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cmtl-20230731

UNITED STATES SECURITIES AND EXCHANGE COMMISSION

Washington, D.C. 20549

(Mark One)

For the fiscal year ended July 31, 2023

Commission File Number: 0-7928

(Exact name of registrant as specified in its charter)

68 South Service Road, Suite 230,Melville, NY 11747

(Address of principal executive offices) (Zip Code)

(Registrant's telephone number, including area code)

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(b) of the Act:

Title of each class Trading Symbol(s) Name of each exchange on which registered

Common Stock, par value $.10 per share CMTL Nasdaq Stock Market LLC

Securities registered pursuant to Section 12(g) of the Act:

None

(Title of class)

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is a well-known seasoned issuer, as defined in Rule 405 of the Securities Act.

☐Yes ☒No

Indicate by check mark if the registrant is not required to file reports pursuant to Section 13 of Section 15(d) of the Act.

☐Yes ☒No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant (1) has filed all reports required to be filed by Section 13 or 15(d) of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to file such reports), and (2) has been subject to such filing requirements for the past 90 days.

☒Yes☐No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has submitted electronically every Interactive Data file required to be submitted pursuant to Rule 405 of Regulation S-T (§ 232.405 of this chapter) during the preceding 12 months (or for such shorter period that the registrant was required to submit such files).

☒Yes☐No

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant is a large accelerated filer, an accelerated filer, a non-accelerated filer, a smaller reporting company, or an emerging growth company. See the definitions of "large accelerated filer," "accelerated filer," "smaller reporting company," and "emerging growth company" in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act.

Large accelerated filer ☐ Accelerated filer ☒

Non-accelerated filer ☐ Smaller reporting company ☐

Emerging growth company ☐

If an emerging growth company, indicate by check mark if the registrant has elected not to use the extended transition period for complying with any new or revised financial accounting standards provided pursuant to Section 13(a) of the Exchange Act. ☐

Indicate by check mark whether the registrant has filed a report on and attestation to its management’s assessment of the effectiveness of its internal control over financial reporting under Section 404(b) of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act (15 U.S.C. 7262(b)) by the registered public accounting firm that prepared or issued its audit report.

☒

Indicate by check mark whether registrant is a shell company (as defined in Rule 12b-2 of the Exchange Act).

☐Yes ☒No

The aggregate market value of the registrant’s voting stock held by non-affiliates of the registrant, computed by reference to the closing sales price as quoted on the Nasdaq Global Select Market on January 31, 2023 was approximately $438,634,000.

The number of shares of the registrant’s common stock outstanding on October 6, 2023 was 28,127,498.

DOCUMENTS INCORPORATED BY REFERENCE.

Certain portions of the document listed below have been incorporated by reference into the indicated Part of this Annual Report on Form 10-K:

Proxy Statement for 2023 Annual Meeting of Stockholders - Part III

INDEX

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS 1

Business Segments 2

Satellite and Space Communications Segment 3

Terrestrial and Wireless Networks Segment 6

Acquisitions 11

Sales, Marketing and Customer Support 11

Research and Development 13

Intellectual Property 13

Competition 14

Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability 15

Human Capital 15

U.S. Government Contracts and Security Clearances 17

Regulatory Matters 18

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS 19

ITEM 1B. UNRESOLVED STAFF COMMENTS 46

ITEM 2. PROPERTIES 47

ITEM 3. LEGAL PROCEEDINGS 49

ITEM 4. MINE SAFETY DISCLOSURES 49

PART II

Stock Performance Graph and Cumulative Total Return 49

Dividends 50

Recent Sales of Unregistered Securities 50

Purchases of Equity Securities by the Issuer and Affiliated Purchasers 50

Approximate Number of Equity Security Holders 50

ITEM 6. [RESERVED] 50

Overview 51

Critical Accounting Policies 52

Results of Operations 54

Fiscal 2023 Highlights and Business Outlook for Fiscal 2024 55

Liquidity and Capital Resources 63

Recent Accounting Pronouncements 67

ITEM 7A. QUANTITATIVE AND QUALITATIVE DISCLOSURES ABOUT MARKET RISK 67

ITEM 8. FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SUPPLEMENTARY DATA 67

ITEM 9A. CONTROLS AND PROCEDURES 68

ITEM 9B. OTHER INFORMATION 69

ITEM 9C. DISCLOSURE REGARDING FOREIGN JURISDICTIONS THAT PREVENT INSPECTIONS 69

PART III

ITEM 10. DIRECTORS, EXECUTIVE OFFICERS AND CORPORATE GOVERNANCE 70

ITEM 11. EXECUTIVE COMPENSATION 70

ITEM 14. PRINCIPAL ACCOUNTING FEES AND SERVICES 70

PART IV

ITEM 15. EXHIBITS, FINANCIAL STATEMENT SCHEDULES 71

SIGNATURES 75

INDEX TO CONSOLIDATED FINANCIAL STATEMENTS AND SCHEDULE F-1

Note: As used in this Annual Report on Form 10-K ("Form 10-K"), the terms "Comtech," "we," "us," "our" and "our Company" mean Comtech Telecommunications Corp. and its subsidiaries.

Note About Forward-Looking Statements

Certain information in this Form 10-K contains forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements can be identified by words such as: "anticipate," "believe," "continue," "could," "estimate," "expect," "future," "goal," "intend," "likely," "may," "plan," "potential," "predict," "project," "seek," "should," "strategy," "target," "will," "would," and similar references to future periods. Examples of forward-looking statements include, among others, statements we make regarding our future performance and financial condition, plans and objectives of our management and our assumptions regarding such future performance, financial condition, and plans and objectives that involve certain significant known and unknown risks and uncertainties and other factors not under our control which may cause our actual results, future performance and financial condition, and achievement of our plans and objectives of our management to be materially different from the results, performance or other expectations implied by these forward-looking statements. These factors include, among other things: the possibility that the expected synergies and benefits from acquisitions will not be fully realized, or will not be realized within the anticipated time periods; the risk that the acquired businesses will not be integrated successfully; the possibility of disruption from acquisitions, making it more difficult to maintain business and operational relationships or retain key personnel; the risk that we will be unsuccessful in implementing our "One Comtech" transformation and integration of individual businesses into two segments; the risk that we will be unsuccessful in implementing a tactical shift in our Satellite and Space Communications segment away from bidding on large commodity service contracts and toward pursuing contracts for our niche products and solutions with higher margins; the nature and timing of our receipt of, and our performance on, new or existing orders that can cause significant fluctuations in net sales and operating results; the timing and funding of government contracts; adjustments to gross profits on long-term contracts; risks associated with international sales; rapid technological change; evolving industry standards; new product announcements and enhancements; changing customer demands and or procurement strategies; changes in prevailing economic and political conditions, including as a result of Russia's military incursion into Ukraine; changes in the price of oil in global markets; changes in prevailing interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates; risks associated with our legal proceedings, customer claims for indemnification, and other similar matters; risks associated with our obligations under our credit facility; risks associated with our large contracts; risks associated with the COVID-19 pandemic and related supply chain disruptions; and other factors described in this and our other filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"). However, the risks described in this Form 10-K are not the only risks that we face. Additional risks and uncertainties, not currently known to us or that do not currently appear to be material, may also materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and/or operating results in the future. We describe risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results and events to differ materially in "Risk Factors" (Part I, Item 1A of this Form 10-K), "Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations" (Part II, Item 7 of this Form 10-K) and "Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosures about Market Risk" (Part II, Item 7A of this Form 10-K). We do not intend to update or revise publicly any forward-looking statements, whether because of new information, future events, or otherwise, except as required by law.

PART I

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

Founded in 1967, we are a leading global provider of next-generation 911 emergency systems ("NG-911") and secure wireless and satellite communications technologies. This includes the critical communications infrastructure that people, businesses, and governments rely on when durable, trusted connectivity is required, no matter where they are – on land, at sea, or in the air – and no matter what the circumstances – from armed conflict to a natural disaster. Our solutions are designed to fulfill our customers’ needs for secure wireless communications in the most demanding environments, including those where traditional communications are unavailable or cost-prohibitive, and in mission-critical and other scenarios where performance is crucial. We anticipate future growth in our business due to a trend of increasing demand for global voice, video and data usage in recent years, upgraded ground stations and related services resulting from the large quantities of satellites anticipated to be launched for new LEO and MEO constellations, digitization and virtualization of modems, the resurgence of troposcatter as a viable form of primary or backup communications, enhanced location positioning combined with data-rich geospatial intelligence, and the growth of 988 networks. We provide our solutions to both commercial and governmental customers within the converging satellite and space communications and terrestrial and wireless networking markets.

In August 2022, we announced that Ken Peterman was appointed President and CEO. Mr. Peterman’s significant experience in satellite technology and decades of experience with U.S. government contracting is expected to enhance our efforts to continually improve commercial success and shareholder value. To advance our CEO’s initiatives to further strengthen and grow our business, we continue to move forward on the operational and cultural transformation that we call "One Comtech."

Since being appointed President and CEO, Mr. Peterman, along with his senior leadership team, has been driving transformational changes at Comtech to, among other things, integrate our individual businesses into two segments and improve operational performance. This transformation has provided insight into opportunities to manage costs, streamline operations, improve efficiency, and accelerate decision making by eliminating management layers and other redundancies. As part of our “One Comtech” initiative, we also celebrated the rebranding and launch of Comtech’s new logo and website, representing our commitment to delivering software-centric, cloud native communications solutions.

In fiscal 2023, we established EVOKE as Comtech’s innovation foundry, which is dedicated to creating and accelerating transformational changes in global technologies. We believe that EVOKE will enhance our existing technologies and service offerings (e.g., cloud-native satellite ecosystems, 5G advanced services and “as-a-service” business models) as well as allow us to pioneer entirely new ideas and opportunities with the benefit of multiple perspectives, industry backgrounds and areas of expertise. Since our launch of EVOKE, we have announced several technology partners, including Aarna Networks, Descartes Labs, Inc., Sirqul, Inc. and WishKnish Corp. By combining Aarna Networks’ technologies with Comtech’s Dynamic Cloud Platform, the companies anticipate enabling customers to easily add and manage a variety of open architecture cloud-based applications across private, hybrid and public networks, in both terrestrial and non-terrestrial environments. We are working with Descartes Labs to infuse the power of artificial intelligence, machine learning, predictive intelligence and insight monitoring across Comtech’s product offerings. Comtech and Sirqul are working on “Smart Operations,” where enterprises will be able to make business decisions with real time Internet of Things ("IoT") data. Through our collective efforts, we are working to bring robust mobile, web, social, voice, IoT, and other technologies to a variety of global markets. We are working in collaboration with WishKnish on integrating highly secure, flexible distributed ledger (blockchain) technologies across diverse commercial and government applications.

Business Segments

We offer advanced secure wireless communications technologies founded on decades of expertise in the satellite communications and cellular markets. We believe these markets are undergoing a period of long-term growth, reinvestment, and rapid technological change. We manage our business through two reportable operating segments: Satellite and Space Communications and Terrestrial and Wireless Networks. Our senior management team supports these business segments by, among other things, actively seeking to identify and leverage synergies that exist between the segments, including in areas such as manufacturing, technology, sales, marketing, customer support and finance. The diagram below summarizes our key products, systems, and services by our two reportable operating segments:

Financial information about our business segments, including net sales, operating income, Adjusted EBITDA (a Non-GAAP financial measure), total assets, and our operations outside the United States, is provided in "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Note (11) Segment Information" included in "Part II - Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data."

The markets and key technologies for each segment are further described below.

Satellite and Space Communications Segment

Overview

Our Satellite and Space Communications segment designs, builds and supports a variety of sophisticated communications equipment that is designed to meet or exceed the highest standards for performance and quality by businesses and governments worldwide. Applications of our equipment include high-throughput cellular backhaul solutions, modern troposcatter communications equipment, satellite ground station systems, electronic components engineered for use in outer space and high-powered RF/microwave amplifiers and control components. Our customers and end-users include the world’s largest corporations, governments and defense agencies, including the U.S. government.

Our Satellite and Space Communications segment has four product areas: Satellite Modem and Amplifier Technologies, Troposcatter and SATCOM Solutions, Space Components and Antennas, and High-Power Amplifiers and Switch Technologies. See "Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements - Note (18) – Subsequent Events" included in "Part II - Item 8. Financial Statements and Supplementary Data" for information concerning the divestiture of our solid-state, RF microwave high-power amplifiers and control components product line.

Satellite Modem and Amplifier Technologies

We believe we are a leading provider of satellite earth station modems, solid-state amplifiers and traveling wave tube amplifiers. Many of our key satellite earth station modems incorporate forward error correction and bandwidth compression technologies, which enable our customers to optimize their satellite networks by either reducing their satellite transponder lease costs or increasing data throughput. We hold leadership positions in the market for high-throughput modems used in cellular backhaul, a market that has been rapidly growing due to increased mobile phone usage and increasing data throughput demands from LTE and 5G deployments worldwide.

