Item 1A.Risk Factors
RISKS AND UNCERTAINTIES
You should carefully consider the following risk factors, in addition to the other information contained in this Form 10-K and in any other documents to which we refer you in this Form 10-K, before purchasing our securities. The risks and uncertainties described below are not the only ones we face.
Risks related to our business
Our financial condition and results of operations have been and may continue to be adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic
Our overall performance depends upon domestic and worldwide economic and political conditions. The global spread of COVID-19 has created volatility, uncertainty, and economic disruption. The pandemic has caused and may continue to cause a slowdown in worldwide economic activity, decreased demand for products and services, and disruptions to global supply chains and financial markets. These effects have resulted and may result in additional lost or delayed revenue to us and have disrupted our business operations as we have transitioned to remote working environments, restricted employee travel, and significantly limited access to, and imposed social distancing requirements within, our facilities including research and development facilities.
Our dealer network, suppliers, and contract manufacturers have been similarly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. In the event of continuing and significant disruptions, there is no guarantee that we would be able to find alternative sources of distribution, supply, or manufacturing, which could delay our ability to market, source, manufacture, and ship our products. These distribution and supply chain effects may have an adverse effect on our ability to meet customer demand and could result in an increase in our costs of production and distribution.
The extent to which COVID-19 impacts our business, operations, and financial results will depend on numerous evolving factors that we are not able to accurately predict, including:
•the duration and scope of the pandemic, the availability of and timing for distributing vaccines and the efficacy of vaccines, including with respect to new strains of the virus, and the continuing economic impacts of the pandemic;
•governmental, business, and individuals’ actions that have been and continue to be taken in response to the pandemic;
•the effect on our customers and customer demand for and ability to pay for our products and services;
•restrictions or disruptions to transportation, including reduced availability of ground or air transport;
•disruption of the supply chain for our products;
•our ability to comply with financial covenants, including maintaining required leverage ratios, which could result in debt becoming due and payable prior to its stated maturity; and
•changes in our effective tax rate due to effects of COVID-19 on our geographic mix of earnings.
In addition, the impact of COVID-19 on macroeconomic conditions may impact the proper functioning of financial and capital markets, foreign currency exchange rates, commodity and energy prices, and interest rates. Even after the COVID-19 pandemic has subsided, we may continue to experience adverse impacts to our business as a result of any economic recession that has occurred or may occur in the future. In regions that fail to fully contain COVID-19 or suffer a COVID-19 relapse, those markets may not recover as quickly or at all, which could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We operate globally and are subject to significant risks in many jurisdictions
Global or regional conditions may harm our financial results. We have operations in many countries, and a significant portion of our revenue is derived from countries outside of the United States. As a result, our operations, and our financial results, including our ability to design, develop, or sell products, may be adversely affected by a number of factors outside of our control, including:
•global and local economic conditions;
•the demand and cost of commodities, such as corn and oil;
•the strength of the agricultural, engineering, and construction markets;
•inadequate infrastructure and other disruptions, such as supply chain interruptions and large-scale outages or unreliable provision of services from utilities, transportation, data hosting, or telecommunications providers;
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•government restrictions on our operations in any country, or restrictions on our ability to repatriate earnings from a particular country;
•differing employment practices and labor issues;
•formal or informal imposition of new or revised export and/or import and doing-business regulations, including trade sanctions, tariffs, and import or export licensing requirements, which could be changed without notice;
•ineffective legal protection of our IP rights in certain countries;
•uncertain economic and political conditions in countries where we do business;
•local business and cultural factors that differ from our normal standards and practices;
•differing regional responses and restrictions related to global pandemics, like the COVID-19 pandemic; and
•uncertainty regarding social, political, immigration, and trade policies in the U.S. and abroad, including the impact of the United Kingdom’s recent withdrawal from the European Union (“Brexit”).
There is inherent risk that political, diplomatic, or military events could result in trade disruptions, including tariffs, trade embargoes, export restrictions, and other trade barriers. A significant trade disruption or the establishment or increase of any trade barrier in any area where we do business could increase the cost of our products, which could adversely impact the margin that we earn on sales, make our products more expensive for customers or create uncertainty around demand for certain types of products, which could make our products less competitive and reduce customer demand. Given the change in U.S. presidential administration and the current political climate, there is uncertainty about the trade policies, treaties, government regulations, and tariffs that could apply to trade. In addition, if there is continuing deterioration in the global economy, the economies of the countries or regions where our customers are located or do business, or the industries that we or our customers serve, the demand for our products and services would likely decrease. In addition, government or customer efforts, attitudes, laws or policies may lead to non-U.S. customers favoring domestic suppliers that could compete with or replace our products, which would also have an adverse effect on our business. Changes in economic conditions and political uncertainty surrounding international trade also make it difficult to make financial forecasts. Any of these factors or any combination of these factors could cause us to miss our financial projections and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Engaging in international business inherently involves a number of other difficulties and risks.
Risks associated with engaging in international business include:
•longer payment cycles and difficulties in enforcing agreements and collecting receivables through certain foreign legal systems;
•difficulties and costs of staffing and managing international operations;
•differing local customer product preferences and requirements than our U.S. markets; and
•difficulties protecting or procuring intellectual property rights.
These factors or any combination of these factors could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
If we are unable to effectively manage our increasingly diverse and complex businesses and operations, our ability to generate growth and revenue from new or existing customers may be adversely affected
Because our operations are geographically diverse and increasingly complex, our personnel resources and infrastructure could become strained, and our reputation in the market and our ability to successfully manage and grow our business may be adversely affected. The size, complexity, and diverse nature of our business and the expansion of our product lines and customer base have placed increased demands on our management and operations, and future growth may place additional strains on our resources in the future. Our ability to effectively compete and to manage our planned future growth will depend on, among other things, the following:
•maintaining continuity in our senior management and key personnel;
•increasing the productivity of our existing employees;
•attracting, retaining, training, and motivating our employees, particularly our technical and management personnel;
•deploying our solutions using third-party information systems, which may require changes to our applications, documentation, and operational processes;
•improving our operational, financial, and management controls; and
•improving our information reporting systems and procedures.
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We have increasingly diversified the nature of our businesses both organically and by acquisition. As a result, an increasing amount of our business involves business models that require managerial techniques and skill sets that are different from those required to manage our historical core businesses.
Over the last few years, we have focused more on subscription models. As a result, we expect to derive an increasing portion of our revenue in the future from subscriptions. The subscription models provide our customers the right to access certain of our software in a hosted environment or use downloaded software for a specified subscription period. Market acceptance of such offerings is affected by a variety of factors, including but not limited to security, reliability, performance, current license terms, customer preference and industry adoption, social/community engagement, customer concerns with entrusting a third party to store and manage their data, public concerns regarding privacy and the enactment of restrictive laws or regulations. We may be unable to successfully support and host our subscription offerings in light of the foregoing risks and uncertainties.
These factors or a combination of these factors could have an adverse impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Changes in our software and subscription businesses may adversely impact our operations and financial results
An increasing portion of our revenue is generated through software maintenance and subscription revenue, which includes SaaS and new subscription services for integrated solutions. Our customers have no obligation to renew their agreements for our software maintenance or subscription services after the expiration of their initial contract period, which typically ranges from one to three years. Our customer acquisition and renewal rates may decline or fluctuate as a result of a number of factors, including overall economic conditions, the health of their businesses, competitive offerings, and customer dissatisfaction with our services. If customers do not renew their contracts for our products, our maintenance and subscription revenue will decline, and our financial results will suffer. Any reduction in the number of licenses that we sell, even if our customer acquisition rates do not change, will have an adverse impact on our future maintenance revenue growth. If any of our assumptions about expenses, revenue or revenue recognition principles from these initiatives proves incorrect, or our attempts to improve efficiency are not successful, our actual results may vary materially from those anticipated, our business, financial condition, and results of operations could be adversely impacted.
We continually re-evaluate our software licensing programs and subscription programs, including specific license models, delivery methods, and terms and conditions. Changes to our licensing programs and subscription programs, including the introduction of new subscription services for integrated solutions that include hardware, the timing of the release of enhancements, upgrades, maintenance releases, the term of the contract, discounts, promotions, and other factors could impact the timing of the recognition of revenue for our products, and could adversely affect our operating results and financial condition. We may implement different licensing models that require us to recognize licensing fees over a longer period. Over the last few years, we have increasingly offered additional products through a SaaS model. SaaS revenue is currently recognized ratably over the subscription period. Any significant increase in the percentage of our business generated from a subscription model could increase the amount of revenue to be recognized over time as opposed to upfront, which would delay revenue recognition and have an adverse impact on our operating results in a quarterly period. Due to these complexities, we may not be able to accurately forecast our revenue, which could cause us to miss our earnings estimates or revenue projections and adversely impact our stock price.
We may not be able to enter into or maintain important alliances and distribution relationships
We believe that in certain business opportunities, our success will depend on our ability to form and maintain alliances with industry participants, such as Caterpillar, Nikon, Hilti, and CNH Global. Our failure to form and maintain such alliances, or the preemption or disruption of such alliances by actions of competitors, could adversely affect our ability to sell our products to customers. Our relationships with substantial industry participants such as Caterpillar and CNH Global are complex and multifaceted and are likely to evolve over time based upon the changing business needs and objectives of the parties. Evolution of our respective business strategies and diversification of product portfolios may lead to increased competition with our strategic allies, placing additional pressure on these relationships. Since these strategic relationships contribute to significant ongoing business in certain of our important markets, changes in these relationships could adversely affect our sales. In addition, we utilize dealer networks, including those affiliated with some of our strategic allies such as Caterpillar and CNH Global to market, sell, and service many of our products.
Changes in our product mix, including increasing provision of subscription services for integrated solutions tailored to the needs of specific vertical markets, impose new demands on our distribution channels and may require significant changes in the skills and expertise required to successfully distribute our products and services, or the creation of new distribution channels. Recruiting and retaining qualified channel partners and training them in the use and the selling of our technology and product offerings requires significant time and resources. In order to develop and expand our distribution channels, we must continue to expand and improve our processes and procedures that support our distribution channels, including our investment in systems
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and training, and those processes and procedures may become increasingly complex and difficult to manage. The time and expense required for sales and marketing organizations of our channel partners to become familiar with our product offerings, including our new product developments, and newer types of offering, such as subscription programs for integrated solutions that include hardware, software maintenance, and other recurring services, may make it more difficult to introduce those products to end-users and delay end-user adoption, which could result in lower revenue.
Disruption of dealer coverage within specific geographic or end-user markets could cause difficulties in marketing, selling, or servicing our products and have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. Moreover, dealers who carry products that compete with our products may focus their inventory purchases and sales efforts on goods provided by competitors due to industry demand or profitability. Such sourcing decisions can adversely impact our sales, financial condition, and results of operations.
Investing in and integrating new acquisitions could be costly, place a significant strain on our management systems and resources, or may fail to deliver the expected return on investment, which could adversely impact our results of operations
We typically acquire a number of businesses each year and intend to continue to acquire other businesses. Acquisitions entail numerous risks, including:
•potential inability to successfully integrate acquired operations and products or to realize cost savings or other anticipated benefits from integration;
•loss of key employees or customers of acquired operations;
•difficulty of assimilating geographically dispersed operations and personnel of the acquired companies;
•potential disruption of our business or the acquired business;
•unanticipated expenses related to acquisitions;
•unanticipated difficulties in conforming business practices, policies, procedures, internal controls, and financial records of acquisitions with our own business;
•impairment of relationships with employees, customers, vendors, distributors or business partners of either an acquired company or our own business;
•inability to accurately forecast the performance of recently acquired businesses, resulting in unforeseen adverse effects on our operating results;
•potential liabilities, including liabilities resulting from known or unknown compliance or legal issues, associated with an acquired business; and
•adverse accounting impact to our results of operations because of purchase accounting treatment and the business or accounting practices of acquired companies.
