Item 1A. Risk Factors
Our operations and financial results are subject to various risks and uncertainties, including those described in the sections below, that could adversely affect our business, financial condition, results of operations, cash flows, liquidity, revenue, growth, prospects, demand, reputation, and the trading price of our common stock, and make an investment in us speculative or risky. The following does not summarize all of the risks that we face, and there may be additional risks or uncertainties that are currently unknown or not believed to be material that occur or become material.
Business and Operational Risks
The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic could continue to adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.
We are unable to accurately predict the full impact that the COVID-19 pandemic will have on our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and cash flows due to numerous uncertainties, including the duration and severity of the pandemic, the impact of COVID-19 variants, and the distribution, acceptance and effectiveness of vaccines and containment measures. Our compliance with these measures has impacted our day-to-day operations and could disrupt our business and operations, as well as that of our key customers, suppliers (including contract manufacturers) and other counterparties, for an indefinite period of time. To support the health and well-being of our employees, customers, partners and communities, a vast majority of our employees are still working remotely as of February 22, 2022. However, we have begun a limited pilot program for employees to begin voluntarily returning to work in certain jurisdictions with lower rates of new COVID-19 cases and higher vaccination rates.
The disruptions to our operations caused by COVID-19 may result in inefficiencies, delays and additional costs in our product development, sales, marketing and customer service efforts that we cannot fully mitigate through remote or other alternative work arrangements. In addition, we have experienced, and may continue to experience, some volatility in our hardware product delivery times due to delays in obtaining access to customer sites. Volatile surges in demand and in infection rates may also result in the unavailability, delay, or congestion of, and increased costs for, transportation and the raw materials, inputs, and other matters used in our business and by our customers. Moreover, access by our employees to our laboratory facilities that are necessary for the development of certain IP products has been and may in the future be disrupted due to local conditions.
More generally, the impact of the pandemic may increase the possibility of an extended global economic downturn and extended periods of high inflation, and has caused volatility in financial markets, which could affect demand for our products and services and impact our results and financial condition even after the pandemic is contained and local conditions improve. For example, we may be unable to collect receivables from those customers significantly impacted by COVID-19 and, in fact, have received and may continue to receive, requests from our customers to delay their payments to us, while we continue to provide services to these customers. Also, a decrease in orders in a given period could negatively affect our revenues in future periods, particularly if experienced on a sustained basis, because a substantial proportion of our software licenses yield revenue recognized over time. The pandemic may also have the effect of heightening many of the other risks described in this “Risk Factors” section, including risks associated with our customers and supply chain. We will continue to evaluate the nature and extent of the impact of COVID-19 to our business.
We have experienced varied operating results, and our operating results for any particular fiscal period are affected by the timing of revenue recognition, particularly for our emulation and prototyping hardware and IP products.
Historical results of operations should not be viewed as reliable indicators of our future performance. Various factors affect our operating results, and some of them are not within our control. Our operating results for any period are affected by the mix of products and services sold in a given period and the timing of revenue recognition, particularly for our emulation and prototyping hardware and IP products. In addition, we have recorded net losses in the past and may record net losses in the future. Also, our cash flows from operating activities have and will continue to fluctuate due to a number of factors, including the timing of our billings, collections, disbursements and tax payments.
A substantial portion of the product revenue related to our hardware business and our IP offerings is recognized upon delivery, and our forecasted revenue results are based, in part, on our expectations of hardware and IP to be delivered in a particular quarter. Therefore, changes in hardware and IP bookings or deliveries relative to expectations will have a more immediate impact on our revenue than changes in software or services bookings, for which revenue is generally recognized over time.
As we continue to expand our IP offerings, a portion of the revenue related to our IP bookings will be deferred until we complete and deliver the licensed IP to our customers. As a result, costs related to the research and development of the IP may be incurred prior to the recognition of the related revenue.
11
Table of Contents
Revenue related to our hardware and IP products is inherently difficult to predict because sales of our hardware and IP products depend on the commencement of new projects for the design and development of complex ICs and systems by our customers, our customers’ willingness to expend capital to deploy our new and existing hardware or IP products in those projects and the availability of our new and existing hardware or IP products for delivery. Therefore, our hardware or IP sales may be delayed or may decrease if our customers delay or cancel projects because their spending is constrained or if there are problems or delays with the supply, delivery or installation of our hardware or IP products or our hardware suppliers. Moreover, the hardware and IP markets are highly competitive, and our customers may choose to purchase a competitor’s hardware or IP product based on cost, performance or other factors. These factors may result in lower revenue, which would have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or cash flows.
A substantial proportion of our software licenses yield revenue recognized over time, which may make it difficult for us to rapidly increase our revenue in future fiscal periods, and means that a decrease in orders in a given period would negatively affect our revenues in future periods.
We plan our operating expenses based on forecasted revenue, expected business needs and other factors such as changes in inflation. These expenses and the effect of long-term commitments are relatively fixed in the short term. Bookings and the related revenue are harder to forecast in a difficult economic environment. If we experience a shortfall in bookings, our operating results could differ from our expectations because we may not be able to quickly reduce our expenses in response to short-term business changes. Our operating expenses are also impacted by economic conditions, such as inflation. Unexpected increases in inflation could cause our expenses to increase at a rate faster than our product pricing to recover such increases.
The methods, estimates and judgments that we use in applying our accounting policies have a significant impact on our results of operations (see “Critical Accounting Estimates” under Part II, Item 7, “Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations”). Such methods, estimates and judgments are, by their nature, subject to substantial risks, uncertainties and assumptions, and factors may arise over time that may lead us to change our methods, estimates and judgments. Changes in those methods, estimates and judgments could significantly affect our results of operations.
Any periods of uncertainty in the global economy and international trade relations, changes in governmental policies relating to technology, and any potential downturn in the semiconductor and electronics industries, may negatively impact our business and reduce our bookings levels and revenue.
Purchases of our products and services are dependent upon the commencement of new design projects by IC manufacturers and electronics systems companies. The IC and electronics systems industries are cyclical and are characterized by constant and rapid technological change, rapid product obsolescence and price erosion, evolving standards, short product life cycles and wide fluctuations in product supply and demand.
The IC and electronics systems industries have also experienced significant downturns in connection with, or in anticipation of, maturing product cycles of both these industries’ and their customers’ products. The current outlook for the global economy is uncertain and may result in a decrease in spending on our products and services despite recent growth.
Uncertainty about future political and economic conditions, adverse changes to international trade relationships between countries in which we do business or future decline in corporate or consumer spending could negatively impact our customers’ businesses, reducing the number of new chip designs and their overall research and development spending, including their spending on our products and services, and as a result decrease demand for our products and services. Decreased bookings for our products and services, customer bankruptcies, consolidation among our customers, or problems or delays with our hardware suppliers or with the supply or delivery of our hardware products could also adversely affect our ability to grow our business or adversely affect our future revenues and financial results. Our future business and financial results, including demand for our products and services, are subject to considerable uncertainties that could impact our stock price. If economic conditions or international trade relationships between countries in which we do business deteriorate in the future, or, in particular, if semiconductor or electronics systems industry revenues do not grow, including as a result of the current global semiconductor shortage extending or intensifying, the ability to export or import products or services by the semiconductor or electronics systems industry is adversely restricted, or our supplies of hardware components and products are subject to problems or delays, we may be adversely affected.
We are subject to governmental export and import controls that could subject us to liability or impair our ability to compete in global markets as well as a variety of other laws and regulations.
We must comply with regulations of the United States and of certain other countries in selling or shipping our products and transferring our technology outside the United States, to foreign nationals or across borders. Changes in these regulations or restrictions due to changes in trade relationships with the United States, including new tariffs, trade protection measures, import or export licensing requirements, sanctions, trade embargoes and other trade barriers, could harm our business, operating results or financial condition.
12
Table of Contents
For example, in fiscal 2019, the DOC placed certain entities who are our customers on the “Entity List,” limiting our ability to deliver products and services to these entities. When certain customers are on the Entity List or are subject to new or expanded trade restrictions, such as the expansion in scope by the DOC of the military end-user and military end-use regulations in April 2020 and the foreign-produced direct product rules in August 2020, it will have a negative effect on our ability to sell products and provide services to these customers without first obtaining a license from the BIS. In addition, new or expanded trade restrictions, such as the continued expansion of the military end-user and military end-use rule, the foreign-produced direct product rules, or any future rule that will prevent a class of technology from export to any specific country or countries without a license, will increase our costs or expenses. Entity List restrictions and other trade restrictions may also encourage customers to seek substitute products from our competitors, including a growing class of foreign competitors and open source alternatives, that are not subject to these restrictions or to develop their own solutions, thereby decreasing our long-term competitiveness. In addition, although customers are not prohibited from paying (and we are not restricted from collecting) for products we previously delivered to them, the credit risks associated with outstanding receivables from customers on the Entity List – including receivables from anti-piracy enforcement efforts and litigation settlements – and other trade restrictions could increase as a result of these limitations. In particular, China’s stated national policy to be a global leader in all segments of the semiconductor industry by 2030 has resulted in and may continue to cause increased competitive capability in China.
We cannot predict whether or when any changes will be made that eliminate or decrease these limitations on our ability to sell products and provide services to these Entity List customers or other customers impacted by other trade restrictions. We are unable to predict the duration of the export restrictions imposed with respect to any particular customer or the long-term effects on our business or our customers’ business. Additionally, other companies may be added to the Entity List and/or be subject to new or expanded trade restrictions and restrictions may be imposed against specific countries. In addition, there may be indirect impacts to our business which we cannot reasonably quantify, including that a country-specific export control may limit or prevent our employees who are nationals of the restricted country from performing their duties unless a license can be obtained. Additionally our business may also be impacted by other trade restrictions that may be imposed by the U.S., China, or other countries. Restrictions on our ability to sell and ship our products to customers on the Entity List have had, and may continue to have, an adverse effect on our business, results of operations or financial condition.
Failure to obtain export licenses or restrictions on trade imposed by the United States or other countries could harm our business by rendering us unable to sell or ship products and transfer our technology outside of the United States or across borders. Although we have implemented policies and procedures to help us comply with all applicable trade restrictions, we and governmental authorities have had and may in the future have reason to inquire into particular sales. For example, in February 2021, we received an administrative subpoena from BIS requesting the production of records in connection with certain sales to China. We are cooperating with BIS and are in the process of responding to the subpoena as well as conducting an internal review. Such inquiries are subject to uncertainties and the outcomes of this and other proceedings that may occur are difficult to predict. The laws and policies of the United States and other countries in this area are evolving and changing, and we have experienced and may continue to experience challenges in complying with new rules as they become effective. Any failure or alleged failure to comply with these laws and policies could have negative consequences, including significant legal costs, government investigations, penalties, denial of export privileges and debarment from participation in U.S. government contracts, any of which could have a material adverse effect on our operations, reputation and financial condition.
In addition to export control laws, our global operations are subject to numerous U.S. and foreign laws and regulations, including those related to anti-corruption, tax, corporate governance, financial and other disclosures, competition, data privacy and employment. These laws and regulations are complex and may have differing or conflicting legal standards, making compliance difficult and costly, and changes to these laws may require us to make significant changes to our business operations that may adversely affect our business overall. The policies and procedures we have implemented to assist our compliance with these laws and regulations do not provide complete assurance that our employees, contractors, agents or partners will not violate such laws and regulations. Any violation individually or in the aggregate could have a material adverse effect on our operations, reputation and financial condition.
We have acquired and expect to acquire other companies and businesses and may not realize the expected benefits of these acquisitions.
We have acquired and expect to acquire other companies and businesses in order to expand our product offerings and enter into new markets. Our future revenue growth and expansion of our business is dependent on our successful integration of our acquisitions. We may incur significant costs in connection with potential transactions, including acquisitions that are not consummated. Potential and completed acquisitions involve a number of risks. If any of the following acquisition-related risks occur, our business, operating results or financial condition could be adversely impacted:
•the failure to complete transactions on a timely basis or at all, including as a result of governmental antitrust approval dynamics;
•the failure to realize, or a delay in realizing, anticipated benefits such as cost savings and revenue enhancements;
•overlapping customers and product sets that impact our ability to maintain revenue at historical rates;
•the failure to understand, compete and operate effectively in markets where we have limited experience;
•the failure to integrate, combine or manage acquired products, infrastructure, technologies and businesses effectively;
•difficulties in integrating or retaining employees;
13
Table of Contents
•the substantial diversion of management’s attention from day-to-day business when evaluating and negotiating these transactions and integrating an acquired company or business;
•unanticipated costs or assumed liabilities, including those incurred to remediate issues of an acquired company discovered during due diligence or thereafter, such that we cannot realize the anticipated value of the acquisition; or
•unwillingness of customers of an acquired business to continue licensing or buying products from us.
In a number of our completed acquisitions, we have agreed to make future payments, either in the form of employee retention bonuses or contingent purchase price payments, based on the achievement of specified milestones. The performance goals pursuant to which these future payments may be made generally relate to the achievement by the acquired company or business, or by the employees who joined us with the acquired company or business, of certain specified bookings, revenue, run rate, product proliferation, product development or employee retention goals during a specified period following completion of the applicable acquisition. The specific performance goal levels and amounts and timing of employee bonuses or contingent purchase price payments vary with each acquisition. We may use contingent payments in connection with acquisitions in the future, and we may be required to make certain contingent payments without deriving the value we expect to derive from an acquisition in excess of such payments.