An estimated 3 billion people globally remain unconnected to any wireless services, representing a significant opportunity. In fiscal 2021, we introduced a Time Division Multiple Access ("TDMA") technology solution which offers best-in-class support for very large satellite networks that use Very Small Aperture Terminals (“VSATs”). This technology allows our customers to cost-effectively provide wireless services to end-users in complex geographies or areas where cellular infrastructure is otherwise unavailable. In fiscal 2022, we introduced ELEVATETM, a revolutionary solution that combines our Heights Dynamic Network Access ("H-DNA") and TDMA technologies into a single VSAT platform that delivers increased value to our customers by enabling private or shared VSAT networks of any size and topology on a single unified platform. To date, although sales cycles are long, we have made good progress in securing several significant orders for ELEVATETM.

An increasing area of focus for many governments, including the United States Department of Defense ("DoD") and several coalition partners, is maturing satellite communications. Many of our satellite communications products have been tested and certified for use by U.S. and coalition military satellite communications ("MILSATCOM") assets, such as the Wideband Global SATCOM constellation. We believe this provides us the opportunity to capture the increased demand for MILSATCOM programs.

We also provide rugged, highly efficient, and reliable amplifiers for commercial and military applications around the world. These High-Power Amplifiers (“HPAs”) are used in critical communications links on the ground, in the air and on the sea; they support fixed traditional and direct-to-home broadcast, mobile news gathering, transportable and flyaway systems, secure high data rate communications, and broadband access over satcom. These products include configurations that are formally qualified for use on aircraft and being installed as both retrofit and linefit initiatives.

Finally, we believe we are well-positioned in the millimeter wave ("mmWave") market and expect that market to continue to grow as new satellite constellations move into those higher, less crowded frequencies. The Ka band Low Earth orbit ("LEO") and Medium Earth orbit ("MEO") amplifiers that we design and manufacture for large commercial customers’ non-GEO constellations represent key strategic wins as we build positions in higher frequency bands.

Troposcatter and SATCOM Solutions

With persistent threats from state and non-state actors, governments around the world are increasingly seeking ways to mitigate vulnerabilities using information and more reliable communication systems to increase decision-makers’ situational awareness.

Many of our mission-critical technologies are part of integrated communication infrastructure systems such as the U.S. military's Command, Control, Communications, Computers, Cyber Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (also known as "C5ISR") systems and similarly complex networks for international governments.

We believe we are a world leader in the design and supply of troposcatter equipment. We have designed, manufactured, and delivered troposcatter systems (sometimes referred to as over-the-horizon ("OTH") microwave products and systems) for well over fifty years.

Our OTH systems, which include our patented forward error correction technology, can transmit video and other broadband applications at high throughputs in the most demanding environments: U.S. and foreign governments use our over-the-horizon microwave systems to, among other things, transmit radar tracking, run C5ISR applications and connect to remote border locations. Additionally, energy companies use our systems to enable communication links for offshore oil rigs and other remote locations, as well as for exploration activities. The Comtech COMETTM is a rapidly deployable OTH microwave system that directly addresses a void in capabilities that have long been desired by tactical communications planners: low probability of intercept and low probability of detection (“LPI/LPD”), while providing high reliability, mission essential communications. The COMETTM is capable of being transported in a carrying case by a single individual and set up in under fifteen minutes, extending critical services into areas where there is no communications infrastructure, or the infrastructure has been destroyed. U.S. Special Forces, as well as non-U.S. NATO forces, have already begun procuring and deploying the COMETTM for high reliability, mission essential communications.

We provide field support sustainment services, centralized and deployed depot services, and technology insertion services to the U.S. Army’s AN/TSC-198 family of communication systems that are commonly referred to as "SNAP" (Secret Internet Protocol Router ("SIPR") and Non-secure Internet Protocol Router ("NIPR") Access Point) VSATs, support for the Army “SCOUT” (Scalable Class of Unified Terminals), and Army T2C2 (Tactical Command Communication). Our field support services include providing DoD personnel with curriculum development and training services to support cybersecurity workforce development.

Space Components and Antennas

For over 45 years, we have been recognized as an industry leader and global supplier of high-reliability products and supply chain management and engineering services, supporting selection of space-qualified parts for satellite and launch vehicle tracking solutions geared for critical U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration ("NASA") programs as well as several international space and defense agencies. Our engineers are not only involved in the design of products, but our technical team is heavily involved with the customer development of electronic parts and testing specifications to assure capability, reliability and radiation tolerance to specific mission/project requirements both as an individual service and for Electrical, Electronic, and Electromechanical (“EEE”) parts supplied to our customers. We also lead and conduct failure analysis investigations and assist with manufacturing and test problems at the source and support reporting and selloff with the customer and its prime (such as the Japanese Space Exploration Agency (“JAXA”) and NASA). Our quality engineering team assures that the product received from our suppliers and test facilities are compliant to their respective specifications prior to shipment to our end customers. Most recently, our service offerings have been expanded to include kitting to customer Bill of Materials with direct shipments to customer designated contract manufacturers.

Within the satellite communications market, we are a leading provider of X/Y terminal solutions that fully support the mission requirements of LEO, MEO and GEO satellite communication and tracking requirements, offering a host of high-performance single-band and multi-band feed solutions. We also supply maritime antenna solutions that are fielded by foreign governments.

High Power Amplifiers and Switches

We offer several unique high-performance transmit and receive technologies used in sophisticated communication systems, including electronic warfare, radar, data link, medical and identification friend or foe ("IFF"). As our customers push the envelope for mobility, speed and frequency, we believe that demand for high-performance transmission products will increase over time.

Our solid-state, high-power RF microwave amplifiers and related switching control technologies are utilized in many critical applications, including electronic warfare, communications, radar, data link, IFF and medical applications (such as oncology treatment systems). In the electronic warfare marketplace, we support a variety of legacy systems and are participating in the ongoing migration to platforms that require smaller and lighter amplifiers integrated with additional signal processing functionality, providing more complete transmit and receive functionality. Our solutions are designed to increase the flexibility of systems by providing wider bandwidth capabilities to address increased data transmission needs in challenging environments. We also believe the desire for increased airspace situational awareness will create increased opportunities for our radar and IFF products, which are used by government and commercial customers around the world. Our high power and highly reliable Gallium Nitride ("GaN") amplifier technology is increasingly used both to update existing radar systems for improved sensitivity and range, as well as for new radar applications and installations. In addition to technologies that enhance performance of primary radars, we also supply solutions for IFF systems that provide positive identification of radar targets for secondary surveillance systems.

Satellite and Space Communications: Key Markets and Growth Drivers

Combined, our Satellite and Space Communications segment offers our customers one-stop-shopping for sophisticated satellite ground station technologies and solutions, including SCPC and TDMA modems, amplifiers, antennas, frequency converters and network software for customers who utilize satellite communications. Our products are used to modulate, demodulate and amplify signals, carry voice, video and/or data over networks and are vital to satellite communication applications, including air-to-ground communications, video broadcasting and the backhaul of cellular traffic. Our Satellite and Space Communications segment manufactures most of the satellite ground station equipment we sell to our customers.

We believe that the overall satellite ground station equipment industry will grow from current levels and will be increasingly combined with existing and new cellular networks. This growth is expected to occur because of widespread deployment of, and upgrades to, 4G and 5G ground-based systems, including satellite earth stations, as well as the integration of high-performance amplifiers necessary to meet long-term demand for high-performance satellite communications applications, such as satellite-based wireless backhaul, DTH, HD and 4K broadcasting, and in-flight connectivity. We believe that Comtech is well-positioned to capitalize on this demand through sales of our market-leading satellite ground station technologies, including new next-generation satellite earth station technologies that can be used with the thousands of new LEO, MEO and large HTS satellite constellations that are expected to be deployed over the next several years.

Examples of end-market applications that are driving long-term demand for our satellite-based communication technologies include:

•New LEO, MEO and HTS Satellites: Thousands of new satellites are reportedly being launched over the next several years, according to announcements by companies including Telesat Lightspeed, OneWeb, SpaceX Starlink, Amazon Kuiper and Viasat, which we believe will lead to increasingly complex satellite networks. As service providers work to offer connectivity to these high-speed, high-bandwidth satellites and expand their networks to handle the demand for new LEO, MEO and HTS applications, we believe our ELEVATETM, HeightsTM and UHP networking platforms, our solid-state amplifiers and our X/Y antennas will ultimately be incorporated into many new installations and equipment upgrades. We continue to provide modems and amplifiers to existing LEO and MEO communications satellite providers and expect to see growth in imaging satellites alongside commercial imaging constellations, including conventional, thermal, and hyperspectral.

•Satellite-Based Cellular Backhaul: Demand for satellite-based cellular backhaul services is anticipated to grow rapidly as a result of the increased penetration of smart cellular phones and network upgrades to 4G and 5G in developing regions of the world. Ultimately, as 5G services continue to be deployed, we expect that mobile data services will become more critical. As mobile data penetration expands and mobile data consumption increases, wireless carriers must invest in their mobile network infrastructures, and we believe businesses will require back-up communications. In developing regions of the world, and in remote areas where terrestrial network infrastructure is lacking (or where challenging geography prohibits it), wireless network operators often backhaul, or transport, their wireless data traffic using satellite-based networking technologies. Comtech is well positioned to serve the high-performance, high availability needs of satellite-based cellular backhaul through sales of our SCPC and TDMA satellite modems as well as our HeightsTM, ELEVATETM and UHP networking platforms.

•Government and Military Satellite Communications: Government users rely on high-speed connectivity in a variety of conditions throughout the world to provide real time information sharing, including Situational Awareness (“SA”), dissemination of Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance (“ISR”) information, and communications. Our communications solutions provide command and control and satellite networking capabilities that support U.S. and allied government initiatives for assured and resilient communications capabilities, as well as supporting interoperability objectives, including the Joint All Domain Command and Control (“JADC2”) efforts.

•Enterprise Networks and Internet of Things (“IoT”): Satellite services are increasingly used for Machine-to-Machine data connectivity for both critical infrastructure applications such as utility companies (electrical grid, oil rigs, gas pipelines, water companies) as well as IoT networks. Comtech TDMA equipment is widely used in these applications, where it delivers superior network availability (by making use of geographical hub redundancy and other technologies), and high Quality of Service (“QoS”).

•Geospatial and Earth Observation: led by the need to deliver near real time insights to government and commercial customers globally, the LEO operated Geospatial and Earth Observation satellite constellations have a driving need to gain access to their data at speed, and via trusted U.S. providers. We believe Comtech is uniquely positioned to stand our Geospatial and Earth Observation services on the shoulders of our globally proven technologies to connect critical services for LEO based satellite communications operators. In this way, we are able to position fixed ground services, transportable kits and, by leveraging our partners in EVOKE, data processing and analytics at the edge to support our Geospatial and Earth Observation customers going forward.

Terrestrial and Wireless Networks Segment

Overview

Our Terrestrial and Wireless Networks segment is a leading provider of the hardware, software, and solutions critical to any modern 911 public safety and mobile network operator (“MNO”) infrastructure, as well as for applications services requiring the specific location of a mobile user's geospatial position. From the moment a 911 call is made, Comtech provides highly reliable solutions that contribute to emergency calls being processed instantly, with proper routing to first responders. Our solutions include feature-rich data sets (such as: precise location information, route optimization, text messaging, photos and real-time video), putting first responders in the best possible position to make decisions when every second counts. Our customers are the businesses, communities and governments that need to implement and improve 911 infrastructure in the U.S., as well as MNOs in the U.S. and abroad that have a need to determine subscriber location within a network or to facilitate messaging services. According to Frost & Sullivan, a leading third-party research firm, we were the second leading NG-911 primary contract holder at year-end 2022 with an estimated market share of 22.3%. Our direct NG-911 contracts covered a population of over 56 million at the end of 2022. As such, we believe that we are a leader in public safety communication and location technologies.

The Terrestrial and Wireless Networks segment is organized into three product areas: Next Generation 911 & Call Delivery, Solacom Call Handling Solutions, and Trusted Location and Messaging Solutions.

Next Generation 911 & Call Delivery

In addition to 911 call routing, we provide systems integration, geospatial location information, satellite and location infrastructure terminals, and linkage to NG-911 Emergency Services IP Networks ("ESInet"). We also offer what we believe are best-in-class 911 call handling solutions under the Solacom brand name. We believe state and local governments need to upgrade existing legacy networks, location technologies, and call handling systems to modern NG-911 systems infrastructure, including 911 text messaging services, advanced data, real-time photos, and other types of information sharing over IP networks.

As the U.S. and Canada broadly adopt upgraded NG-911 and call handling solutions, we believe that other countries will follow similar technology and telecommunications advancements. Comtech’s public safety and location technology solutions have been deployed since 2006 and are utilized by domestic MNOs, as well as internationally, to provide reliable device location determination for public safety and commercial applications. Many of our technologies, such as positioning, mapping, and text messaging, are embedded in our public safety and location offerings to help address mapping, routing, and geolocations. Our solutions address Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") mandates for emergency services as they relate to location delivery by supporting precise caller location. Our text messaging platforms are used by wireless carriers to provide short messaging services (“SMS”) to their end-customers as well as being used to communicate with 911 public safety answering points (“PSAPs”).

Solacom Call Handling Solutions

We offer what we believe is a best-in-class call handling solution marketed under the Solacom Guardian brand name, which provides an integrated text-to-and-from 911 solution on a unified platform. The solution provides a flexible user interface, adapts to varying customer environments and preferences, provides powerful call conferencing capabilities, enhanced reporting capabilities and offers geospatial 911 location call display directly from a customized map. Because of its advanced features, it allows us to offer an immediate upgrade path to existing and new customers and has expanded our presence in the public safety solutions market with more than 700 PSAPs and emergency call centers installed in 5 countries.

