nLIGHT, Inc.

are in listen-only mode. Following the presentation, we will conduct a question-and-answer session. If at any time during this call you require immediate assistance, please press star zero for the operator. This call is being recorded on Thursday, February 27, 2025. I would now like to turn the conference over to John McCurdy. Please go ahead.

Thank you, and good afternoon, everyone. I'm John Marchetti, Enlight's VP of Corporate Development and the Head of Investor Relations. With me on the call today are Scott Keeney, Enlight's Chairman and CEO, and Joe Corso, Enlight's CFO. Today's discussion will contain forward-looking statements, including financial projections and plans for our business, some of which are beyond our control, including the risks and uncertainties described from time to time in our SEC buy-in. Our results may differ materially from these projected on today's call, and we undertake no obligation to update publicly any forward-looking statement except as required by law. During the call, we will be discussing certain non-GAAP financial measures. We have provided reconciliation of these non-GAAP financial measures to the most directly comparable GAAP financial measures in our earnings release, which can be found on the investor relations section of our website. I will now turn the call over to NLI's Chairman and CEO, Scott King. Scott?

Thank you, John. 2024 was a transformative year for Enlight. Revenue from aerospace and defense grew to more than 60% of our total sales by the end of the year and has become the primary growth driver for us going forward. Our aerospace and defense markets grew 20% year over year to a record of 110 million, and we saw significant growth in both our advanced development revenue as well as our defense product sales. In addition, Our backlog increased by more than 50% year over year in 2024 to a record 167 million as we continue to qualify new opportunities in both directed energy and laser sensing. At Enlight, our work in defense remains aligned with the Department of Defense most critical priorities, such as directed energy and laser sensing. In directed energy, Interest in our high-energy laser systems and components continues to grow as ongoing military operations in the Middle East and Ukraine highlight the increasing need for advanced, cost-effective defensive weapons technology. For layered defense strategies, directed energy lasers complement traditional kinetic defenses by offering a deep magazine, low cost per engagement, and speed of light delivery. addressing a wide range of targets, including drones rockets artillery mortars and missiles with directed energy lasers reduces the reliance on costly low inventory traditional weapons against low cost threats, thereby rebalancing the economics of protecting key assets. In light has led the world in the development of high powered lasers for direct energy for over two decades and recently demonstrated a 300 kilowatt high brightness laser. InLight lasers are built in the U.S., incorporating patented and proprietary technologies across the company's entire technology stack, from semiconductor lasers to high-power fiber amplifiers, beam combined lasers, and beam directors. We have generated revenue at nearly every level of vertical integration in the directed energy market, and we have established ourselves as the most comprehensive supplier to the U.S. government, other prime contractors, and foreign allies. We are making significant progress on our Healthy2 program, which, as a reminder, is a multi-year DOD-funded $171 million program to develop a one-megawatt high-energy laser with a completion date expected in 2026. We began shipping components toward this program in the second half of 2024, and we expect to accelerate those shipments throughout 2025. Another critical direct energy program for Enlight is the Army's DEM shore effort, which is to develop a 50-kilowatt high-energy laser for short-range air defense. On this program, Enlight is delivering a 50 kilowatt high energy laser to a prime contractor. And during the second half of 2024, we finalized the design and delivered the majority of the most critical hardware components of this beam combined laser. The success we have achieved to date in both of these key programs reinforces the importance of our vertical integration strategy in the directed energy market. where we leverage our entire technology stack to deliver the highest demonstrated performance and most cost effective high energy lasers. Last month, the president signed an executive order to build the Iron Dome for America. The executive order directs implementation of a next generation missile defense shield for the United States against ballistic, hypersonic, advanced cruise missiles, and other next generation aerial attacks. Within the executive order, non-kinetic missile defense capabilities were specifically highlighted as an area for development. With a mandate to build these systems in the United States, we believe we are uniquely positioned to benefit from this effort over the coming years. And it's not just the U.S. military which sees the potential benefits of direct and energy systems. In October of last year, Israel's Ministry of Defense announced that it would spend over $500 million towards Iron Beam, an Israeli ground-based laser system for defense against aerial threats, including rockets, mortars, drones, and missiles. with delivery of the initial unit of the weapon system scheduled in this calendar year. Israel's announcement is another example of how direct energy is increasingly being viewed as a critical part of a layered defense