Future acquisitions may involve issuances of stock as full or partial payment of the purchase price for the acquired company or business, grants of restricted stock, restricted stock units or stock options to employees of the acquired companies or businesses (which may be dilutive to existing stockholders), expenditure of substantial cash resources or the incurrence of a material amount of debt. These arrangements may impact our liquidity, financial position and results of operations or increase dilution of our stockholders’ equity interests in the company.
We make and expect to make strategic investments and may not realize the expected benefits of these investments.
We have made and expect to make strategic investments in which we have a minority equity interest and do not have operational control. These strategic investments may also involve collaboration agreements that further and complement our strategy and marketing efforts. We may not be able to realize the expected benefits of these investments, and the related collaborations may be difficult to manage without sole decision-making authority and the economic or business interests in these collaborations may become inconsistent with our interests. These challenges could have an adverse effect on our business, operating results or financial condition.
The accounting applied to strategic investments depends on a number of factors, including, but not limited to, our percentage of ownership and the level of our influence over the entity. Losses experienced by these strategic investment entities or associated impairment charges could adversely impact our operating results and the value of our investment. In addition, if these entities fail and cease operations, we may lose the value of our investment and shared profits.
The effect of foreign exchange rate fluctuations may adversely impact our revenue, expenses, cash flows and financial condition.
We have significant operations outside the United States. Our revenue from international operations as a percentage of total revenue has historically exceeded 50%, and we expect that revenue from our international operations will continue to account for a significant portion of our total revenue. We also transact business in various foreign currencies, although the majority of our revenue contracts worldwide are denominated in U.S. dollars. Volatility of currencies in countries where we conduct business, most notably the U.S. dollar, Chinese renminbi, Japanese yen, European Union euro, British pound and Indian rupee have had and may in the future have an effect on our revenue or operating results.
Fluctuations in the exchange rate between the U.S. dollar and the currencies of other countries where we conduct business could seriously affect our business, operating results or financial condition, including due to inflation, devaluations and currency controls. For example, if we price our products and services in a foreign currency, we receive fewer U.S. dollars when this currency declines in value relative to the U.S. dollar. If we price our products and services in U.S. dollars, the decrease in value of a local currency results in an increase in the price for our products and services compared to those products of our competitors that are priced in this currency. This could result in our prices being uncompetitive in markets where business is transacted in the local currency. On the other hand, when a foreign currency increases in value relative to the U.S. dollar, it takes more U.S. dollars to purchase the same amount of the foreign currency. As we use the foreign currency to fund payroll costs and other operating expenses in our international operations, this results in an increase in operating expenses. Approximately 34% of our total costs and expenses are transacted in foreign currencies. Our attempts to reduce the effect of foreign currency fluctuations may be unsuccessful, and significant exchange rate movements may adversely impact our results of operations as expressed in U.S. dollars.
14
Table of Contents
We could suffer serious harm to our business because of the infringement of our intellectual property rights by third parties or because of our infringement of the intellectual property rights of third parties, as well as any associated efforts to enforce such rights, including through intellectual property litigation.
There are numerous patents relating to our business and ecosystem. New patents are being issued at a rapid rate and are owned by computational software companies as well as entities and individuals outside the computational software field, including parties whose income is primarily derived from infringement-related licensing and litigation. It is not always practicable or possible to determine in advance whether a product or any of its components infringes the patent rights of others. As a result, from time to time, we may be compelled to respond to or prosecute intellectual property infringement claims to protect our rights or defend a customer’s rights.
Intellectual property infringement claims, including contractual defense reimbursement obligations related to third-party claims against our customers, regardless of merit, could consume valuable management time, result in costly litigation or cause product shipment delays, all of which could seriously harm our business, operating results or financial condition. The risk of infringement and related indemnification claims associated with design IP products that are incorporated into a customer product broadly used by consumers may be higher than the risk associated with our software products. In settling these claims, we may be required to enter into royalty or licensing agreements with the third parties claiming infringement. These royalty or licensing agreements may not be available on terms favorable to us or at all. Being compelled to enter into a license agreement with unfavorable terms could seriously harm our business, operating results or financial condition.
Any potential intellectual property litigation could compel us to do one or more of the following:
•pay damages (including the potential for treble damages), license fees or royalties (including royalties for past periods);
•stop licensing products or providing services that use the challenged intellectual property;
•obtain a license to sell or use the relevant technology, which license may not be available on reasonable terms, or at all; or
•redesign the challenged technology, which could be time consuming and costly, or impossible.
If we were compelled to take any of these actions, our business, reputation or operating results might suffer.
If our security measures are breached or vulnerabilities are discovered in our products and services, and an unauthorized party obtains access to customer data, financial data or assets or our proprietary business information, our information systems and products and services may be perceived as being unsecure, we could experience business or financial harm, and our business and reputation could be harmed.
Our products and services involve storage, including cloud-based storage, and transmission of our proprietary information and that of our customers. Despite our security measures, our information technology and infrastructure, as well as our products and services, may be vulnerable to cyber attacks by unauthorized third parties (which may include nation-states and individuals sponsored by them) or breaches due to employee error, malfeasance or other vulnerabilities or disruptions, which could result in unauthorized disclosure of sensitive information and could significantly interfere with our business operations or those of our customers. Third parties attempt to gain unauthorized access through a variety of methods (such as the use of viruses, malware, ransomware, phishing, denial of service attacks and other cyber attacks) and corrupt the processes of the products and services that we provide. We may also be a target of malicious attacks in an attempt to gain access to our network, including our Cadence Cloud portfolio, which includes both our managed and customer-managed environments, or data centers or those of our customers or end users; steal proprietary information related to our business, products, services or infrastructure; steal financial data or assets or interrupt our systems and services or those of our customers or others. Breaches of our security measures or vulnerabilities in our products or services could expose us to a risk of loss or misuse of this information, loss of financial assets, business interruption, litigation and potential liability. Because techniques used to obtain unauthorized access or to sabotage information systems change frequently and generally are not recognized until launched against a target, we may be unable to anticipate these techniques or to implement adequate preventive measures. In recent years, we have observed, and expect to continue to see, far reaching vulnerabilities, such as the remote code execution vulnerability in Log4j, an open source component of the Apache Software Foundation, that was widely reported in December 2021 as impacting many systems globally. Furthermore, we have and may continue to acquire companies with less sophisticated security measures and that have had or may experience in the future cybersecurity incidents causing business or financial harm. In addition, if we select a vendor that uses cloud storage of information as part of their service or product offerings or are selected as a vendor for our Cadence Cloud portfolio, despite our attempts to validate the security of such services, our proprietary information may be misappropriated by third parties. In the event of an actual or perceived breach of our security, or the security of one of our vendors, the market perception of the effectiveness of our security measures could be harmed, legal or regulatory actions could be initiated against us and we could suffer damage to our reputation or our business, or lose existing customers and our ability to obtain new customers (including government customers), or suffer harm to our financial condition.
15
Table of Contents
Risks associated with our international operations could adversely impact our financial condition.
A significant amount of our revenue is derived from our international operations, and we have offices throughout the world, including key research and development facilities outside of the United States. Our international operations may be subject to a number of risks, including:
•government trade restrictions, including tariffs, export or import regulations, sanctions or other trade barriers, including licensing requirements for exports, which may lengthen the sales cycle or restrict or prohibit the sale or licensing of certain products;
•country-specific export controls could impact our employees who are nationals of the restricted country, preventing these foreign nationals from performing their technology-focused roles which may slow our pace of innovation and/or impact our ability to service customers unless an export license is granted;
•limitations on repatriation of earnings and on the conversion of foreign currencies;
•reduced protection of intellectual property rights and heightened exposure to intellectual property theft;
•longer collection periods for receivables and greater difficulty in collecting accounts receivable;
•difficulties in managing foreign operations;
•political and economic instability;
•unexpected changes in legal and regulatory requirements;
•differing employment practices and labor issues or inability to continue to offer competitive compensation in certain growing regions;
•variations in costs or expenses associated with our international operations, including as a result of changes in foreign tax laws or devaluation of the U.S. dollar relative to other foreign currencies; and
•public health emergencies and related public health measures, including restrictions on travel between jurisdictions in which we and our customers and suppliers operate.
Some of our international research and development and other facilities are in parts of the world where there may be a greater risk of business interruption as a result of political instability, terrorist acts or military conflicts than businesses located domestically. Furthermore, this potential harm is exacerbated because damage to or disruptions at our international research and development facilities could have a more significant adverse effect on our ability to develop new or improve existing products than other businesses that may only have sales offices or other less critical operations abroad. We are not insured for losses or interruptions caused by acts of war. Furthermore, our operations are dependent upon the connectivity of our operations throughout the world. Activities that interfere with our international connectivity or operations, such as cyber hacking, the introduction of a virus into our computer systems, natural disasters, public health emergencies, civil unrest or terrorism, could significantly interfere with our business operations.
In addition, internal controls, policies and procedures and employee training and compliance programs that we have implemented to deter prohibited practices may not prevent our employees, contractors or agents from violating or circumventing our policies and the laws and regulations applicable to our worldwide operations.
We depend upon our management team and key employees, and our failure to attract, train, motivate and retain management and key employees may make us less competitive and therefore harm our results of operations.
Our business depends upon the continued services, efforts and abilities of our senior management and other key employees. Competition for highly skilled executive officers and employees can be intense, particularly in geographic areas recognized as high technology centers. In addition, competition for qualified personnel, including software engineers, in the EDA, commercial electronics engineering services and IP industries has intensified. Further, increased uncertainty regarding social, political and immigration policies in the United States and abroad may make it difficult to recruit employees with adequate experience; and governmental policies resulting in increased funding of domestic technology companies, such as China’s stated national policy to be a global leader in all segments of the semiconductor industry by 2030, has caused and may continue to cause difficulty in retaining and attracting local talent. We may also experience increased compensation costs that are not offset by either improved productivity or higher sales. We may not be successful in recruiting new personnel and in training, retaining and motivating existing personnel. Our ability to do so also depends on how well we maintain a strong workplace culture that is attractive to employees, particularly as we transition employees back to the office, and hiring and training of new employees may be adversely impacted by global economic uncertainty and office closures. In October 2021, we expanded our vaccine policy to require that U.S. employees be fully vaccinated against COVID-19, or obtain an accommodation, by December 2021, and the implementation of this policy may result in difficulty attracting or retaining employees. From time to time, there may be changes in our management team resulting from the hiring and departure of executive officers, and as a result, we may experience disruption to our business that may harm our operating results and our relationships with our employees, customers and suppliers may be adversely affected.
16
Table of Contents
To attract, retain and motivate individuals with the requisite expertise, we may be required to grant large numbers of stock options or other stock-based incentive awards, which may be dilutive to existing stockholders and increase compensation expense, and pay significant base salaries and cash bonuses, which could harm our operating results. The high cost of training new employees, not fully utilizing these employees, or losing trained employees to competing employers could also reduce our operating margins and harm our business or operating results.
We rely on our proprietary technology, as well as software and other intellectual property rights licensed to us by third parties, and we cannot assure that the precautions taken to protect our rights will be adequate or that we will continue to be able to adequately secure such intellectual property rights from third parties.
Our success depends, in part, upon our proprietary technology. We generally rely on patents, copyrights, trademarks, trade secrets, licenses and restrictive agreements to establish and protect our proprietary rights in technology and products. Despite the precautions we may take to protect our intellectual property, third parties have tried in the past, and may try in the future, to challenge, invalidate or circumvent these safeguards. Our patents and other intellectual property rights may not provide us with sufficient competitive advantages. Patents may not be issued on any of our pending applications and our issued patents may not be sufficiently broad to protect our technology. Furthermore, the laws of foreign countries may not protect our proprietary rights in those countries to the same extent as applicable law protects these rights in the United States, and we may encounter difficulties in our attempts to protect our intellectual property in foreign jurisdictions, including as a result of impacts from changes in international trade relationships. The protection of our intellectual property may require the expenditure of significant financial and managerial resources. Moreover, the steps we take to protect our intellectual property may not adequately protect our rights, or deter or prevent third parties from infringing or misappropriating our proprietary rights.
Many of our products include software or other intellectual property licensed from third parties. We may have to seek new or renew existing licenses for such software and other intellectual property in the future. Our engineering services business holds licenses to certain software and other intellectual property owned by third parties, including that of our competitors. Our failure to obtain software, other intellectual property licenses or other intellectual property rights that are necessary or helpful for our business on favorable terms, or our need to engage in litigation over these licenses or rights, could seriously harm our business, operating results or financial condition.
We have substantial cash requirements in the United States, but a significant portion of our cash is held and generated outside of the United States, and if our cash available in the United States is insufficient to meet our operating expenses and debt repayment obligations in the United States, then we may be required to raise cash in ways that could negatively affect our financial condition, results of operations and the market price of our common stock.
