution agreements are generally non-exclusive and terminable by either party with customary notice. If alternative distributors cannot be quickly found and trained in the use, marketing, sales and support of our products and services, our revenues and ability to sell or service our products in key markets could be adversely affected. These distributors may also choose to sell alternative or competing products or services. In addition, we may be held responsible for the actions of these distributors and their employees and agents for compliance with laws and regulations, including fair
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competition, bribery and corruption, trade compliance, safety, data privacy and marketing and sales activities. The conduct of these distributors also impacts our reputation and our brand. If our distributors fail to satisfy customers, our reputation and brand loyalty could be harmed. A distributor may also affect our ability to effectively market our products in certain foreign countries or regulatory jurisdictions if it holds the regulatory authorization in such countries or within such regions and causes, by action or inaction, the suspension of such marketing authorization or sanctions for non-compliance or prevents us from taking control of any such authorization. It may be difficult, expensive, and time-consuming for us to re-establish market access or regulatory compliance.
A disruption in the operations of a primary freight carrier, higher shipping costs or shipping delays could disrupt our supply chain and impact our operating and financial results.
We are dependent on commercial freight carriers, primarily UPS, to deliver our products. If the operations of carriers are disrupted or we fail to mitigate any disruptions, we may be unable to timely deliver products to our customers who may choose alternative products, causing our net revenues and gross margin to decline, possibly materially. Moreover, when fuel costs increase, our freight costs generally do so as well. In addition, we earn an increasingly larger portion of our total revenues from international sales, which carry higher shipping costs that negatively impact our gross margin and results of operations. If freight costs materially increase and we are unable to successfully pass all or significant portions of the increases along to our customers, or we cannot otherwise offset such increases, our gross margin and financial results could be materially affected.
Our success depends on our personnel. If we cannot attract, motivate, train or retain personnel, it may be difficult to achieve our strategic priorities, materially effecting our results of operations.
We are highly dependent on the talent and efforts of our personnel. We strive to retain our personnel by providing competitive compensation and benefits, development opportunities and training, flexible work options, and an inclusive corporate culture. However, competition for highly-skilled personnel is intense, particularly technical and digital talent, and our competitors have and are likely to continue to recruit our personnel. Our compensation and benefit arrangements may not successfully attract new employees, retain or motivate existing employees. In addition, other internal and external factors can impact our ability to hire and retain talent, including insufficient advancement or career opportunities and restrictive immigration policies. The loss of any key personnel, particularly executive management, research and development personnel or sales personnel, could harm our business and prospects and impede the achievement of our research and development, operational or strategic objectives.
We provide significant training to our personnel and our business will be harmed if our training fails to properly prepare them to perform the work required, we are unable to successfully instill technical expertise in new and existing personnel or if our techniques prove unsuccessful or are not cost-effective. Moreover, for certain roles, this training and experience can make key personnel, such as our sales personnel, highly desirable to competitors and lead to increased attrition. It can take up to twelve months or more to train sales representatives to successfully market and sell our products and for them to establish strong customer relationships. The loss of the services and knowledge of our highly-skilled employees may significantly delay or prevent the achievement of our development and business objectives.
Additionally, seamless leadership transitions for key positions is critical to sustaining our culture and organizational success. If our succession planning is ineffective, it could adversely impact our business. We continue to assess key personnel we believe essential to our long-term success. Moreover, future organizational changes may cause employee attrition rates to increase. If we fail to effectively manage any organizational or strategic changes, our financial condition, results of operations, and reputation, as well as our ability to successfully attract, motivate and retain key employees, may be harmed.
We have adopted a hybrid work schedule in many of our offices, allowing employees to collaborate and connect with others several days each week while providing the option to work remotely other days. This hybrid work approach may create challenges with maintaining our corporate culture, employee satisfaction and hiring, promotion, and retention.
We believe a key to our success has been the culture we have created that emphasizes a shared vision and values focusing on agility, customer success and accountability. We have experienced and may continue to experience in the future, difficulties attracting and retaining employees that meet the qualifications, experience, compliance mindset and values we expect. If we cannot attract and retain personnel that meet our selection criteria or relax our standards, our corporate culture, ability to achieve our strategic objectives, and our compliance with obligations under our internal controls and other requirements may be harmed. This could have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and our ability to maintain market share.
We have employees represented by works councils in certain countries and others that may be or may become eligible to be represented by works councils, trade unions and other employee associations. Labor disputes and work stoppages involving our employees may disrupt our operations and could materially impact our results or operations.
We depend on our marketing activities to deepen our market penetration and raise awareness of our brands and products, which may prove unsuccessful or may become less effective or more costly to maintain in the long term.
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Our marketing efforts and costs are significant and include national and regional campaigns in multiple countries involving television, print and social media and alliances with professional sports teams, social media influencers and other strategic partners. There is no assurance our advertising campaigns will achieve the returns on advertising spend desired, increase brand or product awareness sufficiently or generate goodwill and positive reputational goals. Moreover, should any entity or individual endorsing us or our products take actions, make or publish statements in support of, or lend support to events or causes which are perceived by a portion of society negatively, our sponsorships or support of these entities or individuals may be questioned, our products boycotted, and our reputation harmed, any of which could materially effect our financial results and business overall.
In addition, various countries prohibit certain types of marketing activities. For example, some countries restrict direct to consumer advertising of medical devices. We have in the past and may again in the future be alleged to violate marketing restrictions and be ordered to stop certain marketing activities or prevented from selling our products. Moreover, competitors do not always follow these restrictions, creating an unfair advantage and making it more difficult and costly to compete.
Additionally, we rely heavily on data generated from our campaigns to target specific audiences and evaluate their effectiveness, particularly data generated from internet activities on mobile devices. To obtain this data, we are dependent on third parties and popular mobile operating systems, networks, technologies, products, and standards we do not control, such as the Android and iOS operating systems, and mobile browsers. Changes in such systems that degrade or eliminate our ability to target or measure the results of ads or increase costs to target audiences could adversely affect our campaigns. Operating systems could also include data privacy settings that limit our ability to interpret, target and measure ads effectively.
We have been incorporating and continue to work to further incorporate artificial intelligence (“AI”) into our products, services and internal operations. Implementation of AI and machine learning technologies may result in legal and regulatory risks, reputational harm or have other adverse consequences to our business.
We have and are continuing to incorporate AI, including machine learning and independent algorithms, in certain of our products, services and internal operations, which is intended to enhance their operation and effectiveness internally and for our customers, suppliers and consumers. AI innovation presents risks and challenges that could impact our business. Our, or vendors’, AI algorithms may be flawed. Our datasets or AI training algorithms may be insufficient or contain biased information. Additionally, many countries and regions, including the EU, have proposed new and evolving regulations related to the use of AI and machine learning technologies. The regulations may impose onerous obligations and may require us to unexpectedly rework or reevaluate improvements to be compliant. Use of AI technologies may expose us to an increased risk of regulatory enforcement and litigation. Moreover, some of the AI features involve the processing of personal data and may be subject to laws, policies, legal obligations, and codes of conduct related to privacy and data protection. AI development and deployment practices could subject us to competitive harm, regulatory enforcement, increased cybersecurity risks, reputational harm and legal liability.
Legal, Regulatory and Compliance Risks
We are subject to antitrust and competition regulations, litigation and enforcement that may result in fines, penalties, restrictions on our business practices, and product or operational changes which could materially impact our business.
We currently are and may in the future be subject to antitrust, competition or unfair competition related investigations, enforcement actions or claims by governmental agencies, competitors, consumers, customers, and others which, even if unfounded, could cause us to incur substantial costs, enter into settlements, consents, be subject to judgments, involve negative publicity, and divert management time and attention, which may materially impact our results of operations. Resolving these matters may require us to change our business practices in materially adverse ways. Governments and regulators are actively developing new competition laws and regulations aimed at the technology sector, AI and digital platforms and coordinating activities globally, including in large markets such as the EU, U.S., and China. Government regulatory actions and court decisions may result in fines or hinder our ability to provide certain benefits to our consumers, reducing the attractiveness of our products and the revenue derived from them. These actions and decisions may also hinder our ability to pursue certain mergers, acquisitions, business combinations or other transactions.
We are currently subject to two antitrust actions with jury trials scheduled to begin on May 13, 2024, and January 21, 2025. We believe the plaintiffs’ claims are without merit in each of these actions, but we will likely incur costs in connection with these trials and with our defense, and there is a risk that we will be subject to adverse judgments or negative publicity.
Failure to obtain or maintain approvals or comply with regulations regarding our products or services or those of our suppliers could materially harm our sales, result in substantial penalties and fines and cause harm to our reputation.
We and many of our healthcare provider customers, suppliers and distributors are subject to extensive and frequently changing regulations under numerous federal, state, local and foreign laws, including those regulating:
•the storage, transmission and disclosure of personal, financial, and medical information as well as healthcare records;
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•prohibitions against the offer, payment or receipt of remuneration to induce referrals to entities providing healthcare services or goods or to induce the order, purchase or recommendation of our products; and
•the design, manufacture, marketing and advertising of our products.
The healthcare and technology markets are also highly regulated and subject to changing political, economic and regulatory influences. Global regulators are expanding and changing regulations and guidance for products, which can limit the potential benefits of products and cause protracted review timelines for new products. Our critical third-party vendors and service providers are similarly subject to various regulations. Our failure or the failure of our suppliers, customers, advertisers and influencers to strictly adhere to clearances or approvals in the labeling, marketing and sales of our products and services could subject us to claims or litigation, including allegations of false or misleading advertising or violations of laws or regulations, which may result in costly investigations, fines, penalties, as well as material judgments, settlements or decrees. We are also subject to complex, new and changing environmental, health and safety regulations. There can be no assurance we will adequately address the business risks associated with the implementation and compliance with such laws and our internal processes and procedures to comply with such laws or that we will be able to take advantage of any resulting business opportunities.
