Aviat Networks, Inc.

Welcome to AVIAD Network's Fourth Quarter Fiscal 2026 Earnings Conference Call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. A question-and-answer session will follow the formal presentation. Please note, this conference is being recorded. I will now turn the conference over to your host, Mr. Andrew Fredrickson, Vice President, Corporate Finance. You may begin.

Thank you and welcome to Aviat Networks' fourth quarter fiscal 2026 results conference call and webcast. You can find our press release and updated investor presentation in the IR section of our website at www.AviatNetworks.com along with a replay of today's call. With me today are Pete Smith, Aviat's president and CEO, who will begin with opening remarks on the company's fiscal quarter, followed by Andy Schmidt, CFO, to review financial results for the quarter. Pete will then provide closing remarks on Aviat's strategy and outlook. As a reminder, during today's call and webcast, management may make forward-looking statements regarding Aviat's business, including, but not limited to, statements relating to fiscal guidance, financial projections, business drivers, new products and expansions, the economic activity in different regions. These and other forward-looking statements reflect the company's opinions only as of the date of this call and webcast and involve assumptions, risks, and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those statements. Additional information on factors that could cause actual results to differ materially from the statements expressed or implied on this call can be found in our most recent filings with the SEC. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or make public any revision of these forward-looking statements in light of new information or future events. Additionally, during today's call and webcast, management will reference both GAAP and non-GAAP financial measures. Please refer to our press release, which is available in the IR section of our website at www.aviatnetworks.com and financial tables therein which include a gap to non-gap reconciliation and other supplemental financial information. At this time, I would like to turn the call over to Aviat's President and CEO, Pete Smith.