We have significant operations outside the United States. As of January 1, 2022, approximately 55% of our cash and cash equivalents balance was held by subsidiaries outside the United States, with the remainder of the balance held by us or our subsidiaries in the United States. While we believe that the combination of our current U.S. cash and cash equivalents, future U.S. operating cash flows and other cash that may be accessible to us on attractive terms are sufficient to meet our ongoing U.S. operating expenses and debt repayment obligations, we cannot accurately predict the full impact that COVID-19 may have on our cash flows. In addition, although the U.S. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) may have reduced the tax impact of repatriation of foreign earnings, there are still administrative processes associated with repatriation of foreign earnings that could affect the timing of returning cash to the U.S. from non-U.S. jurisdictions. Accordingly, if our U.S. cash were insufficient to meet our future funding obligations in the United States, we could be required to seek funding sources on less attractive terms, which could negatively impact our results of operations, financial position and the market price of our common stock.
The long sales cycle of our products and services may cause our operating results to fluctuate unexpectedly.
Generally, we have a long sales cycle that can extend up to six months or longer. The complexity and expense associated with our products and services generally require a lengthy customer education, evaluation and approval process. Consequently, we may incur substantial expenses and devote significant management effort and expense to develop potential relationships that do not result in agreements or revenue and may prevent us from pursuing other opportunities. In addition, sales of our products and services have been and may in the future be delayed if customers delay approval or commencement of projects because of the timing of customers’ competitive evaluation processes or customers’ budgetary constraints and budget cycles. Long sales cycles for hardware products subject us to a number of significant risks over which we have limited control, including insufficient, excess or obsolete inventory, variations in inventory valuation and fluctuations in quarterly operating results.
Our restructuring plans incur substantial costs and may not result in the benefits we have anticipated, possibly having a negative effect on our future operating results.
In recent fiscal years, we have initiated restructuring plans in an effort to better align our resources with our business strategy. We incur substantial costs to implement restructuring plans, and our restructuring activities may subject us to reputational risks and litigation risks and expenses. Our past restructuring plans do not provide any assurance that we will realize anticipated cost savings and other benefits or that additional restructuring plans will not be required or implemented in the future. In addition, our restructuring plans may have other consequences, such as attrition beyond our planned reduction in workforce, a negative effect on employee morale and productivity or our ability to attract highly skilled employees. Our competitors may also use our restructuring plans to seek to gain a competitive advantage over us. As a result, our restructuring plans may affect our revenue and other operating results in the future.
17
Table of Contents
The investment of our cash is subject to risks that may cause losses and affect the liquidity of these investments.
Our marketable investments include various money market funds and may include other investments as well. Weakened financial markets have at times adversely impacted the general credit, liquidity, market prices and interest rates for these and other types of investments. Additionally, changes in monetary policy by the Federal Open Market Committee or other relevant regulators and concerns about the rising U.S. government debt level may cause a decrease in the purchasing power of the U.S. dollar and adversely affect our investment portfolio. The financial market and monetary risks associated with our investment portfolio may have a material adverse effect on our financial condition, liquidity, results of operations or cash flows.
Our business is subject to the risk of natural disasters and global climate change.
Our corporate headquarters, including certain of our research and development operations and certain of our distribution facilities, is located in the Silicon Valley area of Northern California, a region known to experience seismic activity and wildfires. If significant seismic activity or wildfires were to occur or reoccur, our operations may be interrupted, which could adversely impact our business and results of operations.
Our offices around the world may also be adversely impacted by natural disasters, including those intensified by climate change. Our offices, and those of our customers and suppliers, can be disrupted by droughts, extreme temperatures, fires, flooding and other climate change-related risks, as well as earthquakes, actions by utility providers, and other catastrophic events such as an actual or threatened public health emergency. If a catastrophic event occurs at or near any of our offices, or utility providers or public health officials take certain actions (e.g., shut off power to our facilities or impose travel restrictions), our operations may be interrupted, which could adversely impact our business and results of operations. If a catastrophic event impacts a significant number of our customers, resulting in decreased demand for their and our products, or our ability to provide services and maintenance to our customers, our business and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
Risks Related to Customers, Suppliers and Industry Competition
Customer consolidation could affect our operating results.
There has been a trend toward customer consolidation in the semiconductor industry through business combinations, including mergers, asset acquisitions and strategic partnerships. If this trend continues, it could make us more dependent on fewer customers who may be able to exert increased pressure on our prices and other contract terms and could increase the portion of our total sales concentration for any single customer. Customer consolidation activity could also reduce the demand for our products and services if such customers streamline research and development or operations, reduce purchases or delay purchasing decisions. These outcomes could negatively impact our operating results and financial condition.
Our failure to respond quickly to technological developments or customers’ increasing technological requirements and to continue to develop or acquire technological capabilities could make our products uncompetitive and obsolete and impede our ability to address the requirements in technology segments that are expected to contribute to our growth.
Our strategy is designed to increase our business among electronic systems companies, which are now developing their own ICs and other electronic subsystems. Our strategy is also intended to increase our business among semiconductor companies, which are increasing their contribution to the end products into which their ICs and other electronic subsystems are incorporated. Part of this strategy involves addressing the needs across a variety of vertical markets including consumer, hyperscale computing, mobile, 5G communications, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial and healthcare, where increased investment is expected by our customers. Each of these markets require technologies, expertise, and marketing and operations infrastructure that are application-specific. Our inability to develop or acquire these application-specific capabilities could impede our ability to expand our business in these categories and ultimately affect our future growth. Currently, the industries we serve are experiencing the following trends:
•changes in the design and manufacturing of ICs, including migration to advanced-process nodes and three-dimensional transistors, such as FinFETs, present major challenges to the semiconductor industry, particularly in IC design, design automation, design of manufacturing equipment, and the manufacturing process itself. With migration to advanced-process nodes, the industry must adapt to more complex physics and manufacturing challenges, such as the need to draw features on silicon that are many times smaller than the wavelength of light used to draw the features via lithography. Models of each component’s electrical properties and behavior also become more complex as do requisite analysis, design, verification and manufacturing capabilities. Novel design tools and methodologies must be invented and enhanced quickly to remain competitive in the design of electronics in the smallest nanometer ranges;
•the ability to design SoCs increases the complexity of managing a design that, at the lowest level, is represented by billions of shapes on fabrication masks. In addition, SoCs typically incorporate microprocessors and DSPs that are programmed with software, requiring simultaneous design of the IC and the related software embedded on the IC;
•with the availability of seemingly endless gate capacity, there is an increase in design reuse, or the combining of off-the-shelf design IP with custom logic to create ICs or SoCs. The unavailability of a broad range of high-quality design IP (including our own) that can be reliably incorporated into a customer’s design with our software products and services could lead to reduced demand for our products and services;
18
Table of Contents
•increased technological capability of the FPGA logic chip, which creates an alternative to IC implementation for some companies and could reduce demand for our IC implementation products and services;
•a growing number of low-cost engineering service businesses could reduce the need for some IC companies to invest in EDA products;
•adoption of cloud computing technologies with accompanying new engagement models for an increasing number of software categories may impact our business;
•integration and optimization of solutions for system design with core EDA technologies could result in reduced demand for our broad portfolio;
•with Moore's Law slowing, the trend towards more on-chip integration and advanced system level 3D package design may change the requirements for the design, multi-physics analysis, and verification of complex homogeneous and heterogeneous systems; and
•changing end-user dynamics in our eight target technology verticals - consumer, hyperscale computing, mobile, 5G communications, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial and healthcare - could advance the need from simple ICs to full-system design and analysis capabilities that require increasingly complex computational software-based solutions.
If we are unable to respond quickly and successfully to these trends, we may lose our competitive position, and our products or technologies may become obsolete. To compete successfully, we must develop, acquire or license new products and improve our existing products and processes on a schedule that keeps pace with technological developments and the requirements for products addressing a broad spectrum of designers and designer expertise in our industries. We must provide frequent and relevant updates to our software products in order to provide substantial benefit to the customer throughout the license periods because of the rapid changes in our customers’ industries. The market must also accept our new and improved products. Our hardware platforms must be enhanced periodically to reduce the likelihood that a competitor surpasses the capabilities we offer. Our introduction of new products could reduce the demand and revenue of our older products or affect their pricing. We must also be able to support a range of changing computer software, hardware platforms and customer preferences. A transition by our customers to different business models associated with cloud computing technologies could result in reduced revenue. We cannot guarantee that we will be successful in keeping pace with all, or any, of the customer trends.
We have invested and expect to continue to invest in research and development efforts for new and existing products and technologies and technical sales support. Such investments may affect our operating results, and, if the return on these investments is lower or develops more slowly than we expect, our revenue and operating results may suffer.
We have invested and expect to continue to invest in research and development for new and existing products, technologies and services in response to our customers’ increasing technological requirements. Such investments may be in related areas, such as technical sales support, and may include increases in employee headcount. These investments may involve significant time, risks and uncertainties, including the risk that the expenses associated with these investments may affect our margins and operating results and that such investments may not generate sufficient revenues to offset liabilities assumed and expenses associated with these new investments. We believe that we must continue to invest a significant amount of time and resources in our research and development efforts and technical sales support to maintain and improve our competitive position. If we do not achieve the benefits anticipated from these investments, if the achievement of these benefits is delayed, or if customers reduce or slow the need to upgrade or enhance their computational software products and design flows, our revenue and operating results may be adversely affected.
Our operating results and revenue could be adversely affected by customer payment delays, customer bankruptcies and defaults or modifications of licenses.
Our customers have and may continue to face challenging financial or operating conditions, including due to macroeconomic conditions or catastrophic events, and delay or default on their payment commitments to us, request to modify contract terms, or modify or cancel plans to license our products. Our customers’ inability to fulfill payment commitments, in turn, could adversely affect our revenue, operating expenses and cash flow. Additionally, our customers have, in the past, sought, and may, in the future, seek, to renegotiate pre-existing contractual commitments. Payment defaults by our customers or significant reductions in existing contractual commitments could have a material adverse effect on our financial condition and operating results.
19
Table of Contents
The competition in our industries is substantial, and we may not be able to continue to compete successfully in our industries.
The industries in which we do business, including software, hardware, IP and services for enabling the design of electronic products, are highly competitive and require us to identify and develop or acquire innovative and cost-competitive products, integrate them into platforms and market them in a timely manner. We may not be able to compete successfully in these industries, which could seriously harm our business, operating results or financial condition. Factors that could affect our ability to compete successfully include:
•the development by others of competitive products or platforms and engineering services, possibly resulting in a shift of customer preferences away from our products and services and significantly decreased revenue;
•aggressive pricing competition by some of our competitors, including through significant discounts, may cause us to reduce the prices of our products, offer terms that are unfavorable to us or lose our competitive position, any of which could result in lower revenues or profitability and could adversely impact our ability to realize the revenue and profitability forecasts for our software or emulation and prototyping hardware systems products and could, over time, significantly constrain the prices that we can charge for our products;
•the challenges of advanced-node design may lead some customers to work with more mature, less risky manufacturing processes that may reduce their need to upgrade or enhance their EDA products and design flows;
•the challenges of developing (or acquiring externally developed) technology solutions that are adequate and competitive in meeting the rapidly evolving requirements of next-generation design challenges;
•intense competition to attract acquisition targets, possibly making it more difficult for us to acquire companies or technologies at an acceptable price, or at all;
•new entrants, including larger electronic systems companies, in our industry;
•the combination of our competitors or collaboration among many companies to deliver more comprehensive offerings than they could individually;
•our entry into new product categories or technology verticals, including those in which success depends on absolute or relative scale;
•decisions by electronics manufacturers to perform engineering services or IP development internally, rather than purchase these services from outside vendors due to budget constraints or excess engineering capacity;
•actions by regulators to limit the contractual terms that either we or our customers can apply to product and service offerings; and
•events or circumstances that damage the reputation of our company, leadership, products, services or technologies.
For more information about our specific competitors, see “Competition” under Item 1 of Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Our future revenue is dependent in part upon our installed customer base continuing to license or buy products and purchase services.
Our installed customer base has traditionally generated additional new license, services and maintenance revenues. In future periods, customers may not necessarily license or buy additional products or contract for additional services or maintenance. Our customers, many of which are large semiconductor and systems companies, often have significant bargaining power in negotiations with us. Customer consolidation can reduce the total level of purchases of our software, hardware, IP and services, and in some cases, increase customers’ bargaining power in negotiations with their suppliers, including us.
We depend on a single supplier or a limited number of suppliers for certain hardware components and contract manufacturers for production of our emulation and prototyping hardware products, making us vulnerable to supply disruption and price fluctuation.
Our reliance on single or a limited number of suppliers and contract manufacturers for certain hardware components and contract manufacturers for production of our emulation and prototyping hardware products could result in product delivery problems and delays and reduced control over contractual terms and quality. In some cases, it may not be practical or feasible to have multiple sources to procure certain key components. We may suffer a disruption in the supply of certain hardware components if we are unable to purchase sufficient components on a timely basis or at all for any reason. Any supply or manufacturing disruption, including delay in delivery of components by our suppliers or products by our manufacturers, or the bankruptcy, shutdown or upstream supply chain issues of our suppliers or manufacturers, could delay our production process and prevent us from delivering completed hardware products to customers or from supplying new evaluation units to customers, which could have a negative impact on our revenue and operating results. For example, the global semiconductor shortage in 2021 has negatively impacted and may continue to negatively impact multiple segments of the semiconductor industry, including our customers.