strategy. We also continue to gain momentum in our laser sensing markets in 2024. Our laser sensing products include missile guidance, proximity detection, range finding, and countermeasures, and have been incorporated into several significant and long-running defense programs all of which remain key defense priorities under the current administration. During 2024, we announced a new $25 million contract for an existing long-running missile program, and we began shipping against this award in the third quarter of last year. We've also continued to make excellent progress in a handful of classified programs. In one of these, we shipped our first EMD, or Engineering and Manufacturing Development Unit. The EMD phase is focused on building, testing, and qualifying the solution to ensure it meets all operational requirements. Our customer's forecast suggests that the low rate initial production should start for this program in the latter half of 2025. Our growing pipeline of both directed energy programs and laser sensing opportunities gives us confidence that we can grow a revenue in aerospace and defense by at least 25% in 2025. Turning to our commercial markets. 2024 was another challenging year for our commercial markets, with revenue down 25% year over year, as a growing number of our customers faced increasing competition from China and global manufacturing demand remained muted. And with these headwinds expected to continue in 2025, I wanted to spend a few minutes on the strategic importance of these legacy markets for the future success of Enlight. First, let me start with our semiconductor fab. As many of you know, we design and manufacture our own gallium arsenide chips here in Vancouver, Washington. These chips, or laser diodes, are the foundational building blocks for nearly all the work we do in lasers. With over 25 years of chip-level innovation, decisions made at this level enable us to lead the world in demonstrated power for high-energy lasers for directed energy and other defense applications. Second, it's the commercial application of these lasers that have enabled us to bring key learnings into our defense work, ensuring that our lasers are not only the highest performing, but also the most cost-effective, Many of the competitors we see today in our defense markets are defense contractors, not laser manufacturers. We believe that it is the application of our technology at scale with thousands of high-power laser systems shipped to customers that truly differentiates our high-energy lasers for defense. We have a demonstrated track record of designing and manufacturing these systems, of delivering cost-effective field maintenance programs to keep these lasers operational at optimal levels, and a history of commercial innovation both in terms of performance and cost. that we believe will be increasingly important to the success of these systems in the future. Lastly, we see opportunities for growth, particularly longer term in metal additive manufacturing. Increasingly, we are seeing growing interest from the aerospace and defense markets as they look to metal additive manufacturing to accelerate prototyping timelines and build resiliency into their supply chains with domestic capabilities for existing and future programs. In the emerging market for hypersonics, another key focus area for the Department of Defense, we see an expanding list of new companies and new programs leveraging metal additive manufacturing to design, prototype and manufacture next-generation munitions and unmanned aerial vehicles. We believe that one of the most critical challenges facing the additive manufacturing industry is to reduce the overall build time and overall cost per part. To address this industry-wide pain point, new products that increase the printing speed and flexibility of additive manufacturing tools. Our Corona AFX dynamic beam shaping technology allows for high resolution printing for fine detail features, while also offering faster build rates utilizing stable ring mode power, making it the most versatile and efficient laser available for the additive manufacturing market. As these and other additive manufacturing opportunities mature over the next several years, we expect that our commercial lasers associated with this market will return to growth. In summary, 2024 was an important year for Enlight as revenue from aerospace and defense grew to more than 60% of our total sales by the end of the year and established itself as the primary growth driver for our business going forward. We completed the last leg of our manufacturing transition out of China and now are operationally set to support the growth expected in our defense business. As we look forward to 2025, I expect it to be a year of growth for Enlight. While many of the headwinds in our commercial markets are expected to persist throughout the year, I'm optimistic about growth in aerospace and defense, that it's well aligned with the key priorities for the Department of Defense. With good visibility, a large and growing backlog, and a solid balance sheet, I expect the significant progress that we made last year to accelerate, With revenue growth of 25% or more expected in aerospace and defense markets, as many of the programs previously announced, continued to ramp. I'd like to thank all of the Enlight employees for their hard work and execution over the past year. They continue to deliver great results for our customers and are the critical driver of building a successful and enduring high-energy laser technology company. With that, I'll turn the call over to Joe to discuss our fourth quarter and full-year financial results.