Furthermore, before we can sell a new medical device or market a new use of, or claim for, an existing product, we frequently must obtain clearance or approval to do so. For instance, in the U.S., FDA regulations are wide ranging and govern, among other things, product design, product materials, development, manufacturing and testing, product labeling and product storage. It takes significant time, effort and expense to obtain and maintain clearances and approvals of products and services, and there is no guarantee we will timely succeed, if at all, in the countries in which we do business. In other countries, the requirements, time, effort and expense to obtain and maintain clearances may differ materially from those of the FDA. Moreover, these laws may change, resulting in additional time, expense or loss of market access. If requirements to market our products or services are delayed, we may be unable to offer them in markets we deem important. Additionally, failure to comply with applicable regulatory requirements could result in enforcement actions with sanctions including, among other things, fines, civil penalties and criminal prosecution. Delays or failures to obtain or maintain regulatory approvals, clearances or to comply with regulatory requirements may materially harm our domestic or international operations, and adversely impact our business.
We and certain of our third-party vendors must also comply with and adhere to facility registration and product listing requirements for Quality System regulations. The FDA enforces its Quality System regulations through periodic unannounced inspections. Failure to satisfactorily correct an adverse inspection finding or to comply with applicable manufacturing regulations can result in enforcement actions, or we may be required to find alternative manufacturers, which could be a long and costly process and may cause reputational harm. Enforcement actions by regulators could have a material effect on our business.
We are also subject to anti-corruption and anti-bribery (“ABAC”) laws such as the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”) and the U.K. Bribery Act of 2010, which generally prohibit payments to foreign officials for the purpose of obtaining or maintaining business, securing an advantage and directing business to another. To comply with ABAC laws, regulators require that we maintain accurate books and records and a system of internal accounting controls. Under the FCPA, we may be held liable for corruption by directors, officers, employees, agents, or other strategic or local partners or representatives.
In addition, while we have policies requiring compliance with applicable laws and regulations and we provide significant training to foster compliance, our employees, third parties acting on our behalf and customers may not properly adhere to our policies or applicable laws or regulations, including the use of certain electronic communications and maintaining accurate books and records. If our personnel or the personnel of our agents or suppliers fail to comply with any laws, regulations, policies or procedures, or we fail to audit and enforce compliance, our reputation may be harmed, we may lose customers, revenues, or face regulatory investigations, actions and fines.
Security breaches, data breaches, cybersecurity attacks, other cybersecurity incidents or the failure to comply with privacy, security and data protection laws could materially impact our operations, patient care could suffer, we could be liable for damages, and our business, operations and reputation could be harmed.
We retain confidential customer personal and financial, patient health and our own proprietary information and data essential to our business operations. We rely on the effectiveness of our IT systems, our policies and contracts and policies of our third-party vendors and the IT systems of our service providers and other third parties to safeguard the information and data. Additionally, our success depends on our healthcare providers, many of whom are individual or small operations with limited IT experience and inadequate or untested security protocols, to successfully manage data privacy and security requirements. It is critical that the facilities, infrastructure and IT systems on which we depend and the products we develop remain secure and be perceived by the marketplace and our customers as secure. Despite the implementation of security features in our products and security measures in our IT systems, we and our service providers, third-party vendors, and other third parties are targeted by or subject to physical break-ins, computer viruses and other malicious code, unauthorized or fraudulent access, programming errors or other technical malfunctions, hacking or phishing attacks, malware, ransomware, employee error or malfeasance, cybersecurity attacks, and other breaches of IT systems or similar disruptive actions, including
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by organized groups and nation-state actors. For example, we have experienced, and may again experience in the future, cybersecurity incidents and unauthorized internal employee exfiltration of company information.
Further, the frequency and sophistication of third-party cybersecurity attacks is increasing. Significant service disruptions, breaches in our infrastructure and IT systems or other cybersecurity incidents could expose us to litigation or regulatory investigations, impair our reputation and competitive position, be distracting to management, and require significant time and resources to address. Legal or regulatory action against us could prevent us from resolving issues quickly or force us to resolve them in unanticipated ways, cause us to incur significant expense and damages, or result in orders forcing us to cease operations or modify our business practices in ways that materially limit or restrict the capabilities of our products and services. Concerns over our privacy practices could adversely affect others’ perception of us and deter customers and patients from using our products. In addition, patient care could suffer, and we could be liable if our products or IT systems fail to timely deliver accurate and complete information. We have cybersecurity and other forms of insurance coverage related to a cyber attacks, breaches, and other incidents or security problems. However, damages and claims arising from specific incidents may not be covered, may exceed the amount of any coverage, and do not cover the time and effort we incur investigating and responding to any incidents, which may be material. The costs to eliminate, mitigate or recover from security problems and cybersecurity attacks and incidents could be material and, depending on the nature and extent of the problem and the networks or products impacted, may result in network or systems interruptions, decreased product sales, or data loss that may have a material impact on our operations, net revenues and operating results.
Additionally, our iTero scanners sold to customers globally, strategic business partners or other locations may be independently or collectively the target of cybersecurity incidents or attacks or subject to viruses, bugs, or other similar negative intruders. Due to the large and growing number of these decentralized devices, we may be unable, or not have the capacity, knowledge, or infrastructure, to respond to or remedy a cybersecurity issue in a timely manner, which may cause loss or damage to us, our customers, or strategic business partners or may cause further malfunctions in, or damage to, our servers, databases, systems or products and services, loss or damage of our data, interruption or temporary cessation of our operations, or an overall negative impact to our business or reputation.
We are also subject to federal, state and foreign laws and regulations respecting the security and privacy of patient healthcare information applicable to healthcare providers and their business associates, such as HIPAA, as well as those relating to privacy, data security, content regulation, and consumer protection. We are subject to various national and regional data localization or data residency laws, including U.S. state law, the EU General Data Protection Regulation and analogous laws in China which generally require certain types of data collected within a country be stored and processed only within that country or approved countries. Other countries are considering similar data localization or data residency laws. We have and likely will again in the future be required to implement new or expand existing data storage protocols, build new storage facilities, and/or devote additional resources to comply with such laws, any of which could be costly. We are also subject to data export restrictions and international transfer laws which prohibit or impose conditions upon the transfer of such data. These laws and regulations are constantly evolving and may be created, interpreted, applied, or amended in ways that adversely affect our business.
Our business exposes us to potential liability for the quality and safety of our products and services, how we advertise and market those products and services and how and to whom we sell them, and we may incur substantial expenses or be found liable for substantial damages or penalties if we are subject to claims or litigation.
Our products and services involve an inherent risk of claims concerning their design, materials, manufacture, safety and performance, how they are marketed and advertised in a complex framework of highly regulated domestic and international laws and regulations, how we package, bundle or sell them to individual customers or companies, including hospitals and clinics, and how we train and support doctors, their staffs and patients who use our products. Moreover, consumer products and services are routinely subject to claims of false, deceptive or misleading advertising, consumer fraud and unfair business practices. Additionally, we may be held liable if our products or services cause injury or are otherwise found unhealthy. If our products are safe but they are promoted for use or used in unintended or unexpected ways or for which we have not obtained clearance (“off-label” usage), we may be investigated, fined or have our products or services enjoined or approvals rescinded or we may be required to defend ourselves in litigation. Although we maintain insurance for product liability, business practices and other types of activities we make or offer, coverage may not be available on acceptable terms, if at all, and may be insufficient for actual liabilities. Any claim for product liability, sales, advertising and business practices, regardless of its merit or eventual outcome, could result in material legal defense costs and damage our reputation, increase our expenses and divert management’s attention.
Increased focus on current and anticipated environmental, social and governance (“ESG”) laws and scrutiny of our ESG policies and practices may materially increase our costs, expose us to liability, adversely impact our reputation, employee retention, willingness of customers and suppliers to do business with us and willingness of investors to invest in us.
Our operations are subject to a variety of existing local, regional and global ESG laws and regulations, and we are and may be required to comply with new, broader, more complex and more costly ESG laws and regulations. Our compliance obligations span all aspects of our business and operations, including product design and development, materials sourcing and
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other procurement activities, product packaging, product safety, energy and natural resources usage, facilities design and utilization, recycling and collection, transportation, disposal activities and workers’ rights.
Environmental regulations related to greenhouse gases, hazardous materials, sustainability and reduction of waste are expected to have an increasingly larger impact on us or our suppliers. Many U.S. and foreign regulators have or are considering enacting new or additional disclosure requirements or limits on the emissions of greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide and methane, from power generated using fossil fuels. The effects of greenhouse gas emission limits on power generation are subject to significant uncertainties, including the timing of new requirements, levels of emissions reductions and the scope and types of emissions regulated. Additionally, laws on sustainability and waste reduction are increasing and consumers may demand our products, packaging and operations be more sustainable, affect how we manufacture and package our products, increase our costs and those of our suppliers, and which may result in manufacturing, transportation and supply chain disruptions if clean energy or sustainable alternatives are not readily available in adequate amounts when required. Moreover, alternative clean energy sources, coupled with reduced investments in traditional energy production and infrastructure, may not provide the predictable, reliable, and consistent energy that we, our suppliers and other businesses require.