Pete? Thanks, Andrew. Let's review the highlights from the fourth quarter. Quarterly revenues of $121 million, up 4.8% versus the year-ago period. Adjusted EBITDA of $11.9 million. Non-GAAP EPS of $0.64. Year-end backlog of $367 million, up 14% versus the end of fiscal year 2025. This marks a strong end to Aviat's fiscal 2026. Full-year revenue was $440 million, up 1.2% versus the prior fiscal year. This represents our sixth consecutive year of revenue growth. Aviat is the only microwave company to achieve this growth during the last six years. I would also like to note that this was the first time in over a decade that Aviat has had all four quarters in the fiscal year with at least $100 million in revenue. This is a tremendous achievement, and I would like to thank all of our customers, supplier partners, and employees in making this possible. Since FY23, we have been expanding outside of our core microwave business with a focus on mission-critical access. In FY26, sales of non-microwave, i.e., mission-critical access, products grew significantly versus FY25 and is the result of AVIAT's strategic decisions and execution years prior, allowing us to diversify our business and gain access to larger, faster-growing segments. We are glad to see this strategy coming to fruition. Now, I'd like to talk more about recent developments in our end markets. In the U.S., strong quarterly sales and bookings set the stage for an exciting year ahead. We see several growth vectors aligning for Aviat. First, we believe our Multi-Dwelling Unit, MDU, opportunity will deliver meaningful revenues to Aviat this year. We announced an order received from an existing customer in the range of $25 to $30 million. We expect all of this revenue in fiscal 2027. The Aviat team continues to work to win additional markets and adjacent opportunities to increase our capture rate in fiscal 2027 and beyond. Secondly, we see private networks continuing to be a core foundation for Aviat's growth. and state and local public safety networks, AVIAT remains the leader and continues to pursue opportunities for more share of demand. According to industry research, city and state government budgets are expected to grow 6.4 and 4.2% respectively. Video intensive applications like drones and body cameras, as well as other data intensive tools, drive increased bandwidth demand within private networks. which necessitates more or upgraded microwave links. As highlighted in our last earnings call, utility private networks are poised for growth. Power infrastructure and grid connectivity are emerging as key bottlenecks to AI infrastructure deployment. This build out requires secure, highly reliable communication networks to connect and manage grid assets. Aviat participates here. Thanks to our portfolio of industry leading solutions, geared towards utilities. Our microwave radio portfolio, APRISA, SCADA radios, and LTE 5G routers combined with our network management software and our health assurance and frequency assurance offerings provides utilities a one-stop shop for its network connectivity build-out and management needs. With the SpaceX IPO and the announcement of a potential fourth cellular network in the U.S., There is a significant amount of investor interest in Low Earth Orbit, or LEO, networks. We believe that there is a valuable niche to fill in the communication space, specifically around nomadic or very remote locations. Therefore, we see the technology as being complementary and not necessarily competitive with Aviat. We see the following for LEO and Aviat. One, Aviat's core business is largely unthreatened. Two, there is an idea of SpaceX building out a terrestrial network. While the architecture of that conceptual network is not fully formed, should this materialize, AVIAD is well positioned if and when the architecture requires terrestrial backhaul. Three, most exciting is the new functionality that LEO brings. LEO offers redundant communications. This is most valued by private network customers, and we are seeing opportunities for Aviat through integration with microwave and cellular router solutions. For microwave networks, satellite provides a low-cost, easy-to-deploy backup path for critical remote sites. For cellular routers and public safety and fleet applications, satellite fills LTE and 5G coverage gaps with automatic failover. In both cases, Aviat's opportunity is to deliver an integrated solution that improves resilience while simplifying deployment, management, and operations for our customers. Aviat's customers are engaged in trials to demonstrate the value proposition of this redundancy. Please see slide 11 in our investor presentation to get a picture of the ongoing trials and connectivity solution we bring. Moving on to international. Aviat's business has seen particular traction in the EMEA region where revenues were up 53% in the fourth quarter and up 33% for all of fiscal 2026. This growth has been driven in part by recent international private network wins, including with defense customers, including BlackNet, as well as energy firms. As we pursue more such private network business, we see this segment is growing, a growing portion of our international business in the future. Moving on to supply chain. Like others in the technology hardware space, Aviat has not been immune from component shortages and cost inflation. Specifically, we are most focused on securing supplies for memory, printed circuit boards or PCBs, capacitors, and FPGAs. We will be opening the playbook we used during COVID supply chain crisis to secure favorable placement and allocations among our suppliers. Although Aviat has been able to manage through these current allocations and shortages with our inventory and safety stock, we have also had some headwinds to our gross margins from component cost inflation. We plan to pass along these price increases to our customers to help offset these rising costs. With that, I will now turn the call over to Andy to go through the financial results.

Thanks, Pete. I'll review some of the key fiscal year 2026 and fourth quarter results. Please note that our detailed financials can be found in our press release and all comparisons discussed are between fourth quarter fiscal year 26 and fourth quarter fiscal year 25 unless otherwise noted. For the fourth quarter, we reported total revenue of $120.9 million as compared to $115.3 million for the same period last year, an increase of 4.8%. Revenues for the 12-month period were $439.7 million versus $434.6 million the year-ago 12-month period. North America, which comprised 56.5% of our total revenues for the quarter, was $68.3 million. This was up 10.3 million or 17.8% versus the year-ago period. These results were complemented by a limited set of deployments for a North American-based MDU project in the quarter. International revenues, which made up 43.5% of total revenues, were $52.6 million for the quarter. For fiscal 2026, North American revenues were $220 million up 6% versus fiscal year 25. International revenues were $219.6 million in fiscal 26 compared to $227 million in fiscal 25. EMEA showed solid results for fiscal 26 while APAC stabilized. We feel our international business overall is poised for growth in fiscal 27. Gross margins in the fourth quarter were 30.8% on a GAAP basis and 30.9% on a non-GAAP basis. This compares the 34.2% GAAP and 34.7% non-GAAP in the prior year. The year-over-year change in gross margin is typically due to volumes, regional and product mix, and so on. That said, as Pete noted earlier, our current period gross margin was negatively affected by component shortages and associated Price Inflation. For fiscal 2026, gross margins were 31.5% on a GAAP basis and 31.8% on a non-GAAP basis. This compares to 32.1% GAAP and 32.8% non-GAAP in fiscal 25. Fourth quarter GAAP operating expenses were $31.4 million. Non-GAAP operating expenses, which exclude the impact of restructuring charges, share-based compensation, and other costs were $27.3 million. For fiscal 26, GAAP operating expenses were $119.1 million and non-GAAP operating expenses were $109.2 million. This is versus $128.9 million GAAP and $113.5 million non-GAAP in fiscal 25 a decrease of $9.8 million and $4.3 million, respectively. This is the result of the entire management team diligently managing costs, continuously reviewing corporate needs, and driving process efficiency efforts. Fourth quarter operating income was $5.8 million on a GAAP basis and $10 million on a non-GAAP basis. This compares to $8.9 million GAAP and $12.9 million non-GAAP in the year-ago period. For fiscal 26, GAAP operating income was $19.2 million, up $8.7 million versus the last fiscal year. Fiscal 2026 non-GAAP operating income was $30.6 million, up $1.5 million, or 5.2% versus the last fiscal year.