Any such effects from acquisitions could be costly and place a significant strain on our management systems and resources.
As a result of acquisitions, we have significant assets that include goodwill and other purchased intangibles. The testing of goodwill and intangibles for impairment under established accounting guidelines requires significant use of judgment and assumptions. Changes in business conditions or in the prospects or results of operations of the acquired business could require negative adjustments to the valuation of these assets resulting in write-offs that would adversely affect our results. If we divest a business and the proceeds are less than the net book value at the time, we would have to write off the difference. In addition, changes in the operating results or the valuation of companies in which we have investments may have a direct impact on our financial statements or could result in our having to write down the value of such investment.
Even if successfully negotiated and closed, acquisitions may not yield expected synergies, may not advance our business strategy as expected, may fall short of expected return-on-investment targets, or may not prove successful or effective for our business. Companies that we acquire may operate with different cost and margin structures, which could further cause fluctuations in our operating results and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We face substantial competition in our markets, which could decrease our revenue and growth rates or impair our financial condition and results of operations
Our markets are highly competitive, and we expect that both direct and indirect competition will increase in the future. Our overall competitive position depends on a number of factors including the price, quality and performance of our products, the effectiveness of our distribution channel and direct sales force, the level of customer service, the development of new technology, and our ability to participate in emerging markets. Within each of our markets, we encounter direct competition from other GNSS, software, optical, and laser suppliers, and competition may intensify from various larger U.S. and non-U.S. competitors and new market entrants, particularly from markets such as China. Our products, which commonly use GNSS for basic location information, may be subject to competition from alternative location technologies such as simultaneous location and mapping technology. In our software and subscription services businesses, we face competition from a group of large, well-established companies, particularly in the areas of design, enterprise resource planning (ERP), collaboration and project management solutions. Our integrated hardware and software products may be subject to increasing competition from mass
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market devices such as smartphones and tablets used in conjunction with relatively inexpensive applications, which have not been heavily used for commercial applications in the past. These developments may require us to rapidly adapt to technological and customer preference changes that we have not previously been exposed to, including those related to cloud computing, mobile devices, and new computing platforms. Such competition has in the past resulted, and in the future may result, in price reductions, reduced margins or loss of market share, any of which could decrease our revenue and growth rates or impair our operating results and financial condition. We believe that our ability to compete successfully in the future against existing and additional competitors will depend largely on our ability to execute our strategy to provide products with significantly differentiated features compared to currently available products. We may not be able to implement this strategy successfully, and our products may not be competitive with other technologies or products that may be developed by our competitors, many of whom have significantly greater financial, technical, manufacturing, marketing, sales, and other resources than we do.
Risks related to our technology and products
Our products are highly technical and may contain undetected errors, product defects, security vulnerabilities, or software errors
Our products, including our software products, are highly technical and complex and, when deployed, may contain errors, defects, or security vulnerabilities. We must develop our products quickly to keep pace with the rapidly changing market, and we have a history of frequently introducing new products. Products and services as sophisticated as ours could contain undetected errors or defects, especially when first introduced or when new models or versions are released. Such occurrences could result in damage to our reputation, lost revenue, diverted development resources, increased customer service and support costs, warranty claims, and litigation.
We warrant that our products will be free of defect for various periods of time, depending on the product. In addition, certain of our contracts include epidemic failure clauses. If invoked, these clauses may entitle the customer to return or obtain credits for products and inventory, or to cancel outstanding purchase orders even if the products themselves are not defective.
Errors, viruses, or bugs may be present in software or hardware that we acquire or license from third parties and incorporate into our products or in third party software or hardware that our customers use in conjunction with our products. Our customers’ proprietary software and network firewall protections may corrupt data from our products and create difficulties in implementing our solutions. Changes to third party software or hardware that our customers use in conjunction with our software could also render our applications inoperable. Any errors, defects, or security vulnerabilities in our products or any defects in, or compatibility issues with, any third-party hardware or software or customers’ network environments discovered after commercial release could result in loss of revenue or delay in revenue recognition, loss of customers, theft of trade secrets, data or intellectual property and increased service and warranty cost, any of which could adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Undiscovered vulnerabilities in our products alone or in combination with third party hardware or software could expose them to hackers or other unscrupulous third parties who develop and deploy viruses, and other malicious software programs that could attack our products. Actual or perceived security vulnerabilities in our products could harm our reputation and lead some customers to return products, to reduce or delay future purchases, or use competitive products.
Our internal and customer-facing systems, and systems of third parties we rely upon, may be subject to cybersecurity breaches, disruptions, or delays
A cybersecurity incident in our own systems or the systems of our third-party providers may compromise the confidentiality, integrity, or availability of our own internal data, the availability of our products and websites designed to support our customers, or our customer data. Computer hackers, foreign governments, or cyber terrorists may attempt to or succeed in penetrating our network security and our website. The recent discovery of wide-scale cybersecurity intrusions into U.S. government and private company computer networks by alleged Russian state actors underscores the ongoing threat posed by sophisticated and foreign state-sponsored attacks. Unauthorized access to our proprietary business information or customer data may be obtained through break-ins, sabotage, breach of our secure network by an unauthorized party, computer viruses, computer denial-of-service attacks, employee theft or misuse, breach of the security of the networks of our third-party providers, or other misconduct. Additionally, outside parties may attempt to fraudulently induce employees or users to disclose sensitive or confidential information in order to gain access to data.
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We have experienced security breaches in the past, and despite our efforts to maintain the security and integrity of our systems, it is impossible to eliminate this risk. Because the techniques used by computer hackers who may attempt to penetrate and sabotage our network security or our website change frequently, they may take advantage of weaknesses in third-party technology or standards of which we are unaware or that we do not control and may not be recognized until long after they have been launched against a target. We may be unable to anticipate or counter these techniques. It is also possible that unauthorized access to customer data or confidential information may be obtained through inadequate use of security controls by customers, vendors, or business partners. Efforts to prevent hackers from disrupting our service or otherwise accessing our systems are expensive to develop, implement, and maintain. Such efforts require ongoing monitoring and updating as technologies change and efforts to overcome security measures become more sophisticated and may limit the functionality of, or otherwise adversely impact our service offering and systems. A cybersecurity incident affecting our systems may also result in theft of our intellectual property, proprietary data, or trade secrets, which would compromise our competitive position, reputation, and operating results. We also may be required to notify regulators about any actual or perceived personal data breach (including the EU Lead Data Protection Authority) as well as the individuals who are affected by the incident within strict time periods.
The systems we rely upon also remain vulnerable to damage or interruption from a number of other factors, including access to the internet, the failure of our network or software systems, or significant variability in visitor traffic on our product websites, earthquakes, floods, fires, power loss, telecommunication failures, computer viruses, human error, and similar events or disruptions. Some of our systems are not fully redundant, and our disaster recovery planning is not sufficient for all eventualities. Our systems are also subject to intentional acts of vandalism. Despite any precautions we may take, the occurrence of a natural disaster, a decision by any of our third-party hosting providers to close a facility we use without adequate notice for financial or other reasons, or other unanticipated problems at our hosting facilities could cause system interruptions and delays, and result in loss of critical data and lengthy interruptions in our services.
We rely on our information systems and those of third parties for activities such as processing customer orders, delivery of products, hosting and providing services and support to our customers, billing and tracking our customers, hosting and managing our customer data, and otherwise running our business. Any disruptions or unexpected incompatibilities in our information systems and those of the third parties upon whom we rely could have a significant impact on our business.
An increasing portion of our revenue comes from SaaS solutions and other hosted services in which we store, retrieve, communicate, and manage data that is critical to our customers’ business systems. Disruption of our systems that support these services and solutions could cause disruptions in our customers’ systems and in the businesses that rely on these systems. Any such disruptions could harm our reputation, create liabilities to our customers, hurt demand for our services and solutions, and adversely impact our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We are dependent on new products and services, and if we are unable to successfully introduce them into the market or to effectively compete with new, disruptive product alternatives, our customer base may decline or fail to grow as anticipated
Our future revenue stream depends to a large degree on our ability to bring new products and services to market on a timely basis. We must continue to make significant investments in research and development in order to continue to develop new products and services, enhance existing products, and achieve market acceptance of such products and services. We may encounter problems in the future in innovating and introducing new products and services. Our development stage products may not be successfully completed or, if developed, may not achieve significant customer acceptance. Development and manufacturing schedules for technology products are difficult to predict, and we might not achieve our goals as to the timing of introducing new technology products or could encounter increased costs. The timely availability and cost-effective production of these products in volume and their acceptance by customers are important to our future success. If we are unable to introduce new products and services, if other companies develop competing technology products and services, or if we do not develop compelling new products and services, our number of customers may not grow as anticipated, or may decline, which could harm our operating results. Many of our offerings are increasingly focused on software and subscription services. The software industry is characterized by rapidly changing customer preferences, which require us to address multiple delivery platforms, new mobile devices, and cloud computing. Life cycles of software products can be short, and this can exacerbate the risks associated with developing new products. The introduction of third-party solutions embodying new, disruptive technologies and the emergence of new industry standards could make our existing and future software solutions and other products obsolete or non-competitive. If we are not able to develop software and other solutions that address the increasingly sophisticated needs of our customers, or if we are unable to adapt to new platforms, technologies, or new industry standards that impact our markets, our ability to retain or increase market share and results of operations could be adversely affected.
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Some of our products rely on third party technologies including open source software, which could result in product incompatibilities or harm availability of our products and services
We license software, technologies, and intellectual property underlying some of our software from third parties. The third-party licenses we rely upon may not continue to be available to us on commercially reasonable terms, or at all, and the software and technologies may not be appropriately supported, maintained, or enhanced by the licensors, resulting in development delays. Some software licenses are subject to annual renewals at the discretion of the licensors. In some cases, if we were to breach a provision of these license agreements, the licensor could terminate the agreement immediately. The loss of licenses to, or inability to support, maintain, and enhance, any such third-party software or technology could result in increased costs, or delays in software releases or updates, until such issues have been resolved. This could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
We also incorporate open source software into our products. Although we monitor our use of open source software, the terms of many open source licenses have not been interpreted by U.S. courts, and there is a risk that such licenses could be construed in a manner that could impose unanticipated conditions or restrictions on our ability to market or sell our products or to develop new products. In such event, we could be required to seek licenses from third parties in order to continue offering our products, to disclose and offer royalty-free licenses in connection with our own source code, to re-engineer our products, or to discontinue the sale of our products in the event re-engineering cannot be accomplished on a timely basis, any of which could adversely affect our business.
We are dependent on proprietary technology, which could result in litigation that could divert significant valuable resources
Our future success and competitive position is dependent upon our proprietary technology, and we rely on patent, trade secret, trademark, and copyright laws to protect our intellectual property. The patents owned or licensed by us may be invalidated, circumvented, infringed, or challenged. The rights granted under these patents may not provide competitive advantages to us. Any of our pending or future patent applications may not be issued within the scope of the claims sought by us, if at all.
Despite our efforts to protect our intellectual property rights, unauthorized parties may attempt to copy or otherwise obtain our software or develop software with the same functionality or to obtain and use information that we regard as proprietary. Others may develop technologies that are similar or superior to our technology, duplicate our technology, or design around the patents owned by us. In addition, effective copyright, patent, and trade secret protection may be unavailable, limited, or not applied for in certain countries. The steps taken by us to protect our technology might not prevent the misappropriation of such technology.
The value of our products relies substantially on our technical innovation in fields in which there are many current patent filings. Third parties may claim that we or our customers (some of whom are indemnified by us) are infringing their intellectual property rights. For example, individuals and groups may purchase intellectual property assets for the purpose of asserting claims of infringement and attempting to extract settlements from us or our customers. The number of these claims has increased in recent years. As new patents are issued or are brought to our attention by the holders of such patents, it may be necessary for us to secure a license from such patent holders, redesign our products, or withdraw products from the market. In addition, the legal costs and engineering time required to safeguard intellectual property or to defend against litigation could become a significant expense of operations. Any such litigation could require us to incur substantial costs and divert significant valuable resources, including the efforts of our technical and management personnel, which could harm our business, financial condition and results of operations.