Additionally, the sourcing and availability of metals used in the manufacture of, or contained in, our products may be affected by laws and regulations governing the use of minerals obtained from certain regions of the world like the Democratic Republic of Congo and adjoining countries. Although we do not believe we source minerals from this region, our expanding geographic operations may increase the risk of purchasing “conflict minerals” and our efforts to identify whether any of our products contain minerals impacted by these laws and regulations may not be adequate or complete. Other restrictions apply to the substances incorporated into our products, including the chemical compounds in our clear aligners, the electronics in our iTero scanners, and the packaging in which they are shipped. These laws are proliferating and new substances subject to restrictions are regularly being added each year. We may be forced to re-design our products or identify new suppliers to maintain our compliance with these laws. Further, these laws and regulations may decrease the number of suppliers capable of supplying our needs, thereby negatively affecting our ability to manufacture products in sufficient quantities at competitive prices, leading customers to potentially choose competitive goods and services.
Meeting our obligations under existing ESG laws and regulations is costly for us and our suppliers, and we expect these regulations and costs to increase materially. Additionally, regulators may perform investigations, inspections and periodically audit our compliance with these laws and regulations, and we cannot be sure our efforts or operations will be compliant. If we fail to comply with any requirements, we could be subject to significant penalties or liabilities and we may be required to implement new and materially more costly processes and procedures. Even if we successfully comply with these laws and regulations, our suppliers may not. We may also suffer financial and reputational harm if customers require, and we are unable to deliver, certification that our products are complaint. In all of these situations, customers may stop purchasing products from us, and may take legal action against us, which could harm our reputation, revenues and results of operations.
Investor advocacy groups, institutional investors, investment funds, proxy advisory services, stockholders, and customers are also increasingly focused on corporate ESG practices. Additionally, public interest and legislative pressure related to companies’ ESG practices continues to grow. If our ESG practices fail to meet investor or other industry stakeholders’ frequently evolving expectations and standards, our brand, reputation and employee retention may be harmed, customers and suppliers may be unwilling to do business with us and investors may be unwilling to invest in us. If we fail to adopt ESG standards or practices as quickly as stakeholders desire, comply with or timely report on our ESG efforts or practices accurately, or satisfy the disclosure and other expectations of stakeholders, our reputation, business, financial performance, growth, and stock price may be adversely impacted.
Intellectual Property Risks
Our success depends in part on our proprietary technology, and if we fail to successfully obtain or enforce our IP rights, our competitive position may be harmed.
Our success depends in part on our ability to maintain existing IP rights and obtain, maintain and enforce further IP protections for our products. Our inability to do so could harm our competitive position.
We rely on our portfolio of issued and pending patent applications in the U.S. and other countries to protect a large part of our IP and our competitive position; however, these patents may not prevent third parties from producing competing products similar in design to ours if they are invalidated, held unenforceable, circumvented, or otherwise limited in scope. Furthermore, our foreign patent protections may be more limited in geographic scope than those under U.S. patent and IP laws.
Additionally, any of our patent applications may not result in an issued patent or the scope of the patent ultimately issued may be narrower than initially sought. We may not be afforded the protection of a patent if our currently pending or future patent filings do not result in the issuance of patents or we fail to timely apply for patent protection. We may not apply for a patent if our personnel fail to disclose or recognize new patentable ideas or innovations. Remote working can decrease opportunities for our personnel to collaborate, thereby reducing invention disclosures and patent application filings. We may
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choose not to file a foreign patent application if the limited protections provided by a foreign patent do not outweigh the costs to obtain it. Further, third parties may file patents or develop IP strategies that prevent or limit the effectiveness of our patents.
We also protect our IP through copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, and confidentiality obligations. We generally enter into confidentiality agreements with our employees, consultants and collaborative partners upon commencement of a relationship with us. However, despite the existence of these protections, we have experienced incidents in which our proprietary information has been misappropriated and believe it will be misappropriated again in the future. If these agreements do not provide meaningful protection against the unauthorized use or disclosure of our trade secrets or other confidential information, adequate remedies may not exist to prevent unauthorized uses or disclosures.
Enforcement of our IP rights is time-consuming and costly, and could ultimately prove to be unsuccessful. In certain jurisdictions, enforcement of IP rights is more difficult due to legislation and geopolitical circumstances. As we launch our products in different regions at different times, our products may be acquired and reverse engineered by potential competitors in regions where infringement is more difficult to pursue.
Our inability to maintain the proprietary nature of our technology through patents, copyrights or trade secrets would impair our competitive advantages and could have a material effect on our operating results, financial condition and future growth prospects. In particular, a failure to protect our IP rights might allow competitors to copy our technology or create counterfeit or pirated versions of our products, which could adversely affect our reputation, pricing and market share.
Litigation regarding our IP rights, rights claimed by third parties, or IP litigation by any vendors on whose products or services we rely for our products and services may impact our ability to grow our business, adversely impact our results of operations and adversely impact our reputation.
Extensive litigation over IP rights is common in technologies and industries on which our products and services are based. Litigation, interferences, oppositions, re-exams, inter partes reviews, post grant reviews or other proceedings have been necessary and will likely be needed in the future to determine the validity and scope of certain of our IP rights and those claimed by third parties. These proceedings are used to determine the validity, scope or non-infringement of certain patent rights pertinent to the manufacture, use or sale of our products and the products of competitors. We have been sued for infringement of third parties’ patents in the past and are currently defending patent infringement lawsuits and other legal claims. In addition, we periodically receive letters from third parties drawing our attention to their IP rights and there may be other third-party IP rights of which we are presently unaware. As dentistry continues to become more digital, competitors may make defense of our IP more challenging. Asserting or defending these proceedings can be unpredictable, protracted, time-consuming, expensive and distracting to management and technical personnel. Their outcomes may adversely affect our ability to manufacture and market our products, require us to seek licenses for infringing products or technologies or result in the assessment of significant monetary damages. Unfavorable rulings could include monetary damages, injunctions prohibiting us from selling our products, or exclusion orders preventing us from importing our products in one or more countries. Moreover, independent actions by competitors, customers or others have alleged that our efforts to enforce our IP rights constitute unfair competition or violations of antitrust laws and investigations and additional litigation based on the same or similar claims may be brought in the future. The potential effects on our business operations resulting from litigation, whether or not ultimately determined in our favor or settled by us, are costly and could materially affect our results of operations and reputation.
Financial, Tax and Accounting Risks
If our goodwill, intangible or long-lived assets become impaired, we may be required to record a material charge to earnings.
Under GAAP, we review our goodwill at least annually, or more frequently, if we identify events or circumstances that indicate it is more likely than not that the fair value of a reporting unit has been reduced below its carrying value. We review finite-lived intangible assets and long-lived assets for impairment when events or changes in circumstances indicate the carrying value of the asset (asset group) may not be recoverable. The qualitative analysis performed by management to identify indicators of impairment or the quantitative analysis used to determine fair value requires management to exercise significant judgement in determining appropriate assumptions and estimates, including revenue growth rates, gross and operating margins, discount rates and future cash flows. Management is responsible for continually assessing qualitative factors that could negatively impact the fair value of goodwill and intangible and long-lived assets and if required, assesses the fair value of each to determine if they have become impaired. Consequently, we may be required to record a material charge to earnings our financial statements during the period in which any impairment of goodwill, intangible or long-lived asset group is determined.
Changes in, or interpretations of, accounting rules and regulations, could result in unfavorable accounting charges.
We prepare our consolidated financial statements in conformity with GAAP. These principles are subject to interpretation by the SEC and various bodies formed to interpret and create appropriate accounting policies. A change in these policies or in the way these policies are interpreted by us or regulators could materially effect our reported results and may even retroactively affect previously reported financial statements.
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We are required to annually assess our internal control over financial reporting and any adverse results from such assessment may result in a loss of investor confidence in our financial reports and adversely affect our stock price.
We are required to furnish in our Form 10-K a report by our management regarding the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting that includes, among other things, an assessment of the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of the end of our fiscal year, including a statement as to whether it is effective. Our internal controls may become inadequate because of changes in personnel, updates and upgrades to or migration away from existing software, failure to maintain accurate books and records, changes in accounting standards or interpretations of existing standards, and, as a result, the degree of compliance of our internal control over financial reporting with the existing policies or procedures may become ineffective. Establishing, testing and maintaining an effective system of internal control over financial reporting requires significant resources and time commitments on the part of our management and our finance staff, may require additional staffing and infrastructure investments and increases our costs of doing business. If we are unable to assert that our internal control over financial reporting is effective in any future period (or if our auditors are unable to express an opinion on the effectiveness of our internal controls or conclude that our internal controls are ineffective), the timely filing of our financial reports could be delayed or we could be required to restate past reports, and cause us to lose investor confidence in the accuracy and completeness of our financial reports, which could have an adverse effect on our stock price.
If we fail to manage our exposure to global financial and securities market risks successfully, our operating results and financial statements could be materially impacted.
A majority of our marketable investments are investment grade, liquid, fixed-income securities and money market instruments denominated in U.S. dollars. If the carrying value of an investment exceeds the fair value, and the decline in fair value is deemed to be other-than-temporary, we are required to write down the value of the investment, which could materially harm our results of operations and financial condition. Moreover, the performance of certain securities in our investment portfolio correlates with the credit condition of the U.S. financial sector. In an unstable credit or economic environment, it is necessary to assess the value of our investments more frequently and we might incur material realized, unrealized or impairment losses associated with these investments. Additionally, bank failures could cause or continue to cause volatility in the credit or capital markets, market-wide liquidity issues, bank-runs and general concern across the global financial industry. These conditions could limit our access to capital or impair the value of assets we hold.
Our effective tax rate may vary significantly from period to period.
We are subject to taxes in the U.S. and foreign countries. Various internal and external factors may affect our future effective tax rate. These factors include changes in the global economic environment, our legal entity structure or activities performed within our entities, our business operations, in tax laws, regulations and/or rates, to existing accounting pronouncements, interpretations of existing tax laws or regulations, in relative proportions of revenues and income before taxes in the various jurisdictions in which we operate that have differing statutory tax rates, in overall levels of pretax earnings, as well as the settlement of income tax audits and non-deductible goodwill impairments. Furthermore, we may continue to experience variation in our effective tax rate related to excess tax benefits or tax expense on stock-based compensation, particularly in the first quarter of each year when the majority of our equity awards vest.