The fourth quarter non-GAAP tax benefit

was $0.5 million. As a reminder, as a fiscal 2026 year end, company has over $420 million of net operating losses or NOLs that will continue to generate shareholder value via minimal cash tax payments for the foreseeable future. Fourth quarter gap net loss was $1.3 million and non-gap net income was a positive $8.3 million. which excludes restructuring charges, depreciation and amortization, share-based compensation, interest and other income, other non-recurring expenses, and the non-cash tax provision. Fourth quarter GAAP loss per share was 10 cents on a fully diluted basis, and non-GAAP earnings per share came in at a positive 64 cents on a fully diluted basis. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was $11.9 million, or 9.8% of revenues. For the fiscal year, adjusted EBITDA was $36.7 million. Moving on to the balance sheet. Our cash and marketable securities at the end of the fourth quarter were $72.8 million. Our outstanding debt was $97 million, bringing the net debt position to $24.2 million. AVIET made continued improvements in its balance sheet. Unbilled receivables were lower for the third consecutive quarter. The fourth quarter balance was $3.1 million lower compared to the fiscal 2026 third quarter ending balance. This brings our total unbilled receivables balance to $82.1 million. Inventories were also lower sequentially by $3.6 million bring in our inventory balance to $69 million. For the full fiscal year, Aviate generated cash from operations of $13.6 million. Combined with the other balance sheet improvements, this is good progress for shareholders. Other points to make. Aviate used $2.2 million to repurchase approximately 131,000 shares in the quarter. and the average price of $16.55 per share. Finally, we are pleased to share that in the context of our control environment, we have fully remediated our past five material weaknesses. Rest assured, OVIET's core value of continuous improvement is still in play and we will continue to work to further strengthen our foundation. With that, I'll turn it back to Pete for some final comments.

Thanks, Andy. Regarding our fiscal 2027 guidance, we are establishing our outlook as follows. Full year revenues to be in the range of $455 to $470 million. Full year adjusted EBITDA to be in the range of $50 to $55 million. Note that our guidance is full fiscal year. Some additional color on seasonality. Based on our backlog and current outlook, The first quarter will be the foundation on which Aviat's revenue builds throughout fiscal 2027. Additionally, we expect the second half of that fiscal 2027 to have higher overall revenues versus the first half of fiscal 2027. See slide 23 in the investor presentation for a view of the seasonality Aviat has typically experienced and for use in your models. With that, operator, let's open up for questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, to ask a question at this time, you will need to press star 1-1 on your touchtone telephone and wait for your name to be announced. To withdraw your question, simply press star 1-1 again. Please stand by while we compile the Q&A roster. Our first question, coming from the line of Scott Sealy with Rod Capital, your line is now open.