20
Table of Contents
Tax, Regulatory and Litigation Risks
Our results could be adversely affected by an increase in our effective tax rate as a result of U.S. and foreign tax law changes, outcomes of current or future tax examinations, or by material differences between our forecasted and actual effective tax rates.
Tax laws, regulations, and administrative practices in various jurisdictions are evolving and may be subject to significant changes due to economic, political and other conditions including the fiscal impacts caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. Governments, including the United States, are increasingly focused on ways to increase tax revenues, particularly from multinational corporations, which may lead to changes in tax laws, an increase in audit activity and harsher positions taken by tax authorities. We are currently subject to tax audits in various jurisdictions and these jurisdictions may assess additional tax liabilities against us.
Our operations are subject to income and transaction taxes in the United States and in multiple foreign jurisdictions, with a significant amount of our foreign earnings generated by our subsidiaries organized in Ireland and Hungary. Any significant change in our future effective tax rates could adversely impact our results of operations, cash flows and financial position. Our future effective tax rates could be adversely affected by factors that include, but are not limited to, changes in tax laws or the interpretation of such tax laws in jurisdictions in which we have business activity, earnings being lower than anticipated in jurisdictions with low statutory tax rates, changes in tax benefits from stock-based compensation, changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities, changes in our recognition or measurement of a tax position taken in a prior period, increases to interest or penalty expenses, new accounting standards or interpretations of such standards, or results of examinations by the Internal Revenue Service (“IRS”), state, and foreign tax or other governmental authorities. In addition, beginning in fiscal 2022, for United States corporation income tax purposes, we are required to capitalize and amortize R&D costs rather than expense these costs as incurred. To the extent this requirement stays in effect, it will significantly increase our fiscal 2022 effective tax rate and cash tax payments compared to fiscal 2021.
The IRS and other tax authorities regularly examine our income tax returns and other non-income tax returns, such as payroll, sales, use, value-added, net worth or franchise, property, goods and services, consumption, import, stamp, and excise taxes, in both the United States and foreign jurisdictions. The calculation of our provision for income taxes and our accruals for other taxes requires us to use significant judgment and involves dealing with uncertainties in the application of complex tax laws and regulations. In determining the adequacy of our provision for income taxes, we regularly assess the potential settlement outcomes resulting from income tax examinations. However, the final outcome of tax examinations cannot be estimated with certainty and could be materially different from the amount that is reflected in our historical income tax provisions and accruals for other taxes. Should the IRS or other tax authorities assess additional taxes, penalties or interest as a result of a current or a future examination, we may be required to record charges to operations in future periods that could have a material impact on our results of operations, financial position or cash flows in the applicable period or periods.
The current U.S. presidential administration and Congress have proposed several changes to corporate tax rules that, if enacted, could increase our future tax liability. In October 2021, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”) announced an agreement among 137 countries, including Ireland and Hungary, to adopt new rules to provide greater taxing rights to jurisdictions where customers or users are located and the introduction of a corporate global minimum tax rate of 15% with a target effective date of fiscal 2023. Furthermore, many countries have enacted or proposed new laws to tax digital transactions. These developments in tax laws and regulations, and compliance with these rules, could have a material adverse effect on our operating results, financial position and cash flows.
Forecasts of our annual effective tax rate do not include the anticipation of future tax law changes, and are complex and subject to uncertainty because our income tax position for each year combines the effects of estimating the amount and composition of our annual income or loss in jurisdictions with varying income tax rates, as well as benefits from available deferred tax assets, the impact of various accounting rules, our interpretations of changes in tax laws and results of tax audits. In addition, we account for certain tax benefits from stock-based compensation in the period the stock compensation vests or is settled, which may cause increased variability in our quarterly effective tax rates. If there were a material difference between forecasted and actual tax rates, it could have a material impact on our results of operations.
Litigation, government investigations or regulatory proceedings could adversely affect our financial condition or operations.
We currently are, and in the future may be, involved in various disputes and legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. These include disputes and legal proceedings related to intellectual property, indemnification, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, contracts, customers, products, distribution and other commercial arrangements and employee relations matters. Governments and regulatory agencies in the jurisdictions in which we operate may also open or initiate investigations or regulatory proceedings. For information regarding legal proceedings in which we are currently engaged, please refer to the discussion under Part I, Item 3, “Legal Proceedings” and Note 18 in the notes to consolidated financial statements. We cannot provide any assurances that the final outcome of these legal proceedings or any other proceedings that may arise in the future will not have a material adverse effect on our business, reputation, operating results, financial condition or cash flows. Legal proceedings can be time consuming and expensive and could divert management’s time and attention from our business, which could have a material adverse effect on our revenues and operating results.
21
Table of Contents
Errors or defects in our products and services could expose us to liability and harm our business.
Our customers use our products and services in designing and developing products that involve a high degree of technological complexity, each of which has its own specifications. Because of the complexity of the systems and products with which we work, some of our products and designs can be adequately tested only when put to full use in the marketplace. As a result, our customers or their end users may discover errors or defects in our software or the systems we design, or the products or systems incorporating our design and intellectual property may not operate as expected. Errors or defects could result in:
•reputational damage;
•failure to attract new or retain existing customers or market share and acceptance;
•diversion of development resources to resolve the problem;
•loss of or delay in revenue or payments and increased service costs; and
•liability for damages.
Our reported financial results may be adversely affected by changes in United States generally accepted accounting principles, and we may incur significant costs to adjust our accounting systems and processes to comply with significant changes.
United States generally accepted accounting principles (“U.S. GAAP”) are subject to interpretation by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (“FASB”), the SEC and various bodies formed to promulgate and interpret appropriate accounting principles. We are also subject to evolving rules and regulations of the countries in which we do business. Changes to accounting standards or interpretations thereof may result in different accounting principles under U.S. GAAP that could have a significant effect on our reported financial results.
In addition, we have in the past and may in the future need to significantly change our customer contracts, accounting systems and processes when we adopt future or proposed changes in accounting principles. The cost and effect of these changes may negatively impact our results of operations during the periods of transition.
If we become subject to unfair hiring claims, we could be prevented from hiring needed employees, incur liability for damages and incur substantial costs in defending ourselves.
When companies in our industry lose employees to competitors, they frequently claim that these competitors have engaged in unfair hiring practices or that the employment of these persons would involve the disclosure or use of trade secrets. These claims could prevent us from hiring employees or cause us to incur liability for damages. We could also incur substantial costs in defending ourselves or our employees against these claims, regardless of their merits. Defending ourselves from these claims could also divert the attention of our management away from our operations.
We are subject to evolving corporate governance and public disclosure expectations and regulations that impact compliance costs and risks of noncompliance.
We are subject to changing rules and regulations promulgated by a number of governmental and self-regulatory organizations, including the SEC, Nasdaq, and the FASB, as well as evolving investor and stakeholder expectations around corporate governance, executive compensation and environmental and social practices and disclosures. These rules, regulations and expectations continue to evolve in scope and complexity, and many new requirements have been created in response to laws enacted by the U.S. and foreign governments, making compliance more difficult and uncertain. The increase in costs to comply with such evolving expectations, rules and regulations, as well as any risk of noncompliance, could adversely impact us. Our disclosures and public positions or commitments on these matters may change from time to time, as may corresponding internal controls and external reporting standards, which can expose us to reputational, legal, and other risks, including as a result of a failure or perceived failure to achieve publicly disclosed aspirations, targets, or goals, such as our greenhouse gas emissions reduction target, or a failure to report accurately.
Risks Related to Our Securities and Indebtedness
Our stock price has been and may continue to be subject to fluctuations.
Our stock price is subject to changes in recommendations or earnings estimates by financial analysts, changes in investors’ or analysts’ valuation measures for our stock, our credit ratings and market trends unrelated to our performance. Furthermore, speculation in the press or investment community about our strategic position, financial condition, results of operations, business or security of our products, can cause changes in our stock price. In addition to these factors and industry and general economic and political conditions, our stock price may be adversely impacted by announcements related to financial results or forecasts that fail to meet or are inconsistent with earlier projections or the expectations of our securities analysts or investors, announcements of new products or acquisitions of new technologies by us, our competitors or our customers, or announcements by us of acquisitions, major transaction or litigation developments, or management changes. A significant drop in our stock price could expose us to the risk of securities class action or shareholder derivative lawsuits, which may result in substantial costs and divert management’s attention and resources, which may adversely affect our business.
22
Table of Contents
Anti-takeover defenses in our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and certain provisions under Delaware law could prevent an acquisition of our company or limit the price that investors might be willing to pay for our common stock.
Our certificate of incorporation and bylaws and certain provisions of the Delaware General Corporation Law that apply to us could make it difficult for another company to acquire control of our company. For example, our certificate of incorporation allows our Board of Directors to designate and issue, at any time and without stockholder approval up to 400,000 shares of preferred stock in one or more series. All 400,000 shares of preferred stock are currently designated as Series A Preferred, but because no such shares are outstanding or reserved for issuance, our Board of Directors may reduce the number of shares of preferred stock designated as Series A Preferred to zero. Subject to the Delaware General Corporation Law, our Board of Directors may, as to any shares of preferred stock the terms of which have not then been designated, fix the rights, preferences, privileges and restrictions on these shares, fix the number of shares and designation of any series, and increase or decrease the number of shares of any series if not below the number of outstanding shares plus the number of shares reserved for issuance. Our Board of Directors has the power to issue shares of Series A Preferred with dividend, voting and liquidation rights superior to our common stock at a rate of 1,000-to-1 without further vote or action by the common stockholders.
In addition, Section 203 of the Delaware General Corporation Law generally prohibits a Delaware corporation from engaging in any business combination with a person owning 15% or more of its voting stock, or who is affiliated with the corporation and owned 15% or more of its voting stock at any time within three years prior to the proposed business combination, for a period of three years from the date the person became a 15% owner, unless specified conditions are met.
All or any one of these factors could limit the price that certain investors would be willing to pay for shares of our common stock and could allow our Board of Directors to resist, delay or prevent an acquisition of our company, even if a proposed transaction were favored by a majority of our independent stockholders.
Our debt obligations expose us to risks that could adversely affect our business, operating results or financial condition, and could prevent us from fulfilling our obligations under such indebtedness.
We have significant outstanding indebtedness, as well as the ability to access additional borrowings under our revolving credit facility. Subject to the limits contained in the credit agreement governing our revolving credit facility, the indenture that governs the 4.375% Senior Notes due October 15, 2024 (the “2024 Notes”) and our other debt instruments, we may be able to incur substantial additional debt from time to time to finance working capital, capital expenditures, investments or acquisitions, share repurchases or for other purposes. If we do so, the risks related to our level of debt could intensify. Specifically, our level of debt could have important consequences, including the following:
•making it more difficult for us to satisfy our obligations to service our debt as described above;
•limiting our ability to obtain additional financing to fund future working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions or other general corporate requirements;
•requiring a substantial portion of our cash flows (including U.S. cash) to be dedicated to debt service payments instead of other purposes, thereby reducing the amount of cash flows available for working capital, capital expenditures, acquisitions and other general corporate purposes and potentially requiring repatriation of cash from outside the United States;
•increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions;
•exposing us to the risk of increased interest rates as certain of our borrowings, including borrowings under our revolving credit facility, are at variable rates of interest;
•limiting our flexibility in planning for and reacting to changes in the industry in which we compete;
•placing us at a disadvantage compared to other, less leveraged competitors and competitors that have greater access to capital resources;
•limiting our interest deductions for U.S. income tax purposes; and
•increasing our cost of borrowing.
At the option of the holders of our outstanding notes, we may, under certain circumstances, be required to repurchase such notes.
Under the terms of our 2024 Notes, we may be required to repurchase for cash such notes prior to their maturity in connection with the occurrence of certain significant corporate events. Specifically, we are required to offer to repurchase such notes upon a “change of control triggering event” (as defined in the indenture related to such notes), such as a change of control accompanied by certain downgrades in the credit ratings of such notes. The repayment obligations under such notes may have the effect of discouraging, delaying or preventing a takeover of our company. If we were required to pay the 2024 Notes prior to their scheduled maturity, it could have a significant negative impact on our cash and liquidity and could impact our ability to invest financial resources in other strategic initiatives.
23
Table of Contents
The terms of the agreement governing our revolving credit facility and the indenture governing our 2024 Notes restrict our current and future operations, particularly our ability to respond to changes or to take certain actions.
The agreement governing our revolving credit facility contains a number of restrictive covenants that impose significant operating and financial restrictions on us and may limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interest, including restrictions on our ability to:
•incur liens or additional indebtedness and guarantee indebtedness;
•enter into transactions with affiliates;
•alter the businesses we conduct; and
•consolidate, merge or sell all or substantially all of our assets.