Thank you, Scott. Turning to the fourth quarter and full year financial results. Total revenue in the fourth quarter was $47.4 million, a decrease of 9% compared to $51.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Product revenue for the fourth quarter was $31.7 million compared to $37.9 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. The decrease in product revenue was partially offset by a 12% year-over-year increase in development revenue to $15.7 million. As noted in our January pre-announcement, the shortfall in fourth quarter revenue relative to the midpoint of guidance was primarily due to a continued weakness in our industrial markets, execution challenges in microfabrication, and the timing of delivery of a limited number of defense products. For the year, total revenue was $198.5 million, a decrease of 5% compared to $209.9 million in 2023. due to declines in our microfabrication and industrial markets. These declines were partially offset by strong growth in our aerospace and defense markets. Revenue from the aerospace and defense market increased 20% year-over-year to a record $109.5 million. A&D products revenue increased by 25% year-over-year to $47.7 million. And A&D development revenue increased by 16% year-over-year to $61.9 million. Total gross margin in the fourth quarter was 2% compared to 19% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Fourth quarter total gross margin was negatively impacted by non-routine charges of approximately $6 million related primarily to inventory reserves on products for the industrial market. Adjusting for these non-routine charges, total gross margin for the fourth quarter would have been approximately 15%, which is still slightly below the bottom end of guidance. due to lower than expected product sales and production volumes. Product gross margin in the fourth quarter was 1% compared to 22% in the fourth quarter of 2023. Adjusting for non-routine charges, product gross margin would have been approximately 20%. Development gross margin was 6% in the fourth quarter compared to 9% in the fourth quarter of 2023. For the year, total gross margin was 17% compared to 22% in 2023. Product gross margin was 21% in 2024 compared to 27% in 2023. The decrease in product gross margins in 2024 compared to 2023 was driven by the impact of lower sales and production volumes on fixed manufacturing costs due to the decrease in overall customer demand and inventory charges in the fourth quarter of 2024 previously discussed, offset partially by positive changes in sales mix. Development gross margin was 7% in both years. Non-GAAP operating expenses were $17.7 million for the fourth quarter compared to $17.4 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. GAAP operating expenses in the fourth quarter were $27.6 million and included restructuring charges of $4.3 million primarily related to severance costs from our decision to shut down manufacturing operations in China. Full-year 2024 non-GAAP operating expenses were $71.2 million compared to $67.2 million in 2023. The year-over-year increase in non-GAAP operating expenses were driven by increases in employee compensation costs, spending on research and development projects, and approximately $2.3 million of bad debt charges for customers in the industrial market. We continually review the appropriate level of operating expenses for our business and we believe our current level of OPEX is sufficient to support our long-term growth objectives. Adjusted EBITDA for the fourth quarter was a loss of $11.3 million, including the non-routine charges discussed previously, compared to $3.3 million in the fourth quarter of 2023. Gap net loss for the fourth quarter was $25 million, or 51 cents per share, compared to a net loss of $13.2 million, or 28 cents per share for the fourth quarter of 2023. Turning now to the balance sheet, we ended 2024 with total cash, cash equivalents, restricted cash, and investments of $100.9 million and no debt, compared to $113.1 million at the end of 2023. Inventory decreased to $40.8 million at the end of 2024, compared to $52.1 million at the end of 2023. Turning now to guidance. Before discussing Q1 guidance, I'd like to reiterate that MLAIT is planning for meaningful growth in our A&D markets in 2025. Supporting our growth expectations is approximately $399 million of funded and unfunded backlog as of December 31st, 2024. Funded backlog of $167 million is 55% higher than it was at December 31, 2023. And we are working under contracts with over $230 million of incremental aggregate value. Although execution challenges remain, given the highly technical nature of our defense work, and while we can't control the specific timing of government programs, we are exceptionally well aligned with many of the DOD's highest priority programs that we expect to support growth in 2025 and beyond. With respect to the first quarter of 2025, based on the information available today, we expect revenue to be in the range of $45 to $51 million. The midpoint of $48 million includes approximately $33 million of product revenue and $15 million of development revenue. Turning to gross margin. First quarter 2025 products gross margin is expected to be in the range of 16% to 20%, and development gross margin to be approximately 8%. resulting in a total gross margin range of 13 to 17%. As we've mentioned previously, as a vertically integrated manufacturing business, gross margin is largely dependent on production volumes and the absorption of fixed manufacturing costs. Finally, we expect adjusted EBITDA for the first quarter of 2025 to be in the range of approximately negative six to negative $3 million. And we continue to expect break-even adjusted EBITDA with quarterly revenue in the $55 to $60 million range. With that, I will turn the call over to the operator for questions.