Hey, good morning. Thanks for taking the questions. Nice job on the quarter. Also nice to see the balance sheet improvements and the cleanup of the material weaknesses. Hey, maybe just to dive in, I wonder if you'd give us an idea of the breakdown in North America between carrier contribution and private networks, and then specifically looking into the September quarter and how we ramp up from an MDU contribution standpoint. Pete, how is that shaping up just in terms of the context of how we should think about the flow of that into the course of fiscal 27.

So, you know, we ended the year with record backlog of 14%. You know, a lot of that was work throughout the year that landed in the May-June timeframe. There's this pervasive component availability. So, you know, when we said in the script that Q1 is going to be a foundation. We think given the timing of our wins and given the supply chain ramp up, we think if you put a revenue profile together, Q1 will be the lowest. Q2 and Q4 will be peaks, and Q3 should be higher than Q1. and then with respect to the overall, I don't have the US breakdown in front of me, but we're about 45% private networks, 55% service providers or mobile network operators. And I think that I'll give a qualitative statement. I would say the U.S. has more private networks than the overall lobby. So I think that gives you a vector on that, Scott.

Okay, thank you. Pete, just to clarify though, on the MDU front, do you expect contribution in the September quarter or is there a lot of pre-deployment activity ongoing more engineering and otherwise, and we should expect to ramp up into the second half of the year or second quarter.

Yeah, so we think the ramp up is going to occur in second quarter. There is a chance that we get some in the September quarter. And let me just give a little more color on this. We completed more proof of concepts in a variety of markets, and we believe that the customer has moved us ahead in the supplier pecking order where we think we're established as the preferred vendor. So what we really need to do is get that site readiness over the hump in the September quarter, get all of our Components on order and enjoy the win in the December quarter.

Great. Thank you. And two other quick ones, if I could, just on the satellite LEO opportunity. I'm wondering if you're actually starting to see interesting contribution today. It seems like there's a lot of activity, but I'm wondering, you know, what you're factoring into that fiscal 27 guidance at this point in time. and then second, gross margins, you know, some component headwinds on that front. I'm wondering how you're thinking about that in terms of fiscal 27, broadly speaking. Is there some expansion in gross margin opportunities given some incremental scale and product mix or are you still seeing some headwinds on the component front? Thanks.

Sure, Scott. This is Andy. Great to hear from you. In terms of gross margins, as Pete commented on revenue, Q1 is going to be our building block and we go up from there. So let's call it the foundation or lowest part of the year. It's going to be affected by lower volume, of course. Pete did talk to in his prepared remarks strategies that we're deploying to offset the component inflation, if you will. Those are going to be more realized in Q2 and going forward, not in Q1. But again, we do have plans, and we expect Q2, Q3, and Q4 to have more upward pressure on gross margin.

And there's no Leo in the guide.

Thank you. Our next question in queue, coming from the line of Christian Swapwood, Craig Callum, Yolanda Smallson.

Great, congrats on the solid quarter. I'm wondering if you could give us an update on your large European competitor who is exiting their microwave business, we believe by the end of this calendar year. Are you seeing any business benefit from that currently, and would you anticipate are seeing increased dialogue that you think will benefit you in your next fiscal year?

A competitor of our European competitor has communicated that their pipeline of opportunities is improving. And I would suggest that the same thing is transpiring with us. To convert a microwave network, six to 18 month proposition. And the good news for us was the announcement was made November of 2025. And immediately after that, I think Aviat and all of our non-for-sale competitors created a pipeline and are pursuing that. And I would say we've had kind of normal course of business wins. I would say that our competitors have probably had that as well where networks get exchanged at a low level. I think the possibility for this to improve is probably in the March and June quarters for Aviat as well as the competitors that have been working over what will be a period of a year, year and a half to convert the uncertainty to wins.

Thank you. And then as it relates to, you know, BEAD, is there, there's been a lot of fluctuations of people tied to that and just wondering what your current thoughts, I think before We thought maybe some things would start in fiscal year 27, but really had more of a multi-year outlook. I'm just wondering if there's any update on your current thoughts there.