In addition, the restrictive covenants in the agreement governing our revolving credit facility require us to maintain specified financial ratios. Our ability to meet those financial ratios can be affected by events beyond our control, and we may be unable to meet them.
A breach of the covenants or restrictions under the agreement governing our revolving credit facility could result in an event of default under the applicable indebtedness. Such a default may allow the creditors to accelerate the related debt and may result in the acceleration of any other debt to which a cross-acceleration or cross-default provision applies. In addition, an event of default under the credit agreement governing our revolving credit facility would permit the lenders under our revolving credit facility to terminate all commitments to extend further credit under that facility. In the event our lenders or note holders accelerate the repayment of our borrowings, we and our subsidiaries may not have sufficient assets to repay that indebtedness. As a result of these restrictions, we may be:
•limited in how we conduct our business;
•unable to raise additional debt or equity financing to operate during general economic or business downturns; or
•unable to compete effectively or to take advantage of new business opportunities.
The indenture governing our 2024 Notes also contains certain restrictive covenants that impose operating and financial restrictions on us and may limit our ability to engage in acts that may be in our long-term best interest, including restrictions on our ability to incur liens and to enter into sale and leaseback transactions.
These restrictions may affect our ability to grow in accordance with our strategy. In addition, our financial results, our substantial indebtedness and our credit ratings could adversely affect the availability and terms of our financing.
We may not be able to generate sufficient cash to service all of our indebtedness and may be forced to take other actions to satisfy our obligations under our indebtedness, which may not be successful.
Our ability to make scheduled payments on or refinance our debt obligations depends on our financial condition and operating performance, which are subject to prevailing economic and competitive conditions and to certain financial, business, legislative, regulatory and other factors beyond our control. We may be unable to maintain a level of cash flows from operating activities sufficient to permit us to pay the principal, premium, if any, and interest on our indebtedness. Our inability to generate sufficient cash flows to satisfy our debt obligations, or to refinance our indebtedness on commercially reasonable terms or at all, would materially and adversely affect our financial position and results of operations and our ability to satisfy our debt obligations.
If our cash flows and capital resources are insufficient to fund our debt service obligations, we could face substantial liquidity problems and could be forced to reduce or delay investments and capital expenditures or to dispose of material assets or operations, seek additional debt or equity capital or restructure or refinance our indebtedness. We may not be able to effect any such alternative measures, if necessary, on commercially reasonable terms or at all and, even if successful, those alternative actions may not allow us to meet our scheduled debt service obligations. The agreement governing our revolving credit facility restricts our ability to dispose of assets and use the proceeds from those dispositions and may also restrict our ability to raise debt or equity capital to be used to repay other indebtedness when it becomes due. We may not be able to consummate those dispositions or to obtain proceeds in an amount sufficient to meet any debt service obligations then due.
In addition, we conduct a substantial portion of our operations through our subsidiaries, none of which are currently guarantors of our indebtedness. Accordingly, repayment of our indebtedness is dependent on the generation of cash flow by our subsidiaries and their ability to make such cash available to us, by dividend, debt repayment or otherwise. Our subsidiaries do not have any obligation to pay amounts due on our indebtedness or to make funds available for that purpose. Our subsidiaries may not be able to, or may not be permitted to, make distributions to enable us to make payments in respect of our indebtedness. Each subsidiary is a distinct legal entity, and, under certain circumstances, legal and contractual restrictions may limit our ability to obtain cash from our subsidiaries. In the event that we do not receive distributions from our subsidiaries, we may be unable to make required principal and interest payments on our indebtedness.
24
Table of Contents
If we cannot make scheduled payments on our debt, we will be in default and holders of our debt could declare all outstanding principal and interest to be due and payable, the lenders under our revolving credit facility could terminate their commitments to loan money and we could be forced into bankruptcy or liquidation. In addition, a material default on our indebtedness could suspend our eligibility to register securities using certain registration statement forms under SEC guidelines that permit incorporation by reference of substantial information regarding us, potentially hindering our ability to raise capital through the issuance of our securities and increasing our costs of registration.
Despite our current level of indebtedness, we and our subsidiaries may incur substantially more debt. This could further exacerbate the risks to our financial condition described above.
We and our subsidiaries may incur significant additional indebtedness in the future. Although the agreement governing our revolving credit facility contains restrictions on the incurrence of additional indebtedness, these restrictions are subject to a number of qualifications and exceptions, and the additional indebtedness incurred in compliance with these restrictions could be substantial. If we incur any additional indebtedness that ranks equally with the 2024 Notes, then subject to any collateral arrangements we may enter into, the holders of that debt will be entitled to share ratably in any proceeds distributed in connection with any insolvency, liquidation, reorganization, dissolution or other winding up of our company.
Our variable rate indebtedness subjects us to interest rate risk, which could cause our debt service obligations to increase significantly.
Borrowings under our revolving credit facility are at variable rates of interest and expose us to interest rate risk. If interest rates were to increase, our debt service obligations on our variable rate indebtedness would increase even though the amount borrowed remained the same, and our net income and cash flows, including cash available for servicing our indebtedness, would correspondingly decrease. In the future, we may enter into interest rate swaps that involve the exchange of floating for fixed rate interest payments in order to reduce interest rate volatility. However, we may not maintain interest rate swaps with respect to all of our variable rate indebtedness, and any swaps we enter into may not fully mitigate our interest rate risk.
Our revolving credit facility utilizes, at our option, either (1) LIBOR, plus a margin of between 0.750% and 1.250%, determined by reference to the credit rating of our unsecured debt, or (2) base rate plus a margin of 0.000% to 0.250%, determined by reference to the credit rating of our unsecured debt, to calculate the amount of accrued interest on any borrowings. Regulators in certain jurisdictions including the United Kingdom and the United States have begun to phase out the use of LIBOR, ceasing publication for certain tenors of the U.S. dollar (and other) LIBOR at the end of 2021, with plans to cease publication for the remaining tenors of U.S. dollar LIBOR beginning June 30, 2023. Our revolving credit facility contains provisions that contemplate the transition from LIBOR under specified events; however, the transition from LIBOR to a new replacement benchmark remains uncertain at this time and the consequences of such developments cannot be entirely predicted, but could result in an increase in the cost of our borrowings under our existing credit facility and any future borrowings.
In addition, our revolving credit facility uses a pricing grid based on our credit ratings. If our credit ratings are downgraded or other negative action is taken, the interest rate payable by us under our revolving credit facility would increase. Credit rating downgrades could also restrict our ability to obtain additional financing in the future and affect the terms of any such financing.
Various factors could increase our future borrowing costs or reduce our access to capital, including a lowering or withdrawal of the ratings assigned to us and our 2024 Notes by credit rating agencies.
We may in the future seek additional financing for a variety of reasons, and our future borrowing costs, terms and access to capital could be affected by factors including the condition of the debt and equity markets, the condition of the economy generally, prevailing interest rates, our level of indebtedness, our credit rating and our business and financial condition. In addition, the 2024 Notes currently have an investment grade credit rating, which could be lowered or withdrawn entirely by a credit rating agency based on adverse changes to circumstances relating to the basis of the credit rating. Consequently, real or anticipated changes in our credit ratings will generally affect the market value of the 2024 Notes. Any future lowering of the credit ratings of the 2024 Notes likely would make it more difficult or more expensive for us to obtain additional debt financing.
Item 1B. Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2. Properties
We own land and buildings at our headquarters located in San Jose, California. We also own buildings in India. As of January 1, 2022, the total square footage of our owned buildings was approximately 1,010,000.
We lease additional facilities in the United States and various other countries. We may sublease certain of these facilities where space is not fully utilized.
We believe that these facilities are adequate for our current needs and that suitable additional or substitute space will be available as needed to accommodate any expansion of our operations.
25
Table of Contents
Item 3. Legal Proceedings
From time to time, we are involved in various disputes and legal proceedings that arise in the ordinary course of business. These include disputes and legal proceedings related to intellectual property, indemnification obligations, mergers and acquisitions, licensing, contracts, customers, products, distribution and other commercial arrangements and employee relations matters. At least quarterly, we review the status of each significant matter and assess its potential financial exposure. If the potential loss from any claim or legal proceeding is considered probable and the amount or the range of loss can be estimated, we accrue a liability for the estimated loss. Legal proceedings are subject to uncertainties, and the outcomes are difficult to predict. Because of such uncertainties, accruals are based on our judgments using the best information available at the time. As additional information becomes available, we reassess the potential liability related to pending claims and legal proceedings and may revise estimates.
Item 4. Mine Safety Disclosures
Not applicable.
26
Table of Contents
PART II.
Item 5. Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Our common stock is traded on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the symbol CDNS. As of February 5, 2022, we had 384 registered stockholders and approximately 340,000 beneficial owners of our common stock.
Stockholder Return Performance Graph
The following graph compares the cumulative 5-year total stockholder return on our common stock relative to the cumulative total return of the Nasdaq Composite Index, the S&P 500 Index and the S&P 500 Information Technology Index. The graph assumes that the value of the investment in our common stock and in each index on December 31, 2016 (including reinvestment of dividends) was $100 and tracks it each year thereafter on the last day of our fiscal year through January 1, 2022 and, for each index, on the last day of the calendar year.
The stock price performance included in this graph is not necessarily indicative of future stock price performance.
27
Table of Contents
Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
As of the end of fiscal 2020, approximately $739 million remained available under the previously announced authorization to repurchase shares of our common stock. In August 2021, our Board of Directors increased the prior authorization to repurchase shares of our common stock by authorizing an additional $1 billion. The actual timing and amount of repurchases are subject to business and market conditions, corporate and regulatory requirements, stock price, acquisition opportunities and other factors. As of January 1, 2022, approximately $1.1 billion of the share repurchase authorization remained available to repurchase shares of our common stock.
The following table presents repurchases made under our current authorization and shares surrendered by employees to satisfy income tax withholding obligations during the three months ended January 1, 2022:
_________________
(1)Shares purchased that were not part of our publicly announced repurchase programs represent employee surrender of shares of restricted stock to satisfy employee income tax withholding obligations due upon vesting, and do not reduce the dollar value that may yet be purchased under our publicly announced repurchase programs.
(2)The weighted average price paid per share of common stock does not include the cost of commissions.
Item 6. [Reserved]
Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and notes thereto included elsewhere in this Annual Report on Form 10-K and with Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.” Please refer to the cautionary language at the beginning of Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K regarding forward-looking statements.
Business Overview
We enable our customers to develop electronic products. Our products and services are designed to give our customers a competitive edge in their development of ICs, SoCs, and increasingly sophisticated electronic devices and systems. Our products and services do this by optimizing performance, minimizing power consumption, shortening the time to bring our customers’ products to market, improving engineering productivity and reducing their design, development and manufacturing costs. We offer software, hardware, services and reusable IC design blocks, which are commonly referred to as IP.
Our strategy, which we call Intelligent System Design, is to provide the technology necessary for our customers to develop electronic products across a variety of vertical markets including consumer, hyperscale computing, mobile, 5G communications, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial and healthcare. Our products and services enable our customers to develop complex and innovative electronic products, so demand for our technology is driven by our customers’ investment in new designs and products. Historically, the industry that provided the tools used by IC engineers was referred to as EDA. Today, our offerings include and extend beyond EDA.
We group our products into categories related to major design activities:
•Custom IC Design and Simulation;
•Digital IC Design and Signoff;
•Functional Verification;
•IP; and
•System Design and Analysis.
28
Table of Contents
During fiscal 2021, we continued to execute our Intelligent System Design strategy with our announcement of the next generation of hardware-software products in our Functional Verification product category, which consists of the integrated Palladium Z2 emulation and Protium X2 prototyping systems, to accelerate hardware debug and software validation. We also completed our acquisitions of Belgium-based NUMECA, a leader in computational fluid dynamics (“CFD”), and Pointwise Inc, a leading provider of CFD Meshing technology. The addition of these technologies and talent broadens our System Design and Analysis portfolio and expertise. These acquisitions increased expenses, including amortization of acquired intangible assets, more than revenue during fiscal 2021.
For additional information about our products, see the discussion in Item 1, “Business,” under the heading “Products and Product Strategy.”
Management uses certain performance indicators to manage our business, including revenue, certain elements of operating expenses and cash flow from operations, and we describe these items further below under the headings “Results of Operations” and “Liquidity and Capital Resources.”
During the second quarter of fiscal 2021, we offered a voluntary retirement program to eligible employees in the United States. This program resulted in a one-time charge for voluntary termination and post-employment benefits of $26.8 million. As of January 1, 2022, liabilities related to the voluntary retirement program were $17.5 million and were included in accounts payable and accrued liabilities and other long-term liabilities on our consolidated balance sheet. We expect to make cash payments to settle these liabilities through fiscal 2023, including $17.0 million that is expected to be paid in the next twelve months.