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We are dependent on limited source manufacturers and suppliers for certain of our products and critical components; a disruption in our supply chain could adversely affect our revenue and results of operations
We are dependent upon a limited number of contract manufacturers for the manufacture, testing, and assembly of certain products and specific suppliers for a number of our critical components. Our current reliance on a limited group of suppliers and contract manufacturers involves risks, including a potential inability to obtain an adequate supply of required products or components to meet customers’ delivery requirements, a risk that we may accumulate excess inventories if we inaccurately forecast demand for our products, reduced control over pricing and delivery schedules, discontinuation of or increased prices for certain components, and economic conditions that may adversely impact the viability of our suppliers and contract manufacturers. Any disruption in our supply chain could reduce our revenue and adversely impact our financial results. Such a disruption could occur as a result of any number of events, including, but not limited to, increases in wages that drive up prices or labor stoppages, the imposition of regulations, quotas or embargoes on components, a scarcity of, or significant increase in the price of, required electronic components for our products, trade restrictions, tariffs or duties, fluctuations in currency exchange rates, transportation failures affecting the supply chain and shipment of materials and finished goods, third party interference in the integrity of the products sourced through the supply chain, the unavailability of raw materials, severe weather conditions, natural disasters, civil unrest, military conflicts, geopolitical developments, war or terrorism, and disruptions in utility and other services. Any inability to obtain adequate deliveries or any other circumstance that would require us to seek alternative sources of supply or to manufacture, assemble, and test such components internally could significantly delay our ability to ship our products, which could damage relationships with current and prospective customers and could harm our reputation and brand as well as our results of operations.
We are dependent on the availability and unimpaired use of allocated bands within the radio frequency spectrum; our products may be subject to harmful interference from new or modified spectrum uses
Our GNSS technology is dependent on the use of satellite signals and on terrestrial communication bands. International allocations of radio frequency are made by the International Telecommunications Union (“ITU”), a specialized technical agency of the United Nations. These allocations are further governed by radio regulations that have treaty status and which may be subject to modification every two to three years by the World Radio Communication Conference. Each country also has regulatory authority over how each band is used in the country. In the United States, the Federal Communications Commission (“FCC”) and the National Telecommunications and Information Administration share responsibility for radio frequency allocations and spectrum usage regulations.
Any ITU or local reallocation of radio frequency bands, including frequency band segmentation and sharing of spectrum, or other modifications of the permitted uses of relevant frequency bands, may materially and adversely affect the utility and reliability of our products and have significant adverse impacts on our customers, both of which could reduce demand for our products. For example, in 2020 the FCC approved a proposal by a private party to repurpose spectrum adjacent to the authorized GNSS bands for terrestrial wireless operations throughout the United States. The company has opposed and continues to oppose this proposal, along with a wide range of participants in commercial and governmental sectors that rely on the use of GNSS in their critical activities. The FCC’s action is subject to further review as well as potential legislative action. If the FCC’s action continues in effect and terrestrial operations are implemented in the affected spectrum, these operations could create harmful interference to GNSS receivers in proximity to such operations and impose costs to retrofit or replace affected receivers. Similarly, other countries have considered proposals for use of frequencies used by our products as well as adjacent bands that could cause harmful interference to our products.
Many of our products use other radio frequency bands, such as the public land mobile radio bands, together with the GNSS signal, to provide enhanced GNSS capabilities, such as real-time kinematics precision. The continuing availability of these non-GNSS radio frequencies is essential to provide enhanced GNSS products to our precision survey, agriculture, and construction machine controls markets. In addition, transmissions and emissions from other services and equipment operating in adjacent frequency bands or in-band may impair the utility and reliability of our products. Any regulatory changes in spectrum allocation or in allowable operating conditions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
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Many of our products rely on GNSS technology, GPS and other satellite systems, which may become degraded or inoperable and result in lost revenue
GNSS technology, GPS satellites, and their ground support systems are complex electronic systems subject to electronic and mechanical failures and possible intentional disruption. Many of the GPS satellites currently in orbit were originally designed to have lives of 7.5 years and are subject to damage by the hostile space environment in which they operate. However, of the current deployment of operational satellites in orbit, some have been in operation for 15 years or more. Repair of damaged or malfunctioning satellites is currently not economically feasible. If a significant number of satellites were to become inoperable, there could be a substantial delay before they are replaced with new satellites. A reduction in the number of operating satellites below the 24-satellite standard established for GPS may impair the utility of the GPS system and the growth of current and additional market opportunities. In addition, software updates to GPS satellites and ground control segments, and infrequent known events such as GPS week number rollover, may adversely affect our products and customers. We depend on public access to open technical specifications in advance of system updates to mitigate these problems, which may not be available or complete.
We are dependent on continued operation of GPS, the principal GNSS currently in operation. The GPS constellation is operated by the U. S. Government, which is committed to maintenance and improvement of GPS. If supporting policies were to change, or if user fees were imposed, it could have an adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Many of our products also use signals from systems that augment GPS, such as the Wide Area Augmentation System and National Differential GPS System, and satellites transmitting signal corrections data on mobile satellite services frequencies utilized by our RTX corrections services. Some of these augmentation systems are operated by the U.S. government and rely on continued funding and maintenance of these systems. Any curtailment of the operating capability of these systems or limitations on access to, or use of the signals, or discontinuance of service could result in degradation of our services or product performance, with an adverse effect on our business.
Many of our products use satellite signals from the Russian GLONASS and the European Galileo GNSS Systems. Other countries, including China and India, are in the process of creating their own GNSS systems, and we either have developed or will develop products that use GNSS signals from these systems. National or European authorities may provide preferential access to signals to companies associated with their markets, including our competitors, which could harm our competitive position. Use of non-U.S. GNSS signals are also subject to FCC waiver requirements and to restrictions based upon international trade or geopolitical considerations. If we are unable to develop timely and competitive commercial products using these systems, or obtain timely and equal access to service signals, this could result in lost revenue. These authorities may also adopt protectionist measures favoring national companies who make use of their GNSS systems, to the detriment of our products using the U.S. GPS system, which could harm our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Regulatory risks
We face risks inherent in conducting business internationally, including compliance with international and U.S. laws and regulations that apply to our international operations
These laws and regulations include data privacy requirements, labor relations laws, tax laws, anti-competition regulations, import and trade restrictions, export control laws, and laws that prohibit corrupt payments to governmental officials or certain payments or remunerations to customers, including the U.S. Foreign Corrupt Practices Act (“FCPA”), the U.K. Bribery Act, and other anti-corruption laws that have recently been the subject of a substantial increase in global enforcement. Many of our products are subject to U.S. export law restrictions that limit the destinations and types of customers to which our products may be sold or that require an export license in connection with sales outside the United States. Given the high level of complexity of these laws, there is a risk that some provisions may be inadvertently or intentionally breached, for example through fraudulent or negligent behavior of individual employees, our failure to comply with certain formal documentation requirements or otherwise. Also, we may be held liable for actions taken by our local dealers and partners. Violations of these laws and regulations could result in fines, criminal sanctions against us, our officers or our employees, and prohibitions or conditions on the conduct of our business. Any such violations could include prohibitions or conditions on our ability to offer our products in one or more countries and could materially damage our reputation, our brand, our international expansion efforts, our ability to attract and retain employees, our business, and our operating results.
We operate in many parts of the world that have experienced significant governmental corruption to some degree and, in certain circumstances, strict compliance with anti-bribery laws may conflict with local customs and practices. We may be subject to competitive disadvantages to the extent that our competitors are able to secure business, licenses, or other preferential treatment by making payments to government officials and others in positions of influence or through other methods that relevant law and regulations prohibit us from using. Our success depends, in part, on our ability to anticipate these risks and manage these difficulties.
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We are subject to evolving privacy laws in the United States and other jurisdictions that are subject to potentially differing interpretations and which could adversely impact our business and require that we incur substantial costs
Existing privacy-related laws and regulations in the United States and other countries are evolving and are subject to potentially differing interpretations, and various U.S. federal and state or other international legislative and regulatory bodies may expand or enact laws regarding privacy and data security-related matters. For example, the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield, a basis for data transfers from the EU to the U.S., was invalidated by the European Court of Justice, and we expect that the international transfer of personal data will present ongoing compliance challenges and complicate our business transactions and operations. Brexit, the United Kingdom's withdrawal from the European Union, could also lead to further legislative and regulatory changes with regard to personal data transfers between the two territories. New privacy laws have come into effect in Brazil and New Zealand in 2020, and revisions of privacy laws are currently pending in countries like Canada and China. Some countries are considering or have passed legislation that requires local storage and processing of data, including geospatial data. In addition, in June 2018, California enacted the California Consumer Privacy Act (the “CCPA”), which took effect in January 2020 and has been amended by the California Privacy Rights Act (“the “CPRA”) passed via ballot initiative in November 2020 and will fully take effect in January 2023. The CCPA and CPRA, among other things, gives California residents expanded rights to access and delete their personal information, opt out of certain personal information sharing, and receive detailed information about how their personal information is used. Other states and the U.S. Congress have introduced data privacy legislation that may impact our business. Data privacy legislation, amendments and revisions to existing data privacy legislation, and other developments impacting data privacy and data protection may require us to modify our data processing practices and policies, increase the complexity of providing our products and services, and cause us to incur substantial costs in an effort to comply. Failure to comply may lead to significant fines and business interruption.
We are subject to the impact of governmental and other certifications processes and regulations, which could adversely affect our products and our business
We market many products that are subject to governmental regulations and certifications before they can be sold. The European Union increasingly regulates the use of our products on agriculture, construction, and other types of machinery. As we develop and enhance features which support automated and autonomous operation of our products, we are increasingly subject to functional safety regulation. CE certification is required for GNSS receivers and data communications products, which must also conform to the European harmonized GNSS receiver requirements and the radio equipment directive to be sold in the European community. In the future, U.S., European, or other governmental authorities may propose GPS receiver testing and certification for compliance with published GPS signal interface or other specifications. Governmental authorities may also propose other forms of GPS receiver performance standards, which may limit design alternatives, hamper product innovation, or impose additional costs. Some of our products that use integrated radio communication technology require product type certification and some products require an end-user to obtain licensing from the FCC and other national authorities for frequency-band usage. Compliance with evolving product regulations in our major markets could require that we redesign our products, cease selling products in certain markets, and increase our costs of product development. An inability to obtain required certifications in a timely manner could adversely affect our ability to bring our products to market and harm our customer relationships. Failure to comply with evolving requirements could result in fines and limitations on sales of our products.
Financial and tax risks
Our debt could adversely affect our cash flow and prevent us from fulfilling our financial obligations
At the end of fiscal 2020, our total debt was comprised primarily of senior notes of $1,300.0 million, and four uncommitted revolving credit facilities totaling $255.8 million. When our senior notes mature, we will have to expend significant resources to repay these senior notes or seek to refinance them. If we decide to refinance the senior notes, we may be required to do so on different or less favorable terms or we may be unable to refinance the senior notes at all, both of which may adversely affect our financial condition. Any downgrade by credit rating agencies could adversely affect our cost of borrowing, limit our access to the capital markets, or result in more restrictive covenants in future debt agreements.
Our outstanding indebtedness could have other important consequences, such as:
•requiring us to dedicate a portion of our cash flow from operations and other capital resources to debt service, thereby reducing our ability to fund working capital, capital expenditures, general corporate purposes, and other cash requirements, particularly if the ratings assigned to our debt securities by rating organizations were revised downward;
•increasing our vulnerability to adverse economic and industry conditions;
•reducing our ability to make investments and acquisitions which support the growth of the company, or to repurchase shares of our common stock; and
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•limiting our flexibility in planning for, or reacting to, changes and opportunities in, our industry, which may place us at a competitive disadvantage.