You know, in front of me, we we've got quotes out to our customers. We're working to to turn those quotes into business. So so it's becoming and I would also say that we still believe it to be a three-year impact and we our estimate is in the December quarter it should have the first real impact to our to our revenue.

Okay fantastic and then lastly regarding your belief that you're the preferred vendor and showing proof of concepts of different applications. on the MDU ramp, appreciate the 25 to $30 million significant order in hand. Should we anticipate that there could be more significant orders as we go through fiscal year 27, or is that yet too early?

I don't want you to anticipate, but there could be. How about that? trying to split the middle there. But it's a fair question, and we're hopeful. Let's not put it in the model, but that's what we're working towards. Fantastic. Do other questions?

Thank you. Our next question in queue coming from the lineup, Jason Smith with Lake Street. Your line is now open.

Thanks, guys, for taking my questions. Just following up on Christian's last question on the MDU opportunity and potential for more orders, can you help us size the potential of follow-on orders, or how are you looking at this opportunity sort of in the intermediate term here?

Yeah, so I think, you know, what's really critical to driving the size of the opportunity is subscriber. and we're in the early innings of the subscriber growth and the more subscribers that come online for this tier one, the bigger the opportunity. I mean, for the last time we talked, we sized this as an eight figure opportunity and we put that in our in our 8K during our quiet period. We would say that, just that we think it's going to get bigger. So then the next question is, does it cross the barrier for nine figures? I don't know. I think the total annual opportunity is in the $100 million neighborhood. And that's predicated on, one, the customer achieving their subscriber growth metrics, and two, our share versus the competitive share. So if you want to look at this as what could it be, what could it all be, I would say we hit the $100 million figure, the precursors to that. are... The market opportunity hits the $100 million level. How that parses out between Aviat and the competition is looking more favorable, but I don't see in any situation where we'd be sole source. And then what's probably more important is how many subscribers come on to those MDU units.

Okay, that's really helpful. And then just as a follow up, can you update us on the APRISA router funnel and what you're seeing and expectations for fiscal 27?

So we're not going to break out guidance specifically for APRISA. The APRISA business on the utility front, which is why we bought in continue to enjoy it is performing well. We've talked in the past about the LT router and basically putting this router into public safety or police cars. What I can say is that we have initial orders in the U.S., Europe, and Latin America. It's still relatively small and there's a long lead site, a long to get government agencies into the purchasing funnel. But I would also say that our performance in the mobile cellular router sector is we're going up against cradle point. And the reason we have those initial orders and significant engagements is because we have a compelling value proposition that customers like, and it's just going to take time, but we believe that it will happen.

Gotcha. Thanks a lot, guys.

Thank you.

Thank you. And as a reminder, to ask a question, please press star 1-1. Our next question coming from the lineup, Dave Kang would be Riley. Your line is now open.

Good morning. Thank you. First question is just wondering how much regarding that, you know, Middle East projects that were delayed last quarter, how much of that was captured in the fourth quarter?

Yeah, I think most of it, Dave, most of it was recaptured.

Got it. And did that mix also played into that gross margin? I know you talked about supply chain headwind, but also the mix?

Primarily the component inflation has affected this quarter. Mix is pretty much representative. As said in prepared remarks, Americas were about 56.5%, which is fairly typical.

Just to add to that, Dave, so the nature of the inflation in the component environment is sometimes there's spot markets, sometimes prices go up even after you make the order. And in the next We're going to go out to our customers for more price. So unfortunately, the nature of the inflation is it's a little more abrupt than typical. So we got impacted by that abruptness and we're going to work to offset that inflation. I think we should get some improvement in the December quarter and then the back half, it should be better still.

So by second half, can we expect mid-30s in terms of gross margin expectations?

That would be aspirational. A lot of the growth, again, is coming out of MDU, as we've talked to in these other markets. And that has pretty much what we call more of a middle of our product strategy profile. So again, we entered the year at about 32%. That's a safe harbor in terms of how we operate, just looking at historical. Again, as we talk to these different strategies, we expect some upward pressure, so that's good. But I wouldn't necessarily go as high as what you're suggesting as we speak today.