The Guardian platform includes an integrated cloud-based texting solution (“Guardian Messenger”) which provides call takers / dispatchers with the ability to collect, process and share previously unavailable live incident information such as text, photos, and video via SMS and multimedia messaging services (“MMS”), from one integrated desktop. The Guardian platform also offers a cloud-based reporting and analytics solution (“Guardian Insights”), designed to assist emergency call center directors to know their operations, so they can better plan and manage resources and workloads.

We are investing in product enhancements for our Guardian platform including additional cloud-based capabilities, analytics, and cyber security solutions. We have significantly increased our “911-as-a-Service" (“911aaS”) offering, deploying hosted 911 call centers solutions across numerous states and regions in the U.S. and provinces in Canada.

Trusted Location and Messaging Solutions

We believe that as the industry moves toward digital transformation, customers will be looking for situational awareness solutions that are built on top of mapping and geo-services. Our location technology solutions enable the determination of a mobile phone's geospatial position in a variety of environments, leveraging a wide range of signals including Global Positioning System ("GPS"), Global Navigation Satellite Systems ("GNSS") and multiple cellular positioning technologies ranging from 2G through 5G mobile networks. For our installed base of systems, we provide ongoing operational support, including administration of system components, system optimization, configuration management and maintenance services, including tracking customer support issues, troubleshooting, and developing and installing maintenance releases.

Our Location StudioTM platform enables customers, particularly public safety agencies, to build their own applications with end-user functionality, such as maps, search, geocoding, routing, and navigation, using their own brand. We believe that customers and prospects are increasingly looking for alternatives to mapping services that are subject to change by the provider, and which meet market privacy and security requirements. The Location StudioTM platform is a complete end-to-end location application consisting of maps, map data, including our Trusted OpenStreetMap ("TOSM") geo-services, application program interfaces ("APIs") and software development kits ("SDKs") enabling public safety ecosystems and enterprises to customize unique mapping applications. Map data includes positioning, search, enhanced local content, custom maps, navigation, geo-fencing, tracking integrated with third party data sources like camera feeds and IoT sensor data via cross-platform APIs and SDKs supporting all leading operating systems.

In fiscal 2022, we began marketing SmartResponseTM, a newly developed cloud-based solution that offers a common operational picture to PSAPs and first responders, enabling an effective data-driven response for security agencies and first responders by providing a holistic information environment for them. This new solution offers streaming live feeds from traffic cameras at and near incident location, and accesses caller information like past residences, criminal history, or next-of-kin information at the tap of a button. Offering a bird's-eye view of integrated data, the SmartResponseTM solution empowers first responders to ensure appropriate resources are on the scene and to better serve the public in emergency situations.

Terrestrial and Wireless Networks: Key Markets and Growth Drivers

We are a leading provider of modern public safety and location technologies. Our next generation solutions enable rich, multimedia information to be delivered alongside 911 calls. Also, our E911 and NG-911 call routing solutions allow cellular carriers and voice over the Internet ("VoIP") carriers, as well as legacy telecommunications carriers, to deliver emergency calls to public safety emergency call centers nationwide. When someone places an emergency call, our technologies identify the call as an emergency call, access the user’s location information from the wireless or VoIP networks and location databases, and route the call to the assigned public safety jurisdiction. Today, we provide public safety and location technologies to many U.S. telecommunication carriers, the largest being Verizon (for which we provide 911 call routing via cellular service). We believe we service a significant portion of the carrier market for 911 cellular call routing applications, along with one other leading competitor.

In addition to our growth in core 911 services, the expected expansion of 988 networks in fiscal 2024 and beyond across the United States is expected to have a positive impact on our business. 988 services provide free and confidential support for people in distress, suicide prevention and crisis resources. We believe Comtech is uniquely positioned to expand our 911 services into 988 services and help mitigate some of the core challenges the network is currently experiencing with area code specific call routing. By connecting the 988 services with Comtech’s existing 911 infrastructure, the location services critical to dispatch personnel can be improved for 988 exponentially.

In the growth area of 5G networks, new network-based positioning technologies are poised to deliver opportunities thanks to the ongoing digital transformation of multiple industry verticals, including the Public Safety, Transportation, Manufacturing, Healthcare and Retail industries. As these industries increasingly rely on data from connected devices, using location information in real-time is expected to enhance existing business processes and outcomes as well as end user experiences. We believe end-market applications such as worker’s safety in high-risk areas, smart manufacturing, and autonomous driving would benefit enormously from new precision-positioning techniques. Also, MNOs can now provide even more advanced location-based services, in addition to existing connectivity solutions.

Examples of end-market applications that are driving long-term demand for our Terrestrial and Wireless Networks technologies include:

•Our XyPoint® Mobile Location Platform: Provided to MNOs globally, our virtualized location-based services (“LBS”) platform is a high availability robust solution with multiple positioning technologies, that allows authorized users to locate and track specific mobile devices and monitor specific areas of interest. MNOs can use this platform for location accuracy to support a wide variety of use cases, including public safety, location intelligence, network optimization and big data analytics. On the legacy front, our LBS platform is compatible within 2G through 4G wireless networks, as well as an enabler to the MNOs to seamlessly migrate to cloud native environments, as they progress their migrations to 5G.

•Comtech INSIGHTSTM LightSourceTM: Provides first responders a reporting and analytics platform for the rich data created in Comtech’s NG-911 core systems. Authorized users at state, regional, and jurisdiction organizations can see reports and analysis of call, behavior, and location characteristics in both time and geospatial visualizations. Users are able to interact directly with the visualization in real time to focus on desired characteristics to include timeframes, call types, media types, and other information. Authorized users can also schedule reports for automatic delivery via email.

•Comtech INSIGHTSTM SmartResponseTM: Provides first responders of all types (fire, police, medical, state, regional emergency communications centers, dispatch centers, emergency management agencies, fusion cells, intelligence centers, etc.) access to real-time 911 call information and related supplemental information for situational awareness in a geospatial, mapped context. Authorized users can view 911 calls and emergency response vehicles/assets in a 3-D map via a single pane of glass view to enhance response. SmartResponseTM is available for use in both emergency centers and response vehicles.

•Wireless Emergency Alerts (“WEA”): WEA, also known as Commercial Mobile Alerts System (“CMAS”) in the U.S., enable authorized officials to inform the public about life-threatening events by automatically delivering emergency alerts to mobile devices (including roaming users) via the government alert gateway. Using standardized infrastructure, ensuring compliance with government regulations globally, our patented technology facilitates the origination and accurate delivery of geo-targeted emergency alerts, empowering emergency services providers to better serve the public. Using this technology, for example, MNOs can quickly broadcast emergency communications, such as severe weather alerts, to all devices in a specific geographical area.

Synergies: Opportunities in Convergence

We believe that significant advances in technology have been driving a convergence across multiple aspects of the Terrestrial and Wireless Networks market and the Satellite and Space Communications market. We believe we have an advantage in having identified this convergence, and in combining our native expertise in both to develop innovative new products and solutions to meet growing customer demands. Broadly, the increasing digitalization of people and businesses, and the ongoing migration to the cloud, means a growing reliance on communications and connectivity, and a corresponding increase in the volumes of data transmission. We believe this is a long-term secular opportunity for Comtech given our market-leading positions in, and understanding of, these fast-evolving markets.

We are watching in real-time as the once clear line separating terrestrial and non-terrestrial communications networks is dissolving. The need for connectivity (more precisely: constant, reliable connectivity) is growing on a worldwide basis. People, devices, and machines need constant connectivity, regardless of whether they are proximate to a cellular tower. Because of this, satellite communications are increasingly bridging gaps created by challenging geographies, failure of a terrestrial infrastructure due to natural disasters, or a lack of terrestrial infrastructure altogether. Comtech is increasingly delivering solutions to companies and countries seeking to bridge these gaps, whether across legacy 4G networks, or through the introduction of 5G networks, as operators seek ways to optimize implementation, control costs, and mitigate security risks. We expect the convergence of terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks to continue, leveraging the increasing numbers and density of satellite constellations to meet the growing terrestrial demand to connect and move more data, more quickly, reliably, and efficiently than ever. For critical networks such as those for first responders, defense or intelligence users having the resiliency and redundancy of both a terrestrial/wireless backbone and a satellite communications layer increases the opportunity for always-on, always-available connectivity. Comtech is uniquely positioned to expand into this area.

Our Diverse Global Customer Base

We have established long-standing relationships with thousands of customers worldwide, including leading system and network suppliers in the global satellite, mobile cellular, defense, broadcast and aerospace industries, as well as the U.S. federal government (including the U.S. Army, Air Force, Marine Corps, and Navy), U.S. state and local governments, and foreign governments. Our global Satellite and Space Communications and Terrestrial and Wireless Networks customers are increasingly seeking integrated solutions to meet their operational needs. We believe that our customers recognize our ability to develop improved technologies and to meet stringent program requirements. We hold prime positions on several key contracts and have had a long history of servicing key programs. A table illustrating representative customers is provided below.

Business Results and Challenges: Overview

In fiscal 2023, we achieved consolidated net sales of $550.0 million and Adjusted EBITDA of $53.5 million.

As more fully described elsewhere in this Form 10-K, in fiscal 2023 we navigated the challenges of operating our global business during a period where business conditions continue to be challenging, and the operating environment is largely unpredictable, including factors such as inflation, rising interest rates, the repercussions of the military conflict between Russia and Ukraine and a potential global recession. Order and production delays, disruptions in component availability, increased pricing both for labor and parts, lower levels of factory utilization and higher logistics and operational costs are also continuing to impact our business. Nevertheless, despite these business conditions and resulting challenges and although we anticipate some variability from time to time as we move through our One Comtech transformational change, we believe as the global economy continues to recover, our business performance in future periods will continue to improve from current levels.

Our Business Outlook for Fiscal 2024 is discussed further in Part II – “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Business Outlook for Fiscal 2024.” For a definition and explanation of Adjusted EBITDA, see Part II – “Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations – Comparison of Fiscal 2023 and 2022 – Adjusted EBITDA.”

More Information and Where to Find It

Our Internet website is www.comtech.com, at which you can find our filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission ("SEC"), including investor letters, press releases, annual reports, quarterly reports, current reports, and any amendments to those filings. We also make announcements regarding company developments and financial and operating performance through our blog, Signals, at www.comtech.com/signals. We also use our website to disseminate other material information to our investors (on the Home Page and in the "Investor Relations" section). Among other things, we post on our website our press releases and information about our public conference calls (including the scheduled dates, times and the methods by which investors and others can listen to those calls), and we make available for replay webcasts of those calls and other presentations for a limited time.

We also use social media channels to communicate with customers and the public about our Company, our products, services, and other issues, and we use social media and the Internet to communicate with investors, including information about our stockholder meetings. Information and updates about our Annual Meetings will continue to be posted on our website at www.comtech.com in the "Investors" section.

None of the information on our website, blog or any other website identified herein is incorporated by reference in this annual report and such information should not be considered a part of this annual report.

Acquisitions

In order to position ourselves to take advantage of additional growth opportunities and meet our strategic objectives, we have followed, and will continue to follow, a disciplined approach in identifying, executing and capitalizing on acquisitions of businesses and enabling technologies. Material acquisitions in the past several years include:

On March 2, 2021, we completed our acquisition of UHP Networks Inc. ("UHP"), a leading provider of innovative and disruptive satellite ground station technology solutions. With end-markets for high-speed satellite-based networks anticipated to significantly grow, our acquisition allows us to enhance our offerings with TDMA satellite modems. The aggregate purchase price for accounting purposes for the acquisition of UHP was $37.5 million and UHP was fully integrated into our Satellite and Space Communications segment.

Sales, Marketing and Customer Support

Sales and marketing strategies include direct sales through sales, marketing and engineering personnel, indirect sales through independent representatives, value-added resellers, and sales through a combination of the foregoing. We devote resources to evaluating and responding to requests for proposals by governmental agencies around the world and, as needed, we employ the use of specialized consultants to develop our proposals and bids.

We intend to continue to expand international marketing efforts by engaging additional independent sales representatives, distributors and value-added resellers and by establishing foreign sales offices. In addition, we expect to leverage our relationships with larger companies (such as prime contractors to the U.S. government and large mobile wireless operators) to market our technology solutions. In fiscal 2024, we expect to continue expanding our social media and Internet presence and further developing an updated marketing and branding strategy.

We are pre-qualified as an approved vendor for certain government contracts. We collaborate in sales efforts under various arrangements with integrators. Our marketing efforts also include advertising, public relations, speaking engagements and attending and sponsoring industry conferences.

Our management, technical and marketing personnel establish and maintain relationships with customers. Our sales strategies include a commitment to providing ongoing customer support for our systems and equipment. This support involves providing direct access to engineering staff or trained technical representatives to resolve technical or operational issues.

Our products and services in many of our product lines have long sales cycles. Once a product is designed into a system, customers may be reluctant to change the incumbent supplier due to the extensive qualification process and potential redesign required in using alternative sources. In addition, in recent years, we have found that overall sales cycles for each of our product lines have significantly increased.