There are various financial covenants and other restrictions in our debt instruments. If we fail to comply with any of these requirements, the related indebtedness (and other unrelated indebtedness) could become due and payable prior to its stated maturity, and we may not be able to repay the indebtedness that becomes due. A default under our debt instruments may also significantly affect our ability to obtain additional or alternative financing.
Our ability to make scheduled payments or to refinance our obligations with respect to indebtedness will depend on our operating and financial performance, which in turn, is subject to prevailing economic conditions and to financial, business, and other factors beyond our control. A portion of our outstanding debt has interest rates which float based on prevailing interest rates and we may incur additional variable-rate debt in the future. Such rates tend to fluctuate based on general economic conditions, general interest rates, Federal Reserve rates, and the supply of and demand for credit in the relevant interbanking market. If interest rates increase, our interest expense will also increase as would the costs of refinancing existing indebtedness or obtaining new debt.
Our ability to incur additional indebtedness over time may be limited due to applicable financial covenants and restrictions, and due to the risk that significantly increasing our level of indebtedness could impact the ratings assigned to our debt securities by rating organizations, which in turn would increase the interest rates and fees that we pay in connection with our indebtedness.
Changes in our effective tax rate may reduce our net income in future periods
As a global company, we are subject to income and other taxes in the United States and numerous foreign jurisdictions. Significant judgment is required to determine and estimate worldwide tax liabilities. While we believe our tax positions are consistent with the tax laws in the jurisdictions in which we conduct our business, it is possible that these positions may be contested or overturned by jurisdictional tax authorities, which may have a significant impact on our global provision for income taxes. Our effective tax rate is largely based on the geographic mix of earnings, statutory rates, inter-company transfer pricing, and enacted tax laws. A number of factors may increase our future effective tax rates, including:
•the jurisdictions in which profits are determined to be earned and taxed;
•the resolution of issues arising from tax audits with U.S. and foreign tax authorities;
•changes in our intercompany transfer pricing methodology;
•changes in the valuation of our deferred tax assets and liabilities;
•increases in expense not deductible for tax purposes, including transaction costs and impairments of goodwill in connection with acquisitions;
•changes in the realizability of available tax credits;
•changes in share-based compensation;
•changes in tax laws or the interpretation of such tax laws, including the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (the “Tax Act”) and the Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (“BEPS”) project conducted by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (“OECD”); and
•changes in generally accepted accounting principles.
Tax laws are dynamic and subject to change as new laws are passed and new interpretations of the law are issued or applied, and governmental tax authorities are increasingly scrutinizing the tax positions of companies. On December 22, 2017, the U.S. government enacted the Tax Act, which made substantial changes to U.S. tax law. The ongoing implementation and interpretation of the Tax Act, any additional forthcoming legislative or administrative guidance and accounting standards related to the Tax Act could adversely affect our future effective tax rates. The implementation by us of new practices and processes designed to comply with, and benefit from, the Tax Act and its rules and regulations could require us to make substantial changes to our business practices, allocate additional resources, and increase our costs, which could adversely affect our business, results of operations, and financial condition. In light of recent changes in U.S. tax laws and to align with our international business operations, in the fourth quarter of 2019, we completed a non-U.S. intercompany transfer of our intellectual property to a subsidiary in the Netherlands. This transfer and other changes we make to practices and processes based upon changes in U.S. and other tax laws are subject to challenge, and an adverse outcome in any such challenge could adversely affect our reported financial results.
Additionally, longstanding international tax norms that determine each country’s jurisdiction to tax cross-border international trade are evolving as a result of the BEPS reporting requirements recommended by the G8, G20, and the OECD. The foreign countries where we do business may change tax laws, regulations, and interpretations on a prospective or retroactive basis and these potential changes could adversely affect our effective tax rates. As these and other tax laws and related regulations change, our financial results could be materially impacted. Given the unpredictability of these possible changes and their
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potential interdependency, it is very difficult to assess whether the overall effect of such potential tax changes would be cumulatively positive or negative for our earnings and cash flow, but such changes could adversely impact our financial results.
We are currently in various stages of multiple year examinations by state and foreign taxing authorities. If taxing authorities of any jurisdiction were to successfully challenge a material tax position, we could become subject to higher taxes and our earnings could be adversely affected.
We may be affected by fluctuations in currency exchange rates
We are potentially exposed to adverse as well as beneficial movements in currency exchange rates. Although the majority of our sales are transacted in U.S. dollars, expenses may be paid in local currencies. An increase in the value of the dollar could increase the real cost to our customers of our products in those markets outside the U.S. where we sell in dollars, and a weakened dollar could increase the cost of local operating expenses, procurement of raw materials from sources outside the United States, and overseas capital expenditures. We also conduct certain investing and financing activities in local currencies. Our foreign exchange forward contracts reduce, but do not eliminate, the impact of currency exchange rate movements; therefore, changes in exchange rates could harm our financial condition and results of operations.
Risks related to ownership of our stock
The volatility of our stock price could adversely affect an investment in our common stock
The market price of our common stock has been, and may continue to be, highly volatile. During fiscal 2020, our stock price ranged from $21.32 to $66.77. We believe that a variety of factors could cause the price of our common stock to fluctuate, perhaps substantially, including:
•general conditions in the worldwide economy;
•quarterly fluctuations in our actual or anticipated operating results and order levels;
announcements and reports of developments related to our business, our major customers and partners, and the industries in which we compete, or the industries in which our customers compete;
•security breaches;
•acquisition announcements;
•new products or product enhancements announced or introduced by us or our competitors;
•disputes with respect to developments in patents or other intellectual property rights;
•developments in our relationships with our partners, customers, and suppliers;
•the imposition of tariffs or other trade barriers;
•political, economic, or social uncertainty;
•global pandemics, like the COVID-19 pandemic; and
•acts of terrorism.
In addition, the stock market in general and the markets for shares of “high-tech” companies in particular have frequently experienced extreme price fluctuations, which have often been unrelated to the operating performance of affected companies. Any such fluctuations could adversely affect the market price of our common stock.
Our annual and quarterly performance may fluctuate, which could adversely impact our operations, financial results, and stock price
Our operating results have fluctuated and can be expected to continue to fluctuate in the future on a quarterly and annual basis as a result of a number of factors, many of which are beyond our control. Results in any period could be affected by:
•changes in market demand;
•competitive market conditions;
•the timing of recognizing revenue;
•fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rates;
•the cost and availability of components;
•the mix of our customer base and sales channels;
•the mix of products sold;
•pricing of products;
•changes in U.S. or foreign policies on taxes, trade, or spending, including the Tax Act;
•regional responses and restrictions related to global pandemics, like the COVID-19 pandemic; and
•other risks, including those described below.
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Seasonal variations in demand for our products may also affect our quarterly results. Construction equipment revenue has historically been the highest in early spring. Our agricultural equipment revenue has historically been the highest in the first quarter, followed by the second quarter, reflecting buying in anticipation of the spring planting season in the Northern hemisphere. If we do not accurately forecast seasonal demand, we may be left with unsold inventory or have a shortage of inventory, which could adversely impact our results of operations.
Due in part to the buying patterns of our customers, a portion of our hardware revenue occurs from orders received and immediately shipped to customers in the last few weeks and days of each quarter, while our operating expense tends to remain fairly predictable. These patterns could harm our operating results if for any reason expected sales are deferred, orders are not received, or shipments are delayed a few days at the end of a quarter.
The price of our common stock could decline substantially in the event any of these risks result in our financial performance being below the expectations of public market analysts and investors, which are based on historical and predictive models that are not necessarily accurate representations of the future.
General risk factors
We have claims and lawsuits against us that may result in adverse outcomes
We are subject to a variety of claims and lawsuits. Adverse outcomes in some or all of these claims may result in significant monetary damages or injunctive relief that could adversely affect our ability to conduct our business. Litigation and other claims are subject to inherent uncertainties and the outcomes can be difficult to predict. Management may not adequately reserve for a contingent liability, or may suffer unforeseen liabilities, which could then impact the results of a financial period. A material adverse impact on our consolidated financial statements could occur for the period in which the effect of an unfavorable final outcome becomes probable and reasonably estimable which, if not expected, could harm our financial condition, and results of operations.
Catastrophic events or geopolitical conditions could disrupt our operations
Acts of war, acts of terrorism or civil unrest, natural disasters and other catastrophic events, especially any events that impact our larger markets or GNSS signals or systems, could have a material adverse impact on our business. The threat of terrorism and war and heightened security and military activity in response to this threat, or any future acts of terrorism or hostilities, may involve a redeployment of the satellites used in GNSS or interruptions of the system. Civil unrest, local conflicts, or other political instability may adversely impact regional economies, cause work stoppages, or result in limitations on business transactions with the affected jurisdictions. To the extent that such interruptions result in delays or the cancellation of orders, disruption of the manufacturing or shipment of our products, or reduced demand for our products, these interruptions could have a material adverse effect on our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Future public health crises and epidemics could impact our international operations and sales
Our results of operations could be adversely affected to the extent that future pandemics, similar to COVID-19 or any other epidemic, harm any significant market where we do business. Contagious disease epidemics or global pandemics could also significantly impact our international supply chain and result in component and product shortages and general disruptions to the economy. Such outbreaks could also result in mass quarantines, business closures, and significantly impact our suppliers, customers, and commercial partners in affected areas, which may materially and adversely affect our business, financial condition, and results of operations.
Item 1B.Unresolved Staff Comments
None.
Item 2.Properties
Our corporate headquarters is located in Sunnyvale, California where we lease approximately 139 thousand square feet. We also currently own approximately 316thousand square feet in Dayton, Ohio and 250 thousand square feet in Westminster, Colorado. These facilities are used by all reporting segments. For financial information regarding leases, see Note 7 to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
We believe that our existing facilities are adequate to support current and near-term operations.
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Item 3.Legal Proceedings
From time to time, we are involved in litigation arising in the ordinary course of our business. There are no material legal proceedings, other than ordinary routine litigation incidental to the business, to which we or any of our subsidiaries is a party or of which any of our or our subsidiaries' property is subject.
Item 4.Mine Safety Disclosures
None.
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PART II
Item 5.Market for Registrant’s Common Equity, Related Stockholder Matters and Issuer Purchases of Equity Securities
Company Stock Performance
Our common stock trades on NASDAQ under the symbol “TRMB.” The following graph compares the cumulative five-year total return provided stockholders on our common stock relative to the cumulative total returns of the NASDAQ Composite Index and the S&P 500 Information Technology Index. An investment of $100 (with reinvestment of all dividends) is assumed to have been made in our common stock and in each of the indexes on December 31, 2015, and its relative performance is tracked through December 31, 2020.
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Stock Repurchase Program
The following table provides information relating to our purchase of equity securities for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020:
In November 2017, our Board of Directors approved a stock repurchase program (“2017 Stock Repurchase Program”), authorizing us to repurchase up to $600.0 million of our common stock. The 2017 Stock Repurchase Program does not have an expiration date. The timing and amount of repurchase transactions is determined by our management based on the evaluation of market conditions, share price, legal requirements, and other factors. The program may be suspended, modified, or discontinued at any time without public notice.
During fiscal 2020, we repurchased approximately 1.9 million shares of common stock in open market purchases under the 2017 Stock Repurchase Program, at an average price of $43.40 per share, for a total of $81.6 million. At the end of fiscal 2020, the 2017 Stock Repurchase Program had remaining authorized funds of $90.7 million.
As of February 24, 2021, there were approximately 536 holders of record of our common stock.
Dividend Policy
We have not declared or paid any cash dividends on our common stock during any period for which financial information is provided in this Annual Report on Form 10-K. At this time, we intend to retain future earnings, if any, to fund the development and growth of our business and do not anticipate paying any cash dividends on our common stock in the foreseeable future.