Got it. And my last question is regarding your fiscal 27 revenue outlook. just wondering if they need to be factored into that outlook.

A small amount, Dave, relatively conservative. So if B kicks in, we will revisit the guidance.

Got it. Thank you.

Thank you. Our next question, coming from the line of Theodore O'Neill with Litchfield Hills Research, your line is now open.

Thank you, and congratulations on the good quarter. I want to also follow up on the MDU opportunity. Can you tell us, I'm sure you can't mention them by name, but can you tell us about the type of customers that are driving the MDU opportunity?

Well, you know, we've disclosed that a lot of industry folks We've disclosed that it's a US tier one that has access to 39 gigahertz spectrum, so that narrows it down. And the field installers have leaked this, but it's not for us to disclose. And their customers' customers are apartment dwellers that typically the profile is they and lots of remote work from home that require bandwidth beyond what's economically delivered today.

Okay, and Pete, last quarter you talked about war-induced push-outs of about $9 million, and you already said that part of that had come into Q4. Did that all make in, or are you still experiencing some kind of war-induced issues out there?

Actually, so the customer was not overdue, but that was in the Middle East, a war-induced issue. And we would say that they're steady state, that that problem has reversed. And I would say our demand in that customer base and our supply is at steady state. Okay.

And finally, on the range of revenue guidance, there's a range of $15 million. Can you talk about what sort of what would make it, you know, at the high end or the low end of that, sort of the give and take in that?

Yeah, I'd like to talk about how to make it to get to the higher end, more MDU, and how does that one as more subscriber growth to ShareGain versus the competition. Two is our de minimis modeling of BEAD. So if BEAD kicks in the way we wished it would have kicked in over the last five years, then we will revisit guidance. And then three would be private networks. And Christian asked a question about the competitive dynamics in private networks. We think we're well positioned if some of those convert or if private networks, the APPRISA LTE router opportunity is in there. If either of those two things happen, that'll pop up our private network. And then lastly, we see some, given the competitive dynamics globally, We have more Tier 1 interest than normal, new Tier 1, so that would be the fourth potential lever to move us from, let's say, the midpoint to the high end. So we have four possibilities there. Yeah, thank you, Peter. Okay, thanks, Pete.

Thank you. Our next question, coming from the line of Rassam Kanga with Citizens Bank, your line is now open.

Great, thank you for taking my question. Hey, Andy and Pete, nice close to the year. Regarding the historical revenue pattern at 48 to 52% for the back half of the year for your guidance for next year, are you looking at something like more towards the range of 40, 60, or could it be more pronounced than that?

Hey, Russ, this is Andrew Fredrickson. Yeah, you know, so we mentioned that back the second half of the year would be a little bit more back half weighted. You know, I would think you could think about it incrementally more than maybe where it's been historically. So maybe it's something closer to 45, 55. But, you know, we'll certainly continue to keep you updated as we advance through the year. But if you look at the investor slide number 23 in our investor presentation, We have historical numbers over the last couple of fiscal years. I would say at a minimum, that's a good kind of guidance level from a seasonality perspective. But again, maybe you have a couple more percentage points in the back half.

Yeah, slide 23 is the model that we're signing up to.

Sounds good. And then regarding the MDU opportunity, I understand that it's hinging on the subscriber growth there. Just curious if the number of markets that you're operating there has grown or sustained from what you've talked about in the previous quarter.

I think we're slated or are in 25 markets. And if We rolled back the clock. We were 1, 7, 11 to 13. So now I think we're approaching the 25 market level.

That's great. Thanks.

Thank you. I'm showing up for the questions in the Q&A queue at this time. I will now turn the call back over to Mr. Pete Smith with any closing remarks.

It's an exciting time for AVIAD. Thanks everyone for joining. We look forward to again updating you in November. Thanks.

This concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation and you may now disconnect.