Sales by geography and customer type, as a percentage of related net sales, are as follows:

Fiscal Years Ended July 31,

Sales to U.S. government customers include sales to the DoD, intelligence and civilian agencies, as well as sales directly to or through prime contractors.

Domestic sales include sales to commercial customers, as well as to U.S. state and local governments. Included in domestic sales are sales to Verizon Communications Inc. ("Verizon"), which represented 10.6%, 11.1% and 10.7% of consolidated net sales for fiscal 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively. Except for the U.S. government and Verizon, there were no other customers that represented more than 10.0% of consolidated net sales during fiscal 2023, 2022 and 2021.

International sales for fiscal 2023, 2022 and 2021 (which include sales to U.S. domestic companies for inclusion in products that are sold to international customers) were $132.1 million, $121.4 million and $138.9 million, respectively. When we sell internationally, we denominate most of our contracts in U.S. dollars. Some of our sales to international customers are paid for by letters of credit or on an open account. From time to time, some of our international customers may require us to provide performance guarantees.

Except for the U.S., no individual country (including sales to U.S. domestic companies for inclusion in products that are sold to a foreign country) represented more than 10% of consolidated net sales for fiscal 2023, 2022 and 2021.

Backlog

Our backlog as of July 31, 2023 was $662.2 million (of which $293.4 million was attributed to the Satellite and Space Communications segment and $368.8 million was attributed to the Terrestrial and Wireless Networks segment). We estimate that a substantial portion of the backlog as of July 31, 2023 will be recognized as sales during the next twenty-four month period, with the rest thereafter.

At July 31, 2023, 57.2% of our backlog consisted of orders for use by U.S. commercial customers, 27.0% consisted of U.S. government contracts, subcontracts and government funded programs and 15.8% consisted of orders for use by international customers (including sales to U.S. domestic companies for inclusion in products that will be sold to international customers).

Our backlog is defined as orders (sometimes also referred to herein as bookings) that we believe to be firm. Backlog that is derived from U.S. government orders relates to U.S. government contracts that have been awarded, signed and funded. Backlog for our U.S. government customers also includes amounts appropriated by Congress and allotted to the contract by the procuring government agency. Our backlog does not include the value of options that may be exercised in the future on multi-year contracts, nor does it include the value of additional purchase orders that we may receive under indefinite delivery/indefinite quantity ("IDIQ") contracts or basic ordering agreements. In some cases, such as contracts received from large U.S. based telecommunication companies, our backlog may include the value of customer authorizations to proceed or may be computed by multiplying the most recent month’s contract or revenue by the months remaining under the existing long-term agreements, which we consider to be the best available information for anticipating revenue under those agreements. When we acquire a company with existing contracts, we only record bookings for those contracts that meet our definition. Almost all of the contracts in our backlog (including firm orders previously received from the U.S. government) are subject to modification, cancellation at the convenience of the customer, or for default in the event that we are unable to perform under the contract.

Please see Item 1A – “Risk Factors” under Part I of this Form 10-K for more information about risks pertaining to recognition of our backlog.

A significant portion of the backlog from our U.S. commercial customers relates to large, multi-year contracts to provide state and local governments (and their agencies) with 911 public safety and location technology solutions. Although the contracts themselves represent legal, binding obligations of these governments, funding is often subject to the approval of budgets (for example, on an annual or bi-annual basis). Although funding for these multi-year contracts is dependent on future budgets being approved, we include the full estimated value of these large, multi-year contracts in our backlog given the critical nature of the services being provided and the positive historical experience of our state and local government customers passing their respective budgets.

There can be no assurance that our backlog will result in actual revenue in any particular period, or at all, or that any contract included in backlog will be profitable. There is a higher degree of risk in this regard with respect to unfunded backlog. The actual amount and timing of any revenue is subject to various contingencies, many of which are beyond our control. The actual recognition of revenue on contracts included in backlog may never occur or may change because a program schedule could change, a customer may not follow up with order details (e.g., delivery instructions), fluctuations in currency exchange rates after an order is placed could cause our products to become too expensive for a foreign customer, a customer’s program could be canceled, a contract could be reduced, modified or terminated early due to changes in a customer’s priorities, funding may not be included in future budgets, actual indirect rates being reimbursed on U.S. government contracts may ultimately be less than those indirect rates included in our initial proposals, or an option that we had assumed would be exercised is not exercised. As a result of these contingencies, we may adjust our backlog if we determine that such orders are no longer firm and/or funded. In addition to adjustments from these types of contingencies, variations in backlog from time to time are attributable, in part, to changes in sales mix, the timing of contract proposals, the timing of contract awards, delivery schedules on specific contracts and new bookings obtained through acquisitions. A large majority of the solutions in our satellite ground station technologies product line within our Satellite and Space Communications segment operate under short lead times. Backlog in both our Satellite and Space Communications segment and Terrestrial and Wireless Networks segment and has been, and could be, highly influenced by the nature and timing of orders received from federal, state and local governments and defense-related agencies, causing such orders to be subject to unpredictable funding, deployment and technology decisions by such customers. As a result, we believe our backlog and orders, at any point in time, are not necessarily indicative of the total sales anticipated for any future period.

Research and Development

We have established leading technology positions in our fields through internal and customer-funded research and development activities.

Internal research and development expenses are reported as research and development expenses for financial reporting purposes and were $48.6 million, $52.5 million and $49.1 million in fiscal 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, representing 8.8%, 10.8% and 8.4% of total consolidated net sales, respectively, for these periods. Customer-funded research and development activities relate to the adaptation of our basic technology to specialized customer requirements which is recoverable under contracts and is reflected in net sales with the related costs included in cost of sales. Certain of our government customers also contract with us from time to time to conduct research on telecommunications software, equipment and systems. During fiscal 2023, 2022 and 2021, we were reimbursed by customers for such activities in the amounts of $14.0 million, $9.8 million and $13.6 million, respectively. During fiscal 2023, 2022 and 2021, we incurred $3.8 million, $1.2 million and $0.3 million, respectively, of strategic emerging technology costs for next-generation satellite technology to advance our solutions offerings to be used with new broadband satellite constellations. We are evaluating this new market in relation to our long-term business strategies, and expect to incur additional costs in fiscal 2024.

Intellectual Property

We rely upon trade secrets, technical know-how, continuing technological innovation and, with respect to certain key technologies, patents to develop and maintain our competitive position. The products we sell require significant engineering design and manufacturing expertise. For technological capabilities that are not protected by patents or licenses, we generally rely on the expertise of our employees and our learned experiences in both the design and manufacture of our products and the delivery of our services.

Some of our key Satellite and Space Communications segment technology is protected by patents that are significant to protecting our proprietary technology. We have been issued several U.S. patents relating to forward error correction technology that is utilized in our TPC-enabled satellite modems. Due to our market leadership position, we do not expect that upon expiration of these patents, our future results will be negatively impacted.

We have a portfolio of several hundred patents worldwide relating to wireless location services, text messaging, GPS ephemeris data, emergency public safety data routing, electronic commerce and other areas. To-date, our strategy has been to avoid offensive and defensive patent litigation and focus on building meaningful partnerships with other companies through direct licensing, cross licensing, and other forms of agreements. We do not believe that any single patent or group of patents, patent application or patent license agreement is material to our operations.

We have filed additional patent applications for certain apparatus and processes we believe we have invented covering key features of location services, wireless text alerts, SMS Center, mobile-originated data and E911 network software. There is no assurance that any patent application will result in a patent being issued by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office or other patent offices, nor is there any guarantee that any issued patent will be valid and enforceable. Additionally, foreign patent rights may or may not be available or pursued in any technology area for which U.S. patent applications have been filed.

Almost all the products and services we sell to the U.S. government include technology and other technical know-how that we have internally developed. In past instances where we have provided government-purpose rights, to our knowledge, the U.S. government has not exercised any of these rights. To the extent that we have provided or will provide government-purpose rights in the future, we believe that given the rapidly changing nature of our technology, our future success will depend primarily on the technical competence and creative skill of our personnel, rather than any contractual protection.

Competition

Our businesses are highly competitive and are characterized by rapid technological change. Some of our competitors are substantially larger, have significantly greater financial, marketing, research and development, technological and operating resources and broader product lines than we have. Other companies are developing new technologies and the shift towards open standards such as IP-based satellite networks will likely result in increased competition. A significant technological breakthrough by others, including new companies, our existing competitors and our customers, could have a material adverse effect on our business. Our future success depends on, among other things, our ability to keep pace with such changes and developments and to respond to the increasing variety of electronic equipment users and transmission technologies.

Some large defense-based companies, such as Northrop Grumman Corporation, have subsidiaries or divisions that compete against us in one or more business segments. In addition, new and potential competitors are always emerging. Certain of our customers, such as prime contractors who currently outsource their engineering and manufacturing requirements to us, have technological capabilities in our product areas and could choose to replace our products with products they develop. In some cases, we partner or team with companies (both large and mid-tier) to compete against other teams for large defense programs. In some cases, these same companies may be among our competitors.

Listed below, in alphabetical order, are some of our competitors in each of our two business segments:

Satellite and Space Communications – ACTIA Group, Advantech Co., Ltd., Aethercomm Inc. (recently acquired by Frontgrade Technologies, a portfolio company of Veritas Capital), Agilis Satcom, AMERGINT Technologies, Inc., Amkom Design Group Inc., AnaCom, Inc., Codan Limited, CPI International, Inc., Datum Systems, Inc., dB Control Corp. (a subsidiary of HEICO Corp.), ENENSYS Technologies, ETM Electromatic Inc., Gilat Satellite Networks Ltd., Empower RF Systems, Inc., General Dynamics Corporation, Hughes Network Systems, LLC (a subsidiary of EchoStar), KVH Industries, Inc., Kratos Defense and Security Solutions (Including Kratos RT Logic and Avtec Systems, Inc.), L3Harris Technologies, Inc., Mission Microwave Technologies, LLC, ND Satcom GmbH, Novelsat LTD, Panasonic Corporation, Paradise Datacom Ltd. (a subsidiary of Teledyne Technologies Incorporated), Raytheon Technologies Corporation, SatixFy Israel Ltd., ST Engineering iDirect, Inc. (including Newtec), Terrasat Communications Inc., and ViaSat, Inc.

Terrestrial and Wireless Networks – AT&T Inc., Atos, Bandwidth.com, Carbyne, Central Square Technologies, 8x8, Inc., Everbridge, Inc., Google Inc. (a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.), Here Technologies, Hexagon AB, Immersive Labs, INdigital, Intersec, Intrado Corporation (formerly West Corporation), LM Ericsson, Lumen Technologies, Inc. (formerly CenturyLink, Inc.), Mobilaris AB, Mobile Arts AB, Motorola Solutions, Inc., NGA911, Nokia Networks (a subsidiary of Nokia Corporation), Polaris Wireless, RapidDeploy, Inc., Rave Mobile Safety, Sinch AB (Inteliquent), Synergem Technologies, SS8, ThriveDX, TomTom N.V., Versaterm Public Safety Inc., WestTel, and Zetron.

We believe that competition in all our markets is based primarily on technology innovation, product performance, reputation, delivery times, customer support and price. Due to our proprietary know-how, we believe we can develop, produce and deliver products and services on a cost-effective basis faster than many of our competitors.

Corporate Responsibility and Sustainability

We recognize the need for driving corporate responsibility within our organization, throughout our supplier network and in our communities. To drive this responsibility, we will continue to target effective corporate governance, ethical behavior in the workplace and social responsibility, while also updating and enhancing this focus with initiatives, such as:

•refreshing the roles and responsibilities of the committees of our Board of Directors, including with the establishment of an Environment, Social and Governance ("ESG") task force supervised by our Board of Directors,

•developing a company-wide People Strategy to foster and promote workplace talent and diversity, and

•organizing a company-wide strategic sourcing group that will be accountable for tracking and driving resource reduction targets, such as resource-efficient manufacturing, reduction of hazardous substances, and take-back, recycling and reuse of products.

Human Capital

Our employees are one of our most valuable assets and we believe our success depends on the talent we attract and retain, which is why we make our People Strategy one of our top priorities. We are passionate about building meaningful employee engagement and happiness through a variety of programs, initiatives, and other opportunities that are addressed in our People Strategy. As part of this strategy, we are providing a foundation for a diverse, inclusive and equitable workplace where employees feel they belong, their views are valued, and they are empowered to pursue opportunities they are passionate about. Our People Strategy is also focused on developing and promoting talent; supporting a competitive benefits program; and emphasizing the importance of our employees’ health, safety and wellness.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Belonging

We believe a diverse, equitable, inclusive workplace is central to our ability to innovate and deliver substantial value for our customers as well as contribute to our future growth and continued success. We encourage employees to be inspired and strive for them to feel like they belong which is communicated through blogs, internal messages, activities, engagement opportunities, and other employee participation initiatives featured on our redesigned company-wide Intranet. We focus on expanding our diverse workforce by reaching out to institutions promoting the employment of minorities; attending recruiting events aimed at attracting talent of diverse heritage and veteran backgrounds; and considering diversity of our workforce during our talent, promotion, and succession planning. Through these and other efforts, during fiscal 2023, we successfully launched The Exchange program, which brings women of all ages together to spark new ideas, inspire the next generation of women leaders, and create opportunities for current leaders to learn from future leaders.