COVID-19 Impact
In March 2020, the World Health Organization declared the outbreak of COVID-19 a pandemic. The effects of the ongoing global pandemic have been widespread and have resulted in authorities implementing numerous measures to contain the virus, including travel bans and restrictions, quarantines, shelter-in-place orders and business limitations and shutdowns. We are unable to accurately predict the full impact that COVID-19 will have on our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity and cash flows due to numerous uncertainties, including the duration and severity of the pandemic and containment measures and the distribution, acceptance and effectiveness of vaccines. Our efforts to comply with these containment measures have impacted our day-to-day operations and could disrupt our business and operations, as well as that of our key customers, suppliers (including contract manufacturers) and other counterparties, for an indefinite period of time. To support the health and well-being of our employees, customers, partners and communities, a vast majority of our employees are still working remotely as of January 1, 2022. However, we have begun a limited pilot program for employees to begin voluntarily returning to work in certain jurisdictions with lower rates of new COVID-19 cases and higher vaccination rates.
Since its inception, the COVID-19 pandemic has caused some volatility in our delivery timing for our hardware and IP products to certain customers. Many of our customers’ employees are working remotely, and, in some cases, we have experienced delivery lead times that are longer than normal because of delays in getting access to customer sites to complete our deliveries. In other cases, the amount of our hardware and IP products that we have been able to deliver has been greater than we originally anticipated at the beginning of the respective period. Despite the challenges the COVID-19 pandemic has posed to our operations, it did not have a material, adverse impact on our results of operations, financial condition, liquidity or cash flows during fiscal 2021. We will continue to evaluate the nature and extent of the impact of COVID-19 on our business. See Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors” for additional information on the impact of COVID-19 on our business.
Results of Operations
The discussion of our fiscal 2021 consolidated results of operations include year-over-year comparisons to fiscal 2020 for revenue, cost of revenue, operating expenses, operating margin, other non-operating expenses, income taxes and cash flows. For a discussion of the fiscal 2020 changes compared to fiscal 2019, see the discussion 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 January 2, 2021, filed on February 22, 2021.
Our fiscal years are 52- or 53-week periods ending on the Saturday closest to December 31. Fiscal 2021 was a 52-week fiscal year, compared to 2020, which was a 53-week fiscal year. The additional week in fiscal 2020 resulted in additional revenue of approximately $45 million and additional expense, including stock-based compensation and amortization of acquired intangibles, of approximately $35 million.
Results of operations for fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, reflect the following:
•revenue growth that exceeded the growth of our costs and expenses;
•increased product and maintenance revenue, primarily from growth in our software and hardware product offerings;
•continued investment in research and development activities focused on expanding and enhancing our product portfolio; and
•higher selling costs, including additional investment in technical sales support in response to our customers’ increasing technological requirements.
29
Table of Contents
Revenue
We primarily generate revenue from licensing our software and IP, selling or leasing our emulation and prototyping hardware technology, providing maintenance for our software, hardware and IP, providing engineering services and earning royalties generated from the use of our IP. The timing of our revenue is significantly affected by the mix of software, hardware and IP products generating revenue in any given period and whether the revenue is recognized over time or at a point in time, upon completion of delivery.
In any fiscal year, we expect that between 85% and 90% of our annual revenue will be characterized as recurring revenue. Revenue characterized as recurring includes revenue recognized over time from our software arrangements, services, royalties, maintenance on IP licenses and hardware, and operating leases of hardware and revenue recognized at varying points in time over the term of our IP Access Agreements that include non-cancellable commitments from customers.
The remainder of our revenue is recognized at a point in time and is characterized as up-front revenue. Up-front revenue is primarily generated by our sales of emulation and prototyping hardware and individual IP licenses. The percentage of our recurring and up-front revenue and fluctuations in revenue within our geographies are impacted by delivery of hardware and IP products to our customers in any single fiscal period.
Revenue by Year
The following table shows our revenue for fiscal 2021 and 2020 and the change in revenue between years:
Change
(In millions, except percentages)
Product and maintenance revenue increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, primarily because of increased revenue from each of our five product categories. This growth is driven by our customers investing in new, complex designs for their products including electronic systems for consumer, hyperscale computing, 5G communications, automotive, aerospace and defense, industrial and healthcare.
Services revenue increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, primarily due to the timing of performance obligations being fulfilled for certain customer contracts during fiscal 2021. Services revenue may fluctuate from period to period based on the timing of fulfillment of our services and IP performance obligations.
No one customer accounted for 10% or more of total revenue during fiscal 2021 or 2020.
Revenue by Product Category
The following table shows the percentage of product and related maintenance revenue contributed by each of our five product categories and services during fiscal 2021 and 2020:
Custom IC Design and Simulation 23 % 25 %
Digital IC Design and Signoff 29 % 29 %
Functional Verification, including Emulation and Prototyping Hardware 24 % 22 %
System Design and Analysis 11 % 10 %
Revenue by product category fluctuates from period to period based on demand for our products and services, our available resources and our ability to deliver and support them. Certain of our licensing arrangements allow customers the ability to remix among software products. Additionally, we have arrangements with customers that include a combination of our products, with the actual product selection and number of licensed users to be determined at a later date. For these arrangements, we estimate the allocation of the revenue to product categories based upon the expected usage of our products. The actual usage of our products by these customers may differ and, if that proves to be the case, the revenue allocation in the table above would differ.
30
Table of Contents
Revenue by Geography
Change
(In millions, except percentages)
The increase in revenue in the United States and Other Asia during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, was attributable to growth in revenue from each of our five product categories.
The decrease in revenue in China during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, was due to higher-than-typical volume in China during fiscal 2020. During fiscal 2020, we experienced an increase in demand for our emulation and prototyping hardware and IP product offerings from our customers in China that resulted in a larger percentage of total revenue coming from that geography.
The increase in revenue in Europe, Middle East and Africa during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, was attributable to growth in revenue from System Design and Analysis, Digital IC Design and Custom IC Design product offerings.
Revenue by Geography as a Percent of Total Revenue
United States 43 % 41 %
Other Americas 2 % 1 %
Europe, Middle East and Africa 17 % 18 %
Japan 6 % 7 %
Most of our revenue is transacted in the United States dollar. However, certain revenue transactions are denominated in foreign currencies. For an additional description of how changes in foreign exchange rates affect our consolidated financial statements, see the discussion under Item 7A, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk – Foreign Currency Risk.”
Cost of Revenue
Change
(In millions, except percentages)
Cost of product and maintenance $ 222.6 $ 231.0 $ (8.4) (4) %
The following table shows cost of revenue as a percentage of related revenue for fiscal 2021 and 2020:
Cost of product and maintenance 8 % 9 %
Cost of services 48 % 51 %
31
Table of Contents
Cost of Product and Maintenance
Cost of product and maintenance includes costs associated with the sale and lease of our emulation and prototyping hardware and licensing of our software and IP products, certain employee salary and benefits and other employee-related costs, cost of our customer support services, amortization of technology-related and maintenance-related acquired intangibles, costs of technical documentation and royalties payable to third-party vendors. Cost of product and maintenance depends primarily on our hardware product sales in any given period, but is also affected by employee salary and benefits and other employee-related costs, reserves for inventory, and the timing and extent to which we acquire intangible assets, license third-party technology or IP, and sell our products that include such acquired or licensed technology or IP.
A summary of cost of product and maintenance for fiscal 2021 and 2020 is as follows:
Change
(In millions, except percentages)
Product and maintenance-related costs $ 175.0 $ 184.8 $ (9.8) (5) %
Amortization of acquired intangibles 47.6 46.2 1.4 3 %
Total cost of product and maintenance $ 222.6 $ 231.0 $ (8.4) (4) %
Product and maintenance-related costs decreased during fiscal 2021, when compared to fiscal 2020, due to the following:
Change
(In millions)
Emulation and prototyping hardware costs $ (12.3)
Salary, benefits and other employee-related costs 2.6
Other items (0.1)
Total change in product and maintenance-related costs $ (9.8)
Costs associated with our emulation and prototyping hardware products include components, assembly, testing, applicable reserves and overhead. These costs make our cost of emulation and prototyping hardware products higher, as a percentage of revenue, than our cost of software and IP products. The decrease in emulation and prototyping hardware costs during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, was primarily due to the mix of products generating revenue and a decrease in charges related to previous generations of our emulation hardware.
Amortization of acquired intangibles included in cost of product and maintenance increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, primarily due to technology-related intangible assets acquired with our acquisitions of NUMECA and Pointwise during the first half of fiscal 2021 and in-process technology being placed into service during the second quarter of fiscal 2020. This increase was partially offset by certain technology-related intangible assets becoming fully amortized during fiscal 2021 and during fiscal 2020.
Cost of Services
Cost of services primarily includes employee salary, benefits and other employee-related costs to perform work on revenue-generating projects and costs to maintain the infrastructure necessary to manage a services organization. Cost of services may fluctuate from period to period based on our utilization of design services engineers on revenue-generating projects rather than internal development projects.
Operating Expenses
Our operating expenses include marketing and sales, research and development, and general and administrative expenses. Factors that tend to cause our operating expenses to fluctuate include changes in the number of employees due to hiring and acquisitions, our annual merit cycle, stock-based compensation, restructuring and other employment separation activities (such as the voluntary retirement program), foreign exchange rate movements, volatility in variable compensation programs that are driven by operating results and charitable donations.
Many of our operating expenses are transacted in various foreign currencies. We recognize lower expenses in periods when the United States dollar strengthens in value against other currencies and we recognize higher expenses when the United States dollar weakens against other currencies. For an additional description of how changes in foreign exchange rates affect our consolidated financial statements, see the discussion in Item 7A, “Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk – Foreign Currency Risk.”
32
Table of Contents
Our operating expenses for fiscal 2021 and 2020 were as follows:
Change
(In millions, except percentages)
Our operating expenses, as a percentage of total revenue, for fiscal 2021 and 2020 were as follows:
Marketing and sales 19 % 19 %
Research and development 38 % 39 %
General and administrative 6 % 6 %
Total operating expenses 63 % 64 %
Marketing and Sales
The changes in marketing and sales expense were due to the following:
Change
(In millions)
Salary, benefits and other employee-related costs $ 35.2
Voluntary retirement program 6.7
Professional services 3.8
Home office-related expenses (2.0)
Other items 0.1
Total change in marketing and sales expense $ 43.8
Salary, benefits and other employee-related costs included in marketing and sales increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, primarily due to additional headcount from hiring and acquisitions and increased variable compensation. This increase was partially offset by reduced home office-related expenses associated with the transition to a remote work environment during fiscal 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Research and Development
The changes in research and development expense were due to the following:
Change
(In millions)
Salary, benefits and other employee-related costs $ 75.9
Voluntary retirement program 14.7
Facilities and other infrastructure costs 7.7
Stock-based compensation 6.2
Professional services 2.7
Home office-related costs (5.3)
Other items (1.3)
Total change in research and development expense $ 100.6
33
Table of Contents
Salary, benefits and other employee-related costs included in research and development expense increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, due primarily to additional headcount from hiring and acquisitions as we continue to expand and enhance our product portfolio. This increase was partially offset by reduced home office-related expenses associated with the transition to a remote work environment during fiscal 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
General and Administrative
The changes in general and administrative expense were due to the following:
Change
(In millions)
Contributions to non-profit organizations $ 15.0
Salary, benefits and other employee-related costs 5.9
Stock-based compensation 4.5
Professional services 3.2
Voluntary retirement program 2.2
Other items 3.8
Total change in general and administrative expense $ 34.6
The increase in contributions to non-profit organizations is the result of our continued commitment to support charitable initiatives. During the fourth quarter of fiscal 2021, we launched the Cadence Giving Foundation, a stand-alone, non-profit organization that was established to partner with other charitable initiatives to give back to the communities where we live and work. The Cadence Giving Foundation will also support critical needs in areas such as diversity, equity and inclusion, environmental sustainability and STEM education.
Salary, benefits and other employee-related costs included in general and administrative expense increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, due primarily to additional headcount from hiring and acquisitions.
Amortization of Acquired Intangibles
Amortization of acquired intangibles consists primarily of amortization of customer relationships, acquired backlog, trade names, trademarks and patents. Amortization in any given period depends primarily on the timing and extent to which we acquire intangible assets.
Change
(In millions, except percentages)
Amortization of acquired intangibles $ 19.6 $ 18.0 $ 1.6 9 %
Amortization of acquired intangibles increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, primarily due to intangibles assets acquired from Pointwise and Numeca during fiscal 2021.
Restructuring
We have initiated restructuring plans in recent years, most recently in fiscal 2020, to better align our resources with our business strategy. Because the restructuring charges and related benefits are derived from management’s estimates made during the formulation of the restructuring plans, based on then-currently available information, our restructuring plans may not achieve the benefits anticipated on the timetable or at the level contemplated. Additional actions, including further restructuring of our operations, may be required in the future. For additional information about our restructuring plans, see Note 16 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
Operating margin
Operating margin represents income from operations as a percentage of total revenue. Our operating margin for fiscal 2021 and 2020 was as follows:
Operating margin 26 % 24 %
Operating margin increased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, primarily because revenue growth in each of our five product categories exceeded growth in operating expenses.