Item 6.Selected Financial Data
Not applicable. Financial information related to fiscal 2017 and 2016 may be found in Part II, Item 6. Selected Financial Data in our fiscal 2019 Form 10-K filed with the SEC on February 28, 2020. Please refer to the consolidated financial statements included herein in Part II-Item 8 Financial Statements and Supplementary Data for fiscal year 2020, 2019 and 2018 information.
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Item 7. Management’s Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations
The following discussion should be read in conjunction with the consolidated financial statements and the related notes. The following discussion contains forward-looking statements that reflect our plans, estimates, and beliefs. Our actual results could differ materially from those discussed in the forward-looking statements. Factors that could cause or contribute to these differences include, but are not limited to, those discussed below and those listed under “Risks Factors.” This section of this Form 10-K generally discusses 2020 and 2019 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2020 and 2019. Discussions of 2018 items and year-to-year comparisons between 2019 and 2018 that are not included in this Form 10-K can be found in “Management's Discussion and Analysis of Financial Condition and Results of Operations” in Part II, Item 7 of our Annual Report on Form 10-K, as amended, for the fiscal year ended January 3, 2020.
EXECUTIVE LEVEL OVERVIEW
We are a leading provider of technology solutions that enable professionals and field mobile workers to improve or transform their work processes. Our comprehensive work process solutions are used across a range of industries including architecture, building construction, civil engineering, geospatial, survey and mapping, agriculture, natural resources, utilities, transportation, and government. Our representative customers include construction owners, contractors, engineering and construction firms, surveying companies, farmers and agricultural companies, energy and utility companies, trucking companies, and state, federal, and municipal governments. Further information on our business is presented in Part I, Item 1, “Business”.
Our growth strategy is centered on multiple elements:
•Executing on our Connect and Scale 2025 strategy;
•Focus on attractive markets with significant growth and profitability potential;
•Domain knowledge and technological innovation that benefit a diverse customer base;
•Increasing focus on software and services;
•Geographic expansion with localization strategy;
•Optimized go-to-market strategies to best access our markets; and
•Strategic acquisitions
Our focus on these growth drivers has led over time to growth in revenue and profitability and an increasingly diversified business model. We continue to experience a shift in revenue towards a more significant mix of software, recurring revenue, and services, which represented 58% of total revenue for fiscal 2020, and is leading to improved visibility in our businesses. Additionally, our success in driving annualized recurring revenue (“ARR”)(1) growth of 9% year-over-year for fiscal 2020 has positively impacted our revenue mix and growth over time. As our solutions have expanded, our go-to-market model has also evolved with a balanced mix between direct, distribution, and OEM customers as well as an increasing number of enterprise level customer relationships.
(1) See Supplemental Disclosure of Annualized Recurring Revenue and Non-GAAP Financial Measures for definition.
COVID-19 UPDATE
In early March 2020, the World Health Organization characterized COVID-19 as a pandemic. As the COVID-19 pandemic unfolded globally, we implemented protocols to safeguard our employees, customers, suppliers, third-party business partners and communities, and ensure business continuity.
The extent to which the COVID-19 pandemic impacts our business operations in future periods will depend on multiple uncertain factors outside of our control, such as its continued and future overall impact on the global economy and in the industries where we operate. We experienced an overall revenue decline in fiscal 2020, due to economic disruptions related to COVID-19 that began in the last weeks of March, primarily in hardware and professional services for the first two quarters. Overall revenue increased in the third and fourth quarters. Despite the revenue shortfall, operating income increased due to improved mix of higher margin sales and reduced spending due to cost containment measures as well as natural reductions in spending resulting from COVID-19 restrictions.
As the COVID-19 pandemic is continually evolving, we are uncertain of its ultimate duration, and the nature and extent of its impact on our business, financial condition, and results of operations. To the extent that regions where we do business or source our products experience additional closures or restrictions on business activity, our results of operations could be harmed.
See “1A. Risk Factors” for further discussion of the possible impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on our business.
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CRITICAL ACCOUNTING POLICIES AND ESTIMATES
The preparation of financial statements and related disclosures in conformity with U.S. generally accepted accounting principles (“GAAP”) requires us to make judgments, assumptions, and estimates that affect the reported amounts of assets, liabilities, revenue, costs of sales, operating expenses, and related disclosures. We consider the accounting polices described below to be our critical accounting policies. These critical accounting policies are impacted significantly by judgments, assumptions, and estimates used in the preparation of the consolidated financial statements, and actual results could differ materially from the amounts reported based on these policies. Our accounting policies are more fully described in Note 1 of our accompanying Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
Revenue Recognition
Revenue is recognized upon transfer of control of promised products or services to customers in an amount that reflects the consideration that we expect to receive in exchange for those products or services. Revenue is recognized net of allowance for returns and any taxes collected from customers. We enter into contracts that can include various combinations of products and services, which are generally capable of being distinct and accounted for as separate performance obligations; however, determining whether products or services are considered distinct performance obligations that should be accounted for separately versus together may sometimes require significant judgment.
Judgment is required to determine stand-alone selling price (“SSP”) for each distinct performance obligation. We use a range of amounts to estimate SSP when products and services are sold separately and determine whether there is a discount to be allocated based on the relative SSP of the various products and services. In instances where SSP is not directly observable, we determine SSP using information that may include market conditions and other observable inputs.
Income Taxes
We are a U.S. based multinational company operating in multiple U.S. and foreign jurisdictions. Judgment is required in evaluating our uncertain tax positions and determining our provision for income taxes. We consider many factors when evaluating and estimating our tax positions and tax benefits, which may require periodic adjustments and may not accurately forecast actual tax audit outcomes. Determining whether an uncertain tax position is effectively settled requires judgment. Changes in recognition or measurement of our uncertain tax positions would result in the recognition of a tax benefit or an additional charge to the tax provision.
Income taxes are accounted for under the liability method, whereby deferred tax assets or liability account balances are calculated at the balance sheet date using current tax laws and rates in effect for the year in which the differences are expected to affect taxable income. A valuation allowance is recorded to reduce the carrying amounts of deferred tax assets if we believe it is more likely than not such assets will not be realized.
We are subject to the periodic examination of our domestic and foreign tax returns by the IRS, state, local, and foreign tax authorities who may challenge our tax positions. We regularly assess the likelihood of adverse outcomes from these examinations in determining the adequacy of our provision for income taxes.
Business Combinations and Valuation of Goodwill and Purchased Intangible Assets
We allocate the fair value of purchase consideration to the assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and non-controlling interests in the acquiree based on their fair values at the acquisition date. The excess of the fair value of purchase consideration over the fair value of these assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and non-controlling interests in the acquiree is recorded as goodwill.
When determining the fair values of assets acquired, liabilities assumed, and non-controlling interests in the acquiree, management makes significant estimates and assumptions, especially with respect to intangible assets. Critical estimates in valuing intangible assets include, but are not limited to, expected future cash flows, which includes consideration of future growth rates and margins, customer attrition rates, future changes in technology and brand awareness, loyalty and position, and discount rates. Identifiable intangible assets are comprised of distribution channels and distribution rights, patents, licenses, technology, acquired backlog, trademarks, and in-process research and development.
We evaluate goodwill on an annual basis or more frequently if indicators of potential impairment exist. We utilize either a qualitative assessment or a quantitative test to assess the likelihood of an impairment. In performing the qualitative assessment, we consider macroeconomic conditions, industry and market considerations, overall financial performance, and other relevant events and factors that may impact the reporting units. When we perform a quantitative test, the estimation of the fair value of a reporting unit involves the use of certain estimates and assumptions including expected future operating performance using risk-adjusted discount rates.
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We amortize identifiable intangible assets over their estimated useful lives on a straight-line basis. Changes in circumstances such as technological advances, changes to business models, or changes in the capital strategy could result in a revised useful life. If the useful life of an asset is revised, the net book value of the estimated residual value is amortized over its revised remaining useful life. Intangible assets are evaluated for impairment whenever events or changes in circumstances indicate that the carrying amount of those assets may not be recoverable based on their future cash flows. The estimated future cash flows are primarily based upon assumptions about expected future operating performance.
RESULTS OF OPERATIONS
Overview
The following table shows revenue by category, gross margin and gross margin as a percentage of revenue, operating income and operating income as a percentage of revenue, and diluted earnings per share for the periods indicated:
(In millions)
Revenue:
Operating income as a % of revenue 13.3 % 11.5 % 10.3 %
Diluted earnings per share $ 1.55 $ 2.03 $ 1.12
Non-GAAP operating income as a % of Non-GAAP Revenue (1) 22.8 % 20.6 % 20.5 %
Non-GAAP diluted earnings per share (1) $ 2.23 $ 1.99 $ 1.94
(1) See Supplemental Disclosure of Annualized Recurring Revenue and Non-GAAP Financial Measures for definitions.
Basis of Presentation
We have a 52-53 week fiscal year, ending on the Friday nearest to December 31, which for fiscal 2020 was January 1, 2021. Fiscal 2020 and 2018 were both 52-week years. Fiscal 2019 was a 53-week year.
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Fiscal Year 2020 Compared with Fiscal Year 2019
Revenue
In fiscal 2020, total revenue decreased by $116.6 million or 4%. Overall revenue decreased due to weakness in Transportation, and to a lesser extent, Buildings and Infrastructure and Geospatial, which were impacted in the first two quarters by COVID-19. The decrease was partially offset by organic and acquisitions growth in Resources and Utilities, as well as recovery in Buildings and Infrastructure and Geospatial in the third and fourth quarters. We consider acquisition growth to include acquisition revenue that was not applicable in the prior corresponding periods.
By revenue category, overall product revenue decreased $106.8 million or 6%, service revenue decreased $41.4 million or 6%, and subscription revenue increased $31.6 million or 5%. Product revenue decreased primarily due to weakness in our hardware sales in Transportation, and to a lesser extent, Buildings and Infrastructure, partially offset by growth in Resources and Utilities. Geospatial was relatively flat. The decrease in Geospatial hardware sales in the first two quarters was largely offset by increased hardware sales in the third and fourth quarters. Service revenue decreased due to lower professional services associated with customer installations. Subscription revenue increased primarily due to strong organic growth in Buildings and Infrastructure, and to a lesser extent, acquisition revenue from Resources and Utilities, partially offset by weakness in Transportation.
During fiscal 2020, sales to customers in North America represented 52%; Europe represented 29%; Asia Pacific represented 13%; and the rest of world represented 6% of our total revenue.
No single customer accounted for 10% or more of our total revenue in fiscal 2020 and 2019. No single customer accounted for 10% or more of our accounts receivable at the end of fiscal 2020 and 2019.
Gross Margin
Gross margin varies due to several factors including product mix, pricing, distribution channel, production volumes, new product start-up costs, and foreign currency translations.
In fiscal 2020, gross margin decreased by $26.0 million or 1% primarily due to revenue declines as noted above, partially offset by improved product mix. Gross margin as a percentage of total revenue was 55.8% in fiscal 2020 compared to 54.6% in fiscal 2019. This growth in gross margin percentage was driven by improved revenue mix, including increased higher margin software and subscription sales in Buildings and Infrastructure and Resources and Utilities, as well as new product introductions and less discounting in Geospatial, partially offset by product mix and pricing pressures in Transportation.
Operating Income
In fiscal 2020, operating income increased by $43.9 million or 12%. Operating income as a percentage of total revenue for fiscal 2020 was 13.3% compared to 11.5% in fiscal 2019. Despite the revenue shortfall, operating income and operating income as a percentage of total revenue increased due to strong results in Buildings and Infrastructure, Geospatial, and Resources and Utilities including improved mix of higher margin sales, as well as operating expense reductions across all segments, partially offset by weaker sales and gross margin compression in Transportation.
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Research and Development, Sales and Marketing, and General and Administrative Expenses
The following table shows research and development (“R&D”), sales and marketing (“S&M”), and general and administrative (“G&A”) expense along with these expenses as a percentage of revenue for the periods indicated:
(In millions)
Percentage of revenue 9.6 % 10.1 % 11.3 %
Fiscal Year 2020 Compared with Fiscal Year 2019
In fiscal 2020, overall, R&D, S&M, and G&A expenses decreased by $60.7 million or 5%.