New tax laws and practices, changes to existing tax laws and practices, or disputes regarding the positions we take regarding tax laws, could negatively affect our provision for income taxes as well as our ongoing operations.
Compliance with tax laws requires significant judgment concerning our worldwide provision for income taxes. Changes in tax laws or changes to how those laws are applied to our business could affect the amount of tax which we are subject to and the manner in which we operate. Specifically, in 2016, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (“OECD”) established the Inclusive Framework on Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) to among other things, allocate greater taxing rights to countries where customers are located and establish a global minimum tax rate. After years of evaluating their respective tax laws, many countries have enacted changes, or are committed to enacting changes, which may increase our tax expense in future years. For example, the European Union and other countries have enacted or have committed to enact the OECD/G20 Framework’s Pillar Two 15% global minimum tax. If more countries adopt these changes based on the BEPS guidance, our provision for income taxes or operations may be adversely affected.
Moreover, the application of indirect taxes (such as sales and use tax (“SUT”), value-added tax (“VAT”), goods and services tax (“GST”), and other indirect taxes) to our operations is complex and evolving. U.S. states, local and foreign taxing jurisdictions have differing rules and regulations governing differing types of taxes, and these rules and regulations are subject to varying interpretations and exemptions that may change over time. We collect and remit SUT, VAT, GST and other taxes in many jurisdictions and we are routinely subject to audits. We are also routinely audited regarding our tax reporting and remissions by local and national governments, and may also be subject to audits in jurisdictions for which we have not accrued tax liabilities. The positions we take regarding taxes as well as the amounts we collect or remit may be challenged and we may be liable for failing to collect or remit all taxes deemed owed or the taxes could exceed our estimates. One or more U.S. states or countries may seek to impose incremental or new sales, use, or other tax collection obligations or may determine that such
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taxes should have but have not been paid by us. If we dispute rulings or positions taken by tax authorities, we may incur significant expenses, time and effort to defend our positions.
During the year ended December 31, 2023, the Company received a notice and initial assessment from His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs (“HMRC”) for unpaid VAT related to certain clear aligner sales made during various periods beginning 2019 through 2023. While we assert that these sales are exempt from VAT, that we have reasonably relied upon statements and guidance by HMRC and that our interpretation of relevant legislation is appropriate, and believe that a potential loss related to unpaid VAT is not probable, it is possible that we may be subject to a loss in connection with unpaid VAT.
The application of existing and new tax laws, and the results of audits could harm our business. Furthermore, there have been and will continue to be substantial ongoing costs associated with complying with the various tax requirements and defending our positions in the numerous markets in which we conduct or will conduct business.
Historically, the market price for our common stock has been volatile.
The market price of our common stock is subject to rapid and large price fluctuations attributable to various factors, many of which are beyond our control. The factors include:
•quarterly variations in our results of operations and liquidity or changes in our forecasts and guidance;
•our ability to regain or sustain our historical growth rates;
•changes in recommendations by the investment community or speculation in the press or investment community regarding estimates of our net revenues, operating results or other performance indicators;
•announcements by us or our competitors or new market entrants, including strategic actions, management changes, and material transactions or acquisitions;
•technical factors in the public trading markets for our stock that may produce price movements inconsistent with macro, industry or company-specific fundamentals, including the sentiment of retail investors (as it may be expressed on financial trading and other social media sites), the amount and status of short interest in our securities, access to margin debt, trading in options and other derivatives on our common stock, fractional share trading, and other technical trading factors or strategies;
•announcements regarding stock repurchases, sales or purchases of our common stock by us, our officers or directors, credit agreements and debt issuances;
•announcements of technological innovations, new, additional or revised programs, business models, products or product offerings by us, our customers or competitors;
•key decisions in pending litigation, new litigation, settlements, judgments or decrees; and
•general economic market conditions, including rising interest rates, inflationary pressures, recessions, consumer sentiment and demand, global political conflict and industry factors unrelated to our actual performance.
In addition, the stock market in general, and the market for technology and medical device companies, in particular, often experience extreme price and volume fluctuations unrelated or disproportionate to corporate operating performance. These broad market and industry factors may include market expectations of, or actual changes in, monetary policies that have the goal of easing or tightening interest rates such as the U.S. federal funds rate and austerity measures of governments intended to control budget deficits. Securities litigation, including securities class action lawsuits and securities derivative lawsuits, is often brought against an issuer following periods of volatility in the market price of its securities and we have not been exempt from such litigation.
We cannot guarantee that we will continue to repurchase our common stock in the future, and any repurchases we may make may not achieve our desired objectives.
We have a history of recurring stock repurchase programs intended to return capital to our investors. Future stock repurchase programs are contingent on a variety of factors, including our financial condition, market conditions, results of operations, business requirements, and our continuing determination that stock repurchases are in the best interests of our stockholders and in compliance with all applicable laws and agreements. There is no assurance that we will continue repurchasing our common stock in the future at historical levels or at all, or that our stock repurchase programs will beneficially impact our stock price. Additionally, effective January 1, 2023, the Inflation Reduction Act imposes a 1% excise tax on our stock repurchases, which will increase our tax liabilities and the cost to retire stock and may impact if and how much stock we choose to repurchase in the future.
Future sales of significant amounts of our common stock may depress our stock price.
A significant percentage of our outstanding common stock is currently owned by a small number of stockholders. These stockholders have sold in the past, and may sell in the future, large amounts of our stock over relatively short periods of time. Sales of substantial amounts of our stock by existing stockholders may adversely affect the market price of our stock by creating the perception of difficulties or problems with our business that may depress our stock price.
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Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments.
None.
Item 1C. Cybersecurity.
We have implemented a cross-departmental approach to managing cybersecurity risk, which includes seeking input from our employees, management, third-party vendors, the Audit Committee of the Board of Directors (the “Audit Committee”), and the Board of Directors. We devote significant resources to cybersecurity and risk management processes to adapt to the changing cybersecurity landscape and respond to emerging threats in a timely and effective manner. We regularly assess the threat landscape and take a holistic view of cybersecurity risks, with a layered cybersecurity strategy based on prevention, detection and response. To more effectively address cybersecurity threats, we have a dedicated Chief Information Security Officer (“CISO”) who is responsible for leading enterprise-wide information security strategy, policy, process, and technology. Our current CISO has 20+ years of information security and risk management experience and holds a Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP) certification. Our CISO regularly briefs our Audit Committee on our cybersecurity and information security program and cybersecurity incidents deemed to pose a risk of a critical business impact or reputational harm. Our cybersecurity risk management program leverages the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) framework, which organizes cybersecurity risks into five categories: identify, protect, detect, respond and recover. Our information security team, comprised of employees with an expertise in cybersecurity and information technology, regularly assess the threat landscape and take a holistic view of cybersecurity risks, with a layered cybersecurity strategy based on prevention, detection, and response.
Our information security program includes, among other things, cybersecurity incident response, vulnerability management, antivirus and malware protection, technology compliance and risk management, encryption, identity and access management, application security, and security monitoring. The program also has an information security awareness program, which includes annual training regarding our acceptable use and information classification and handling policies, regular phishing campaigns complemented by additional employee training as appropriate, and communications and companion trainings to keep our users informed on current events.
The information security program’s ultimate goal is preventing cybersecurity incidents to the extent feasible, while simultaneously increasing our system resilience to minimize the business impact should an incident occur. In the event of an identified cybersecurity incident, we have developed a detailed cybersecurity incident response process, which outlines the steps to be followed from incident detection, analysis, containment, eradication, recovery, and notification, including notifying functional areas (e.g. information technology, legal, finance, operations, privacy), as well as senior leadership and the Audit Committee, as appropriate. For critical cybersecurity incidents, processes have been established for our legal team to determine the materiality of each incident.
Our information security team engages third-party services to conduct evaluations of our security controls, including penetration testing and independent audits. Annually, an external auditor conducts a System and Organization Controls (“SOC”) type 2 audit covering the security principle for systems supporting our products.
Our assessment of risks associated with the use of third-party vendors is part of our overall cybersecurity risk management framework. If a third-party vendor is unable to provide a SOC 1 or SOC 2 report, our information security team takes additional steps to assess their cybersecurity preparedness and our initiation or continued engagement with them. Additionally, third-party vendors are required to include security and privacy addendums to our contracts where applicable and are reassessed periodically as necessary depending on the risk level that has been assigned to the third-party vendor. Our legal team also requires that our third-party vendors report cybersecurity incidents to us so the impact of the incident on us can be assessed.
Our Audit Committee is responsible for reviewing cybersecurity risks and our cybersecurity program. It oversees and reviews our cybersecurity and other information technology risks, controls, policies, and procedures. Our information security team annually performs a cybersecurity enterprise risk assessment and presents the results to management and the Audit Committee. The Audit Committee periodically reports on its review of cybersecurity risks and our cybersecurity program to our Board of Directors. In 2023, our CISO or his team met with the Audit Committee four times to discuss cybersecurity risks and threats.
We have not identified any risks from known cybersecurity threats, including as a result of any prior cybersecurity incidents, that have materially affected or are reasonably likely to materially affect us, including our operations, business strategy, results of operations, or financial condition. Notwithstanding the approach we take to cybersecurity, we may not successfully prevent or mitigate cybersecurity incidents that could have a material adverse effect on us. While we maintain cybersecurity insurance, the costs related to cybersecurity threats or disruptions may not be covered or, if covered, fully insured. See Item 1A. “Risk Factors” for a discussion of cybersecurity risks.