Thank you. Ladies and gentlemen, we will now begin question and answer session. Should you have a question, please press star followed by one on your touchtone phone. You will hear a prompt that your hand has been raised. Should you wish to decline from the polling process, please press start followed by the 2. If you are using a speakerphone, please lift the handset before pressing any keys. We have your first question comes from Jim with Nidholm Company. Please go ahead.

Hi. Thanks. A couple of questions. First, just given the backlog, you obviously have a fairly strong line of sight on the A&D business. How should we think about the revenues over the course of the year, particularly in light of some of the challenges you experience in Q4, which I'm assuming is behind you with respect to Yeah. Fulfilling some of the shipments with key customers.

Yeah. Hi, Jim. Thanks for the question. So I think in Scott's script, we talked about having confidence that our A&D markets should be up at least 25 percent over 2023. I think as we've talked about in the past, the The quarterly trajectory of that sometimes is a little bit more difficult to predict, but I think it's a reasonable approach to think as we move through the year, revenue from the A&D markets will increase. As we talked about on our pre-announcement, there are timing challenges around delivering some of those products, but as we highlighted with the backlog, we don't have very much in terms of go get for 2025. So we feel really good about the way that the year is starting to look.

Got it. And I apologize, I joined the call a little bit late and you may have provided some update, but where do you stand with the handoff to the contract manufacturing partner? in Thailand. I guess what I'm asking is, if the demand doesn't change in this area of the business, does having that behind you, what does that do for gross margins in that part of the business, I guess is what I'm asking.

Yeah, I think, Jim, frankly, there will be some improvement in gross margins, obviously, as we are working through the execution and the improvement and the transition back to a more full capacity that's got a little bit of an impact on our gross margin. So there will be some lift in gross margins due to that. But I think what will be the bigger driver for gross margins is really just ramping volumes, right? That has been our story for quite some time with product revenues at these current levels. It's difficult to have meaningful margin expansion. But as we work through those issues, margins will improve for sure. Got it.

I'll jump back in the queue. Thank you. Thank you.

Your next question comes from Greg Palm with Greg Holland Capital Group. Please go ahead.

Yeah, thanks. Can we start with just a little bit more, you know, in terms of the assumptions that's baked into the Q1 guide? So, you know, for instance, does it assume that kind of $4 million shortfall from Q4 is fully recognized in Q1? Are there any other, you know, inventory reserves that need to be taken in Q1? Just a little bit more color on kind of how you're thinking about that specifically.

Sure, Greg. So no, none. The guide in Q1 to the midpoint doesn't assume that we've had a lot of that Q4 revenue rolls over into Q1. It's more natural in terms of the revenue demand and growth that we'll see in the first quarter. I think trajectory-wise, as we said earlier in the call, we expect the defense business to grow and the commercial business to decline in the first quarter sequentially. You know, in terms of gross margin, we're not anticipating any unusual or, you know, non-recurring type cost of goods issues that we saw in the fourth quarter. So it's getting back to a more, you know, normalized operating environment from a gross margin perspective.