Our leadership team also identified several company-wide diversity initiatives such as celebrating Black History Month. One of our key efforts during Black History Month was implementing the first annual Black History Month webinar series, which featured discussions from a diverse set of renowned African American leaders. In addition, we have placed an emphasis on celebrating and recognizing other diversity observances including Asian American Pacific Islander Heritage Month, International Women’s Day, Breast Cancer Awareness Month and Pride Month, among others. Beyond our internal messages and educational efforts, we encouraged employees and their families to participate, celebrate, and showcase their views, culture, and history by sharing their stories and inspirations on our social media channels and our company-wide Intranet. For our Veterans, we celebrated “Honor Week” by recognizing each of the armed forces through various engagement activities. Among other fiscal 2023 highlights, we launched an annual employee recognition program, which included our “Above and Beyond” award. This employee recognition program aims to showcase and celebrate our employees’ volunteerism within their communities and award them for their outstanding efforts. To unify the enterprise and showcase our diverse cultures, we also created a company-wide cookbook highlighting family recipes from employees around the globe. Ultimately, when unique stories are celebrated, employees feel connected in meaningful ways and support each other, which can help enhance our company culture and encourage employees to reach their full potential.

Employee Workforce as of July 31, 2023

Women People of Color Veterans People with Disabilities

*People of Color include employees who identify with any race other than white.

Talent

To meet and execute our strategic business goals, we are focused on sourcing, attracting, and retaining top talent, especially those with engineering, science, and technical backgrounds. We recognize and reward performance while continually developing, engaging and retaining high-performing employees. We have made significant investments to provide ongoing training and career development opportunities by offering courses on our online learning management system. We offer job-specific skills training to promote and develop advancement within the organization and to enhance skills. Our Standards of Business Conduct, Cybersecurity, and Trade and Foreign Corrupt Practices Act ("FCPA") compliance trainings are also mandatory for our employees.

Through certain government contracts that we participate in, we partner with our end customers to provide enlisted, active military personnel (whose service is expected to end within 6 months) onsite training to help them with a successful transition to a civilian life. Also, in an effort to retain and attract new talent, we partner with local universities to hire interns throughout our organization. During fiscal 2023, we launched a robust internship program that assigned impactful projects to interns, partnered them with a mentor, and provided them insight to our culture and leadership team through weekly lunch and learns.

At July 31, 2023, we had 1,718 employees (including temporary employees and contractors), 1,132 of whom were engaged in production and production support, 305 in research and development and other engineering support, and 281 in marketing and administrative functions. None of our U.S. based employees are represented by a labor union. Of our 1,718 employees, 384 employees are based outside of the United States, including 123 employees in Canada, 120 employees in the United Kingdom, and 91 employees in India. We believe that our employee relations are good.

Safety and Wellness

We strive to maintain a robust health, safety and wellness program to ensure a healthy work environment, promote workforce resiliency, and enhance business value. We encourage employee participation to identify opportunities for improvement and review and monitor our performance with safety committees at our local sites. Local safety committees identify safety programs and ensure completion of all training and target learning objectives.

Employee wellness is important to Comtech. All employees and their households have access to an employee assistance program, as well as a health advocate program to help with all aspects of benefits, family life, financial concerns, legal issues and transition to retirement. Assistance is available 365 days per year, 24 hours per day. As part of our budgeted wellness fund this year, we provided employees with a sun protection kit at the start of the summer season to promote health, safety, and well-being outside of work.

We rigorously review our benefit and compensation plans to maintain competitive packages that reflect the wellness needs of our workforce and the marketplace. These programs include 401(k) plans, comprehensive health packages, and welfare benefits, among many others. We support pay equity for all employees within the same geographic area, experience level, and performance standards. This year, we also provided enhanced benefits to our employees without increasing employee payroll contributions.

Environment

Sustainability sits at the core of who we are as a company and implementing a comprehensive sustainability strategy remains one of our top priorities. As we continue to move forward with our One Comtech transformation, we are enhancing sustainable operations across the enterprise. In July 2023, we selected a solution provider for carbon accounting software and services to enable us to quantify, monitor, and manage the carbon footprint of our operations, and use data-based decision-making to develop targeted carbon reduction projects.

We enhanced the sustainability of our operations in Arizona by completing the relocation to our new 146,000 square foot facility in Chandler, Arizona and exiting three buildings in Tempe, Arizona. Though the facility in Chandler, Arizona provides additional space, energy use for the facility is expected to be approximately twenty percent less than our prior buildings in Tempe, Arizona. This reduction is attributable in part to the newer building, LED lighting upgrades, and some newer equipment. Additionally, a diesel-fueled generator is no longer required for back-up power, as the Chandler, Arizona facility has redundant power sources via connection to two electrical substations.

We offer our employees incentives to promote greener commuting options such as company-sponsored mass transit cards and rideshare programs. Where appropriate, we also consider work from home arrangements to eliminate commuting altogether. In

fiscal 2023, we celebrated Earth Day in our company by encouraging our global employees to participate in environmentally-focused initiatives and then share their activities on social media.

We are developing a company-wide Environmental, Health, and Safety ("EHS") Management System to foster a culture of continuous improvement and to engage employees at all levels of the organization in the prevention of work-related injuries and illnesses, and minimization of environmental impacts. We are committed to providing a workplace which values the health, safety, and well-being of our employees, contractors, and visitors to our facilities.

U.S. Government Contracts and Security Clearances

The U.S. government operates on an October-to-September fiscal year. Generally, in February of each year, the President of the United States presents to the U.S. Congress ("Congress") the proposed budget for the upcoming fiscal year and from February through September of each year, the appropriations and authorization committees of Congress review the President’s budget proposals and establish the funding levels for the upcoming fiscal year. Once these levels are enacted into law, the Executive Office of the President administers the funds to the agencies. Thereafter, we can receive orders pursuant to sole-source or competitively awarded contracts, which we describe below.

The U.S. government may be unable to complete its budget process before the end of any given government fiscal year and when the fiscal budget is not approved in a timely manner, the U.S. government is required either to shut down or be funded pursuant to a "continuing resolution" that authorizes agencies of the U.S. government to continue operations but does not authorize new spending initiatives, either of which could result in reduced or delayed orders or payments for products and services we provide.

Sole-source contracts are generally awarded to a single contractor without a formal competition when a single contractor is deemed to have an expertise or technology superior to that of competing contractors or when there is an urgent need by the U.S. government that cannot wait for a full competitive process. Potential suppliers compete informally through research and development and marketing efforts. Competitively-bid contracts are awarded based on a formal proposal evaluation established by the procuring agency and interested contractors prepare bids. Competitively-bid contracts are awarded after a formal bid and proposal competition among suppliers.

The U.S. government has a stated policy direction to reduce the number of sole-source contract awards across all procuring agencies. In addition, the U.S. government is increasing the use of multiple-award IDIQ contracts to increase its procurement options. IDIQ contracts allow the U.S. government to select a group of eligible contractors for the same program. When the government awards IDIQ contracts to multiple bidders under the same program, a company that has already competed to be selected as a participant in the program must subsequently compete for individual delivery orders. As a result of this U.S. government shift toward multiple award IDIQ contracts, we expect to face greater competition for future U.S. government contracts and, at the same time, greater opportunities for us to participate in program areas that we do not currently participate in.

As a U.S. government contractor and subcontractor, we are subject to a variety of rules and regulations, such as the Federal Acquisition Regulations ("FAR"). Individual agencies can also have acquisition regulations. For example, the DoD implements the FAR through the Defense Federal Acquisition Regulation supplement (commonly known as "DFARs"). For all Federal government entities, the FAR regulates the phases of any product or service acquisition, including: acquisition planning, competition requirements, contractor qualifications, protection of source selection and vendor information, and acquisition procedures. In addition, the FAR addresses the allowability of supplier costs, while Cost Accounting Standards address how those costs can be allocated to contracts. The FAR also subjects suppliers to audits and other government reviews. These reviews cover issues such as cost, performance and accounting practices relating to our contracts. The government may challenge a supplier's costs and fees. Suppliers are also required to comply with the National Industrial Security Program Operating Manual which relates to the handling of classified materials and programs and is administered by the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency (“DCSA”). Suppliers who do not comply with these various regulations may lose and/or become ineligible for facility security clearances and/or participation in classified programs.

Under firm fixed-price contracts, we perform for an agreed-upon price and we can derive benefits from cost savings, but bear the risk of cost overruns. Our cost-reimbursable type contracts typically provide for reimbursement of allowable costs incurred plus a negotiated fee. Cost-plus-incentive-fee orders typically provide for sharing with the U.S. government savings accrued from orders performed for less than the target costs and costs incurred in excess of targets up to a negotiated ceiling price (which is higher than the target cost), and for the supplier to carry the entire burden of costs exceeding the negotiated ceiling price.

In fiscal 2023, $172.0 million or 31.3% of our consolidated net sales were to the U.S. government (including sales to prime contractors to the U.S. government). Of this amount, firm fixed-price and cost-reimbursable type contracts (including fixed-fee, incentive-fee and time and material type contracts) accounted for approximately $126.0 million and $46.0 million, respectively.

Regulatory Matters

In addition to the rules and regulations that pertain to us as a U.S. government contractor and subcontractor, we are also subject to a variety of local, state and federal governmental regulations.

Our products that are incorporated into wireless communications systems must comply with various government regulations, including those of the FCC. Our manufacturing facilities, which may store, handle, emit, generate and dispose of hazardous substances that are used in the manufacture of our products, are subject to a variety of local, state and federal regulations, including those issued by the Environmental Protection Agency. Our products are also subject to European Union directives related to the recycling of electrical and electronic equipment.

Our international sales are subject to U.S. and foreign regulations such as the Arms Export Control Act, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act ("IEEPA"), the International Traffic in Arms Regulations ("ITAR"), the Export Administration Regulations ("EAR") and the trade sanctions laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control ("OFAC"), the Department of Commerce ("DoC") as well as other applicable laws relating to trade, export controls and foreign corrupt practices, the violation of which could adversely affect our operations. We must comply with all applicable export control laws and regulations of the U.S. and other countries. Certain of our products and systems may require licenses from U.S. government agencies for export from the U.S., and some of our products are not permitted to be exported. We cannot be certain that we will be able to obtain necessary export licenses, and such failure would materially adversely affect our operations. If we are unable to receive appropriate export authorizations in the future, we may be prohibited from selling our products and services internationally, which may limit our sales and have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, in certain cases, U.S. export controls also severely limit unlicensed technical discussions, such as discussions with any persons who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. As a result, in cases where we may need an export license, our ability to compete against a non-U.S. domiciled foreign company that may not be subject to the same U.S. laws may be materially adversely affected. In addition, we are subject to the FCPA and other local laws that generally bar bribes or unreasonable gifts to foreign governments or officials. Violations of these laws or regulations could result in significant sanctions, including disgorgement of profits, fines, and criminal sanctions against us, our officers, our directors, or our employees, more onerous compliance requirements, more extensive debarments from export privileges or loss of authorizations needed to conduct aspects of our international business. A violation of any of the regulations enumerated above could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Additionally, changes in regulatory requirements could further restrict our ability to deliver services to our international customers, including the addition of a country to the list of sanctioned countries under the IEEPA or similar legislation could negatively impact our business.

In the past, we have self-reported violations of export control laws or regulations to the U.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls ("DDTC"), DoC and OFAC. In addition, we have made various commitments to U.S. government agencies that oversee trade and export matters that we will maintain certain policies and procedures including maintaining a company-wide Office of Trade Compliance and conducting ongoing internal assessments and reporting any future violations to those agencies.

Our financial reporting, corporate governance, public disclosure and compliance practices are governed by laws such as the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002, Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, and rules and regulations issued by the SEC. The SEC has adopted rules which require, among other things, public companies to conduct certain inquiries to determine whether or not Conflict Minerals (as that term is defined in the SEC rules) that are necessary to the functionality of their manufactured products or their product's production processes originated in a Covered Country (as that term is defined in the SEC rules) and ultimately file a report with the SEC. Conflict Minerals are widely used in many industries, including the telecommunications industry and almost all of our products include component parts purchased from third-party suppliers and we must rely heavily on information received from suppliers to determine the origin of those materials. We have implemented a due diligence program consistent with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development guidelines to collect information concerning the country of origin of Conflict Minerals and in that regard, have adopted a policy that requires our suppliers (both public and private) to commit to a code of conduct relating to the responsible sourcing of minerals and to establish a policy to reasonably assure that the products they manufacture do not contain Conflict Minerals that originated in a Covered Country. Efforts to comply with this SEC rule have resulted in additional costs to us and, we believe, to our suppliers. As such, the availability of raw materials used

in our operations could be negatively impacted and/or raw material prices could increase. Further, if we are unable to certify that our products are conflict free, we may face challenges with our customers, which could place us at a competitive disadvantage and could harm our reputation.

Laws and regulations have been enacted that affect companies conducting business on the Internet, including the European General Data Protection Regulation ("GDPR"). The GDPR imposes certain privacy related requirements on companies that receive or process personal data of residents of the European Union that are currently different than those in the United States and include significant penalties for non-compliance. Similarly, there are several legislative proposals in the United States, at both the federal and state level, that could impose new obligations in areas affecting our business, such as liability for personal data protection. In addition, some countries are considering or have passed legislation implementing data protection requirements or requiring local storage and processing of data or similar requirements that could increase the cost and complexity of delivering our services. Our costs to comply with the GDPR as well any other similar laws and regulations that emerge may negatively impact our business.

