Universal Electronics Inc.

Good day. Thank you for standing by and welcome to the first quarter 2021 financial results conference call. At this time, all participants are in a listen-only mode. After the speaker's presentation, there will be a question and answer session. To ask a question during the session, you will need to press star 1 on your telephone. Please be advised that today's conference is being recorded. If you require any further assistance, please press star 0 I would now like to hand the conference over to your speaker today, Tristan Chapman, LHA Investor Relations. Please go ahead.

Thank you, Mary, and thank you all for joining us for the Universal Electronics First Quarter 2021 Financial Results Conference Call. By now, you should have received a copy of the press release. If you have not, please contact LHA at 415-433-3777 or visit the Investor Relations section of the website. This call is being broadcast live over the Internet. A webcast replay will be available for one year at uei.com. Any additional updated material, non-public information that might be discussed during this call will be provided on the company's website where it will be retained for at least one year. You may also access that information by listening to the webcast replay. During this call, management may make forward-looking statements regarding future events and future financial performance of the company and cautions you that these statements are just projections, and actual results or events may differ materially from those projections. These statements include the company's ability to timely develop and deliver new technologies and technology updates and related products that will be accepted by our existing customers and attract new customers, including the company's Kwikset family of products and technologies, Nevo Butler Entertainment and Smart Home Hub, and our voice-enabled, AI-powered, and other advanced wireless control products, technologies, and platforms. The positive traction that management is seeing in various markets and industries in which it serves coming to fruition as expected by management. The continued successful collaboration with existing and new customers in developing and introducing next generation products, operating systems, and technologies which result in increased sales and opportunities for the company. The continued trend of industry toward providing consumers with more advanced technologies by offering hybrid platforms. expanded smart home offerings, and interactive services. Management's ability to continue to manage its business via new product development, product mix and deliveries, increased licensing opportunities, and operational and administrative efficiencies to achieve its net sales margins and earnings is guided. Interruptions in the company's supply and logistics change, including the impact that the global shortage of integrated circuits could have in causing delays in production and delivery of its products, and the continued effect of natural disasters and public health crises, including COVID-19 pandemic, have on our business and management's ability to anticipate and mitigate those effects, including the the duration, severity, and scope of the COVID-19 pandemic and the actions and restrictions that may be imposed on the company and its operations by federal, state, local, and international public health and government authorities. The company undertakes no obligation to revise or update these statements to reflect any events or circumstances that may arise after today's date and refers you to the press release mentioned at the onset of this call and the documents the company files for the SEC. In management's financial remarks, adjusted non-GAAP metrics will be referenced. Management provides adjusted non-GAAP metrics because it uses them for budgeting planning purposes and for making operational and financial decisions and believes that providing these non-GAAP financial measures to investors as a supplement to GAAP financial measures help investors evaluate UEI's core operating and financial performance and business trends consistent with how management evaluates such performance and trends. In addition, management believes these measures facilitate comparisons with the core operating and financial results and business trends of competitors and other companies. A full description and reconciliation of these adjusted non-GAAP measures versus GAAP is included in the company's press release issued today. Now, on the call with me today are Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Paul Arling, who will deliver an overview, and Chief Financial Officer Brian Hackworth, who will summarize the financials. Paul will then return to provide closing remarks. It is now my pleasure to introduce Paul Arling. Please go ahead, sir.

Good afternoon, and thanks for joining us today. During the first quarter of 2021, we continued to leverage our strengths of technology innovation, strong customer relations, and operational excellence to deliver results as guided. Net sales were 150.7 million, gross margin was 31.4%, and EPS was 89 cents per share. In mid-March, many of you joined us for our Investor Day, during which we highlighted our core tenants and demonstrated our latest technology. The event was very well received. In case you missed it, we hosted a virtual mini-CES for our investors, analysts, and interested parties. During the event, we provided an overview of our business operations, reviewed go-to-market strategies and our primary sales channels, and provided in-depth product demonstrations and new feature capabilities that we will be introducing later this year. You can catch the webcast on our newly revamped website. I'll summarize the key takeaways and add in a few of the examples we showcased. UEI creates smarter living. Our wireless device innovation leads the industry, as evidenced by numerous accolades for our voice control, Quick Set, and other connectivity solutions. Last week, our Nevo Butler Entertainment and Smart Home Hub won a Red Dot Design Award. Other new products presented at the Investor Day included the Quick Set Widget, a turnkey connectivity solution that adds intelligence and Quick Set Cloud to connected products. and enables digital transformation of the customer experience. The UEI Comfort Family, an ambient-aware line of connected thermostats, and UEI Virtual Agent are AI-powered technology that enables self-help capabilities for device onboarding and troubleshooting on any screen. Our intellectual property has an increasing array of applications that continues to broaden potential use cases and enables us to diversify our market served, including providers of in-home entertainment, security, IoT, HVAC, hospitality, home automation, and any combination thereof. Many of our largest customers have embraced our product and technology roadmaps, and we continue to work alongside them to integrate our solutions into their next generation platforms. Such names as Samsung, LG, Sony, Comcast, AT&T, Dish, Liberty, Sky, and Charter, to name a few, have been working with us for years to ensure they continually delight their users. Some others are newer and or requested confidentiality. Regardless, when cable, satellite, consumer electronics, home automation, and telecom providers want advanced wireless control technology, UEI is consistently selected as the preferred provider. Our operational prowess and strategic financial management yield significant benefits. Over the past few years, we have delivered improving gross and operating margins and enhanced our investment profile. With that, let's review some updates. We continue to expand our reach across home entertainment and smart home devices as momentum for these platforms continue to build. For example, we recently announced that LG's new webOS platform will use QuickSet as its standard for device discovery and control. Having collaborated with LG for several generations on their industry-leading smart TV interface, LG knows and trusts UEI technology to provide a scalable solution for simplifying onboarding and control. As the global market continues to grow for smart TV platforms, LG is expanding its footprint through other TV manufacturing partners. Once again, UEI will help make this possible by enabling the discovery, setup, and control of entertainment and smart home devices and services on their TV dashboard. Now I'll review a few highlights on our commercial performance during the quarter. Subscription broadcasting, primarily outside North America, continues to show positive signs as we rolled out new voice remote control products to customers in Latin America and Europe. Consumer electronics technology sales continue to grow as we deepen our penetration at the major smart TV brands, and those brands continue to experience market share growth as they roll out new features, services, and platforms. While hospitality remains at a relative standstill, we are seeing traction in our new in-room automation and energy management products as we go through testing, validation, and overall product qualification with major brands in the hospitality channel. This bodes well for our future. HVAC has also seen positive signs as our relationships with Daikin and Trane continue to grow, both at the product line level as well as market share penetration. We are also actively working on several new customer products that will launch later in the year and into 2022. I'll now turn the call over to our CFO, Brian Hackworth, for a review of the financials. Please go ahead, Brian.