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Item 2.Properties.
We occupy several leased and owned facilities. As of December 31, 2023, the significant facilities occupied were as follows:
Location Lease/Own Primary Use
Tempe, Arizona, U.S.A. Lease Office for corporate headquarters
Raleigh, North Carolina, U.S.A. Own Office for Americas regional headquarters
Rotkreuz, Switzerland Lease Office for EMEA regional headquarters
Juarez, Mexico Own Manufacturing and office for administrative personnel
Ziyang, China Own Manufacturing and office for administrative personnel
We believe our existing facilities are in good operating condition and are suitable for the conduct of our business. The facilities noted above are used mostly by all our reportable segments.
Item 3.Legal Proceedings.
For a discussion of legal proceedings, refer to Note 7 "Legal Proceedings" of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements in Part II, Item 8 of this Form 10-K.
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures.
Not applicable.
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PART II
Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities.
Market Information
Our common stock is traded on the NASDAQ Global Market under the symbol ALGN. As of February 22, 2024, there were approximately 52 holders of record of our common stock. Because the majority of our shares of outstanding common stock are held by brokers and other institutions on behalf of stockholders, we are unable to estimate the total number of stockholders represented by these record holders.
Performance Graph
Notwithstanding any statement to the contrary in any of our previous or future filings with the SEC, the following information relating to the price performance of our common stock shall not be deemed “filed” with the SEC or “Soliciting Material” under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, or subject to Regulation 14A or 14C, or to liabilities of Section 18 of the Exchange Act except to the extent we specifically request that such information be treated as soliciting material or to the extent we specifically incorporate this information by reference.
The graph below matches our cumulative 5-year total stockholder return on common stock with the cumulative total returns of the NASDAQ Composite index, the S&P 500 index and the S&P 1500 Composite Health Care Equipment & Supplies index. The graph tracks the performance of a $100 investment in our common stock and each index (with the reinvestment of all dividends) from December 31, 2018 to December 31, 2023.
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Unregistered Sales of Equity Securities
None.
Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers
The following table summarizes the stock repurchase activity for the three months ended December 31, 2023:
1 January 2023 Repurchase Program. In January 2023, we announced that our Board of Directors had authorized a plan to repurchase up to $1,000,000,000 of our common stock. See Note 10 “Common Stock Repurchase Programs” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on the January 2023 Repurchase Program.
Item 6.[Reserved]
Item 7.Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations.
The following discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations should be read together with our consolidated financial statements and related notes included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
A discussion regarding our financial condition and results of operations for fiscal 2023 compared to fiscal 2022 is presented under Results of Operations of this Form 10-K. Discussions regarding our financial condition and results of operations for fiscal 2022 compared to 2021 have been omitted from this Annual Report on Form 10-K, but can be found in "Item 7. Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" in our Annual Report on Form 10-K for the fiscal year ended December 31, 2022, filed with the SEC on February 27, 2023, which is available without charge on the SEC's website at www.sec.gov and on our investor relations website at investor.aligntech.com.
Executive Overview of Results
Trends and Uncertainties
Our business strategic priorities focus on four principal pillars for growth: (i) international expansion; (ii) GP dentist treatment; (iii) patient demand; and (iv) orthodontic utilization. Our growth strategy depends on our ability to facilitate the digital transformation of dentistry happening around the world, our continuous focus on innovation, and expansion to meet and exceed evolving customer expectations as the array of products and services available to them increases.
We strive to deliver on each of our strategic growth drivers through a variety of interrelated enterprise-wide efforts including:
•Continuing penetration and adoption of Invisalign products, intraoral scanners and CAD/CAM solutions in international markets by investing in manufacturing operations, research and development, clinical treatment planning, sales and marketing and building our quality and regulatory capabilities in existing and emerging markets globally. For instance, in 2022, we opened a new aligner fabrication facility in Wroclaw, Poland as a part of our strategy to bring operational facilities closer to customers to serve them more quickly and respond to their needs more effectively as well as new treatment planning operations in targeted regional geographies. We have also diversified our research and development activities throughout Europe, which has created a longer term, more stable environment for consistent hiring, retention and innovation in a variety of high technology sectors. We are in over 100 markets and have 13 fabrication and treatment locations throughout the world.
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•Targeting growth opportunities with international orthodontists and GP customers, particularly with adopters of digital dentistry platforms by tailoring our sales and marketing strategies, manufacturing operations and resources around the unique needs of each customer channel. As we continue growing, we intend to opportunistically expand our research, development, manufacturing, treatment planning, and sales and marketing operations to meet local and regional demand thoughtfully and deliberately. Over the longer-term, we expect international revenues to grow faster than Americas' revenues as a result of growing international demand, our continued investment in international market expansion, the size of the market opportunities and our relatively low market penetration in these regions.
•Building confidence within the GP and orthodontic communities through training and education efforts to increase their adoption and utilization of digital dental practice transformation and clear aligner treatment. We continue to expand our clear aligner customer base by educating new doctors on the benefits of digital dentistry through the Invisalign system. We furthermore demonstrate to GPs and orthodontists how the iTero portfolio of intraoral scanners and CAD/CAM restorative services and workflows can increase revenues and profitability for their dental practices by enhancing patient experiences and creating operational practice efficiencies.
•Investing in research and development that allows us to innovate, develop and bring to market products and solutions that deliver the ever-increasing clinical precision and predictability that doctors expect with the speed and convenience their patients require.
•Creating demand and enabling patient conversion through targeted investments in advertising and public relations through social media, influencers and other forms of digital communications to encourage treatment by Invisalign trained doctors. We believe that well-designed, targeted sales and marketing promotions that build on our strong brand awareness allow us to differentiate our products and solutions from traditional and emerging competitors. To increase awareness and educate young adults, parents and teens about the benefits of the Invisalign brand, in 2023 we continued to invest in and create campaigns across markets in media platforms such as TikTok, Instagram, YouTube, SnapChat, WeChat, and Douyin. We expect to make further investments to create additional demand for Invisalign system treatment driving more consumers to dental professionals for those treatments.
•Pursuing new product lines that complement our doctor-prescribed principal products currently available in certain e-commerce and retail channels in the U.S. Similarly, in 2023, we continued our focus on our doctor subscription plan and grew our underpenetrated share of the retainer business through strategic marketing campaigns focused on driving adoption and increasing market share in the U.S., Canada, Iberia and the Nordics.
•Increasing global orthodontic utilization rates as doctors’ clinical confidence in the efficacy and predictability of the Invisalign system increases with advancements in products and technology and as patients and doctors demand treatments that emphasize convenience and safety through fewer visits and less invasive and quicker treatments. In addition, the teenage and younger market makes up about 70% of the approximately 22 million total annual global orthodontic case starts. We continue to emphasize the benefits of the Invisalign system for teenage and younger patient treatments through education, training and sales and marketing programs. In 2023, we had record shipments to teenage and younger patients. We expect utilization rates to continue to rise. However, our utilization rates will fluctuate from period to period due to a variety of factors, which may include seasonal trends in our business, consumer demand due to macroeconomic factors, and adoption rates for new products and features.
Macroeconomic Challenges and Military Conflict in Ukraine and the Middle East
Our revenues are susceptible to fluctuations caused by macroeconomic conditions, inflation, changes to currency exchange rates, rising interest rates, actual and threatened wars and military actions, threats of or actual recessions, supply chain challenges, market volatility, and other factors, each of which impacts customer confidence, consumer sentiment and demand. Many of these same factors also impact our costs and those of our suppliers through higher raw material prices, transportation costs, labor costs, supply and distribution operations. In 2023, we believe that sales of our products were primarily harmed by macroeconomic conditions that ultimately adversely impacted disposable income and consumer demand. In particular, dental practices and industry research firms reported deteriorating orthodontic trends for the third and fourth quarters of 2023, including decreased patient visits and increased patient appointment cancellations, along with fewer case starts overall, especially among adult patients. The impact of declining demand varied by time and region, making operational results uncertain and difficult to predict.
Additionally, many of our international operations are denominated in currencies other than the U.S. dollar. In 2023, the macroeconomic slowing or contraction resulted in foreign exchange volatility causing the U.S dollar to strengthen against other currencies. This negatively impacted our financial condition and results of operation compared to 2022. Foreign exchange
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volatility and the subsequent strengthening or weakening of the U.S dollar against other currencies remains uncertain and unpredictable.
Moreover, military conflicts increase the unpredictability of the volatile macroeconomic conditions. While the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine did not materially impact our 2023 financial condition and results of operations, we expect the conflict will continue to create market uncertainties and dampen consumer sentiment and demand, particularly in Europe.
Similarly, the recent conflict in the Middle East may further exacerbate general and regional macroeconomic instability, particularly if fighting is prolonged, it spreads to other locations, creates shipping and logistical challenges or cost increases, or leads to sanctions or boycotts. Our iTero business is headquartered in Israel and the timing and cost of shipping our products has been impacted. Additionally, we have employees and consultants in Israel that have been called for military service and they may be unavailable for an unknown period of time. The conflict may continue to spread to other areas which may further impact our business. We continue to monitor the potential for violence and military actions that may directly or indirectly impact our personnel, manufacturing, supply chain, and sales.
Changing Product Preferences
As the markets for clear aligners and digital processes and workflows used to transform the practice of dentistry continue to mature, we anticipate customer and patient expectations and demands will evolve. We expect to meet customer demands with innovative treatment options that include more choices to address a wider scope of treatment goals and budgets based on our existing and new products. This may result in larger and unpredictable variations in geographic and product mix and selling prices with uncertain implications on our financial statements and business operations.