R&D expense increased by $6.2 million or 1%. The increase in R&D expense was primarily due to higher compensation expense, including incentive compensation, and increased R&D expenses from acquired businesses not included in the prior corresponding period, partially offset by lower consulting and outside services and travel reductions.
We believe that the development and introduction of new products are critical to our future success, and we expect to continue active development of new products.
S&M expense decreased by $37.2 million or 7%. The decrease in S&M expenses was primarily due to travel reductions, lower advertising costs, and lower compensation expense, partially offset by higher S&M expenses from acquired businesses not included in the prior corresponding period.
G&A expense decreased by $29.7 million or 9%. The decrease in G&A expense was primarily due to lower compensation expense, lower tax and legal costs, and travel reductions, partially offset by increased G&A expenses from acquired businesses not included in the prior corresponding period.
Amortization of Purchased Intangible Assets
The following table shows amortization of purchased intangible assets for the periods indicated:
(In millions)
In fiscal 2020, total amortization of purchased intangibles decreased $10.0 million or 6% primarily due to the expiration of prior year acquisitions' amortization.
Non-operating expense, net
The following table shows non-operating expense, net for the periods indicated:
(In millions)
Interest expense, net $ (77.6) $ (82.4) $ (73.2)
Income from equity method investments, net 39.4 35.8 28.7
Total non-operating expense, net $ (24.8) $ (31.1) $ (42.7)
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In fiscal 2020, total non-operating expense, net decreased by $6.3 million or 20% primarily due to lower interest costs and increased joint venture profitability, partially offset by unfavorable impacts from foreign currency exchange included in Other income, net.
Income Tax Provision
The Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security Act ("CARES Act"), enacted on March 27, 2020, provides tax relief to individuals and businesses in light of the impacts of COVID-19. It did not result in material adjustments to our income tax provision or to our net deferred tax assets as of the end of the fourth quarter of fiscal 2020.
In December 2020, due to a change in the Netherlands tax law, the statutory tax rate was increased from 21.7% to 25.0%, effective January 1, 2021. As a result, we recorded a one-time tax benefit of $64.0 million due to the revaluation of the Netherlands deferred tax assets.
In December 2019, to align with our international business operations, we completed a non-U.S. intercompany transfer of our intellectual property to a subsidiary in the Netherlands. The transaction resulted in deferred tax assets in the Netherlands and global intangible low-taxed income (“GILTI”) deferred tax liabilities in the U.S., recorded at the applicable statutory tax rates, resulting in a one-time income tax benefit of approximately $206.3 million in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019.
Our effective income tax rates for fiscal 2020 and 2019 were 1.1% and -49.2%, respectively.The effective income tax rates in fiscal 2020 increased compared to 2019 primarily due to the one-time tax benefit from the non-U.S. intercompany transfer of intellectual property in the fourth quarter of fiscal 2019.
Results by Segment
We report our financial performance, including revenue and operating income, based on four reportable segments: Buildings and Infrastructure, Geospatial, Resources and Utilities, and Transportation.
Our Chief Executive Officer and Chief Operating Decision Maker views and evaluates operations based on the results of our reportable operating segments under our management reporting system. These results are not necessarily in conformance with U.S. GAAP. For additional discussion of our segments, see Note 5 of the Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
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The following table shows a breakdown of revenue and operating income by segment for the periods indicated:
(In millions)
Buildings and Infrastructure
Segment revenue as a percent of total revenue 39 % 38 % 35 %
Segment operating income as a percent of segment revenue 27.5 % 25.4 % 23.6 %
Geospatial
Segment revenue as a percent of total revenue 21 % 20 % 23 %
Segment operating income as a percent of segment revenue 28.3 % 20.4 % 23.0 %
Resources and Utilities
Segment revenue as a percent of total revenue 20 % 18 % 18 %
Segment operating income as a percent of segment revenue 35.1 % 29.6 % 29.6 %
Transportation
Segment revenue as a percent of total revenue 20 % 24 % 24 %
Segment operating income as a percent of segment revenue 7.8 % 15.9 % 19.0 %
The following table shows a reconciliation of our consolidated segment operating income to our consolidated income before income taxes for the periods indicated:
(In millions)
Consolidated segment operating income $ 793.6 $ 747.1 $ 734.6
Unallocated corporate expense (74.0) (73.1) (91.9)
Acquired deferred revenue adjustment (4.3) (7.0) (23.6)
Amortization of acquired capitalized commissions 5.5 6.3 4.7
Amortization of purchased intangible assets (157.8) (167.8) (179.6)
Amortization of acquisition-related inventory step-up — — (0.2)
Acquisition / divestiture items (21.4) (20.5) (38.9)
Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation (90.4) (81.2) (75.7)
Restructuring charges / executive transition costs (28.2) (27.9) (8.7)
COVID-19 expenses (3.2) — —
Total non-operating expense, net (24.8) (31.1) (42.7)
Fiscal Year 2020 Compared with Fiscal Year 2019
Buildings and Infrastructure
Buildings and Infrastructure revenue decreased by $27.2 million or 2%, and segment operating income increased by $18.2 million or 6%. Revenue decreased primarily due to a decline in civil engineering and construction hardware sales in the first two quarters of fiscal 2020 and lower revenue from professional services due to the economic impacts of COVID-19, partially offset by higher software maintenance and subscription revenue. Hardware sales recovered in the third and fourth quarters due to improved market conditions including pent up demand and government stimulus programs. Segment operating income and
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operating income as a percentage of segment revenue increased due to gross margin improvements from higher mix of software maintenance and subscription revenue as well as cost reductions.
Geospatial
Geospatial revenue increased by $1.1 million or less than 1%, and segment operating income increased by $52.2 million or 39%. Revenue was relatively flat for the year; while survey sales recovered in the third and fourth quarters due to improved market conditions, including pent up demand, government stimulus programs, and new product introductions, there was a decline in the first two quarters due to the economic impacts of COVID-19. Segment operating income and operating income as a percentage of segment revenue increased primarily due to gross margin improvements resulting from new higher margin product introductions and less discounting as well as cost reductions.
Resources and Utilities
Resources and Utilities revenue increased by $58.6 million or 10%, and segment operating income increased by $51.9 million or 31%. Revenue increased due to strength in agriculture reseller and OEM channels resulting from improved market conditions, including stabilization of commodity prices, government stimulus programs, and weather conditions. Acquisition revenue, primarily Cityworks, also contributed to growth. Segment operating income and operating income as a percentage of segment revenue increased due to revenue expansion and gross margin improvements resulting from higher margin software maintenance and subscription sales, as well as cost reductions.
Transportation
Transportation revenue decreased by $151.8 million or 19%, and segment operating income decreased by $75.8 million or 60%. Revenue decreased primarily due to reduced hardware upgrades and subscriber declines, attributable in part to challenges with the electronic logging device transition in the trucking industry, as well as the economic impacts of COVID-19. Conversion of customers from perpetual software to subscription products also reduced revenue. Segment operating income and operating income as a percentage of segment revenue decreased primarily due to the revenue declines, discrete inventory charges, and higher operating expense due to the Kuebix acquisition, partially offset by cost reductions.
OFF-BALANCE SHEET ARRANGEMENTS
Other than inventory purchases and other commitments incurred in the normal course of business (see Contractual Obligations table below), we do not have any off-balance sheet financing arrangements or liabilities.
In the normal course of business to facilitate sales of our products, we indemnify other parties, including customers, lessors and parties to other transactions with us, with respect to certain matters. We may agree to hold the other party harmless against losses arising from a breach of representations or covenants, or out of intellectual property infringement or other claims made against certain parties. These agreements may limit the time within which an indemnification claim can be made and the amount of the claim. In connection with divesting some of our businesses or assets, we may also indemnify purchasers for certain matters in the normal course of business, such as breaches of representations, covenants or excluded liabilities. In addition, we entered into indemnification agreements with our officers and directors, and our bylaws contain similar indemnification obligations to our agents.
It is not possible to determine the maximum potential amount under these indemnification agreements due to the limited history of prior indemnification claims and the unique facts and circumstances involved in each particular agreement. Historically, payments made by us under these agreements were not material and no liabilities have been recorded for these obligations on the Consolidated Balance Sheets at the end of fiscal 2020 and 2019.
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LIQUIDITY AND CAPITAL RESOURCES
(In millions)
As a percentage of total assets 3.5 % 2.8 % 3.0 %
(In millions)
Cash provided by operating activities $ 672.0 $ 585.0 $ 486.7
Cash provided by (used in) financing activities (400.3) (292.6) 989.4
Effect of exchange rate changes on cash and cash equivalents 8.6 (0.4) (12.5)
Net increase (decrease) in cash and cash equivalents $ 48.5 $ 16.7 $ (186.0)
Cash and Cash Equivalents
Our ability to continue to generate cash from operations will depend in large part on profitability, the rate of collections of accounts receivable, our inventory turns, and our ability to manage other areas of working capital. Our cash and cash equivalents are maintained with several financial institutions. Deposits held with banks may exceed the amount of insurance provided on such deposits. Generally, these deposits may be redeemed upon demand and are maintained with financial institutions considered to be of reputable credit and to present little credit risk. We believe that our cash and cash equivalents, and borrowings, as described below under the heading “Debt”, along with cash provided by operations, will be sufficient to meet our anticipated operating cash needs, debt service, stock repurchases under our 2017 Stock Repurchase Program, and planned capital expenditures.
Operating Activities
Cash provided by operating activities was $672.0 million for fiscal 2020, compared to $585.0 million for fiscal 2019. The increase of $87.0 million was primarily driven by an increase in net income, net of non-cash items, and favorable working capital changes, including positive accounts receivable impact, due to improved sales linearity and higher accrued compensation, partially offset by deferred revenue and accrued liabilities changes.
Investing Activities
Cash used in investing activities was $231.8 million for fiscal 2020, compared to $275.3 million for fiscal 2019. The decrease of $43.5 million was primarily due to decreased spending for business acquisitions, and to a lessor extent, reduced spending on property and equipment. The current year included Kuebix acquisition compared to the prior year, which included the Cityworks acquisition.
Financing Activities
Cash used in financing activities was $400.3 million for fiscal 2020, compared to $292.6 million during fiscal 2019. The increase of $107.7 million was primarily driven by the increase in debt repayments, net of proceeds, partially offset by a decrease in the repurchase of common stock.
Debt
During fiscal 2020, we repaid $312.2 million of debt, including the full repayment of our term loan, net of borrowings. Each of our debt agreements requires us to maintain compliance with certain debt covenants, all of which we were in compliance with at the end of fiscal 2020. Refer to Note 6 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our debt.
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CONTRACTUAL OBLIGATIONS
The following table summarizes our contractual obligations at the end of fiscal 2020:
Payments Due By Period
Total Lessthan 1year 1-3years 3-5years Morethan5 years
(In millions)
(1)Amount represents principal payments over the life of our debt obligations. Refer to Note 6 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our debt.
(2)Amount represents the expected interest payments relating to our debt, calculated using rates in effect at the end of fiscal 2020. Refer to Note 6 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our debt.
(3)Operating leases represent undiscounted lease payments and include short-term leases and leases that were signed, but have not yet commenced at the end of fiscal 2020. Refer to Note 7 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our leases.
(4)Other purchase obligations and commitments primarily represent open non-cancelable purchase orders for material purchases with our vendors and also include estimated payments due for acquisition related earn-outs.
(5)Income taxes payable represents a one-time transition tax liability related to known amounts of cash taxes payable in future years as a result of the Tax Act.
Excluded from the table above are unrecognized tax benefits of $55.4 million included in Other non-current liabilities, including interest and penalties. At this time, we cannot make a reasonably, reliable estimate of the period of cash settlement with tax authorities regarding this liability, and therefore, such amounts are not included in the contractual obligations table above. Refer to Note 12 in the Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements for additional information regarding our taxes.