34
Table of Contents
Interest Expense
Interest expense for fiscal 2021 and 2020 was comprised of the following:
(In millions)
Contractual cash interest expense:
Revolving credit facility 0.7 4.4
Amortization of debt discount:
Other 0.2 —
Total interest expense $ 17.0 $ 20.7
Interest expense decreased during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, primarily due to a decrease in outstanding borrowing under our revolving credit facility. During the first quarter of fiscal 2020, we had outstanding borrowings of $350 million under our revolving credit facility as a precautionary measure to provide additional liquidity in light of global economic uncertainty that was present at that time. All outstanding borrowings under our revolving credit facility were repaid in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020. For an additional description of our debt arrangements, including our revolving credit facility, see Note 3 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
Income Taxes
The following table presents the provision for income taxes and the effective tax rate for fiscal 2021 and 2020:
(In millions, except percentages)
Provision for income taxes $ 72.5 $ 42.1
Effective tax rate 9.4 % 6.7 %
Our provision for fiscal 2021 was primarily attributable to federal, state and foreign income taxes on our fiscal 2021 income, partially offset by the tax benefit of $22.1 million related to our foreign-derived intangible income, and the tax benefit of $64.3 million related to stock-based compensation that vested or was exercised during the period. We also recognized a tax benefit of $10.5 million related to the release of the valuation allowance on our Massachusetts R&D tax credits because we expect to utilize these tax credits prior to expiration based on strong current earnings and future taxable income projections.
Our provision for fiscal 2020 was primarily attributable to federal, state and foreign income taxes on our fiscal 2020 income, partially offset by the tax benefit of $22.2 million related to the partial release of the valuation allowance on our California R&D tax credit deferred tax assets and the tax benefit of $60.1 million related to stock-based compensation that vested or was exercised during fiscal 2020.
The United States enacted the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act in December 2017 that requires companies to capitalize all of their R&D costs, including software development costs, incurred in tax years beginning after December 31, 2021. Beginning in fiscal 2022, we must capitalize and amortize R&D costs over five years for domestic research and 15 years for international research rather than expensing these costs as incurred. If the United States doesn’t repeal or defer the effective date of the law in the future, then we expect our fiscal 2022 effective tax rate and our cash tax payments to increase significantly as compared to fiscal 2021. We also expect to recognize increases to our deferred tax assets as we begin to capitalize domestic research costs.
Our future effective tax rates may also be materially impacted by tax amounts associated with our foreign earnings at rates different from the United States federal statutory rate, research credits, the tax impact of stock-based compensation, accounting for uncertain tax positions, business combinations, closure of statutes of limitations or settlement of tax audits, changes in valuation allowance and changes in tax law. A significant amount of our foreign earnings is generated by our subsidiaries organized in Ireland and Hungary. Our future effective tax rates may be adversely affected if our earnings were to be lower in countries where we have lower statutory tax rates. We currently expect that our fiscal 2022 effective tax rate will be approximately 25%. We expect that our quarterly effective tax rates will vary from our fiscal 2022 effective tax rate as a result of recognizing the income tax effects of stock-based awards in the quarterly periods that the awards vest or are settled and other items that we cannot anticipate. For additional discussion about how our effective tax rate could be affected by various risks, see Part I, Item 1A, “Risk Factors.” For further discussion regarding our income taxes, see Note 8 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
35
Table of Contents
Liquidity and Capital Resources
As of Change
(In millions)
Cash and Cash Equivalents
As of January 1, 2022, our principal sources of liquidity consisted of $1,088.9 million of cash and cash equivalents as compared to $928.4 million as of January 2, 2021.
Our primary sources of cash and cash equivalents during fiscal 2021 were cash generated from operations, proceeds from the exercise of stock options and proceeds from stock purchases under our employee stock purchase plan.
Our primary uses of cash and cash equivalents during fiscal 2021 were payments related to salaries and benefits, operating expenses, repurchases of our common stock, payments for business combinations, net of cash acquired, payments for income taxes, purchases of inventory, payment of employee taxes on vesting of restricted stock and purchases of property, plant and equipment.
Approximately 55% of our cash and cash equivalents were held by our foreign subsidiaries as of January 1, 2022. Our cash and cash equivalents held by our foreign subsidiaries may vary from period to period due to the timing of collections and repatriation of foreign earnings.
Net Working Capital
Net working capital is comprised of current assets less current liabilities, as shown on our consolidated balance sheets. The increase in our net working capital as of January 1, 2022, as compared to January 2, 2021, is primarily due to improved results from operations, the timing of cash receipts from customers and disbursements made to vendors.
Cash Flows from Operating Activities
Cash flows from operating activities during fiscal 2021 and 2020 were as follows:
Change
(In millions)
Cash flows from operating activities include net income, adjusted for certain non-cash items, as well as changes in the balances of certain assets and liabilities. Our cash flows from operating activities are significantly influenced by business levels and the payment terms set forth in our customer agreements. The increase in cash flows from operating activities during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, was primarily due to improved results from operations and timing of cash receipts from customers and disbursements made to vendors.
Cash Flows from Investing Activities
Cash flows used for investing activities during fiscal 2021 and 2020 were as follows:
Change
(In millions)
Cash used for investing activities $ (293.0) $ (292.2) $ (0.8)
Cash used for investing activities during fiscal 2021 and fiscal 2020, consisted primarily of cash paid in business combinations, net of cash acquired, and payments for purchases of property, plant and equipment. We expect to continue our investing activities, including purchasing property, plant and equipment, purchasing intangible assets, business combinations, purchasing software licenses, and making strategic investments.
36
Table of Contents
Cash Flows from Financing Activities
Cash flows used for financing activities during fiscal 2021 and 2020 were as follows:
Change
(In millions)
Cash used for financing activities $ (643.8) $ (415.3) $ (228.5)
The increase in cash used for financing activities during fiscal 2021, as compared to fiscal 2020, was primarily due to an increase in payments for repurchases of our common stock.
Other Factors Affecting Liquidity and Capital Resources
Stock Repurchase Program
As of the end of fiscal 2020, approximately $739 million remained available under the previously announced authorization to repurchase shares of our common stock. In August 2021, our Board of Directors increased the prior authorization to repurchase shares of our common stock by authorizing an additional $1 billion. The actual timing and amount of repurchases are subject to business and market conditions, corporate and regulatory requirements, stock price, acquisition opportunities and other factors. As of January 1, 2022, approximately $1.1 billion remained available to repurchase shares of our common stock. See Part II, Item 5, “Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities” for additional information.
Revolving Credit Facility
On June 30, 2021, we terminated our then-existing revolving credit facility, dated January 30, 2017, and entered into a five-year senior unsecured revolving credit facility with a group of lenders led by Bank of America, N.A., as administrative agent (the “2021 Credit Facility”). The 2021 Credit Facility provides for borrowings up to $700.0 million, with the right to request increased capacity up to an additional $350.0 million upon receipt of lender commitments, for total maximum borrowings of $1.05 billion. The 2021 Credit Facility expires on June 30, 2026. Any outstanding loans drawn under the 2021 Credit Facility are due at maturity on June 30, 2026, subject to an option to extend the maturity date. Outstanding borrowings may be repaid at any time prior to maturity. As of January 1, 2022, there were no borrowings outstanding under the 2021 Credit Facility, and we were in compliance with all financial covenants associated with such credit facility.
2024 Notes
In October 2014, we issued $350.0 million aggregate principal amount of 4.375% Senior Notes due October 15, 2024. We received net proceeds of $342.4 million from the issuance of the 2024 Notes, net of a discount of $1.4 million and issuance costs of $6.2 million. Interest is payable in cash semi-annually. The 2024 Notes are unsecured and rank equal in right of payment to all of our existing and future senior indebtedness. As of January 1, 2022, we were in compliance with all covenants associated with the 2024 Notes.
For additional information relating to our debt arrangements, see Note 3 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
Other Liquidity Requirements
A summary of other capital and liquidity requirements as of January 1, 2022 is as follows:
Total Due in LessThan 1 Year
(In millions)
Operating lease obligations(1) $ 171.1 $ 32.0
Contractual interest payments 48.7 15.9
Voluntary retirement program 17.5 17.0
Income tax payable 8.0 8.0
Other long-term contractual obligations (2) 47.9 —
_________________
(1) This table includes future payments under leases that had commenced as of January 1, 2022 as well as leases that had been signed but not yet commenced as of January 1, 2022.
(2) Included in other long-term contractual obligations are long-term income tax liabilities of $23.1 million related to unrecognized tax benefits. The remaining portion of other long-term contractual obligations is primarily liabilities associated with defined benefit retirement plans and acquisitions.
37
Table of Contents
We expect that current cash and cash equivalent balances, cash flows that are generated from operations and financing activities will be sufficient to meet the needs of our domestic and international operating activities, and other capital and liquidity requirements, including acquisitions and share repurchases for at least the next 12 months and thereafter for the foreseeable future.
Off-Balance Sheet Arrangements
As of January 1, 2022, we did not have any significant off-balance sheet arrangements that are reasonably likely to have a material current or future effect on our operating results or financial condition.
Critical Accounting Estimates
In preparing our consolidated financial statements, we make assumptions, judgments and estimates that can have a significant impact on our revenue, operating income and net income, as well as on the value of certain assets and liabilities on our consolidated balance sheets. We base our assumptions, judgments and estimates on historical experience and various other factors that we believe to be reasonable under the circumstances. Actual results could differ materially from these estimates under different assumptions or conditions. At least quarterly, we evaluate our assumptions, judgments and estimates, and make changes as deemed necessary.
We believe that the assumptions, judgments and estimates involved in the accounting for income taxes, revenue recognition and business combinations have the greatest potential impact on our consolidated financial statements; therefore, we consider these to be our critical accounting estimates. For information on our significant accounting policies, see Note 2 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
Revenue Recognition
Our contracts with customers often include promises to transfer multiple software and/or IP licenses, hardware and services, including professional services, technical support services, and rights to unspecified updates to a customer. These contracts require us to apply judgment in identifying and evaluating any terms and conditions in contracts which may impact revenue recognition. Determining whether licenses and services are distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately, or not distinct and thus accounted for together, requires significant judgment. In some arrangements, such as most of our IP license arrangements, we have concluded that the licenses and associated services are distinct from each other. In other arrangements, like our time-based software arrangements, the licenses and certain services are not distinct from each other. Our time-based software arrangements include multiple software licenses and updates to the licensed software products, as well as technical support, and we have concluded that these promised goods and services are a single, combined performance obligation.
Judgment is required to determine the stand-alone selling prices (“SSPs”) for each distinct performance obligation. We rarely license or sell products on a standalone basis, so we are required to estimate the SSP for each performance obligation. In instances where the SSP is not directly observable because we do not sell the license, product or service separately, we determine the SSP using information that may include market conditions and other observable inputs. We typically have more than one SSP for individual performance obligations due to the stratification of those items by classes of customers and circumstances. In these instances, we may use information such as the size of the customer and geographic region of the customer in determining the SSP.
Revenue is recognized over time for our combined performance obligations that include software licenses, updates, and technical support as well as for maintenance and professional services that are separate performance obligations. For our professional services, revenue is recognized over time, generally using costs incurred or hours expended to measure progress. Judgment is required in estimating project status and the costs necessary to complete projects. A number of internal and external factors can affect these estimates, including labor rates, utilization and efficiency variances and specification and testing requirement changes. For our other performance obligations recognized over time, revenue is generally recognized using a time-based measure of progress reflecting generally consistent efforts to satisfy those performance obligations throughout the arrangement term.
If a group of agreements are so closely related that they are, in effect, part of a single arrangement, such agreements are deemed to be one arrangement for revenue recognition purposes. We exercise significant judgment to evaluate the relevant facts and circumstances in determining whether the separate agreements should be accounted for separately or as, in substance, a single arrangement. Our judgments about whether a group of contracts comprise a single arrangement can affect the allocation of consideration to the distinct performance obligations, which could have an effect on results of operations for the periods involved.
We are required to estimate the total consideration expected to be received from contracts with customers. In some circumstances, the consideration expected to be received is variable based on the specific terms of the contract or based on our expectations of the term of the contract. Generally, we have not experienced significant returns or refunds to customers. These estimates require significant judgment and the change in these estimates could have an effect on our results of operations during the periods involved.
38
Table of Contents
Accounting for Income Taxes
We are subject to income taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required in evaluating and estimating our provision for these taxes. There are many transactions that occur during the ordinary course of business for which the ultimate tax determination is uncertain. Our provision for income taxes could be adversely affected by our earnings being lower than anticipated in countries where we have lower statutory rates and higher than anticipated in countries where we have higher statutory rates, losses incurred in jurisdictions for which we are not able to realize the related tax benefit, changes in foreign currency exchange rates, entry into new businesses and geographies and changes to our existing businesses, acquisitions and investments, changes in our deferred tax assets and liabilities including changes in our assessment of valuation allowances, changes in the relevant tax laws or interpretations of these tax laws, and developments in current and future tax examinations.