We strive to manage the challenges from the trends and uncertainties, including the macroeconomic conditions, military conflict and the evolution of our target markets, by focusing on improving our operations, building flexibility and efficiencies in our processes, adjusting our business models to changing circumstances and offering products that meet market demand. Specifically, we are managing cost impacts through pricing actions, implementing cost saving measures and slowing hiring. We also continue to innovate and introduce new and enhanced products that augment our doctor customer and patient experiences.
For instance, in the first quarter of 2023, we successfully launched the Invisalign Comprehensive 3in3 product. The 3in3 configuration offers doctors Invisalign Comprehensive treatment with a three-year treatment expiration date and three additional clear aligners included prior to the treatment expiration date. We anticipate adoption of the Invisalign Comprehensive 3in3 product will continue to increase in 2024. The 3in3 product allows us to recognize more revenue up front but is offered at a lower price as compared to our traditional Invisalign comprehensive product that has a five-year treatment expiration date with unlimited additional clear aligner prior to the treatment end date.
Further discussion of the impact of these challenges on our business may be found in Part I, Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors.”
Key Financial and Operating Metrics
We measure our performance against these strategic priorities by the achievement of key financial and operating metrics. For the year ended December 31, 2023, our business operations reflect the following:
◦Revenues of $3,862.3 million, an increase of 3.4% year-over-year;
◦Clear Aligner revenues of $3,199.3 million, an increase of 4.1% year-over-year;
▪Americas Clear Aligner case revenues of $1,463.0 million, a decrease of 0.6% year-over-year;
▪International Clear Aligner case revenuesof $1,449.5 million, an increase of 7.4% year-over-year;
▪Clear Aligner volume increase of 0.4% year-over-year and Clear Aligner volume increase for teenage patients of 7.8% year-over-year;
◦Imaging Systems and CAD/CAM Services revenues of $662.9 million, an increase of 0.1% year-over-year;
◦Income from operations of $643.3 million and operating margin of 16.7%;
◦Effective tax rate of 30.6%;
◦Net income of $445.1 million with diluted net income per share of $5.81;
◦Cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities of $980.8 million as of December 31, 2023;
◦Operating cash flow of $785.8 million;
◦Capital expenditures of $177.7 million, predominantly related to purchases of property, plant and equipment; and
◦Number of employees was 21,610 as of December 31, 2023, a decrease of 6.7% year-over-year.
Other Statistical Data and Trends
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•As of December 31, 2023, 17 million people worldwide have been treated with our Invisalign system. Management measures these results by comparing to the millions of people who can benefit from straighter teeth and uses this data to target opportunities to expand the market for orthodontics by educating consumers about the benefits of straighter teeth using the Invisalign system.
•For the fourth quarter of 2023, total Invisalign cases submitted with a digital scanner in the Americas increased to 95.1%, up from 92.7%* in the fourth quarter of 2022 and international scans increased to 88.1%, up from 86.8% in the fourth quarter of 2022. For the fourth quarter of 2023, 98.0% of Invisalign cases submitted by North American orthodontists were submitted digitally.
•The total utilization rate in 2023 was 19.1 cases per doctor compared to 19.3* cases per doctor in 2022 and 20.9* cases per doctor in 2021. Our utilization rates have declined in 2023 due to the macroeconomic conditions and other factors as described in the Trends and Uncertainties section above. In general, we expect utilization rates to rise over time although they are likely to fluctuate from period to period.
•North America: The utilization rate among our North American orthodontist customers was 94.5 cases per doctor in 2023 compared to 94.9* cases per doctor in 2022 and 99.7* cases per doctor in 2021 and the utilization rate among our North American GP customers was 14.0 cases per doctor in 2023 compared to 13.9 cases per doctor in 2022 and 14.3 cases per doctor in 2021.
•International: International doctor utilization rate was 16.3 cases per doctor in 2023 compared to 16.2 cases per doctor in 2022 and 17.5 cases per doctor in 2021.
* Invisalign utilization rates are calculated by the number of cases shipped divided by the number of doctors to whom cases were shipped. Our International region includes Europe, Middle East and Africa (“EMEA”) and Asia Pacific (“APAC”). Latin America (“LATAM”) is excluded from the International region based on its immateriality to the year; however is included in the Total utilization.
During the third quarter of 2023, we began including Touch Up case revenues in Americas and/or International net revenues that were previously included in Non-Case revenues and have recast business metrics for the periods presented above accordingly.
Results of Operations
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Net Revenues by Reportable Segment
We group our operations into two reportable segments: Clear Aligner segment and Systems and Services segment.
•Our Clear Aligner segment consists of Comprehensive Products, Non-Comprehensive Products and Non-Case revenues as defined below:
•Comprehensive Products include, but are not limited to, Invisalign Comprehensive and Invisalign First.
•Non-Comprehensive Products include, but are not limited to, Invisalign Moderate, Lite and Express packages and Invisalign Go and Invisalign Go Plus.
•We also offer in the U.S., Canada, and EMEA, a Doctor Subscription Program which is our monthly subscription-based clear aligner program. The program allows doctors the flexibility to order retainers and low-stage “touch-up” clear aligners within their subscribed tier and is designed for a segment of experienced Invisalign trained doctors who are currently not regularly using our retainers or low-stage aligners. The low-stage aligners, the Touch up product, are included as a Non-Comprehensive Product.
•Non-Case products include, but are not limited to, retention products including retention aligners ordered through the Doctor Subscription Program, Invisalign training, adjusting tools used by dental professionals during the course of treatment and Invisalign Accessory Products that are complementary to our doctor-prescribed principal products such as aligner cases (clamshells), teeth whitening products, cleaning solutions (crystals, foam and other material) and other oral health products available in certain commerce channels in select markets.
•Our Systems and Services segment consists of our iTero intraoral scanning systems, which includes a single hardware platform and restorative or orthodontic software options. Our services include subscription software, disposables, rentals, leases, pay per scan services, as well as exocad’s CAD/CAM software solutions that integrate workflows to dental labs and dental practices.
Net revenues for our Clear Aligner and Systems and Services segments by region for the year ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 are as follows (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
Clear Aligner revenues:
During 2023, we began including Touch Up case revenues in Americas and/or International net revenues. Touch Up case revenues were previously recorded in Non-case revenues. We have recast the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 to reflect this change. Amount and percentage changes are based on recast amounts. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
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Clear Aligner Case Volume
Case volume data which represents Clear Aligner case shipments for the year ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 is as follows (in thousands):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
During 2023, we began including Touch Up case revenues in Americas and/or International net revenues. Touch Up case revenues were previously recorded in Non-case revenues. We have recast the year ended December 31, 2022 and 2021 to reflect this change. Amount and percentage changes are based recast amounts. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
Total net revenues increased by $127.6 million in 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to an increase in Clear Aligner average selling price (“ASP”), an increase in Clear Aligner non-case revenue and higher Systems and Services services mix, partially offset by a decrease in both scanner volumes and ASP’s.
Clear Aligner - Americas
Americas net revenues decreased by $9.0 million in 2023 as compared to 2022, primarily due to a 2.1% decrease in case volumes, resulting in a reduction of net revenues of $31.4 million, partially offset by a $22.4 million increase due to higher ASP. Higher ASP includes price increases which increased net revenues by $68.6 million along with higher additional aligners which increased net revenues by $43.9 million. The increases in ASP were partially offset by higher promotional discounts which decreased net revenues by $44.3 million, a product mix shift to lower priced products which reduced net revenues by $37.6 million and higher sales credits which lowered net revenues $11.5 million.
Clear Aligner - International
International net revenues increased by $100.5 million in 2023 as compared to 2022due to a 3.5% increase in case volumes, resulting in an increase of net revenues by $46.9 million, and higher ASP increasing net revenues by $53.6 million. Higher ASP was largely due to higher additional aligners increasing net revenues by $100.8 million and price increases on most products which increased net revenues by $96.9 million. The increases in ASP were partially offset by a product mix shift to lower priced products reducing net revenues by $68.2 million, higher promotional discounts which reduced net revenues by $52.5 million, and unfavorable foreign exchange rates which decreased net revenues by $27.2 million.
Clear Aligner - Non-Case
Non-case net revenues increased by $35.2 million in 2023 compared to 2022 mainly due to increased volume of Vivera retainers across all regions which includes retention aligners ordered through our Doctor Subscription Program.
Systems and Services
Systems and Services net revenues decreased by $0.9 million in 2023 as compared to 2022 primarily due to a lower number of scanners sold which lowered net revenues by $26.1 million and lower scanner ASP which reduced net revenues by $23.9 million. The decrease in scanner net revenues was mostly offset by higher service revenues of $31.8 million and other revenues which increased $19.1 million primarily due to revenue from sales of certified pre-owned scanners, CAD/CAM software, and scanner rentals.
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Cost of net revenues and gross profit (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
Clear Aligner
Systems and Services
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
Cost of net revenues includes personnel-related costs including payroll and stock-based compensation for staff involved in the production process, the cost of materials, packaging, freight and shipping related costs, depreciation on capital equipment and facilities used in the production process, amortization of acquired intangible assets and training costs.
Clear Aligner
The gross margin percentage decreased in 2023 as compared to 2022 primarily due to a increased manufacturing spend offset by higher ASP.
Systems and Services
The gross margin percentage increased in 2023 as compared to 2022 primarily due to lower purchase price variance and higher service revenue mix, partially offset by lower ASP.
Selling, general and administrative (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
Selling, general and administrative expense generally includes personnel-related costs, including payroll, stock-based compensation and commissions for our sales force, marketing and advertising expenses including media, market research, marketing materials, clinical education, trade shows and industry events, legal and outside service costs, equipment, software and maintenance costs, depreciation and amortization expense and allocations of corporate overhead expenses including facilities and Information Technology (“IT”).