Okay. So I think what I just heard was versus the $17 million in commercial revenue for Q4, you're expecting that to actually decline sequentially in Q1?

Yeah, I don't think we're going to have, I mean, we're not guiding specifically by market, but directionally, yeah, we don't really see much growth in the commercial side of the business. And so as we think about that sequential movement of revenue, you know, we do see a little bit of softening of the commercial revenue in the first quarter.

Okay. I mean, that implies a a pretty soft, you know, run run rate. I mean, how should we think about, I mean, knowing that you didn't guide for, for that, for, for the year, but how should we think about the sort of the remainder of the year?

Yeah, I think if in the commercial businesses, as we've talked about, we don't have the same level of visibility that we do in the defense business. So some of it is just, you know, trying to read the tea leaves and do our best to understand our customers forecast and the broader macro demand environment. As we think about the overall year, what we are, you know, planning for with some range of error bars is somewhere in the, you know, 15 to 20 percent down on a calendar 24 versus a calendar 2023. Now, could it be better than that? Yeah, absolutely. Could it be a little worse than that? It could. But I think what you should take away from this comment is we don't expect the commercial business in 2024 to drive any level of outsized growth, right? I mean, we're managing it as best as we can, but the growth in 2024 is really going to come from the A&D business.

Yep. Okay. That makes sense. And then just last one on maybe industrial specifically, I'm curious, you know, if tariff implementation, you know, occurs at maybe a broader scale, I mean, is that enough to stem some of the negative Chinese, you know, competitive impacts that, you know, have maybe evolved here over the last few quarters and just Curious to get your thoughts around overall pricing for that and maybe overall competition relative to where we were at this point last year.

Yeah, Craig, I mean, it's hard to predict where things are going to land with respect to tariffs. But certainly directionally, you know, everything else being equal, that could be beneficial. It's not something that we are expecting and relying on. But yeah, certainly directionally, that could be beneficial. It just depends on the particulars of how they're implemented.

Okay. All right. I will leave it there. Thanks. Thank you.

Next question comes from Troy with Concord Fitzgerald. Please go ahead.

Hey, gentlemen. Thanks for taking my questions. Maybe a couple for you, Joe. Just first of all, the funded backlog, can you confirm it was $167 million? Correct. I think you're up 55% year over year. Yep, that's right, $167. And is it all shippable in 2025?

it's all shippable in 2025 and 2026. So that's funded backlog over the next two years.

Perfect. All right. And then I just want to go through it again. You said there's these opportunities you're working on in the pipeline. There's $230 million of total defense type opportunities that are in the pipeline. Could you go over that one more time, please?

Yeah, no, that's correct. So what we've got is we are working on contracts that in aggregate have about $399 million of total value. Now, $167 of that $399 is firm funded backlog that we expect to execute during calendar 25 and calendar 26. The balance of of that 230, you know, that 232 million, that is really someone, some funded backlog that will roll into 2027, as well as a big portion. The bigger portion though, is, you know, the portions of those contracts that are not yet funded. We expect a big piece of that to be funded, but we want to be very clear around, you know, what is funded and what is not funded, but you know, neither case, you know, we feel very good about what we're working against.

And Troy, just to build on that, you know, you mentioned pipeline. What Joe is describing is funded and unfunded contracts. Pipeline goes beyond that. There are opportunities that go well beyond what we're talking about here.

Right, I'd imagine. And then the Trump initiative that you highlighted, that would be new in the pipeline too, right?

Exactly right.

That's one example of many. Okay, perfect. And then my last question now, just one more for Joe. Just You know, big restructuring charges quarter. Can you just talk OPEX? You know, absolutely. Do you think it's going to start to decline sequentially for a couple quarters given the restructuring you've been doing? Or do we assume it's, you know, March quarter OPEX is greater than December quarter?