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

The following describes major risks to our business and should be considered carefully. Any of these factors could significantly and negatively affect our business, prospects, financial condition, or operating results, which could cause the trading prices of our equity securities to decline. The risks described below are not the only risks we may face. Additional risks and uncertainties not presently known to us, or risks that we currently consider immaterial, could also negatively affect us.

Summary of Risk Factors

The following is a summary of the principal risks that could significantly and negatively affect our business, prospects, financial conditions, or operating results. For a more complete discussion of the material risks facing our business, please see below:

Global Risks

•New and ongoing challenges relating to current supply chain constraints and impacts from inflation, including for satellite ground station and troposcatter components, could adversely impact our revenue, gross margins and financial results.

•Our business outlook is difficult to forecast and operating results are subject to significant fluctuations and are likely to be volatile.

•If global economic business and political conditions deteriorate as compared to the current environment it could have a material adverse impact on our business outlook and our business, operating results and financial condition.

•We have significant operations in locations which could be materially and adversely impacted in the event of a terrorist attack or other significant disruptions (including natural disasters).

•The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the global response to it could adversely impact our revenues, gross margins and financial results.

•The U.S. Government's budget deficit, as well as a breach of the debt ceiling, could have an adverse impact on our operations.

Business Risks

•Our backlog is subject to customer cancellation or modification.

•Contract cost growth on our firm fixed-price contracts exposes us to reduced profitability and the potential loss of future business and other risks.

•Our business is highly dependent on the budgetary decisions of our government customers.

•Our contracts with the U.S. government are subject to unique business, commercial and government audit risks.

•Our dependence on sales to international customers exposes us to unique business, commercial and export compliance audit risks.

•A change in our relationship with our large wireless carrier customers could have a material adverse effect.

•A change by wireless carrier partners in the pricing and other terms by which they offer our products to their end-customers could have a material adverse affect.

•Disputes with our subcontractors or key suppliers or their inability to deliver on a timely basis, could cause unanticipated delays in our shipments.

Strategic Growth Risks

•We face a number of risks relating to the expected long-term growth of our business.

•Loss of our executive officers or other key personnel or other changes to our management team could disrupt our operations and growth plans or harm our business.

•We must service the debt and maintain compliance with various covenants under a Credit Facility that imposes restrictions on our business.

•Acquisitions of companies and investments could prove difficult to integrate, disrupt our business, dilute stockholder value or adversely affect operating results or the market price of our common stock.

•Our investments in recorded goodwill and other intangible assets could be impaired as a result of future business conditions, a deterioration of the global economy or if we change our reporting unit structure.

Cybersecurity Risks

•We could be negatively impacted by a system failure, breach, attack or intrusion of our IT networks or those we operate for certain customers, or third-party data center facilities, servers and related systems.

•The measures we have implemented to secure information we collect and store or enable access to may be breached.

Legal, Regulatory and Litigation Risks

•Changes in U.S. federal, state and local and foreign tax law could adversely affect our business and financial condition.

•Our U.S. federal, state and local and foreign tax returns are subject to audit and a resulting tax assessment or settlement could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

•We may be subject to environmental liabilities.

•The success of our business is dependent on compliance with FCC rules and regulations and similar foreign laws and regulations.

•Regulation of the mobile communications industry and VoIP is evolving, and unfavorable changes or our failure to comply with existing and potential new legislation or regulations could harm our business and operating results.

•Ongoing compliance with the provisions of securities laws, related regulations and financial reporting standards could unexpectedly materially increase our costs and compliance related expenses.

•Indemnification provisions in our contracts could have a material adverse effect on our consolidated results of operations, financial position, or cash flows.

•We are, from time to time, and could become a party to additional litigation or subject to claims. Additionally, we may become subject to government investigations, which may have an adverse effect on our financial condition.

•Protection of our intellectual property is limited and pursuing infringers of our patents and other intellectual property rights can be costly.

•Third parties may claim we are infringing their intellectual property rights and we could be prevented from selling our products, or suffer significant litigation expense, even if these claims have no merit.

Competitive Risks

•All of our business activities are subject to rapid technological change, new entrants, the introduction of other distribution models and long development and testing periods each of which may harm our competitive position.

•Our business is highly competitive, we are reliant upon the success of our partners, and some of our competitors have significantly greater resources than we do, which could result in a loss of customers, market share and/or market acceptance.

•We rely upon various third-party companies and their technology to provide services to our customers.

•Because our software may contain defects or errors, and our hardware products may incorporate defective components, our sales could decrease if these defects or errors adversely affect our reputation or delay shipments of our products.

Risks Related to our Common Stock

•Our stock price is volatile.

•Future issuances of our shares of common stock could dilute a stockholder's ownership interest in Comtech and reduce the market price of our shares of common stock.

•Actions of activist stockholders could impact the pursuit of our business strategies and adversely affect our results of operations, financial condition and/or share price.

•Provisions in our corporate documents and Delaware law could delay or prevent a change in control of Comtech.

Global Risks

New and ongoing challenges relating to current supply chain constraints and impacts from inflation, including for satellite ground station and troposcatter components, could adversely impact our revenue, gross margins and financial results.

The global supply chain for certain raw materials and components, including those used in our satellite ground station and troposcatter equipment, has experienced significant strain in recent periods. The constrained supply environment has adversely affected, and could further affect, availability and lead times of raw materials and components, thereby impeding our ability to meet customer demand in circumstances where we cannot timely secure supply of components that meet our quality standards. Even when raw materials and components are available, they often come with higher prices reflecting an imbalance between supply and demand, as well as inflationary pressures affecting global markets.

The effects of inflation and labor challenges have caused, and we expect will continue to cause further delays in the supply chain. Despite our attempts to mitigate the impact on our business, constrained supply chain conditions have and are expected to continue to adversely impact our costs of goods sold and may impact the timing and amount of revenue we realize. During fiscal 2023, we experienced disruptions in our supply chain relating to later-than-expected delivery of certain key components from several suppliers that adversely impacted our revenue in fiscal 2023. In addition, the ongoing supply chain issues have affected the quality of the components we receive. Certain parts received in fiscal 2023 did not meet our quality specifications and we were unable to use them.

We obtain certain components and subsystems from a single source or a limited number of sources. Some of our single source suppliers, particularly those that provide satellite ground station and troposcatter components, have reported to us that they are having disruptions in their respective supply chains. These single source components, which include items such as cooling fans and power supplies, are in limited supply. In some cases, we have now depleted our stock inventory and we are on waiting lists to obtain additional components. In order to ship certain items during fiscal 2024, we must obtain additional components to produce certain finished goods. We continue to seek new suppliers and inventory elsewhere. In light of current challenges in the supply chain, we may not be able to qualify alternate suppliers for our components.

Heading into our fiscal 2024, we have a significant portion of our targeted revenues in our backlog. However, if shipments from our backlog are delayed or we are unable to obtain expected orders or components, our business outlook will prove to be inaccurate. These aforementioned supply chain constraints, and their related challenges could result in future shortages, increased material costs or use of cash, engineering design changes, and delays in new product introductions, each of which could adversely impact our revenue, gross margins and financial results. There can be no assurance that the impacts of all the aforementioned conditions will not continue, or worsen, in the future.

Our business outlook is difficult to forecast and operating results are subject to significant fluctuations and are likely to be volatile.

Historically, our business outlook is difficult to forecast and backlog (sometimes referred to herein as orders or bookings), net sales and operating results may vary significantly from period to period due to a number of factors including: sales mix; fluctuating market demand; start-up costs associated with the opening of our two new high-volume technology manufacturing centers; price competition; new product introductions by us or our competitors; customer bankruptcies; changing customer partnering procurement strategies; fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates; unexpected changes in the timing of delivery of components or subsystems; the financial performance and impact of acquisitions; new accounting standards; political instability; regulatory developments; changes in income tax rates or tax credits; the price and expected volatility of our stock (which will impact, among other items, the amount of stock-based compensation expense we may record); general global economic conditions, and the impact of natural disasters or global pandemics, such as the COVID-19 pandemic.

We have experienced, and will experience in the future, significant fluctuations in bookings, net sales and operating results from period to period. For example, a sudden change in global economic or political conditions could have an immediate impact on a large portion of our net sales, a large amount of which are derived from products such as satellite ground station technologies, amplifier products and mission-critical technologies that generally have short order and lead times. Similarly, sales of certain of our public safety and location technologies are subject to sudden changes in wireless carrier procurement strategies, including decisions to sole-source such solutions or to perform such solutions internally. As a result, bookings and backlog related to these solutions are extremely sensitive to short-term fluctuations in customer demand.

In addition, a large portion of our consolidated net sales are derived in part from large U.S. federal and state government programs or large foreign government opportunities that are subject to lengthy sales cycles (including funding requirements) and are therefore difficult to predict.

If global economic business and political conditions deteriorate as compared to the current environment it could have an adverse impact on our business outlook and our business, operating results and financial condition.

Many of the end-markets for our products and services may be significantly impacted for other issues that result in adverse global economic conditions. For example, many of our international end-customers are in emerging and developing countries that are subject to sweeping economic and political changes. Many governments around the world are under pressure to reduce their spending. In recent years, global oil and natural gas prices have been volatile and have significantly impaired the ability of certain of our government customers in the oil and gas producing regions of the world to invest in telecommunications products and infrastructure. Additionally, from time to time, the relative strength of the U.S. dollar against many international currencies has negatively impacted the purchasing power for many of our international end-customers because most of our sales are denominated in U.S. dollars. We generate significant sales from many emerging and developing countries and any such reduced purchasing power of our customers could adversely impact our sales and backlog.

If credit in financial markets outside of the U.S. remains difficult to obtain, our international customers and suppliers may find it difficult to obtain financing, which could result in a decrease in or cancellation of orders for our products and increased transaction costs (e.g., insurance, performance bonds). Volatility of financing conditions may cause our customers to be reluctant to spend funds required to purchase our equipment and could cause their projects to be postponed or canceled. In addition, if an adverse economic environment and lack of financing results in insolvencies for our customers, it would adversely impact the recoverability of our accounts receivable and/or inventories which would, in turn, adversely impact our results of operations.

We believe that the current global economic business environment is unstable and sudden negative changes could result in the immediate suppression of end-market demand for many of our products such as satellite ground station technologies and other short lead-time products. The timing, impact, severity and duration of these conditions are difficult to predict. If U.S. or global economic conditions deteriorate, or political conditions become unstable, or additional economic sanctions are imposed on some of our end-customers, it could adversely impact our business in a number of ways. In the past, our businesses have been negatively affected by uncertain economic environments in the overall market and, more specifically, in the telecommunications sector. Our customers have reduced their budgets for spending on telecommunications equipment and systems and in some cases postponed or reduced the purchase of our products and systems. In the future, our customers may again reduce their spending on telecommunications equipment and systems which would negatively impact both of our operating segments. If this occurs, it would adversely affect our business outlook, net sales, profitability and the recoverability of our assets, including intangible assets such as goodwill.

We have significant operations in Arizona, Florida, California, Washington State, Maryland, New York and other locations which could be materially and adversely impacted in the event of a terrorist attack and government responses thereto or significant disruptions (including natural disasters) to our business.

Terrorist attacks, the U.S. and other governments' responses thereto, and threats of war could adversely impact our business, results of operations and financial condition. For example, our 911 hosted location-based services and satellite teleport services operations depend on our ability to maintain our computer and equipment and systems in effective working order, and to protect our systems against damage from fire, natural disaster, terrorist attack, power loss, telecommunications failure, sabotage, unauthorized access to our system or similar events.

Any unanticipated interruption or delay in our operations or breach of security could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Our property and business interruption insurance may not be adequate to compensate us for any losses that may occur in the event of a terrorist attack, threat, system failure or a breach of security. Insurance may not be available to us at all or, if available, may not be available to us on commercially reasonable terms.

We currently, and intend to continue to, operate a high-volume technology manufacturing center located in Arizona. A terrorist attack or similar future event may disrupt our operations or those of our customers or suppliers and may affect the availability of materials needed to manufacture our products or the means to transport those materials to manufacturing facilities and finished products to customers. If a natural disaster or other business interruption occurred with respect to our high-volume technology manufacturing center, we do not have immediate access to other manufacturing facilities and, as a result, our business, results of operations and financial condition could be materially adversely affected. To support our long-term business goals for our satellite earth station product line, in fiscal 2023, we completed our relocation of certain of our satellite earth station product line operations to our new 146,000 square foot facility in Chandler, Arizona. Nevertheless, loss of that facility would have a negative impact on our production capability and we would incur unexpected costs and lost revenue associated with our inability to meet our contractual commitments.

We design and manufacture our over-the-horizon microwave equipment and systems in Florida, where major hurricanes have occurred in the past, and amplifiers in Santa Clara, California, an area close to major earthquake fault lines, and also manufacture amplifiers in Melville, New York, an area subject to hurricanes. Additionally, certain of our Terrestrial and Wireless Networks segment activities are conducted in Washington State near a fault line. We maintain operations in Maryland near a U.S. Navy facility which may be more prone to a terrorist attack. Our operations in these and other locations (such as in our high-volume technology manufacturing center located in Arizona and our antenna production facility in the United Kingdom), could be subject to natural disasters or other significant disruptions, including hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, tsunamis, floods, earthquakes, fires, water shortages, other extreme weather conditions, medical epidemics, acts of terrorism, power shortages and blackouts, telecommunications failures, and other natural and man-made disasters or disruptions.