EFFECT OF NEW ACCOUNTING PRONOUNCEMENTS
The impact of recent accounting pronouncements is disclosed in Note 1 of our accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements included in Part II, Item 8, “Financial Statements and Supplementary Data” of this Annual Report on Form 10-K.
SUPPLEMENTAL DISCLOSURE OF ANNUALIZED RECURRING REVENUE AND NON-GAAP FINANCIAL MEASURES
To supplement our consolidated financial information, we believe that the following information is helpful to an overall understanding of our past financial performance and prospects for the future. Our non-GAAP measures are not meant to be considered in isolation or as a substitute for comparable GAAP measures. The non-GAAP financial measures and detailed explanations to the adjustments to comparable GAAP measures are below.
Fiscal Years
REVENUE:
Acquired deferred revenue adjustment (A) 4.3 7.0 23.6
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GROSS MARGIN:
Acquired deferred revenue adjustment (A) 4.3 7.0 23.6
Amortization of purchased intangible assets (C) 92.3 94.1 103.2
Amortization of acquisition-related inventory step-up (D) — — 0.2
Acquisition / divestiture items (E) 1.7 — 2.0
Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation (F) 7.2 5.9 4.5
Restructuring charges (G) 0.8 1.1 0.5
COVID-19 expenses (H) 0.4 — —
OPERATING EXPENSES:
Amortization of acquired capitalized commissions (B) 5.5 6.3 4.7
Amortization of purchased intangible assets (C) (65.5) (73.7) (76.4)
Acquisition / divestiture items (E) (19.7) (20.5) (36.9)
Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation (F) (83.2) (75.3) (71.2)
Restructuring charges / executive transition costs (G) (27.4) (26.8) (8.2)
COVID-19 expenses (H) (2.8) — —
OPERATING INCOME:
Acquired deferred revenue adjustment (A) 4.3 7.0 23.6
Amortization of acquired capitalized commissions (B) (5.5) (6.3) (4.7)
Amortization of purchased intangible assets (C) 157.8 167.8 179.6
Amortization of acquisition-related inventory step-up (D) — — 0.2
Acquisition / divestiture items (E) 21.4 20.5 38.9
Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation (F) 90.4 81.2 75.7
Restructuring charges / executive transition costs (G) 28.2 27.9 8.7
COVID-19 expenses (H) 3.2 — —
NON-OPERATING INCOME (EXPENSE), NET:
GAAP non-operating income (expense), net: $ (24.8) $ (31.1) $ (42.7)
Acquisition / divestiture items (E) (12.2) (12.1) (0.3)
Deferred compensation (F) (7.5) (6.3) 1.2
Debt issuance costs (I) — — 6.7
Non-GAAP non-operating expense, net: $ (44.5) $ (49.5) $ (35.1)
INCOME TAX PROVISION (BENEFIT):
Non-GAAP items tax effected (J) 48.5 29.6 19.1
Difference in GAAP and Non-GAAP tax rate (K) (4.9) 55.6 80.3
Tax reform impacts (L) — — 21.3
IP restructuring and tax law change impacts (M) $ 64.0 206.3 —
NET INCOME:
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GAAP net income attributable to Trimble Inc.: $ 389.9 $ 514.3 $ 282.8
Acquired deferred revenue adjustment (A) 4.3 7.0 23.6
Amortization of acquired capitalized commissions (B) (5.5) (6.3) (4.7)
Amortization of purchased intangible assets (C) 157.8 167.8 179.6
Amortization of acquisition-related inventory step-up (D) — — 0.2
Acquisition / divestiture items (E) 9.2 8.4 38.6
Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation (F) 82.9 74.9 76.9
Restructuring charges / executive transition costs (G) 28.2 27.9 8.7
COVID-19 expenses (H) 3.2 — —
Debt issuance costs (I) — — 6.7
Non-GAAP net income attributable to Trimble Inc.: $ 562.4 $ 502.5 $ 491.7
DILUTED NET INCOME PER SHARE:
Acquired deferred revenue adjustment (A) 0.02 0.03 0.09
Amortization of acquired capitalized commissions (B) (0.02) (0.02) (0.02)
Amortization of purchased intangible assets (C) 0.62 0.66 0.71
Amortization of acquisition-related inventory step-up (D) — — —
Acquisition / divestiture items (E) 0.04 0.03 0.15
Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation (F) 0.33 0.30 0.30
Restructuring charges / executive transition costs (G) 0.11 0.11 0.04
COVID-19 expenses (H) 0.01 — —
Debt issuance costs (I) — — 0.03
Non-GAAP tax adjustments (J) - (M) (0.43) (1.15) (0.48)
ADJUSTED EBITDA:
OPERATING INCOME:
GAAP net income attributable to Trimble Inc.: $ 389.9 $ 514.3 $ 282.8
Acquired deferred revenue adjustment (A) 4.3 7.0 23.6
Amortization of acquired capitalized commissions (B) (5.5) (6.3) (4.7)
Amortization of purchased intangible assets (C) 157.8 167.8 179.6
Amortization of acquisition-related inventory step-up (D) — — 0.2
Acquisition / divestiture items (E) 21.4 20.5 38.9
Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation (F) 90.4 81.2 75.7
Restructuring charges / executive transition costs (G) 28.2 27.9 8.7
COVID-19 expenses (H) 3.2 — —
Income from equity method investments, net 39.4 35.8 28.7
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Annualized Recurring Revenue Explanation
In addition to providing non-GAAP financial measures, we disclose ARR to provide investors with supplementary indicators of the value of our current recurring revenue contracts.
ARR represents the estimated annualized value of recurring revenue, including subscription, maintenance and software revenue, and term license contracts for the quarter. ARR is calculated by adding the portion of the contract value of all of our term licenses attributable to the current quarter to our non-GAAP recurring revenue for the current quarter and dividing that sum by the number of days in the quarter and then multiplying that quotient by 365. ARR should be viewed independently of revenue and deferred revenue, as it is a performance measure and is not intended to be combined with or to replace either of those items.
Non-GAAP Explanations
Non-GAAP revenue
We believe this measure helps investors understand the performance of our business, as non-GAAP revenue excludes the effects of certain acquired deferred revenue that was written down to fair value in purchase accounting. Management believes that excluding fair value purchase accounting adjustments more closely correlates with the ordinary and ongoing course of the acquired company’s operations and facilitates analysis of revenue growth and trends.
Non-GAAP gross margin
We believe our investors benefit by understanding our non-GAAP gross margin as a way of understanding how product mix, pricing decisions, and manufacturing costs influence our business. Non-GAAP gross margin excludes the effects of certain acquired deferred revenue, amortization of purchased intangible assets, amortization of acquisition related inventory step-up, acquisition/divestiture items, stock-based compensation, deferred compensation, restructuring charges, and COVID-19 expenses. We believe that these adjustments offer investors additional information that may be useful to view trends in our gross margin performance.
Non-GAAP operating expenses
We believe this measure is important to investors evaluating our non-GAAP spending in relation to revenue. Non-GAAP operating expenses exclude the effects of certain acquired capitalized commissions that were eliminated in purchase accounting, amortization of purchased intangible assets, acquisition/divestiture items, stock-based compensation, deferred compensation, restructuring charges, executive transition costs, and COVID-19 expenses. We believe that these adjustments offer investors supplemental information to facilitate comparison of our operating expenses to our prior results and trends.
Non-GAAP operating income
We believe our investors benefit by understanding our non-GAAP operating income trends, which are driven by revenue, gross margin, and spending. Non-GAAP operating income excludes the effects of purchase accounting adjustments to certain acquired deferred revenue and acquired capitalized commissions, amortization of purchased intangible assets, amortization of acquisition related inventory step-up, acquisition/divestiture items, stock-based compensation, deferred compensation, restructuring charges, executive transition costs, and COVID-19 expenses. We believe that these adjustments offer a supplemental means for our investors to evaluate current operating performance compared to prior results and trends.
Non-GAAP non-operating expense, net
We believe this measure helps investors evaluate our non-operating income trends. Non-GAAP non-operating expense, net, excludes acquisition/divestiture items, deferred compensation, and debt issuance costs. We believe that these exclusions provide investors with a supplemental view of our ongoing financial results.
Non-GAAP income tax provision
We believe this measure helps investors because it provides for consistent treatment of excluded items in our non-GAAP presentation and a difference in the GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates. The non-GAAP tax rate excludes charges and benefits such as net deferred tax impacts results from the non-U.S. intercompany transfer of intellectual property, tax law changes, net deferred tax impacts resulting from the U.S. 2017 Tax Act, and significant one-time reserve releases upon statute of limitations expirations. We believe our non-GAAP tax rate facilitates a comparison of our period-to-period results, excluding the above items which can introduce volatility to our tax rate.
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Non-GAAP net income
This measure provides a supplemental view of net income trends, which are driven by non-GAAP income before taxes and our non-GAAP tax rate. Non-GAAP net income excludes the effects of purchase accounting adjustments to certain acquired deferred revenue and acquired capitalized commissions, amortization of purchased intangible assets, amortization of acquisition related inventory step-up, acquisition/divestiture items, stock-based compensation, restructuring charges, executive transition costs, COVID-19 expenses, debt issuance costs, and non-GAAP tax adjustments. We believe our investors benefit from understanding these adjustments and from an alternative view of our net income performance as compared to prior periods and trends.
Non-GAAP diluted net income per share
We believe our investors benefit by understanding our non-GAAP operating performance as reflected in a per share calculation as a way of measuring non-GAAP operating performance by ownership in the company. Non-GAAP diluted net income per share excludes the effects of purchase accounting adjustments to certain acquired deferred revenue and acquired capitalized commissions, amortization of purchased intangible assets, amortization of acquisition related inventory step-up, acquisition/divestiture items, stock-based compensation, restructuring charges, executive transition costs, COVID-19 expenses, debt issuance costs, and non-GAAP tax adjustments. We believe that these adjustments offer investors a useful view of our diluted net income per share as compared to prior periods and trends.
Adjusted EBITDA
Adjusted EBITDA is a performance measure that we believe offers a useful view of the overall operations of our business. We believe it is useful because it facilitates company-to-company operating performance comparisons by removing potential differences caused by variations unrelated to operating performance, such as capital structures (interest expense), income taxes, depreciation and amortization expenses. We define Adjusted EBITDA as non-GAAP operating income plus depreciation expense and income from equity method investments, net. Other companies define Adjusted EBITDA differently and so our measure may not be directly comparable to similarly titled measures. Our investors should consider the limitations of using Adjusted EBITDA, including the fact that this measure does not provide a complete measure of our operating performance. Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to purport to be an alternative to net income or operating income as a measure of operating performance or to cash flow from operating activities as a measure of liquidity. In particular, Adjusted EBITDA is not intended to be a measure of cash flow available for our discretionary expenditures, as this measure does not consider certain cash requirements, such as restructuring charges, executive transition costs, acquisition and divestiture items, interest payments, tax payments and other debt service requirements.
These non-GAAP measures can be used to evaluate our historical and prospective financial performance, as well as our performance relative to competitors. We believe some of our investors track our "core operating performance" as a means of evaluating our performance in the ordinary, ongoing, and customary course of our operations. Core operating performance excludes items that are non-cash, not expected to recur, or not reflective of ongoing financial results. Management also believes that looking at our core operating performance provides a supplemental way to provide consistency in period-to-period comparisons. Accordingly, management excludes from non-GAAP the effects of purchase accounting adjustments to certain acquired deferred revenue and acquired capitalized commissions, amortization of purchased intangible assets, amortization of acquisition related inventory step-up, acquisition/divestiture items, stock-based compensation, deferred compensation, restructuring charges, executive transition costs, COVID-19 expenses, debt issuance costs, and non-GAAP tax adjustments.