Selling, general and administrative expense increased in 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to higher employee costs, including higher salaries expense, fringe benefits, stock-based compensation and bonus, offset by lower advertising and marketing and outside service provider costs.
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Research and development (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
% of net revenues 9.0 % 8.2 % 8.2 % 6.3 %
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
Research and development expense generally includes personnel-related costs, including payroll and stock-based compensation, outside service costs associated with the research and development of new products and enhancements to existing products, software, equipment, material and maintenance costs, depreciation and amortization expense and allocations of corporate overhead expenses including facilities and IT.
Research and development expense increased in 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to higher employee costs, including higher salaries expense, fringe benefits, stock-based compensation and bonus as we continue to focus our investments in innovation and research.
Restructuring and other charges (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
% of net revenues 0.3 % 0.3 % 0.3 % — %
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
Restructuring and other charges incurred during 2023 was primarily related to post employment benefits, including employee severance.
Income from operations (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
Clear Aligner
Systems and Services
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
1Refer to Note 15 “Segments and Geographical Information” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on unallocated corporate expenses and the reconciliation to Consolidated Income from Operations.
Clear Aligner
Operating margin percentage remained relatively flat in 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to a decrease in gross margin which was offset by operating leverage.
Systems and Services
Operating margin percentage increased in 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to higher gross margin.
Interest income (in millions):
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Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
% of net revenues 0.4 % 0.1 % 0.1 % 0.1 %
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
Interest income generally includes interest earned on cash, cash equivalents and investment balances.
Interest income increased in 2023 compared to 2022 primarily due to higher interest rates during 2023.
Other income (expense), net (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
% of net revenues (0.5) % (1.3) % (1.3) % 0.8 %
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
Other income (expense), net, generally includes foreign exchange gains and losses, gains and losses on foreign currency forward contracts, interest expense, gains and losses on equity investments and other miscellaneous charges.
Other income (expense), net decreased in 2023 compared to 2022primarily due to the favorable impact of foreign exchange rates offset slightly by losses in investments in private companies.
Provision for (benefit from) income taxes (in millions):
Year Ended December 31, Year Ended December 31,
Changes and percentages are based on actual values. Certain tables may not sum or recalculate due to rounding.
The decrease in our effective tax rate for the year ended December 31, 2023 compared to the same period in 2022 is primarily attributable to the application of newly issued tax guidance, including IRS Notice 2023-55 and a change in our jurisdictional mix of income.
Liquidity and Capital Resources
Liquidity and Trends
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, we had the following cash and cash equivalents and short-term and long-term marketable securities (in thousands):
December 31,
As of December 31, 2023 and 2022, approximately $784.7 million and $653.7 million, respectively, of cash, cash equivalents and marketable securities were held by our foreign subsidiaries. We intend to reinvest our foreign subsidiary earnings indefinitely outside of the U.S. and do not expect to incur significant additional costs upon repatriation of these foreign earnings. We generate sufficient domestic operating cash flow and have access to $300.0 million under our revolving line of
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credit. We believe that our current cash balances and the borrowing capacity under our credit facility, if necessary, will be sufficient to fund our business for at least the next 12 months.
Our material cash requirements as of December 31, 2023 are as below:
•Our purchase commitments consist primarily of open purchase orders for goods and services, including manufacturing inventory, supplies and services, sales and marketing, research and development services and technological services, issued in the normal course of business. Our purchase commitments totaled $1,234.5 million. We anticipate a majority, an estimated $861.5 million, will be payable within the next 12 months. These purchase commitments exclude capital expenditures.
•We expect our investments in capital expenditures to be approximately $100.0 million for the next 12 months. Capital expenditures primarily relate to building construction and improvements as well as additional manufacturing capacity due to international expansion. Despite the challenging market conditions, we intend to expand our investments in research and development, manufacturing, treatment planning, sales and marketing operations to meet actual and anticipated local and regional demands.
•We have future operating lease payments of $153.5 million, which includes $13.3 million for leases that have not yet commenced as of December 31, 2023. Refer to Note 4 “Leases” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on the lease payments.
•We have approximately $650.0 million available for repurchases of our common stock under the stock repurchase program authorized by our Board of Directors in January 2023 (“January 2023 Repurchase Program”). Our stock repurchase program is subject to periodic evaluations to determine when and if repurchases are in the best interests of our stockholders, taking into account prevailing market conditions. Refer to Note 10 “Common Stock Repurchase Programs” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for details on our stock repurchase programs. Beginning in fiscal year 2023 our stock repurchases, net of certain issuances, were subject to a 1% excise tax. This excise tax is not expected to have a material impact on our liquidity or capital resources.
•On January 2, 2024 we completed the acquisition of the remaining interest in privately held Cubicure GmbH for total purchase consideration of approximately $87 million. We paid approximately $79 million in cash, which represents the total purchase consideration less credit for our previously owned interest.
•As of December 31, 2023, we had no material off-balance sheet arrangements that have, or are reasonably likely to have, a current or future material impact on our liquidity or capital resources.
Sources and Use of Cash
The following table summarizes our Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows for the year ended December 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021 (inthousands):
Year Ended December 31,
Net cash provided by (used in):
Operating Activities
For the year ended December 31, 2023, cash flows from operations of $785.8 million resulted primarily from our net income of approximately $445.1 million as well as the following:
Significant adjustments to net income
•Stock-based compensation of $154.0 million related to equity awards granted to employees and directors; and
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•Depreciation and amortization of $142.4 million related to our investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets.
Significant changes in working capital
•Inflow of $46.3 million, net from accrued and other long-term liabilities primarily due to higher incentive accruals for 2023, as well as timing of payments of other activities;
•Inflow of $86.7 million, net from deferred revenues due to the deferral of revenue on shipments;
•Inflow of $30.2 million, net from inventories primarily due to lower purchases of materials used in manufacturing; and
•Outflow of $104.6 million, net from accounts receivable due to timing of collections and increased revenues.
For the year ended December 31, 2022, cash flows from operations of $568.7 million resulted primarily from our net income of approximately $361.6 million as well as the following:
Significant adjustments to net income
•Stock-based compensation of $133.4 million related to equity awards granted to employees and directors;
•Depreciation and amortization of $125.8 million related to our investments in property, plant and equipment and intangible assets; and
Significant changes in working capital
•Inflow of $241.9 million, net from deferred revenues due to the deferral of revenue on shipments over the period as well as timing of revenue recognition;
•Outflow of $130.1 million, net from inventories primarily due to lower shipment volumes over the period in addition to our efforts to manage stock at appropriate levels as required; and
•Outflow of $121.9 million, net from accrued and other long-term liabilities primarily due to the payment of our 2021 corporate bonus as well as timing payment of other activities.
Investing Activities
Net cash used in investing activities was $195.9 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 which primarily consisted of purchases of property, plant and equipment of $177.7 million which included a building acquisition for $24.5 million, an investment in the equity of a privately held company of $77.0 million and purchases of marketable securities of $2.9 million, partially offset by sales and maturities of marketable securities of $61.4 million.
Net cash used in investing activities was $213.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 which primarily consisted of purchases of property, plant and equipment of $291.9 million, purchases of marketable securities of $28.0 million and $12.3 million cash paid relating to a business acquisition. These outflows were partially offset by sales and maturities of marketable securities of $121.1 million.
Financing Activities
Net cash used in financing activities was $598.3 million for the year ended December 31, 2023 which consisted of payments to repurchase shares of our common stock of $602.4 million and payroll taxes paid for equity awards through share withholdings of $22.6 million, which were partially offset by $26.6 million of proceeds from the issuance of common stock.
Net cash used in financing activities was $501.7 million for the year ended December 31, 2022 which consisted of payments to repurchase shares of our common stock of $475.0 million and payroll taxes paid for equity awards through share withholdings of $52.8 million, which were partially offset by $26.1 million of proceeds from the issuance of common stock.
Critical Accounting Estimates
Management’s discussion and analysis of our financial condition and results of operations is based upon our consolidated financial statements, which have been prepared in accordance with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. The preparation of financial statements requires management to make estimates and judgments that affect the reported amounts of assets and liabilities, revenues and expenses and disclosures at the date of the financial statements. We
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evaluate our estimates on an on-going basis and use authoritative pronouncements, historical experience and other assumptions as the basis for making the estimates. Actual results could differ from those estimates.
We believe the following critical accounting estimates affect our more significant judgments used in the preparation of our consolidated financial statements. For further information on all of our significant accounting policies, see Note 1 “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements.
Revenue Recognition
Our revenues are derived primarily from the sale of aligners, scanners, and services from our Clear Aligner and Systems and Services segments. We enter into sales contracts that may consist of multiple distinct performance obligations where certain performance obligations of the sales contract are not delivered in one reporting period. We measure and allocate revenues according to ASC 606-10, “Revenues from Contracts with Customers.”
Determining the standalone selling price (“SSP”) in order to allocate consideration from the contract to the individual performance obligations is the result of various factors, such as historical prices, changing trends and market conditions, costs, and gross margins. While changes in the allocation of the SSP between performance obligations will not affect the amount of total revenues recognized for a particular contract, any material changes could impact the timing of revenue recognition, which would have a material effect on our financial position and result of operations. This is because the contract consideration is allocated to each performance obligation, delivered or undelivered, at the inception of the contract based on the SSP of each distinct performance obligation.
We allocate consideration for each clear aligner treatment plan based on each unit’s SSP. Management considers a variety of factors such as same or similar product historical sales, costs, and gross margin, which may vary over time depending upon the unique facts and circumstances related to each performance obligation in making these estimates. In addition to historical data, we take into consideration changing trends and market conditions. For treatment plans with multiple options, we also consider usage rates, which is the number of times a customer is expected to order more aligners after the initial shipment. Our process for estimating usage rates requires significant judgment and evaluation of inputs, including historical usage data by region, country and channel.