We only recognize the tax benefit of an income tax position if we judge that it is more likely than not that the tax position will be sustained, solely on its technical merits, in a tax audit including resolution of any related appeals or litigation processes. To make this judgment, we must interpret complex and sometimes ambiguous tax laws, regulations and administrative practices. If we judge that an income tax position meets this recognition threshold, then we must measure the amount of the tax benefit to be recognized by estimating the largest amount of tax benefit that has a greater than 50% cumulative probability of being realized upon settlement with a taxing authority that has full knowledge of all of the relevant facts. It is inherently difficult and subjective to estimate such amounts, as this requires us to determine the probability of various possible settlement outcomes. We must reevaluate our income tax positions on a quarterly basis to consider factors such as changes in facts or circumstances, changes in tax law, effectively settled issues under audit, the lapse of applicable statute of limitations, and new audit activity. Such a change in recognition or measurement would result in recognition of a tax benefit or an additional charge to the tax provision. For a more detailed description of our unrecognized tax benefits, see Note 8 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
During fiscal 2019, we completed intercompany transfers of certain intangible property rights to our Irish subsidiary, which resulted in the establishment of a deferred tax asset and the recognition of an income tax benefit of $575.6 million. To determine the value of the deferred tax asset, we were required to make significant estimates in determining the fair value of the transferred IP rights. These estimates included, but are not limited to, the income and cash flows that the IP rights are expected to generate in the future, the appropriate discount rate to apply to the income and cash flow projections, and the useful lives of the IP rights. These estimates are inherently uncertain and unpredictable, and if different estimates were used, it would impact the fair value of the IP rights and the related value of the deferred tax asset and the income tax benefit recognized in fiscal 2019 and in future periods when the deferred tax asset is realized. In addition, we reviewed the need to establish a valuation allowance on the deferred tax asset of $575.6 million by evaluating whether there is a greater than 50% likelihood that some portion or all of the deferred tax asset will not be realized. To make this judgment, we must make significant estimates and predictions of the amount and category of future taxable income from various sources and weigh all available positive and negative evidence about these possible sources of taxable income. We give greater weight to evidence that can be objectively verified. Based on our evaluation and weighting of the positive and negative evidence, we concluded that it is greater than 50% likely that the deferred tax asset of $575.6 million will be realized in future periods and that a valuation allowance was not currently required. If, in the future, we evaluate that this deferred tax asset is not likely to be realized, an increase in the related valuation allowance could result in a material income tax expense in the period such a determination is made.
Business Combinations
When we acquire businesses, we allocate the purchase price to the acquired tangible assets and assumed liabilities, including deferred revenue, liabilities associated with the fair value of contingent consideration and acquired identifiable intangible assets. Any residual purchase price is recorded as goodwill. The allocation of the purchase price requires us to make significant estimates in determining the fair values of these acquired assets and assumed liabilities, especially with respect to intangible assets and goodwill. These estimates are based on information obtained from management of the acquired companies, our assessment of this information, and historical experience. These estimates can include, but are not limited to, the cash flows that an acquired business is expected to generate in the future, the cash flows that specific assets acquired with that business are expected to generate in the future, the appropriate weighted average cost of capital, and the cost savings expected to be derived from acquiring an asset. These estimates are inherently uncertain and unpredictable, and if different estimates were used, the purchase price for the acquisition could be allocated to the acquired assets and assumed liabilities differently from the allocation that we have made to the acquired assets and assumed liabilities. In addition, unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that may affect the accuracy or validity of such estimates, and if such events occur, we may be required to adjust the value allocated to acquired assets or assumed liabilities.
We also make significant judgments and estimates when we assign useful lives to the definite-lived intangible assets identified as part of our acquisitions. These estimates are inherently uncertain and if we used different estimates, the useful life over which we amortize intangible assets would be different. In addition, unanticipated events and circumstances may occur that may impact the useful life assigned to our intangible assets, which would impact our amortization of intangible assets expense and our results of operations.
During fiscal 2021, we acquired intangible assets of $88.9 million with our acquisition of NUMECA and Pointwise. The fair value of the definite-lived intangible assets acquired with these acquisitions was determined using variations of the income approach.
39
Table of Contents
For acquired existing technology, the fair value was determined by applying the relief-from-royalty method. This method is based on the application of a royalty rate to forecasted revenue to quantify the benefit of owning the intangible asset rather than paying a royalty for use of the asset. To estimate royalty savings over time, we projected revenue from the acquired existing technology over the estimated remaining life of the technology, including the effect of assumed technological obsolescence, before applying an assumed royalty rate. For NUMECA, we assumed technological obsolescence at a rate of 6.7% annually, before applying an assumed royalty rate of 22%. For Pointwise, we assumed technological obsolescence at a rate of 10.0% annually, before applying an assumed royalty rate of 25%. The present value of after-tax royalty savings were determined using discount rates ranging from 10.5% to 12.0%.
The fair value for acquired agreements and relationships was determined by using the multi-period excess earnings method. This method reflects the present value of the projected cash flows that are expected to be generated from existing customers, less charges representing the contribution of other assets to those cash flows. Projected income from existing customer relationships considered a customer retention rate of 95% for both NUMECA and Pointwise. The present value of operating cash flows from existing customers was determined using discount rates ranging from 10.5% to 12.0%.
We believe that our estimates and assumptions related to the fair value of its acquired intangible assets are reasonable, but significant judgment is involved.
New Accounting Standards
For additional information about the adoption of new accounting standards, see Note 2 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
40
Table of Contents
Item 7A. Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures About Market Risk
Foreign Currency Risk
A material portion of our revenue, expenses and business activities are transacted in the U.S. dollar. In certain foreign countries where we price our products and services in U.S. dollars, a decrease in value of the local currency relative to the U.S. dollar results in an increase in the prices for our products and services compared to those products of our competitors that are priced in local currency. This could result in our prices being uncompetitive in certain markets.
In certain countries where we may invoice customers in the local currency, our revenues benefit from a weaker dollar and are adversely affected by a stronger dollar. The opposite impact occurs in countries where we record expenses in local currencies. In those cases, our costs and expenses benefit from a stronger dollar and are adversely affected by a weaker dollar. The fluctuations in our operating expenses outside the United States resulting from volatility in foreign exchange rates are not generally moderated by corresponding fluctuations in revenues from existing contracts.
We enter into foreign currency forward exchange contracts to protect against currency exchange risks associated with existing assets and liabilities. A foreign currency forward exchange contract acts as a hedge by increasing in value when underlying assets decrease in value or underlying liabilities increase in value due to changes in foreign exchange rates. Conversely, a foreign currency forward exchange contract decreases in value when underlying assets increase in value or underlying liabilities decrease in value due to changes in foreign exchange rates. These forward contracts are not designated as accounting hedges, so the unrealized gains and losses are recognized in other income, net, in advance of the actual foreign currency cash flows with the fair value of these forward contracts being recorded as accrued liabilities or other current assets.
We do not use forward contracts for trading purposes. Our forward contracts generally have maturities of 90 days or less. We enter into foreign currency forward exchange contracts based on estimated future asset and liability exposures, and the effectiveness of our hedging program depends on our ability to estimate these future asset and liability exposures. Recognized gains and losses with respect to our current hedging activities will ultimately depend on how accurately we are able to match the amount of foreign currency forward exchange contracts with actual underlying asset and liability exposures.
The following table provides information about our foreign currency forward exchange contracts as of January 1, 2022. The information is provided in United States dollar equivalent amounts. The table presents the notional amounts, at contract exchange rates, and the weighted average contractual foreign currency exchange rates expressed as units of the foreign currency per United States dollar, which in some cases may not be the market convention for quoting a particular currency. All of these forward contracts matured during February, 2022.
NotionalPrincipal WeightedAverageContractRate
(In millions)
Forward Contracts:
Other 6.4 N/A
Estimated fair value $ (0.3)
We actively monitor our foreign currency risks, but our foreign currency hedging activities may not substantially offset the impact of fluctuations in currency exchange rates on our results of operations, cash flows and financial position.
41
Table of Contents
Interest Rate Risk
Our exposure to market risk for changes in interest rates relates primarily to our portfolio of cash and cash equivalents and balances outstanding on our revolving credit facility, if any. We are exposed to interest rate fluctuations in many of the world’s leading industrialized countries, but our interest income and expense is most sensitive to fluctuations in the general level of United States interest rates. In this regard, changes in United States interest rates affect the interest earned on our cash and cash equivalents and the costs associated with foreign currency hedges.
All highly liquid securities with a maturity of three months or less at the date of purchase are considered to be cash equivalents. The carrying value of our interest-bearing instruments approximated fair value as of January 1, 2022.
Interest rates under our revolving credit facility are variable, so interest expense could be adversely affected by changes in interest rates, particularly for periods when we maintain a balance outstanding under the revolving credit facility. Interest rates for our revolving credit facility can fluctuate based on changes in market interest rates and in an interest rate margin that varies based on our consolidated leverage ratio. Assuming all loans were fully drawn and we were to fully exercise our right to increase borrowing capacity under our revolving credit facility, each quarter point change in interest rates would result in a $2.6 million change in annual interest expense on our indebtedness under our revolving credit facility. As of January 1, 2022, there were no borrowings outstanding under our revolving credit facility. For an additional description of the revolving credit facility, see Note 3 in the notes to consolidated financial statements.
Equity Price Risk
Equity Investments
We have a portfolio of equity investments that includes marketable equity securities and non-marketable investments. Our equity investments are made primarily in connection with our strategic investment program. Under our strategic investment program, from time to time, we make cash investments in companies with technologies that are potentially strategically important to us. See Note 8 in the notes to consolidated financial statements for an additional description of these investments.
Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
The financial statements required by Item 8 are submitted as a separate section of this Annual Report on Form 10-K. See Part IV, Item 15, “Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.”
Item 9. Changes in and Disagreements With Accountants on Accounting and Financial Disclosure
None.
Item 9A. Controls and Procedures
Evaluation of Disclosure Controls and Procedures
As required by Rule 13a-15 of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended (the “Exchange Act”) under the supervision and with the participation of our management, including our Chief Executive Officer (“CEO”) and our Chief Financial Officer (“CFO”), we evaluated the effectiveness of the design and operation of our disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e) under the Exchange Act) as of January 1, 2022.
The evaluation of our disclosure controls and procedures included a review of our processes and the effect on the information generated for use in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. In the course of this evaluation, we sought to identify any material weaknesses in our disclosure controls and procedures, to determine whether we had identified any acts of fraud involving personnel who have a significant role in our disclosure controls and procedures, and to confirm that any necessary corrective action, including process improvements, was taken. This type of evaluation is done every fiscal quarter so that our conclusions concerning the effectiveness of these controls can be reported in our periodic reports filed with the SEC. The overall goals of these evaluation activities are to monitor our disclosure controls and procedures and to make modifications as necessary. We intend to maintain these disclosure controls and procedures, modifying them as circumstances warrant.
Based on their evaluation as of January 1, 2022, our CEO and CFO have concluded that our disclosure controls and procedures were effective to provide reasonable assurance that the information required to be disclosed by us in our reports filed or submitted under the Exchange Act is recorded, processed, summarized and reported within the time periods specified in the SEC’s rules and forms and is accumulated and communicated to our management, including the CEO and CFO, as appropriate to allow timely decisions regarding required disclosure.
Changes in Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
There were no changes in our internal control over financial reporting during the fiscal quarter ended January 1, 2022 that materially affected, or are reasonably likely to materially affect, our internal control over financial reporting.
42
Table of Contents
Inherent Limitations on Effectiveness of Controls
Our management, including our CEO and CFO, does not expect that our disclosure controls and procedures or our internal control over financial reporting will prevent or detect all errors and all fraud. Internal control over financial reporting, no matter how well conceived and operated, can provide only reasonable, not absolute, assurance that the objectives of internal control are met. Further, the design of internal control must reflect the fact that there are resource constraints, and the benefits of the control must be considered relative to their costs. While our disclosure controls and procedures and internal control over financial reporting are designed to provide reasonable assurance of their effectiveness, because of the inherent limitations in all control systems, no evaluation of controls can provide absolute assurance that all control issues and instances of fraud, if any, within Cadence, have been detected.
Management’s Report on Internal Control Over Financial Reporting
Our management is responsible for establishing and maintaining adequate internal control over financial reporting (as defined in Rule 13a-15(f) under the Exchange Act). Our management assessed the effectiveness of our internal control over financial reporting as of January 1, 2022. In making this assessment, our management used the criteria established in Internal Control-Integrated Framework (2013) issued by the Committee of Sponsoring Organizations of the Treadway Commission (“COSO”). Our management has concluded that, as of January 1, 2022, our internal control over financial reporting is effective based on these criteria. Our independent registered public accounting firm, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP, has issued an attestation report on our internal control over financial reporting, which is included in Part IV, Item 15, “Exhibits and Financial Statement Schedules.”
Item 9B. Other Information
None.
Item 9C. Disclosure Regarding Foreign Jurisdictions that Prevent Inspections
None.
43
Table of Contents
PART III.
Item 10. Directors, Executive Officers and Corporate Governance
The information required by Item 10 as to directors is incorporated herein by reference from the sections entitled “Proposal 1 - Election of Directors” and, as applicable, “Security Ownership of Certain Beneficial Owners and Management - Delinquent Section 16(a) Reports” in Cadence’s definitive proxy statement for its 2022 Annual Meeting of Stockholders. The executive officers of Cadence are listed at the end of Item 1 of Part I of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.