Yeah, I think that's it. Yeah, and I think that the current OPEX levels are about where we expect to be, Troy. I think it's important to recognize we don't believe that we need to meaningfully increase our operating expenses even over the next couple of years, right? Now, there will be quarterly fluctuations as some quarters have more materials than other quarters. But when you think about the number of FTEs that are In our plan in the first quarter, no real difference than where we are post restructuring. So I don't see the OpEx moving all that much. That Q125 implied number is reasonable.

Awesome. All right, guys. Well, thank you and good luck this year.

Thank you.

Next question comes from Rodney McFoe with North Coast Research. Please go ahead.

Hey, guys. Thanks for taking my question. I'm on today for Keith Howsam. So I'm just curious, how much longer do you guys think it'll take for you guys to get some of the kinks worked out as far as manufacturing amps for the A&D business? And just curious if you're seeing any further uptake in those products from your customers. Thanks.

Good. Very good question. The amps part of the business is a very important part of the business. We have leading performance in the fiber amplifiers that go into the directed energy systems, both in the U.S. and with our allies. There are current products that are released to manufacturing that... You know, those kinks you referred to, we're well into manufacturing with a more mature product there. The product that we are using for the megawatt program is a next generation product that is being transferred to manufacturing right now. And we're making progress there. We were just below what we had expected in the quarter there. But that is proceeding well. And we do see opportunities to expand that business significantly.

Got it. Got it. Thanks for that. Um, and then I'm just curious. I know you mentioned the, uh, the executive order, you know, signed by, uh, president Trump recently, uh, to bring iron down to us. Um, I know it's, it's very early in that process, but, um, I'm just kind of curious if you have any ideas of like the, uh, the scale of that project and maybe, you know, what it can mean for, for, for end light, just any, any sort of color there would be, would be helpful and maybe like a timeline. Thanks.

Yeah, it's a fairly broad-based set of initiatives for defense, both kinetic and non-kinetic applications. The funding numbers we've seen are very, very big, and there's a broad range of different approaches that are being considered. We're actively engaged with a number of them right now. The time frame, while there's some of the programs that go out, further, there is an emphasis on the near term. And so, you know, there'll be more information in the coming months on that, but it is large. It is separate from some of the cuts that are being discussed. It is a clear priority and key players in DOD right now are working through how to prioritize that. And we're, we're deeply engaged there.

Got it. Got it. Thanks. I will hand it back to the queue. Thanks so much.

Again, if you would like to ask a question, please press star 1 on your touch-on phone. Your next question comes from Mark Miller with Benchmark. Please go ahead.

So what we've heard today, it sounds like the current administration, there's really been no change in your existing programs and you have this opportunity with the Iron Dome. Is that a good summary?

Well put, Mark. I think, you know, certainly there's a lot of uncertainty around a whole host of factors and certainly we need to be thoughtful about that. But I think directionally in our business, certainly. Our exposure is in areas where there's significant, you know, continuation and new efforts underway.

Okay. In terms of resisting backlog, I assume there's a high percentage of that's defense. Can you give us an estimate what percent of that's aerospace and defense related? And also, we can comment on the margin profile in your backlog. Okay.

Yeah, the vast majority of it is A&D related, Mark. And I would tell you that generally the backlog on the product side carries very nice products gross margin. Some of that backlog obviously is in the development side of the business. And that is pretty typical for us in that kind of mid to high single digits margin that we've experienced over the last couple of years.

If you would get equipment orders for the striker program, when do you think that could come? Could that be second half of next year?

Yeah, I do think that the opportunities will be contingent upon the performance of, you know, our initial deliveries. But, yeah, I think there are opportunities in the next two years for sure.

Thank you.

Thank you. There are no further questions. Please continue.

So thanks, everybody, for joining us this afternoon. And I did want to highlight that we will be participating in a couple of investor conferences over the next two weeks. We'll be at the 46th Annual Raymond James Institutional Investor Conference on Tuesday, March 4th. And we'll be participating at the Cantor Fitzgerald Global Technology Conference on Wednesday, March 12th. So we look forward to catching up with a lot of you over the next couple of weeks. Thank you very much.

Ladies and gentlemen, this concludes today's conference call. Thank you for your participation. You may now disconnect.