We estimate the SSP of each element in a scanner system and services sale taking into consideration same or similar product historical prices as well as our discounting strategies. For CAD/CAM services, we estimate the SSP of each element, including the initial software license and maintenance and support, using data such as historical prices.
Unfulfilled Performance Obligations for Clear Aligners and Scanners
Our unfulfilled performance obligations, including deferred revenues and backlog, and the estimated revenues expected to be recognized in the future related to these performance obligations are $1,578.3 million and $1,515.4 million as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, respectively. This includes performance obligations from the Clear Aligner reportable segment, primarily the shipment of additional aligners, which are fulfilled over six months to five years. This also includes performance obligations from our Systems and Services reportable segment, primarily services and support, which are fulfilled over one to five years, and contracted deliveries of additional scanners. The estimate includes both product and service unfulfilled performance obligations and the time range reflects our best estimate of when we will transfer control to the customer and may change based on customer usage patterns, timing of shipments, readiness of customers' facilities for installation, and manufacturing availability.
Impairment of Goodwill and Finite-Lived Intangible Assets
Goodwill
We evaluate goodwill for impairment at least annually on November 30th or more frequently if indicators of impairment are identified between annual testing dates. Goodwill is tested for impairment between annual testing dates when events or circumstances indicate that the fair value of a reporting unit has been reduced below its carrying value. When an indicator of impairment is identified we perform a quantitative impairment assessment in which we determine the fair value of a reporting unit and compare it to the carrying value of the respective reporting unit. We generally determine the fair value of a reporting unit via a discounted cash flow analysis and allocate the net assets of the Company to each reporting unit to determine carrying value. We will record an impairment charge when our quantitative impairment analysis indicates that the carrying value of a reporting unit exceeds its fair value. Both the determination of fair value and carrying value of a reporting unit require management to exercise significant judgement related to operating assumptions and estimates and allocation methodologies.
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Finite-Lived Intangible Assets
Finite-lived intangible assets are reviewed for impairment when events or circumstances indicate that the carrying value of an asset (asset group) may not be recoverable. When an impairment indicator is identified, we perform a recoverability test, in which the estimated, undiscounted future cash flows expected to result from the use and eventual disposition of the asset (asset group) are compared to the carrying value of the asset (asset group). When our recoverability test results in undiscounted cash flows more than carrying value, no impairment is recorded. However, when our recoverability test results in undiscounted cash flows that are less than carrying value, we determine the fair value of the asset (asset group) and reduce the carrying amount of the asset (asset group), through an impairment charge, to its fair value. The process of identifying impairment indicators, preparing an undiscounted cash flow and determining the fair value of the asset (asset group) require management to exercise significant judgement related to various assumptions and estimates.
If we were to have impairments to goodwill or finite-lived intangible assets, it could adversely affect our operating results. During the years ended 2023 and 2022, we did not have any impairment charges related to our goodwill or finite-lived intangible assets.
Accounting for Income Taxes
We are subject to income taxes in the U.S. and numerous foreign jurisdictions. The evaluation of our uncertain tax positions involves significant judgment in the interpretation and application of U.S. GAAP and complex domestic and international tax laws related to the allocation of international taxation rights between countries. We are also required to evaluate the realizability of our deferred tax assets on an ongoing basis in accordance with U.S. GAAP, which requires the assessment of both of our historical and future performance as well as other relevant factors. Realization of our deferred tax assets is dependent on our ability to generate future taxable income which is determined based on assumptions such as estimated growth rates in revenues, gross margins, future cash flows and discount rates. The accuracy of these estimates could be affected by unforeseen events or actual results, and the sustainability of our future tax benefits is dependent upon the acceptance of these valuation estimates and assumptions by the taxing authorities.
Accounting for Legal Proceedings and Litigation
Estimates of probable losses resulting from litigation are inherently difficult to make, particularly when the matters are in early procedural stages with incomplete facts and information. The final outcome of legal proceedings is dependent on many variables difficult to predict and, therefore, the ultimate cost to entirely resolve such matters may be materially different than the amount of current estimates. Consequently, new information or changes in judgments and estimates could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations or cash flows.
Recent Accounting Pronouncements
See Note 1 “Summary of Significant Accounting Policies” of the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for a discussion of recent accounting pronouncements, including the expected dates of adoption and estimated effects, if any, on results of operations and financial condition, which is incorporated herein.
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk.
In the normal course of business, we are exposed to interest rate, foreign currency exchange and inflation risks that could impact our financial position and results of operations. In addition, we are subject to the broad market risk that is created by the global market disruptions and uncertainties resulting from macroeconomic challenges, various military conflicts and consumer confidence. Further discussion on these risks may be found in Item 1A of this Annual Report on Form 10-K under the heading “Risk Factors”.
Interest Rate Risk
Changes in interest rates could impact our anticipated interest income on our cash and cash equivalents and investments in marketable securities. Our investments are fixed-rate short-term and long-term securities. Fixed-rate securities may have their fair market value adversely impacted due to a rise in interest rates, and, as a result, our future investment income may fall short of expectations or we may suffer losses in principal if forced to sell securities which have declined in market value due. As of December 31, 2023, we had approximately $43.3 million invested in available-for-sale marketable securities. An immediate 10% change in interest rates would not have a material adverse impact on our future operating results and cash flows.
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We do not enter into investments for trading or speculative purposes and have not used any derivative financial instruments to manage our interest rate risk exposure. As of December 31, 2023, we are not subject to risks from immediate interest rate increases on our unsecured revolving line of credit facility.
Currency Rate Risk
As a result of our international business activities, our financial results have been affected by factors such as changes in foreign currency exchange rates as well as economic conditions in foreign markets, and there is no assurance that exchange rate fluctuations will not harm our business in the future. We generally sell our products in the local currency of the respective countries. This provides some natural hedging because most of the subsidiaries’ operating expenses are generally denominated in their local currencies.
We enter into foreign currency forward contracts for currencies where we have exposures, primarily the Euro, British Pound, Chinese Yuan, Polish Zloty and Canadian Dollar, to minimize the short-term impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations on cash and certain trade and intercompany receivables and payables.These forward contracts are not designated as hedging instruments and are generally one month in original maturity and are marked to market through earnings every period. The gains and losses on these forward contracts are intended to offset the gains and losses in the underlying foreign currency denominated monetary assets and liabilities being economically hedged. We do not enter into foreign currency forward contracts for trading or speculative purposes. As our international operations grow, we will continue to reassess our approach to managing the risks relating to fluctuations in currency rates. It is difficult to predict the impact forward contracts could have on our results of operations.
Although we will continue to monitor our exposure to currency fluctuations, and, where appropriate, may use forward contracts to minimize the effect of these fluctuations, the impact of an aggregate change of 10% in foreign currency exchange rates relative to the U.S. dollar on our results of operations and financial position could be material.
Inflation Risk
The economy has been impacted by certain macroeconomic challenges which have contributed to a rising inflationary trend that have impacted both our revenues and costs globally, and which we expect will continue into the foreseeable future. If our costs become subject to significant inflationary pressures, we may not be able to fully offset such higher costs through price increases. There can be no assurance that our results of operations and financial condition will not be materially impacted by inflation in the future.
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Item 8.Financial Statements and Supplementary Data.
INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Page
Report of Management on Internal Control over Financial Reporting 53
Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm (PCAOB ID 238) 54
Consolidated Balance Sheets as of December 31, 2023 and 2022 58
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 61
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REPORT OF MANAGEMENT ON INTERNAL CONTROL OVER FINANCIAL REPORTING
Management of Align is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting as defined in Rules 13a-15(f) and 15d-15(f) under the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Our internal control over financial reporting is designed by, or under supervision of, our CEO and CFO, and effected by the board of directors, management and other personnel 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. Internal control over financial reporting includes those policies and procedures that:
•pertain to the maintenance of records that, in reasonable detail, accurately and fairly reflect the transactions and dispositions of the assets of Align;
•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 Align are being made only in accordance with authorizations of management and directors of Align; and
•provide reasonable assurance regarding prevention or timely detection of unauthorized acquisition, use or disposition of Align’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. In addition, 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.
Management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023. In making this assessment, management used the criteria set forth in Internal Control-Integrated Framework(2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”).
Based on our assessment, management has concluded that, as of December 31, 2023, our internal control over financial reporting was effective based on criteria in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.
The effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023 has been audited by PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, an independent registered public accounting firm, as stated in their report which is included herein.
/S/ JOSEPH M. HOGAN
Joseph M. Hogan
President and Chief Executive Officer
/S/ JOHN F. MORICI
John F. Morici
Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President, Global Finance
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Report of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm
To theBoard of Directors and Stockholders of Align Technology, Inc.
Opinions on the Financial Statements and Internal Control over Financial Reporting
We have audited the accompanying consolidated balance sheets of Align Technology, Inc. and its subsidiaries (the “Company”) as of December 31, 2023 and 2022, and the related consolidated statements of operations, of comprehensive income, of stockholders’ equity and of cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023, including the related notes and financial statement schedule listed in the index appearing under Item 15(a)(2) (collectively referred to as the “consolidated financial statements”). We also have audited the Company's internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, 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, 2023 and 2022, and the results of its operations and its cash flows for each of the three years in the period ended December 31, 2023 in conformity with accounting principles generally accepted in the United States of America. Also in our opinion, the Company maintained, in all material respects, effective internal control over financial reporting as of December 31, 2023, based on criteria established in Internal Control - Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the COSO.
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 the accompanying Report of Management on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting. 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.