We cannot be sure that our systems will operate appropriately if we experience hardware or software failure, intentional disruptions of service by third parties, an act of God or an act of war. A failure in our systems could cause delays in transmitting data, and as a result we may lose customers or face litigation that could involve material costs and distract management from operating our business.

In the event of any such disaster or other disruption, we could experience disruptions or interruptions to our operations or the operations of our suppliers, distributors, resellers or customers; destruction of facilities; and/or loss of life, all of which could materially increase our costs and expenses and adversely affect our business, results of operations and financial condition.

The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine, and the global response to it could adversely impact our revenues, gross margins and financial results.

The U.S. government and other nations have imposed significant restrictions on most companies’ ability to do business in Russia. It is not possible to predict the broader or longer-term consequences of this conflict, which could include further sanctions, embargoes, regional instability, geopolitical shifts, adverse effects on macroeconomic conditions, security conditions, currency exchange rates and financial markets. Such geo-political instability and uncertainty could have a negative impact on our ability to sell to, ship products to, collect payments from, and support customers in certain regions based on trade restrictions, embargoes, export control law restrictions, and logistics restrictions including closures of air space, and could increase the costs, risks and adverse impacts from these new challenges. We may also be the subject of increased cyber-attacks as a result of the conflict.

The military conflict between Russia and Ukraine has impacted our sales pipeline and continues to have significant repercussions for our business. Although sales into Russia represented approximately 1% of our consolidated net sales in fiscal 2023 and 2022, consolidated net sales into Russia in fiscal 2024 and beyond were expected to significantly grow. As a result of the economic sanctions against Russia, however, we have stopped accepting new orders in Russia and plan to wind down operations in fiscal 2024. Accordingly, we are completing the production of backlog for approved in-country customers and repatriating cash proceeds as permitted by both U.S. and Russian law.

As a result of this conflict, in fiscal 2022 and 2023, certain customers (including the U.S. and Ukrainian government) paused procurement and deployment of satellite and troposcatter communication systems, and instead began purchasing war-fighting equipment.

It has become difficult to predict the timing or dollar amount of our contract awards in the region. For example, we had several opportunities to provide wireless communication systems (including troposcatter systems) to Ukraine for a variety of both defense and communications uses. Funding for these systems was expected to be provided by Ukraine and by the U.S. government and these items were expected to be awarded and shipped in the second half of fiscal 2022. As result of the conflict in Ukraine, however, the award was not received and shipped until the first half of our fiscal 2023. Additionally, funding for opportunities with other customers that we expected to book and ship has also been shifted to other programs and/or temporarily delayed as a result of changes in defense spending priorities.

Prior to this conflict, we maintained a small group of employees in Moscow, Russia who supported certain UHP-branded satellite communications products. In fiscal 2023, we continued to expand our Canadian operations and shifted certain commercial software development and support activities outside of Russia. However, as we are currently in an environment where software engineering talent is already in high demand and commands a premium, we expect to incur additional annual expenses in connection with this personnel shift for our UHP products. We may not be able to timely ramp up our operations in Canada or elsewhere on a sufficient scale to support anticipated growth of our UHP products, which could adversely impact future revenues, gross margins and operations.

Our sales to government customers are highly dependent on the U.S. defense budget, which in turn is driven by an annual appropriation by Congress. These appropriations rarely align with the performance period of our contracts—for instance, most of our government contracts are only partially funded at inception. DoD budgets are driven by factors that are outside our control (such as economic conditions, administration policy shifts within the Executive branch and geopolitical events). Any one or combination of these factors may adversely impact our operations, resulting in a decline of sales and operating income.

Business Risks

Our backlog is subject to customer cancellation or modification and such cancellations could result in a decline in sales and increased provisions for excess and obsolete inventory.

We currently have a backlog of orders, mostly under contracts that our customers may modify or terminate. Almost all of the contracts in our backlog (including firm orders previously received from the U.S. government) are subject to cancellation at the convenience of the customer or for default in the event that we are unable to perform under the contract. For some contracts, where we are a subcontractor (and not the prime contractor), the U.S. government could terminate the prime contractor for convenience without regard for our performance as a subcontractor.

In some cases, such as contracts received from large U.S. based telecommunication companies, our backlog is computed by multiplying the most recent month’s contract or revenue by the months remaining under the existing long-term agreements, which we consider to be the best available information for anticipating revenue under those agreements. Also, a significant portion of the backlog from our U.S. commercial customers relates to large, multi-year contracts to provide state and local governments (and their agencies) with public safety and location technology solutions. Funding of these contracts is often subject to the approval of budgets (for example, on an annual or bi-annual basis). Although funding for these multi-year contracts are dependent on future budgets being approved, we include the full estimated value of these large, multi-year contracts in our backlog given the critical nature of the services being provided and the positive historical experience of our state and local government customers passing their respective budgets.

There can be no assurance that our backlog will result in actual revenue in any particular period, or at all, particularly during periods of economic instability. Nor can there be any assurance that any contract included in backlog will be profitable. The actual amount and timing of any revenue is subject to various contingencies, many of which are beyond our control. The actual recognition of revenue on contracts included in backlog may never occur or may change because a program schedule could change; a customer may not follow up with order details (e.g., delivery instructions), fluctuations in currency exchange rates after an order is placed could cause our products to become too expensive for a foreign customer; a customer’s program could be canceled, a contract could be reduced, modified or terminated early due to changes in a customer’s priorities; funding may not be included in future budgets; actual indirect rates being reimbursed on U.S. government contracts may ultimately be less than those indirect rates included in our initial proposals; or an option that we had assumed would be exercised is not exercised.

We record a provision for excess and obsolete inventory based on historical and projected usage trends and other factors, including the consideration of the amount of backlog we have on hand at any particular point in time. If orders in our backlog are canceled or modified, our estimates of future product demand may prove to be inaccurate, in which case we may have understated the provision required for excess and obsolete inventory. In the future, if we determine that our inventory is overvalued, we will be required to recognize such costs in our financial statements at the time of such determination. Any such charges could be materially adverse to our results of operations and financial condition.

Contract cost growth on our firm fixed-price contracts, including most of our government contracts, cost reimbursable type contracts and other contracts that cannot be justified as an increase in contract value due from customers exposes us to reduced profitability and the potential loss of future business and other risks.

A substantial portion of our products and services are sold under firm fixed-price contracts. Firm fixed-price contracts inherently have more risk than flexibly priced contracts. This means that we bear the risk of unanticipated technological, manufacturing, supply or other problems, price increases or other increases in the cost of performance. Future events could result in either upward or downward adjustments to those estimates which could negatively impact our profitability. Operating margin could be materially adversely affected when contract costs that cannot be billed to the customer are incurred. This cost growth can occur if initial estimates used for calculating the contract price were incorrect, or if estimates to complete increase. To a lesser extent, we provide products and services under cost reimbursable type contracts which carry the entire burden of costs exceeding a negotiated contract ceiling price.

The cost estimation process requires significant judgment and expertise. Reasons for cost growth may include unavailability and productivity of labor, the nature and complexity of the work to be performed, the effect of change orders, the availability of materials, the effect of any delays in performance, availability and timing of funding from the customer, natural disasters, and the inability to recover any claims included in the estimates to complete. A significant change in an estimate on one or more programs could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Our business is highly dependent on the budgetary decisions of our government customers, including the U.S. government (including prime contractors to the U.S. government), and changes in the U.S. government’s fiscal policies or budgetary priorities may have a material adverse effect on our business, operating results and financial condition.

During our fiscal years ended July 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, sales to the U.S. government (including sales to prime contractors to the U.S. government) were $172.0 million, $132.6 million and $201.1 million or 31.3%, 27.2% and 34.6% of our consolidated net sales, respectively. In addition, a large portion of our existing backlog consists of orders related to U.S. government contracts and our Business Outlook for Fiscal 2024 and beyond depends, in part, on significant new orders from the U.S. government, which undergoes extreme budgetary pressures from time to time.

We rely on U.S. government spending on our communication solutions, and our receipt of future orders depends in large part on continued funding by the U.S. government for the programs in which we participate. These spending levels are not generally correlated with any specific economic cycle, but rather follow the cycle of general public policy and political support for this type of spending. Government contracts are conditioned upon the continuing availability of congressional appropriations and Congress’s failure to appropriate funds, or Congress’s actions to reduce or delay spending on, or reprioritize its spending away from, U.S. government programs which we participate in, could negatively affect our results of operations. Because many of the items we sell to the U.S. government are included in large programs realized over a period of several years, it is difficult, if not impossible, to determine specific amounts that are or will be appropriated for our products and services. As such, our assessments relating to the impact of changes in U.S. government spending may prove to be incorrect.

The federal debt limit continues to be actively debated as plans for long-term national fiscal policy are discussed. The outcome of these discussions could have a significant impact on defense spending broadly and programs we support in particular. The failure of Congress to approve future budgets and/or increase the debt ceiling of the U.S. on a timely basis could delay or result in the loss of contracts for the procurement of our products and services and we may be asked or required to continue to perform for some period of time on certain of our U.S. government contracts, even if the U.S. government is unable to make timely payments. A decrease in DoD or Department of Homeland Security expenditures, the elimination or curtailment of a material program in which we are involved, or changes in payment patterns of our customers as a result of changes in U.S. government spending could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

It is possible that a shutdown of the U.S. government may occur, or interim budgets may be adopted. As such, we may experience delayed orders, delayed payments and adverse impacts on our results of operations. We may experience related supply chain delays, disruptions or other problems associated with financial constraints faced by our suppliers and subcontractors. All of the aforementioned conditions and factors could, in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Additionally, cost cutting, efficiency initiatives, reprioritization, other affordability analyses, and changes in budgetary priorities by our governmental customers, including the U.S. government, could adversely impact both of our operating segments. We are unable to predict the impact these or similar events could have on our business, financial position, results of operations or cash flows.

Our contracts with the U.S. government are subject to unique business, commercial and government audit risks.

We depend on the U.S. government for a significant portion of our revenues. Our contracts with the U.S. government are subject to unique business and commercial risks, including:

•unexpected contract or project terminations or suspensions;

•unpredictable order placements, reductions, accelerations, delays or cancellations;

•higher than expected final costs, particularly relating to software and hardware development, for work performed under contracts where we commit to specified deliveries for a fixed-price; and

•unpredictable cash collections of unbilled receivables that may be subject to acceptance of contract deliverables by the customer and contract close out procedures, including government audit and approval of final indirect rates.

Although we take steps to mitigate our risk with respect to contracts with the U.S. government, we may not be able to do so in every instance for any of the following reasons, among others:

•Our U.S. government contracts can easily be terminated by the U.S. government - Our U.S. government contracts and subcontracts can be terminated by the U.S. government for its convenience or upon an event of default by us. Termination for convenience provisions provide us with little to no recourse related to: our potential recovery of costs incurred or costs committed, potential settlement expenses and hypothetical profit on work completed prior to termination.

•Our U.S. government contracts are subject to funding by the U.S. Congress - Our U.S. government contracts are conditioned upon the continuing approval by Congress of the necessary funding. Congress usually appropriates funds for a given program on a fiscal year basis even though contract performance may take more than one year. Consequently, at the beginning of a major program, the contract may not be fully funded, and additional monies are normally committed to the contract only if, and when, appropriations are made by Congress for future fiscal years. Delays or changes in funding can impact the timing of awards or lead to changes in program content. We obtain certain of our U.S. government contracts through a competitive bidding process. There can be no assurance that we will win additional contracts or that actual contracts that are awarded will ultimately be profitable.

•We can be disqualified as a supplier to the U.S. government - As a supplier to the U.S. government, we must comply with numerous regulations, including those governing security, contracting practices and classified information. Failure to comply with these regulations and practices could result in fines being imposed against us or our suspension for a period of time from eligibility for bidding on, or for award of, new government contracts. If we are disqualified as a supplier to government agencies, we would lose most, if not all, of our U.S. government customers and revenues from sales of our products would decline significantly.

•Our employees may not be able to obtain and maintain the required security clearances for the facilities in which we perform sensitive government work - Certain of our U.S. government contracts require our employees to maintain various levels of security clearances, and we are required to maintain certain facility security clearances. If we cannot maintain or obtain the required security clearances for our facilities and our employees, or obtain these clearances in a timely manner, we may be unable to perform certain U.S. government contracts. Further, loss of a facility clearance, or an employee’s failure to obtain or maintain a security clearance, could result in a U.S. government customer terminating an existing contract or choosing not to renew a contract. Lack of required clearances could also impede our ability to bid on or win new U.S. government contracts. This could damage our reputation and adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations.

In addition, all of our U.S. government contracts can be audited by the Defense Contract Audit Agency ("DCAA") and other U.S. government agencies and we can be subject to penalties arising from post-award contract audits (sometimes referred to as a Truth in Negotiations Act or "TINA" audit) or cost audits in which the value of our contracts may be reduced. If costs are found to be improperly allocated to a specific contract, those costs will not be reimbursed, and any such costs already reimbursed would be required to be refunded. Although we record contract revenues based upon costs we expect to realize upon final audit, we cannot predict the outcome of any such future audits and adjustments, and we may be required to materially reduce our revenues or profits upon completion and final negotiation of audits. Negative audit findings could also result in termination of a contract, forfeiture of profits, suspension of payments, fines and suspension or debarment from U.S. government contracting or subcontracting for a period of time.