(A)Acquired deferred revenue adjustment. Purchase accounting generally requires us to write-down acquired deferred revenue to fair value. Our GAAP revenue includes the fair value impact from purchase accounting for post-contract support and subscriptions contracts assumed in connection with our acquisitions. The non-GAAP adjustment to our revenue is intended to reflect the full amount of such revenue. We believe this adjustment is useful to investors as a measure of the ongoing performance of our business and facilitates analysis of revenue growth and business trends.
(B)Amortization of acquired capitalized commissions. Purchase accounting generally requires us to eliminate capitalized sales commissions balances as of the acquisition date. Our GAAP sales and marketing expenses generally do not reflect the amortization of these capitalized sales commissions balances. The non-GAAP adjustment to increase our sales and marketing expenses is intended to reflect the full amount of amortization related to such balances as though the acquired companies operated independently in the periods presented. We believe this adjustment to sales and marketing expenses is useful to investors as a measure of the ongoing performance of our business.
(C)Amortization of purchased intangible assets. Included in our GAAP presentation of cost of sales and operating expenses is amortization of purchased intangible assets. We believe that by excluding the amortization of purchased intangible assets, which primarily represents technology and/or customer relationships already developed, this provides an
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alternative way for investors to compare our operations pre-acquisition to those post-acquisition and to those of our competitors that have pursued internal growth strategies. However, we note that companies that grow internally will incur costs to develop intangible assets that will be expensed in the period incurred, which may make a direct comparison more difficult.
(D)Amortization of acquisition-related inventory step-up. The purchase accounting entries associated with our business acquisitions require us to record inventory at its fair value, which is sometimes greater than the previous book value of the inventory. Included in our GAAP presentation, the increase in inventory value is amortized to cost of sales over the period that the related product is sold. We exclude inventory step-up amortization from our non-GAAP measures because it is a non-cash expense that we do not believe is indicative of our ongoing operating results.
(E)Acquisition / divestiture items. Included in our GAAP presentation of cost of sales and operating expenses, acquisition costs consist of external and incremental costs resulting directly from merger and acquisition and strategic investment activities such as legal, due diligence, integration, and other closing costs including the acceleration of acquisition stock options and adjustments to the fair value of earn-out liabilities. Included in our GAAP presentation of non-operating expense, net, acquisition/divestiture items includes unusual acquisition, investment, and/or divestiture gains/losses. Although we do numerous acquisitions, the costs that have been excluded from the non-GAAP measures are costs specific to particular acquisitions. These are one-time costs that vary significantly in amount and timing and are not indicative of our core operating performance.
(F)Stock-based compensation / deferred compensation. Included in our GAAP presentation of cost of sales and operating expenses are stock-based compensation consists of expenses for employee stock options and awards and purchase rights under our employee stock purchase plan. Additionally included in our GAAP presentation of cost of sales and operating expenses are income or expense associated with movement in our non-qualified deferred compensation plan liabilities. Changes in non-qualified deferred compensation plan assets, included in non-operating expense, net, offset the income or expense in the plan liabilities. We exclude them from our non-GAAP measures because some investors may view it as not reflective of our core operating performance as they are a non-cash item.
(G)Restructuring charges/ executive transition costs. Included in our GAAP presentation of cost of sales and operating expenses, restructuring charges recorded are primarily for employee compensation resulting from reductions in employee headcount in connection with our company restructurings, and lease and building costs. Additionally, included in our GAAP presentation of operating expenses are amounts paid to former Company executives under the terms of the executive severance agreements. We exclude restructuring charges and executive transition costs from our non-GAAP measures because we believe they do not reflect expected future operating expenses, they are not indicative of our core operating performance, and they are not meaningful in comparisons to our past operating performance. We have incurred restructuring expenses in each of the periods presented. However, the amount incurred can vary significantly based on whether a restructuring has occurred in the period and the timing of headcount reductions. Further, we believe that excluding executive transition costs from our non-GAAP results is useful to investors because it allows for period-over-period comparability.
(H)COVID-19 expenses. Included in our GAAP presentation of cost of sales and operating expenses, COVID-19 expenses consist of costs incurred as a direct impact from the COVID-19 virus pandemic, such as cancellation fees of trade shows due to public safety issues, additional costs for disinfecting facilities, and personal protective equipment. We exclude COVID-19 expenses from our non-GAAP measures because we believe they are one-time costs that vary significantly in amount and timing and are not indicative of our core operating performance.
(I)Debt issuance costs. Included in our non-operating expense, net this amount represents incurred costs in connection with a bridge facility we put in place for the Viewpoint acquisition, costs associated with the issuance of new credit facilities and our senior notes issued in 2018 that were not capitalized as debt issuance costs, and a write-off of debt issuance costs for terminated and/or modified credit facilities. We excluded the debt issuance cost write-off from our non-GAAP measures. We believe that investors benefit from excluding this item from our non-operating income to facilitate an evaluation of our non-operating income trends.
(J)Non-GAAP items tax effected. This amount adjusts the provision for income taxes to reflect the effect of the non-GAAP items (A) - (I) on non-GAAP net income. This amount excludes the GAAP tax rate impact resulting from the tax reform impacts and non-U.S. intercompany transfer of intellectual property, which is separately disclosed in items (L) and (M). We believe this information is useful to investors because it provides for consistent treatment of the excluded items in this non-GAAP presentation.
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(K)Difference in GAAP and Non-GAAP tax rate. This amount represents the difference between the GAAP and non-GAAP tax rates applied to the non-GAAP operating income plus the non-GAAP non-operating expense, net. The GAAP tax rate used for this calculation excludes the net deferred tax impacts resulting from the tax reform impacts and non-U.S. intercompany transfer of intellectual property, which is separately disclosed in items (L) and (M). The non-GAAP tax rate excludes charges and benefits such as net deferred tax impacts results from the non-U.S. intercompany transfer of intellectual property, net deferred tax impacts resulting from the U.S. 2017 Tax Act, and significant one-time reserve releases upon statute of limitations expirations. We believe that investors benefit from excluding this amount from our non-GAAP income tax provision because it facilitates a comparison of the non-GAAP tax provision in the current and prior periods.
(L)Tax reform impacts. The provision primarily includes a one-time tax benefit from the policy election to establish deferred taxes in relation to GILTI as created by the Tax Act. We excluded this item as it is a non-recurring expense. We believe that investors benefit from excluding this item from our non-GAAP income tax provision because it allows for period-over-period comparability.
(M)IP restructuring and tax law change impacts. These amounts represent net deferred tax impacts resulting from a non-U.S. intercompany transfer of intellectual property, consistent with tax law changes, including tax rates changes, and our international business operations. We excluded this because it is not indicative of our core operating performance.
(N)GAAP and non-GAAP tax rate percentages. These percentages are defined as GAAP income tax provision as a percentage of GAAP income before taxes and non-GAAP income tax provision as a percentage of non-GAAP income before taxes. We believe that investors benefit from a presentation of non-GAAP tax rate percentage as a way of facilitating a comparison to non-GAAP tax rates in prior periods.
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Item 7A.Quantitative and Qualitative Disclosure about Market Risk
We are exposed to market risk related to changes in interest rates and foreign currency exchange rates. We use certain derivative financial instruments to manage these risks. We do not use derivative financial instruments for speculative purposes. All financial instruments are used in accordance with policies approved by our board of directors.
Market Interest Rate Risk
Our cash equivalents consisted primarily of interest and non-interest bearing bank deposits as well as bank time deposits. The main objective of these instruments is safety of principal and liquidity while maximizing return, without significantly increasing risk.
Due to the nature of our cash equivalents that they are readily convertible to cash, we do not anticipate any material effect on our portfolio due to fluctuations in interest rates.
We are exposed to market risk due to the possibility of changing interest rates under our credit facilities. Our 2018 Credit Facility includes a five-year revolving loan facility with a maturity date of May 2023. We also have four unsecured, uncommitted revolving credit facilities that are callable by the bank at any time. We may borrow funds under the 2018 Credit Facility in U.S. Dollars, Euros or in certain other agreed currencies as described in Note 6 of Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
At the end of fiscal 2020, we had one £55.0 million, two $75.0 million, and one €100.0 million revolving credit facilities, which are uncommitted. A hypothetical 1% increase in our borrowing rates at the end of fiscal 2020 could result in approximately $2.6 million annual increase in interest expense on these existing principal balances.
The hypothetical changes and assumptions made above will be different from what actually occurs in the future. Furthermore, the computations do not anticipate actions that may be taken by our management should the hypothetical market changes actually occur over time. As a result, actual earnings effects in the future will differ from those quantified above.
Foreign Currency Exchange Rate Risk
We operate in international markets, which expose us to market risk associated with foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations between the U.S. Dollar and various foreign currencies, the most significant of which is the Euro. In addition, volatile market conditions arising from the COVID-19 pandemic could result in changes in exchange rates.
Historically, the majority of our revenue contracts are denominated in U.S. Dollars, with the most significant exception being Europe, where we invoice primarily in Euro. Additionally, a portion of our expenses, primarily the cost to manufacture, cost of personnel to deliver technical support on our products and professional services, sales and sales support, and research and development, are denominated in foreign currencies, primarily the Euro.
Revenue resulting from selling in local currencies and costs incurred in local currencies are exposed to foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations, which can affect our operating income. As exchange rates vary, operating income may differ from expectations. In fiscal 2020, revenue and operating income were favorably impacted by foreign currency exchange rates by $3.2 million and $4.3 million, respectively.
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We enter into foreign currency forward contracts to minimize the short-term impact of foreign currency exchange rate fluctuations on cash, debt, and certain trade and inter-company receivables and payables, primarily denominated in New Zealand Dollars, Brazilian Real, Canadian Dollars, Norwegian Krone, and Euro. These contracts reduce the exposure to fluctuations in foreign currency exchange rate movements, as the gains and losses associated with foreign currency balances are generally offset with the gains and losses on the forward contracts. These instruments are marked-to-market through earnings every period and generally range from one to two months in maturity. We do not enter into foreign currency forward contracts for trading purposes. We occasionally enter into foreign currency forward contracts to hedge the purchase price of some of our larger business acquisitions. Foreign currency forward contracts outstanding at the end of fiscal 2020 and 2019 are summarized as follows:
At the End of Fiscal 2020 At the End of Fiscal 2019
NominalAmount FairValue NominalAmount FairValue
(In millions)
Forward contracts:
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TRIMBLE INC.
INDEX TO FINANCIAL STATEMENTS
Consolidated Balance Sheets 52
Consolidated Statements of Income 53
Consolidated Statements of Comprehensive Income 54
Consolidated Statements of Stockholders’ Equity 55
Consolidated Statements of Cash Flows 56
Notes to Consolidated Financial Statements 57
Reports of Independent Registered Public Accounting Firm 81
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Item 8.Financial Statements and Supplementary Data
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CONSOLIDATED BALANCE SHEETS
(In millions, except par values)
ASSETS
Current assets:
Cash and cash equivalents $ 237.7 $ 189.2
Operating lease right-of-use assets 128.9 140.3
Other purchased intangible assets, net 580.1 678.7
LIABILITIES AND STOCKHOLDERS' EQUITY
Current liabilities:
Accrued compensation and benefits 166.8 123.5
Deferred revenue, non-current 53.3 51.5
Deferred income tax liabilities 300.3 318.2
Other non-current liabilities 150.6 152.9
Commitments and contingencies (Note 8)
Stockholders’ equity:
Accumulated other comprehensive loss (98.5) (176.8)
Total Trimble Inc. stockholders’ equity 3,596.9 3,119.0
Noncontrolling interests 1.7 1.4
Total liabilities and stockholders’ equity $ 6,876.9 $ 6,640.7
See accompanying Notes to the Consolidated Financial Statements.
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CONSOLIDATED STATEMENTS OF INCOME
(In millions, except per share data)
Revenue:
Cost of sales:
Amortization of purchased intangible assets 92.3 94.1 103.2