Our dependence on sales to international customers exposes us to unique business, commercial and export compliance audit risks.

Sales for use by international customers (including sales to U.S. companies for inclusion in products that will be sold to international customers) represented approximately 24.0%, 25.0% and 23.9% of our consolidated net sales for the fiscal years ended July 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, respectively, and we expect that international sales will continue to be a significant portion of our consolidated net sales for the foreseeable future. These sales expose us to certain risks, including barriers to trade, declining trade relations, fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates (which may make our products less price-competitive), political, legal, social and economic instability, exposure to public health epidemics, availability of suitable export financing, tariff regulations, and other U.S. and foreign regulations that may apply to the export of our products. Although we take steps to mitigate our risk with respect to international sales, we may not be able to do so in every instance for any of the following reasons, among others:

•We may not be able to continue to structure our international contracts to reduce risk - We attempt to reduce the risk of doing business in foreign countries by seeking subcontracts with large systems suppliers, contracts denominated in U.S. dollars, advance or milestone payments and irrevocable letters of credit in our favor. However, we may not be able to reduce the economic risk of doing business in foreign countries in all instances. In such cases, billed and unbilled receivables relating to international sales are subject to increased collectability risk and may result in significant write-offs, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. In addition, foreign defense contracts generally contain provisions relating to termination at the convenience of the government.

•We rely on a limited number of international sales agents - In some countries, we rely upon one or a small number of sales agents, exposing us to risks relating to our contracts with, and related performance of, those agents. We attempt to reduce our risk with respect to sales agents by establishing additional foreign sales offices where it is practical and by engaging, where practicable, more than one independent sales representative in a territory. It is our policy to require all sales agents to operate in compliance with applicable laws, rules and regulations. Violations of any of these laws, rules or regulations, and other business practices that are regarded as unethical, could interrupt the sales of our products and services, result in the cancellation of orders or the termination of customer relationships, and could damage our reputation, any of which developments could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

•We must comply with all applicable export control laws and regulations of the U.S. and other countries - Certain of our products and systems may require licenses from U.S. government agencies for export from the U.S., and some of our products are not permitted to be exported. In addition, in certain cases, U.S. export controls also severely limit unlicensed technical discussions, such as discussions with any persons who are not U.S. citizens or permanent residents. As a result, in cases where we may need a license, our ability to compete against a non-U.S. domiciled foreign company that may not be subject to the same U.S. laws may be materially adversely affected. U.S. laws and regulations applicable to us include the Arms Export Control Act, the IEEPA, the ITAR, the EAR and the trade sanctions laws and regulations administered by the U.S. Treasury Department's OFAC.

•We must comply with the FCPA and similar laws elsewhere - We are subject to the FCPA and other foreign laws prohibiting corrupt payments to government officials, which generally bar bribes or unreasonable gifts to foreign governments or officials. Violations of these laws or regulations could result in significant sanctions, including disgorgement of profits, fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers, our directors, or our employees, more onerous compliance requirements, more extensive debarments from export privileges or loss of authorizations needed to conduct aspects of our international business. A violation of any of the regulations enumerated above could materially adversely affect our business, financial condition and results of operations. Although we have implemented policies and procedures designed to ensure compliance with these laws and regulations, there can be no assurance that our employees, contractors, agents, or subsidiaries will not violate our policies. Additionally, changes in regulatory requirements which could restrict our ability to deliver services to our international customers, including the addition of a country to the list of sanctioned countries under the IEEPA or similar legislation could negatively impact our business. For the fiscal years ended July 31, 2023, 2022 and 2021, we conducted no business with states designated as sponsors of terrorism.

•We must maintain a company-wide Office of Trade Compliance - In the past, we have self-reported violations of export control laws or regulations to the U.S. Department of State, Directorate of Defense Trade Controls ("DDTC"), DoC and OFAC. In addition, we have made various commitments to U.S. government agencies that oversee trade and export matters and have committed that we will maintain certain policies and procedures including maintaining a company-wide Chief Trade Compliance Officer and Office of Trade Compliance and conducting ongoing internal assessment and reporting any future violations to those agencies. Even though we take precautions to avoid engaging in transactions that may violate U.S. export control laws or regulations, including trade sanctions, those measures may not be effective in every instance. If it is determined that we have violated U.S. export control laws or regulations or trade regulations, civil and criminal penalties could apply, and we may suffer reputational harm.

•We are subject to future export compliance audits - We continue to implement policies and procedures to ensure that we comply with all applicable export control laws and regulations. We may be subject to future compliance audits that uncover improper or illegal activities that would subject us to material remediation costs, civil and criminal fines and/or penalties and/or an injunction. In addition, we could suffer serious reputational harm if allegations of impropriety were made against us. Each of these outcomes could, individually or in the aggregate, have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. The absence of comparable restrictions on competitors in other countries may adversely affect our competitive position. In addition, in order to ship our products into and implement our services in some countries, the products must satisfy the technical requirements of that particular country. If we were unable to comply with such requirements with respect to a significant quantity of our products, our sales in those countries could be restricted, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

•We may be affected by the future imposition of tariffs and trade restrictions - The current U.S. administration has generally not amended the trade policies and tariffs on imported products from the prior administration, and has increased sanctions against Russia. Our inability to effectively manage the negative impacts of U.S. and foreign trade policies, including, in connection with our business with customers outside of the United States or with newly sanctioned entities could adversely affect our business and financial results.

A change in our relationship with our large wireless carrier customers could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

Although we have a long history of providing services to many of our wireless carrier partners, a change in purchasing or procurement strategies by a wireless carrier partner could result in the loss of business from that partner. Additionally, from time to time, we routinely perform services without a multi-period contract while we negotiate new and extended contract terms and pricing. These negotiations are complex and may take long periods of time. Even when we successfully negotiate a multi-period contract, our wireless carrier contracts, such as the ones with Verizon which collectively accounted for 10.6% of our sales in fiscal 2023, provide for terminations with notice and provide a mechanism for the wireless carrier to renegotiate lower fees and/or change services. Fee pressure from these carriers is constant and ongoing. Thus, even when we obtain a multi-period contract term, our revenues could be suddenly and materially reduced.

Competitors offer technology that has functionality similar to ours for free, under different business models. Competition from such free offerings may reduce our revenue and harm our business. If our wireless carrier partners or our competition can offer such technology to their subscribers or customers for free, they may elect to cease their relationships with us, alter or reduce the manner or extent to which they market or offer our services or require us to substantially reduce our subscription fees or pursue other business strategies that may not prove successful for us and could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

If our wireless carrier partners change the pricing and other terms by which they offer our products to their end-customers or do not continue to provide our services at all or renegotiate lower fees with us, our business, results of operations, and financial condition could be suddenly and materially adversely affected.

We generate a significant portion of our revenue from customers that are wireless carriers. In addition, a portion of our revenue is derived from subscription fees that we receive from our wireless carrier partners for end-users who subscribe to our service on a standalone basis or in a bundle with other services. Future revenue will depend on the pricing and quality of those services and subscriber demand for those services, which may vary by market, and the level of subscriber turnover experienced by our wireless carrier partners. If subscriber turnover increases more than we anticipate, our financial results could be materially adversely affected.

Poor performance in or disruptions of the services included in our advanced communication solutions could harm our reputation, delay market acceptance of our services and subject us to liabilities (including breach of contract claims brought by our customers and third-party damages claims brought by end-users). Our wireless carrier agreements and certain customers require us to meet specific requirements including operational uptime requirements or be subject to penalties.

If we are unable to meet contractual requirements with our wireless carrier partners, they could terminate our agreements or we may be required to refund a portion of monthly subscriptions fees they have paid us.

Disputes with our subcontractors or key suppliers or their inability to deliver on a timely basis, could cause unanticipated delays in our shipments.

Our subcontractors and key suppliers are essential members of our team. Nevertheless, we may occasionally have commercial disputes with them (e.g., over the quality, timeliness or cost of their products). Additionally, our subcontractors and suppliers may experience financial difficulties which may impact their ability to execute against their contractual commitments and delay or otherwise disrupt deliveries. In such instances, we may not receive the components or subsystems for which we have contracted. Taken together, each of the risks set forth herein may have a material adverse effect on our results of operations and financial condition.

External events outside our control may disrupt our supply chain. With recent history in mind, natural disasters, pandemics, extreme weather conditions, legislative or regulatory changes may all impact the performance of our supplier base. Our subcontractors and suppliers may also, in turn, be unable to maintain the quality of the materials they receive from their respective suppliers.

Our reliance on a single partner to source critical parts (i.e., where we are unable to develop a critical redundant source of supply) may impair our ability to produce and deliver our products. This negative impact could be even greater where we are required to comply with sourcing requirements within our U.S. government contracts regarding the purchase of counterfeit or otherwise non-compliant parts or materials. In some instances, where we rely on supplier certifications of compliance with these laws and regulations, an improper or incomplete certification may adversely impact our production capability.

Strategic Growth Risks

We face a number of risks relating to the expected long-term growth of our business. Our business and operating results may be negatively impacted if we are unable to manage this growth.

Our business is uniquely subject to certain risks related to its long term growth. These risks include:

•We may not be ultimately successful in implementing our "One Comtech" transformation and integration of individual businesses into two segments - The transformation of Comtech from stand-alone individual businesses toward a single “One Comtech” is a complex undertaking, requiring the consolidation of both manufacturing and back-office teams around the globe in parallel with a global re-branding effort. Managing the merger of multiple production facilities and their attending employee populations is difficult and may negatively impact business prospects in the short and long term. Similarly, our re-branding of the company as Comtech risks damaging goodwill accumulated over decades of operation as individual businesses.

•The loss of key technical and/or management personnel could adversely affect our business - Our future success depends on the continued contributions of key technical and management personnel. The management skills that have been appropriate for us in the past may not continue to be appropriate if we grow and diversify. Filling new positions may be difficult in the current competitive labor market. Moreover, many of our key and technical management personnel would be difficult to replace and are not subject to employment or non-competition agreements. We currently have research and development employees in areas that are located a great distance away from our U.S. headquarters and some work out of their respective homes. Managing remote product development operations is difficult and we may not be able to manage the employees in these remote centers successfully. Our expected growth and future success will depend, in large part, upon our ability to attract and retain highly qualified engineering, sales and marketing personnel. Competition for such personnel from other companies, academic institutions, government entities and other organizations is intense. Although we believe that we have been successful to date in recruiting and retaining key personnel, we may not be successful in attracting and retaining the personnel we will need to grow and operate profitably, especially in the current competitive labor market.

•We may not be able to improve our processes and systems to keep pace with anticipated growth - The future growth of our business may place significant demands on our managerial, operational, production and financial resources. In order to manage that growth, we must be prepared to improve and expand our management, operational and financial systems and controls, as well as our production capabilities. We also need to continue to recruit and retain personnel and train and manage our employee base. We must carefully manage research and development capabilities and production and inventory levels to meet product demand, new product introductions and product and technology transitions. If we are not able to timely and effectively manage our growth and maintain the quality standards required by our existing and potential customers, it could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

•Our markets are highly competitive and there can be no assurance that we can continue to compete effectively - The markets for our products are highly competitive. There can be no assurance that we will be able to continue to compete successfully on price or other terms, or that our competitors will not develop new technologies and products that are more effective than our own. We expect the DoD’s increased use of commercial off-the-shelf products and components in military equipment will encourage new competitors to enter the market. Also, although the implementation of advanced telecommunications services is in its early stages in many developing countries, we believe competition will continue to intensify as businesses and foreign governments realize the market potential of telecommunications services. Many of our competitors have financial, technical, marketing, sales and distribution resources greater than ours. Recently, we have seen increased requests for proposals from large wireless carriers for sole-source solutions and have responded to several such requests. In order to induce retention of existing customer contracts and obtain business on a sole-source basis, we may ultimately agree to adjust pricing on a retroactive basis. If our sole-source proposals are rejected in favor of a competitor’s proposal, it could result in the termination of existing contracts, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

•We may not be able to obtain sufficient components to meet expected demand - Our dependence on component availability, government furnished equipment, subcontractors and key suppliers, including the core manufacturing expertise of our high-volume technology manufacturing center located in Arizona exposes us to risk. Although we obtain certain components and subsystems from a single source or a limited number of sources, we believe that most components and subsystems are available from alternative suppliers and subcontractors. During the past four years, partly driven by the COVID-19 pandemic and as a result of overall increased industry-wide demand, lead times for many components have increased as well as freight costs. In addition, threats of or actual tariffs could limit our ability to obtain certain parts on a cost-effective basis, or at all. A significant interruption in the delivery of such items could have an adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition. Similarly, if our high-volume technology manufacturing center located in Arizona is unable to produce sufficient product or maintain quality, it could have a material adverse effect on our business, results of operations and financial condition.

CMTL US Equity

CMTL · 10-K · period ended 2023-07-31

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

CMTL US Equity☆

CMTL · 10-K · period ended 2023-07-31

ITEM 1. BUSINESS

ITEM 1A. RISK FACTORS

CMTL US Equity